life

Some Aspirations and Ideas

When everything else falls away look for where it is you are standing. There is always a somewhere and a something.

Can you move? Then do so. Is there a difference? Then make it. If it is true that life is an empty glass. Fill it or not.

Don’t listen to fools. Dismiss them, even if the world bows before their tripe. Rise above and be alone if that is what it takes.

To search for beauty begins with knowing what you search for. First, there is the fleeting and insubstantial, and then there is the Truthful. The one a woman who grows old and the other a smiling goddess.

An empty heart will sometimes stand still and wait. And sometimes it will search for something to love. It is not fickle; we are dismissive.

When you have nothing to say or to write. Listen. If it is silent, enjoy it.

Twilight

The twilight of our civilization is in the shiny screens we spend our days staring at. We slowly leak out the only good we’ve ever had into the abyss of 1’s and 0’s. We pride ourselves on the achievements of others, others who are blinded by their own genius and justify their chores by dismissing the truth.

They understand so Much and so little. And the money-crunchers look to god in thanks as they destroy his creation. And a pitiful life is lived for a pittance. And the only thing that is valued is passed around like a cheap whore. And we live the lie of independence and truth. And we sell our children for the pleasure of one more minute, just one more second of self-congratulatory destruction.

All because we have bought a lie and do not care.

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.

Age

It is a peculiar thing, age. In some ways clarifying, opening unseen pages of a book that we have forgotten. And in some ways oppressive, sucking the life-energy, the blood from our veins.

How we think about age matters long before we grow old.

In those years before age we talk of the past in terms of years and then decades, not often thinking of ourselves as young or old. We simply are, and this is good. But it would behoove us in our impetuous years to consider our own age then, and in the future.

When we are young we create our older selves.

Age comes upon us quietly and shrouds us in doubt and apathy, in fear and pain. Unmotivated to act we must draw upon our younger selves. Those times when we knew what we were capable of. When we are old we need to know our limitations. It is a different side of the same coin.

So if we know our limitations, and strive to know what we are capable of the child within will never really go away. We can live comfortably knowing we are old but believing we are young.

We can spend our old age playing like children.

Entropy

Entropy is a one-way street

Think about entropy seriously. Consider what it means and try to press yourself to understand the implications. It is important. It is the measure by which everything else is judged.

There is a god and it is entropy. but unlike the deistic myth, entropy does not wish to be nor does it need to be worshiped. Entropy is a cold fact. It is blind not because it cannot see but because that is its natural state. Darkness, endless, unconscious, void of all those things we have, and will lose.

Nothing we do; nothing we say or think, or feel, or believe, or wish, or want, or pray for, or understand, or beg for will change this. We are powerless and it is infinitely powerful. Entropy is unequivocal; it is unbending, and it is inevitable.

It is the meaningless driver of all things it knows nothing of. It is a cold fact that cares not to be understood. we must bow down to it but we can do it with a smile if we so choose.

Bow to no king or flag or god and accept that fate is a natural illusion.

Choose Life Carefully

Choose your life carefully. It takes time. You will make mistakes and you will have regrets. You will laugh and you will cry. And sickness will come, and sometimes it will pass. These are all steps on a staircase. These are all moments which become memories.

There are always compromises that whittle away at the best of intentions.

They too will come and go. And what we are left with is the moment. And in that moment we will relive those memories and look for new memories to make. Do this consciously. Do not count your days or waste your time. Do not give your self up easily to ease and comfort.

Resist much. Obey little.

Do the best you can. Always look to learn. Be curious. Smile when you can. Know who to take seriously and what to dismiss. Do not sell yourself or the world short. Make instead of buy. Keep instead of sell. Experience instead of watch. Let the batteries run down.

“It is not as much what you are doing but how you are doing it.” (Epictetus)

And one day we will die. Mortality is the future for all. Do not forget this, but live in peace knowing this. Do not wish for fantasies. Do not believe otherwise. And one day, hopefully in the mountains, you can watch the sun set and the cold mountain air surround you.

