Wednesday, 28 April 2010
Dia de Los Muertos
I have come to believe that the best we can ever do is to stumble through life, roughly, hopefully in the right direction.
Then of course it has to be asked what the right direction is. We are told often which direction society would like us to stumble in but if it is right is another question and right for whom?
The opening monologue of Trainspotting springs to mind here, and I paraphrase horrendously;
Choose a career
Choose a washing machine
Choose a wide screen fucking television
Choose life
Well I chose something else
What do we ever choose entirely for ourselves in this world? When all is said and done, what do we get out of our choices? You need to work till you are sixty five with two weeks holiday a year, then finally, when you are too old and knackered to make proper use of your time, and then you can relax, and die.
Fuck that!
Marcus Aurelius said, “We are but shadows and dust.”
He was right, how long after our deaths will we be forgotten? Even if we do something truly extraordinary we will unlikely be remembered for ourselves, everyone knows who Einstein was and what he did but who actually knows him, who alive now can actually claim to know what he was like?
When we die we become electricity passing from synapse to synapse in the minds of those who actually knew us, and then, when they die ? In the words of Jim Morrison,
“I want my kicks now before the whole shithouse comes tumbling down.”
Dia de los muertos
Today I live
Everyone around me is black-clad,
Faces painted white and skeletal.
Chanting
Moving
Writhing.
Festival of shadows,
Ornate coffins carried aloft
Through village streets.
Darkness celebrated, highlights life.
Today I live.
The more time I spend in the shadows
The more I appreciate the light,
Shining
Burning
Blinding.
Breaking clouds,
Banishing shadows from corners
Filled with people
Dressed in black.
Today I live.
Then of course it has to be asked what the right direction is. We are told often which direction society would like us to stumble in but if it is right is another question and right for whom?
The opening monologue of Trainspotting springs to mind here, and I paraphrase horrendously;
Choose a career
Choose a washing machine
Choose a wide screen fucking television
Choose life
Well I chose something else
What do we ever choose entirely for ourselves in this world? When all is said and done, what do we get out of our choices? You need to work till you are sixty five with two weeks holiday a year, then finally, when you are too old and knackered to make proper use of your time, and then you can relax, and die.
Fuck that!
Marcus Aurelius said, “We are but shadows and dust.”
He was right, how long after our deaths will we be forgotten? Even if we do something truly extraordinary we will unlikely be remembered for ourselves, everyone knows who Einstein was and what he did but who actually knows him, who alive now can actually claim to know what he was like?
When we die we become electricity passing from synapse to synapse in the minds of those who actually knew us, and then, when they die ? In the words of Jim Morrison,
“I want my kicks now before the whole shithouse comes tumbling down.”
Dia de los muertos
Today I live
Everyone around me is black-clad,
Faces painted white and skeletal.
Chanting
Moving
Writhing.
Festival of shadows,
Ornate coffins carried aloft
Through village streets.
Darkness celebrated, highlights life.
Today I live.
The more time I spend in the shadows
The more I appreciate the light,
Shining
Burning
Blinding.
Breaking clouds,
Banishing shadows from corners
Filled with people
Dressed in black.
Today I live.
Saturday, 30 January 2010
Batam al Ghul (the belly of the beast)
Here in the west we are exactly there, we are in the belly of the beast. We are incredibly lucky in many ways even if we are kept in the dark, often by ourselves.
I have known people here to grow up and even grow old ensconced in the belief that they are not only in the belly of the beast but also are the centre of everything, both political, cultural and moral. Many, if not all of the judgements we make about what happens in other cultures is judged using our perameters and there is a total inability to see the world through someone elses eyes.
This may well be a mechanism to make our lives more bearable and as such it is of course valuable but in a world where we do this there can never be true equality between the different worlds which coexist upon this chunk of earth.
Again we are not designed to strive for equality for our fellow man, this is a luxury we construct in the richer, more egalitarian parts of the world. Strip us of the things which keep us comfortable and safe and our real desires will and do shine through.
