Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans. - John Lennon
The red or the blue pill? It's a choice you subconsciously make every day. Ever sat at a bus(my example), in a class, at work, at a seminar, philosophizing of everyone mindlessly sleeping through every day? Ever looked around at the other faces there wondering how many thought the same thing?
As we progress through life there will be set borders around us, so many borders it doesn't make sense that we can keep track of them all. But we do(to a certain degree). We act and behave within the unwritten code of acceptable social behaviour. And even those that don't, have their own set of unwritten code, telling them how they should behave, who they should be, what box to fit in.
Is this how you want your life to run? Following the line numbly, mindlessly down a line of people that have been and people that will be. What if I was to offer you the choice of pills right now(metaphorically speaking of course, I don't deal) between the red and the blue pill as in Matrix.
The blue pill, and you stay in your dream. Live every day the same and by your routines, safe, silent and simple.
The red pill, and you wake up. You see the world and your existence in it as it "really"(reality is a manner of perspective) is and you get the power to change it any way that you wish.
It wouldn't surprise me if most would choose the blue pill. Safety is comforting, and simple is safe. The mind easily deals with simple, and falling into line of what is acceptable and what is expected is much easier as it doesn't require as much from you. You know who you are(right?) and that should be more than enough. Even if you would choose the blue pill I would suggest you to keep reading though.
But what if I was to put a post-it on your forehead, with the actual date, actual years, days, hours, minutes and seconds till your life was over. This isn't something humans like to think about, humans prefer the ignorance. But if you take a moment to think how you don't know how long you will actually be here, wouldn't you want to make every moment worth it? I'm not here saying you should live every moment like it's your last, because that sort of angst would make pretty much everyone insane. I'm saying you should try to see every day as a living person.
You are mortal, I am mortal, everyone around you are mortal. It doesn't get simpler than that. The challenge comes when we try to put this knowledge to use. What do I do with my mortality? I have to work to live, so that's a given. But would you live to work? With the whole vast world out and around you, would you spend your days in the office making more money than you need to buy more things you don't need?
Would you sit on your computer wasting hour after hour, day after day because of the imaginary status and achievements the internet is giving you?(Read, facebook application games, MMOs). I'm not saying you shouldn't play(naturally, avid gamer of both MMOs and Facebook Apps myself:p), I'm saying you shouldn't make it your reason of existence. You live, you breathe, you talk and you feel. Experience the world for the vastness it offers.
Everyone can aspire for positive change in their lives, and you do this by opening your eyes to the world around you.
fredag 6. november 2009
torsdag 5. november 2009
Back Alley Lights
Every man dies. Not every man really lives. - William Wallace
There are people around us, not quite like other people. People grown up in the same society as us, in the same existence and reality that we grew up in, but with a different touch to their person. Who are these people? I'm sure you know one. Why are they here? Beats the hell outta me.
In our narcissistic day and age where the general rule of thumb is to keep both hands and feet in the cart and go with the flow, where humans are taught that in a selfish world the selfish prevails, there are still people around us that will light up a room by their presence. People who can turn the darkest alley around and make it shine brightly by their being. Is this a quality these people are born with, or can we regular mortals try and aspire to them?
Back Alley Lights I call them, because in my eyes that is what they are. They take the darkest back alley, the alley tainted by the worlds tough reality and they light it up, a warm smile, a motivating word, a year by their side. What kind of human is it that sacrifices their own well being and comfort to aid or support others expecting nothing in return? In our modern day and age it just doesn't make sense.
So I looked back, recognizing that not only has humanity always been corrupted in their usual way(I already knew this..) but there has always been Back Alley Lights. The virtues of Arthur and the round table teach of humility, compassion, self-sacrifice, honor, courage, valor, justice, and spirituality. All great virtues to inspire to, but 2 strike me as common identifiers of these people. They show a strong sense of compassion, and a strong sense of humility.
Showing compassion in this violent day and age is a shock in itself, we're taught to grow colder as we grow older. A sense of humility is another shock, our world is too narcissistic for people not to take credit when they do something well. Humans happen to do good deeds from time to time, but they kinda lose their charm when they're gloated and bragged about for months after. Like all our good samaritans out there that will donate a $50 during christmas and feel well for a year. It's not all about the money, and if it was: if you can spare $50 after buying presents for your whole family, you can certainly spare them any other time of the year.
I think it's a paragon we should aspire for, to be a Back Alley Light for just one person each day. It can take only 5 minutes to change another persons day completely, just by an encouraging word, a smile, a helping hand. And the action is a reward in itself, brag about it to your friends and their narcissistic minds will translate it into a self-promotation from your side and they will despise you for it(Humans rock, don't they?).
Every man dies, not every man really lives.
There are people around us, not quite like other people. People grown up in the same society as us, in the same existence and reality that we grew up in, but with a different touch to their person. Who are these people? I'm sure you know one. Why are they here? Beats the hell outta me.
In our narcissistic day and age where the general rule of thumb is to keep both hands and feet in the cart and go with the flow, where humans are taught that in a selfish world the selfish prevails, there are still people around us that will light up a room by their presence. People who can turn the darkest alley around and make it shine brightly by their being. Is this a quality these people are born with, or can we regular mortals try and aspire to them?
Back Alley Lights I call them, because in my eyes that is what they are. They take the darkest back alley, the alley tainted by the worlds tough reality and they light it up, a warm smile, a motivating word, a year by their side. What kind of human is it that sacrifices their own well being and comfort to aid or support others expecting nothing in return? In our modern day and age it just doesn't make sense.