Poetry

-Truth is like poetry, and everybody fucking hates poetry

Introduction

There is a story that once, in a bar in Washington D.C, a politician was overheard discussing the concept of truth with someone at his table.  His response was, “Truth is like poetry, and everybody fucking hates poetry.”  I found this to be at once intriguingly disturbing and true at the same time.  Truth is a funny thing, no doubt. 

As I sat and contemplated this odd and seeming truth, I thought of my own definition of Truth: truth is the measurement of the quality of the relationship between the idea of a thing and the thing itself.  I found that the two statements were more related than I at first thought.  And so the idea of writing about issues that are facts and suggested solutions came to mind.

In the coming months I hope to present a problem and a solution to some of the problems that we face as human beings, some of which are rarely discussed and some of which are openly discussed.  Critical comments are welcomed, but I consider this a philosophical practice.  With that in mind, I hope those few that read this post enjoy the endeavor, even if they “fucking hate poetry”.

The Cowboy

The cowboy’s life is sometimes a hard one. He stays up night worrying about the days.

And when the light comes over the horizon he promises himself to mend his ways.

And the years roll by like the highway beneath him and he knows he’s been trying to hide.

Hide from the truth that life is mistreating and it’ll beat you down until you cry.

He’s been taught that crying is wrong and he’s been told to lie is a sin.

He believes that there’s someone somewhere who will on day understand just where he’s been.

The cowboy knows that time is sacred and he knows that life is short.

The cowboy feels each heart that’s broken and he cries a tear.

So if your a cowboy that tired of fighting and you feel that life has let you down.

Find a road that leads you somewhere and wait for the good to come back around.

Because life’s not fair for the cowboy but life doesn’t care who you are.

Life goes on for the cowboy, but he never knows just how far.

The Other Day

The other day I woke up and thought about what I had done with the past year. What had I filled my time with, and what had I taken time to do? One more year had passed and although the endless parade of days will continue, my days are numbered. The days that we take for granted are days wasted. The days that we do not choose are days that are chosen for us. What is so important today that I cannot take the time to do something memorable?

Every day is a chance to change, to experience, to remember that today means nothing in the grand scheme of things, but that today means everything to you and me. It could be that one that I decide to follow a dream, to take a chance, to stop taking what I’ve got for granted or to leave something behind for good. It could be the one that I decide to push my limits, or to read a book. Perhaps it is the day that I pack the bag and head off on an adventure? Whatever today is it will pass and be gone, wasted or not, lived or ignored.

Days are endless and arbitrary. They are meaningless chunks of possibility that we can let pass us by or capture and create meaning if just a moment at a time. “What will I do with today?” can be the most demanding question, the most important question that we ask ourselves. At the very least it deserves a thoughtful answer because he quality of our lives depend upon the answers we give. Because one more year will pass and although the endless parade of days will continue, our days are numbered. The days that we take for granted will be days wasted. The days that we do not choose are days that will be chosen for us and we will be left standing and wondering what we did the other day.

Looking Up

It is within the annals of history that we can learn the underlying issues of the day. The unforgivable sin of unwarranted opinions held true and unquestioned; the absolutism of religious fear, arrogance and stupidity. Human beings have beliefs about their world, yes, but to force upon the world those beliefs is a human failure, a frailty of mind.

To argue against Truth is to cut off the very branch we sit upon. To insist upon respect unearned is to disrespect any act, any thought worthy of being respectful. To rely upon rhetoric over rationality is to be a liar and a thief, and to hide behind the guise of honesty for the sake of profit is to undermine the civility of any society.

There are freedoms and there are limitations, and these are not set in stone but are not easily moved once set by the forces of nature. The only way, the only viable path is to recognize the failures and mistakes that we and our forefathers have made. We humans are proud and arrogant, but we are also curious if only we would allow ourselves that magical perspective of wonder and surprise.

As Plato showed us, we are shackled in a cave and watch as prancing shadows amuse us, numbing us to our slavery, the ignorance and easiness that those that would enslave us rely upon for their own power, being blind as they are and lacking any foresight. The sun is shining bright if we only look up once in a while.