Simply put.
You are alive.
Most likely in complete health.
Living in a country where everything you need to survive and more can easily be obtained.
And blessed to have a future.
There are humans on this earth who can only relate to one or even none of these 4 statements. Think about that when you start to wallow in self-pity.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Comfort and Stagnation
Life these days can be pretty comfortable, never have to walk to far: we have cars, don't have to do much in order to eat: open the fridge, and most of the time we do not feel like our lives are about to get ended. The physical struggle is gone. And now a days we do not even have to worry about mental pain, or spiritual anguish if you will. You get home after a stressful day, you can just turn on the TV and in turn shut down your brain. If you are over 21 you can crack open a beer, mix a drink and the pain slips away. On a side note...
In the 60's the CIA conducted a broad based experiment in the pursuit of mind control known as MK-Ultra. They tested drugs such as LSD and many other common illicit substances but they settled on Television as the best way to control the masses. (this is just according to one source)
The point is, affluent society provides tons of ways to distract ourselves from pain in our lives. From my observation humans tend to operate out of necessity in regard to discomfort. There is no reason to risk your life in the hunt if there is ample food. You are not just going to run on an injured leg, unless you are being chased by a mountain lion.
e.g. Some years ago I experienced a lot of emotional or spiritual angst, at first I was able to just roll a fatty and drift away from my problems. However the pain in my life came to a point when this was no longer a sufficient remedy and I slipped into clinically diagnosed depression. As I have seen happen to a few people, including myself, I began to question the point of my existence; a questioning that did not occur before the pain of life became to much to bear. In a matter of months my mentality on life underwent a shift as I found new purpose.
Books:
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
The Fire from Within In by Carlos Castaneda
In the 60's the CIA conducted a broad based experiment in the pursuit of mind control known as MK-Ultra. They tested drugs such as LSD and many other common illicit substances but they settled on Television as the best way to control the masses. (this is just according to one source)
The point is, affluent society provides tons of ways to distract ourselves from pain in our lives. From my observation humans tend to operate out of necessity in regard to discomfort. There is no reason to risk your life in the hunt if there is ample food. You are not just going to run on an injured leg, unless you are being chased by a mountain lion.
e.g. Some years ago I experienced a lot of emotional or spiritual angst, at first I was able to just roll a fatty and drift away from my problems. However the pain in my life came to a point when this was no longer a sufficient remedy and I slipped into clinically diagnosed depression. As I have seen happen to a few people, including myself, I began to question the point of my existence; a questioning that did not occur before the pain of life became to much to bear. In a matter of months my mentality on life underwent a shift as I found new purpose.
Books:
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
The Fire from Within In by Carlos Castaneda
Monday, January 19, 2009
Self Importance, and Why I Want to Lose IT
This is one that has been getting at me lately and for a while I did not even realize it. Hell, I think it is always getting at me and I almost never realize it.
It really is painful, maybe the only reason we feel pain besides, in someway shape or form running our body's into something harder than us. Nearly every person thinks of themselves as important in some way, I guess it is a normal (don't argue the definition, i don't even know what it means...) course of matters, it is easy to become the epicenter of our own little universe and put ourselves up on a pedestal. Sure there is depression when one may feel worthless, but this is just a converse example: we only feel worthless because we picture ourselves on a pedestal, which doesn't exist, so we aren't on it.
It really is painful, maybe the only reason we feel pain besides, in someway shape or form running our body's into something harder than us. Nearly every person thinks of themselves as important in some way, I guess it is a normal (don't argue the definition, i don't even know what it means...) course of matters, it is easy to become the epicenter of our own little universe and put ourselves up on a pedestal. Sure there is depression when one may feel worthless, but this is just a converse example: we only feel worthless because we picture ourselves on a pedestal, which doesn't exist, so we aren't on it.
Where I first heard the importance of losing self-importance
My yoga teacher told me to have no expectations. The feeling of self-importance seems to be an ego driven expectation of how others should treat us and what we should be capable of. Which of course leads to a perpetual let down; The feeling of anger because one does not get the treatement he/she deserves; Sorrow because others don't care for us as they "should." And on and on, I am certain I do not grasp all of the ways my ungodly importance affects my life.
Well I guess I am done talking about things I don't understand, and I am going to resume worrying about how I am going to build my self-image tomorrow, feel bad because no one returns my calls, and mope about the standard of living I wish I had. Why ME? Why ME of all people!!
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