So I looked back, recognizing that not only has humanity always been corrupted in their usual way(I already knew this..) but there has always been Back Alley Lights. The virtues of Arthur and the round table teach of humility, compassion, self-sacrifice, honor, courage, valor, justice, and spirituality. All great virtues to inspire to, but 2 strike me as common identifiers of these people. They show a strong sense of compassion, and a strong sense of humility.
Showing compassion in this violent day and age is a shock in itself, we're taught to grow colder as we grow older. A sense of humility is another shock, our world is too narcissistic for people not to take credit when they do something well. Humans happen to do good deeds from time to time, but they kinda lose their charm when they're gloated and bragged about for months after. Like all our good samaritans out there that will donate a $50 during christmas and feel well for a year. It's not all about the money, and if it was: if you can spare $50 after buying presents for your whole family, you can certainly spare them any other time of the year.
I think it's a paragon we should aspire for, to be a Back Alley Light for just one person each day. It can take only 5 minutes to change another persons day completely, just by an encouraging word, a smile, a helping hand. And the action is a reward in itself, brag about it to your friends and their narcissistic minds will translate it into a self-promotation from your side and they will despise you for it(Humans rock, don't they?).
Every man dies, not every man really lives.
onsdag 4. november 2009
Humanity devours all, an extra-terrestials point of view.
"The Truth is out there." : Agent Mulder - Xfiles
That may very well be, but humanity isn't going to find it anytime soon.
This morning I found myself pondering about extra-terrestial phenomenas, and the question, "is there life on other planets?". Inevitably, this got my twisted little mind plumbing through thoughts of society and humanity as a whole and how humanity would look to any extra terrestial entity observing us.
As an extra terrestial entity observing humanity I see:
A creature with a short time of life consciously destroying themselves to a varying degree through their existence, be it with unhealthy food, unhealthy behaviour, self-destructive or masochistic behaviour, or the simple solutions the creature uses to make their life easier.
A creature destroying their own environment, not only ruining the nature around them with their behaviour but also on a global scale, cutting down the trees that produce the air they need to breathe, contaminating the waters they need to drink from, destroying the natural resources providing the medicine they could use to stay healthy and live longer. Not only this, the human creature also destroys the atmosphere they breathe in by cutting down a great surplus of trees creating their air, it also destroys the ozon layer protecting their planet from the unbelievably vast universe, and contaminates their planets orbit with junk and scrap from their space experiments.
As I shrug my extra-terrestial shoulders and wonder what the hell kinda creature would do this to their enciroment I stop and look at what it does to eachother, not only do they keep vital survival resources from eachother, basic resources the creature needs to live, like water, food, shelter, it also refuses to share these vital resources if put right next to one another. You could look at a small area of their earth and watch one human starve while the other human is watching while growing fatter. Resources aside, the species also kills eachother in vast amounts, this usually over less useful resources like the fossile energy they use to run vehicles(oil) and stones of use whatsoever(diamonds) and a soft metal not useful for anything(gold).
What kind of a self destructive race is it that kills eachother over useless resources, kills eachother for fun, kills eachother for stepping on the same earth they all share, keeps vital resources from eachother and ensures eachothers death, and what hope can such a specie have in a length of time? The human species kills themselves, kills eachother, kills the earth they live on, what kind of hope can such a specie, not to mention their earth have?
This all lead to the following conclusion:
1. If an extra-terrestial was to observe humanity, he would leave, warn his species and any/all other extra-terrestial species they may or may not know, of the human species, and never come back.
2. Humans need to turn this self-destructive pattern around, or there will be nothing left to destroy.
That may very well be, but humanity isn't going to find it anytime soon.
This morning I found myself pondering about extra-terrestial phenomenas, and the question, "is there life on other planets?". Inevitably, this got my twisted little mind plumbing through thoughts of society and humanity as a whole and how humanity would look to any extra terrestial entity observing us.
As an extra terrestial entity observing humanity I see:
A creature with a short time of life consciously destroying themselves to a varying degree through their existence, be it with unhealthy food, unhealthy behaviour, self-destructive or masochistic behaviour, or the simple solutions the creature uses to make their life easier.
A creature destroying their own environment, not only ruining the nature around them with their behaviour but also on a global scale, cutting down the trees that produce the air they need to breathe, contaminating the waters they need to drink from, destroying the natural resources providing the medicine they could use to stay healthy and live longer. Not only this, the human creature also destroys the atmosphere they breathe in by cutting down a great surplus of trees creating their air, it also destroys the ozon layer protecting their planet from the unbelievably vast universe, and contaminates their planets orbit with junk and scrap from their space experiments.
As I shrug my extra-terrestial shoulders and wonder what the hell kinda creature would do this to their enciroment I stop and look at what it does to eachother, not only do they keep vital survival resources from eachother, basic resources the creature needs to live, like water, food, shelter, it also refuses to share these vital resources if put right next to one another. You could look at a small area of their earth and watch one human starve while the other human is watching while growing fatter. Resources aside, the species also kills eachother in vast amounts, this usually over less useful resources like the fossile energy they use to run vehicles(oil) and stones of use whatsoever(diamonds) and a soft metal not useful for anything(gold).
What kind of a self destructive race is it that kills eachother over useless resources, kills eachother for fun, kills eachother for stepping on the same earth they all share, keeps vital resources from eachother and ensures eachothers death, and what hope can such a specie have in a length of time? The human species kills themselves, kills eachother, kills the earth they live on, what kind of hope can such a specie, not to mention their earth have?
This all lead to the following conclusion:
1. If an extra-terrestial was to observe humanity, he would leave, warn his species and any/all other extra-terrestial species they may or may not know, of the human species, and never come back.
2. Humans need to turn this self-destructive pattern around, or there will be nothing left to destroy.
Abonner på:
Innlegg (Atom)
