Author: Philo

human

Less Traveled

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Don’t fall for the cheap trinkets and shiny toys sold by society. Look away from the flashing lights and screens that inundate us. Raise yourself above the noise of the masses and their masters. Take the path less traveled, the forgotten trails, and spend your time in the “wastelands” where progress has turned its back; where brick and mortar grow and the soul dies. Where entertainment reigns and imagination is forgotten.

Be human. Be imperfect. Be a person, not a commodity, bought and sold by corporate lies and grandiose promises. Turn your back and walk away. Save yourself. None of their lies and promises are worth it. Don’t trust the empty eyes of those who have bought the ticket for cheap thrills and trick mirrors.

Turn off the social spigot, the pop parodies, and look for green spaces and dark nights and a silent home. Do not lose yourself in the shallow, shameful pools of progress made to order.

Chance

Life is a chance that we must take, otherwise we are only survivors. There are dangers, that’s how life is. And to live life, to live as if there aren’t dangers inherent is foolish. The bubble you build will eventually break.

That being said: don’t back down from danger. Stare it in the eye, push fate and smile as you stare over the edge. Don’t wait for the bubble to break, pop it! Do not let those who have not lived tell you how to do so.

Life like passion demands dangers; it demands taking chances. Life will take from you but so will the lies handed to you by those who live safely. Don’t be careful, but be smart. Take chances but know that failure is always an option. 

Go on adventures but know that they will have hardships and will often end in surprisingly disappointing ways. Life is full of hardships and we all will die. Life is full of surprises but don’t let the end of your life be a surprise. Go towards it with a smile on your face as you look for your next adventure.

Bored

Do not be bored. Do what needs to be done. Do not fill up days with busying yourself until it is time to eat or sleep. This is sloth. Look around and figure out where you are most needed, what is most needed.

You are needed! Don’t doubt that, but it is not in that vague, feel-good way. You are needed and if you are bored there are at least two reason for it. You have time and energy, or you are not challenged. If either of these are the case then you need change.

Change your activity or lack thereof or change your purpose. Work is not a remedy. Work ought to be your life, your love. Your life is your work and if you are bored there is something wrong, and a way to change it.

It is up to you to do it; if nothing else change that fact. And to do something about it you must do what is needed. The very least thing we can do is to meet a need, ours or the need of someone else. The very worst thing we can do is to be bored.

The Corporaty

The continued corporatization of communication is the continued degradation of language. Corporate lingoism is a lie that as corporations become more formidable, becomes more accepted and normalized.

“Sharing” is distributing memos. And people that we work with are not necessarily “family”. Simply because something is “above [your] pay grade” does not mean that it is not your responsibility. We make goals, not “action items”. 

And we do not work in terms of “bandwidth”. We are too busy or not interested. We do not have “brain dumps” but we can be creative. The only silos that need “breaking down” are agricultural, not corporate. People cannot be guaged based on “core competencies”. Consequences, outcomes, quality of work are matter and are usually a product of an individual or group of individuals that have worked together.

Corporate language turns to corporate communities of lingoism and lies. Corporations are organizations created to make money, and nothing else. Most of the time they do so by breaking or bending rules. To allow the corparaty to reign is to lose the ability to communicate in any real manner.

To Be Great

To be great takes a few simple things that each of us are capable of. But first we must ask ourselves if it is worth the time, the pain, the heartache, the cost. The cost of being great is extremely high and it is a serious question whether or not to pursue greatness.

First, greatness takes passion. This is easy enough. One must have a love for what you want to be great at. Such passion comes naturally at first but becomes much more difficult with time.

Secondly, one must be willing to give it all or most of the time that one has. Most, if not all, other endeavors and people must be put aside in pursuit of greatness. And this must be done consistently. Passion over time, applied consistency is the path to greatness.

Third, you must be consistent in your pursuit of greatness. There is no place to waiver and there is no place for change. A single mindedness is key to becoming great.

There is no guarantee that greatness will be achieved, and if you are great you will never know.

Civility

No matter how much we may try we will run across people that we do not like. There are probably many reasons for this, but no matter how much you might believe that it is your duty to be liked or like, it is not. Lying about it will only last so long. All facades fail eventually.

It is better to embrace the truth. Face the reason(s) head on. Be honest with yourself, and if necessary with the person that you do not care for. Nothing new may come of it. Nothing may change, there is a chance of that, but truth can provide some comfort.

What is important is civility. Civility does not require us to like everyone or even most people. It does require us to be courteous, it may require us to minimize the time spent with these people. But no matter: be courteous, be polite, but be honest.

Civilization is not based upon amiability but it is based upon common courtesy.

Gunpoint

“You can’t build a nation at gunpoint”

War is waged by people in suits who peruse accounts and numbers, statistics and costs, benefits, namely their own. A person is nothing more than a numerical figure to such people. A figure that can be added or subtracted. 

Their world is one of illusion and reality mixed seamlessly. To them there is the 1% and then there are the 0%, the rest. Their’s is a zero sum game. Their desires are there own, for themselves, and at all costs.

These people are human but they are not humane. The are mortal but have gods on their sides. For every generation has its suits and seamless integration of engineers and accountants. These are not the movers nor are they the shakers.

They are the destroyers. They are the ones who piss in their pants to stay warm. And no matter how much you say, no matter how much you try to make them understand, they will not. They cannot. Because theirs is the world of numbers and probabilities. There is no winning. There is only more, or there is less.

And on their side of the table are those who believe that wars are winnable.

Two Wheels and a Tent

The third travel book, Two wheels and a Tent is now out on Amazon and other distributors. It is available in eBook, print and audio form. 

Mark and his Suzuki DL 650 that he calls “Mabel” love adventure. This is a collection of some of the
adventures that they have shared. Like most motorcyclists, a certain relationship develops with the motorcycle; Mabel and Mark trust each other. As they have found out on many occasions adventures are those things that happen to plans and sometimes you need someone you can trust. These are some of those stories.

“Mabel and I have had our fun and our difficulties. Both she and I are getting up there in years but I like to think that both of us have a few more thousand miles in us. I know that when I get back from a long tour and park Mabel it’s not long before I’m thinking of my next adventure, and I think I can hear Mabel thinking about the same thing.”

Logic

Logic will not save us but it is not because it cannot. It is unfortunate that logic cannot save us because as civilizations are built upon the shoulders of giants they are destroyed by the hands of fools

The fools among us turn their crooked backs on logic and cut the branch upon which they sit. Those who do not put a price on logic are those who do not put a price on anything of value. At best they are stupid and at worst they are liars and cheats.

Those that dismiss logic are those that dismiss the importance of not only being and doing good but of their own potential, their very lives; and perhaps most importantly, they dismiss those that do.

Some Aphorisms

To be a master you must feel like a novice.

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Don’t dumb down the divine

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Ignorance is a challenge; stupidity a choice

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Happiness is not constant pleasure; nor is it unending progress

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Fear is a hammer. It can be a useful tool or a violent weapon

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There is no purpose, only process. There is no point but only progress

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Time knows that it is all there is

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Know what is necessary and take the rest in stride

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It is not that we let loose. It is that we don’t tighten up again

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Laziness is not a virtue. Popularity is not a talent

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The drive to be better at the cost of everything else is an empty bargain with the devil