We are hardwired to survive at all costs, including the demise of others. This is our reality when stripped of everything else.
Most parts of the world are at least closer to this than we are. You look after yourself and your family because there is no social network to look after you if you fail, and people do fail.
The belly of the beast or the priviliged west?
You decide.
If you can make it in the developing world, you can make it anywhere.
I have known people here to grow up and even grow old ensconced in the belief that they are not only in the belly of the beast but also are the centre of everything, both political, cultural and moral. Many, if not all of the judgements we make about what happens in other cultures is judged using our perameters and there is a total inability to see the world through someone elses eyes.
This may well be a mechanism to make our lives more bearable and as such it is of course valuable but in a world where we do this there can never be true equality between the different worlds which coexist upon this chunk of earth.
Again we are not designed to strive for equality for our fellow man, this is a luxury we construct in the richer, more egalitarian parts of the world. Strip us of the things which keep us comfortable and safe and our real desires will and do shine through.
We are hardwired to survive at all costs, including the demise of others. This is our reality when stripped of everything else.
Most parts of the world are at least closer to this than we are. You look after yourself and your family because there is no social network to look after you if you fail, and people do fail.
The belly of the beast or the priviliged west?
You decide.
If you can make it in the developing world, you can make it anywhere.
Monday, 18 January 2010
It makes a difference
I never felt this way when I was younger,I don't know if it has to do with being older and wiser or just more jaded with age,but when external factors change it changes my internal noticeably. The weather today is mild and sunny. The weather has been cold and gray for too long, when it changed today I felt a lightening of my spirits, I actually feel as though the world is more friendly,the same places as yesterday feel different. I walk lightly today as opposed to limping along with
misery by my side.
Things are good today.
Life is better in the sunshine.
Simple as.....
L
misery by my side.
Things are good today.
Life is better in the sunshine.
Simple as.....
L
Friday, 15 January 2010
If you take the red pill!
"that you are a slave Neo, like everyone else you were born into bondage; born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch, a prison for your mind."
Unlike Neo, not everyone chooses the red pill. Everyone at some point, I believe, is confronted with a potentially life changing situation but the majority of people will gladly swallow that blue pill and go back to their comfortable, or so they must believe, existence. There are many motivations or excuses for this and all are equally valid, I have too much to lose, I don't know what may be around the corner or most commonly, I have responsibilities.
I understand this. Taking the blue pill is easier, taking the red pill is much harder and demands so much more of you, but sometimes situations dictate and you really don't have any blue pill to take. You must take the red pill or perish, the option of return is gone.
I took the red pill.
These crossroads in lie are always precipitated by some kind of catastrophe, or at the best a crisis, A crucial or decisive point or situation; a turning point. The decision you make at this point is one which will disappear instantly or live with you for many, many years depending upon which you choose. If, as I did, you choose the red pill you are setting course for a new and totally unknown destination which of course is never easy.
Given the same choice again would I choose the blue pill?
No, once you burn bridges you can quite literally never go back over them.
Non, je ne regrette rien.
L
Unlike Neo, not everyone chooses the red pill. Everyone at some point, I believe, is confronted with a potentially life changing situation but the majority of people will gladly swallow that blue pill and go back to their comfortable, or so they must believe, existence. There are many motivations or excuses for this and all are equally valid, I have too much to lose, I don't know what may be around the corner or most commonly, I have responsibilities.
I understand this. Taking the blue pill is easier, taking the red pill is much harder and demands so much more of you, but sometimes situations dictate and you really don't have any blue pill to take. You must take the red pill or perish, the option of return is gone.
I took the red pill.
These crossroads in lie are always precipitated by some kind of catastrophe, or at the best a crisis, A crucial or decisive point or situation; a turning point. The decision you make at this point is one which will disappear instantly or live with you for many, many years depending upon which you choose. If, as I did, you choose the red pill you are setting course for a new and totally unknown destination which of course is never easy.
Given the same choice again would I choose the blue pill?
No, once you burn bridges you can quite literally never go back over them.
Non, je ne regrette rien.
L
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