question...

who's going to consume after the consumers lose all of which they consume with?

Thought provoking ideas

I was having a conversation with one of my close friends, and a few things were discussed. I think a couple of those are worth sharing with the blogosphere, so dig these questions and tell me what you think:

1. Why hasn't there been an insurance company that actually cares about the people that support it? Would it not be good business that if a person has been keeping up with their insurance payments and has no accidents at the end of the year, they should get some sort of stipend?

2. In order to get more parents to become involved in helping their children in school, should not parents whose children are exceling in school should get a stipend for their children performing well?

It's just a couple questions. If you come by the page don't just leave and not say anything. I want to know what you think. Personally I think that the insurance systems nowadays are glorified scams, but hey...this ain't about me. Let me know what you think...

Societal Ills

The more I observe my external world and more specifically the society in which I participate the less I buy into the ideas that society holds as its standards. And I've probably written about this before, but I seem to keep coming back around to this discussion with myself. I take note of what our society holds as successes and things to strive for, and aside from being unimpressed I'm mostly just disappointed that it cannot be better.

We are participants in a system that bombards you with endless consumption in a finite world. I see advertisements cleverly aimed at making the human feel that a certain product can make you feel a certain way and you won't be the person that you want to be unless you own that product. I see a system that rewards flashing lights and glittery objects instead of encouraging self development and critical thought. I see a system loaded with contradictions, and an expectation to accept whatever is plopped in front of us. And each time I notice a flaw, or one of those contradictions I lose a little more faith and laugh a little bit harder.

I laugh because that is the only reaction that won't depress me. It would be easy to look at things and be sad because for the most part it is a sad world. For instance there are people hungry all over the world, but there's a show on the tv box and its main point is to see how much food can be eaten in the least amount of time. On this same tv box there are "judges" who get paid millions of dollars to deliberate cases, but the teachers that taught them how to read those cases earn only a percentage of what they make. I see the government, that I pay my taxes to, not just start wars in which I have no say but also funding both sides of the war.

And this same society wants to dictate to me how it is acceptable to dress, talk and act...why do I have to break my neck to be at a specific place, almost daily, at a certain point during the earth's rotation (time)? Why is it that wearing certain garments are acceptable in certain places and without these garments I won't be accepted to do the work I would need to do to live?

Civilization...at this point it is almost a monument to itself, with all of the buildings and businesses that we have built. The technology that we have raised and the discoveries about ourselves and our universe that we have made, while still up for debate (because I think past civilizations were aware of somethings that we have lost), show the leaps and bounds of human thinking. But somewhere along the way, I think that we started taking ourselves too seriously. We lost the essence of our nature and traded it in for what?

"They tell me I need a 9 to 5, I need to trade my jeans in for some slacks and my t-shirt for a suit jacket. They tell me I need to buy a car and get a mortgage. But why would I trade in all that makes me happy for a chance to clock-watch and wait for the weekends. I don't know about you, but I live for now. The future will happen when now comes, so the best that you can do is live, let it happen and enjoy it. Most of all, don't let the society around you dictate what is good for you. Stop being a human doing, and be a human just being."

Why Isn't Poison Ivy Illegal?

I was having a conversation with my brother in our back yard and as we were talking I was noticing the plant life that was creeping up our handrail. I had noted that a couple weeks ago I had pulled a lot off revealing about half of the rail, and here we were about two weeks later and it had already crept back up the full length again. I started going on and on about how if I had a weed whacker I would be able to take it all the way down and so on. But just that idea of me trying to control that plant life made me re-assess what I thought about control.
 
We as humans have a silly way to try to be in control of things, but in reality we have no more control over things than the earth has control of the sun. For instance, we thought we were in control when we were drilling for oil, until it started spilling for like three months straight. That event to me should be enough to wake people up to the fact that even those that have the money, power and commodities don't know what they are doing. We try to control nature, even though nature strong-arms us all the time (ever seen grass come up through concrete...that's nature giving us the finger). We try to control other animals (ask Siegfried and Roy how that went). We even try to control other humans, but we do a good job there (ever sat at a red light at three in the morning till it turned green?).

And with all these silly rules and processes that we implicate, I think that we lose some of the humanity, which for example is how you get cops who will follow a process instead of using common sense that could be telling you that there is a better way to do something. But as I get older and observe more, as I make new connections, and remember more, I start to find that I'm not buying the bulls#@t that society is trying to sell me. This is in regards to society dictating what "success" is, or what we have to look like or even sound like. Or how society thinks you should be educated, which is bull because you are exchanging goo-gobs of money for a piece of paper, and you aren't even guaranteed that you'll make the money that you spent, back.

Sot the question that I have is...What if you don't want to participate anymore? I know some of you are thinking, but you have to. You live on American soil. You are enjoying the freedoms of being here. Ok, well first, it's just soil, not American soil. I do believe that there were indigenous people here that populated the area  before settlers "discovered" this land. And B, we are all participating in a society propped up by lies anyway. I think I have just come to the point that I'm tired of being deceived. I think that there should be some sort of "opt out" option. Simply because I think that I and a great majority of other humans would be more productive if instead of being an American, or black, or democrat, I was considered a human first.

Question to anyone that reads this post.

I want to see what you all think. A great question from a great question asker (if there is such a thing). What is the good life?

Out of balance?

I look around and I observe what is going on. Some of the things that I observe, with respect to what I'm discussing, are greed, over-indulgence, obesity, addiction, fundamentalism, and ignorance just to name some. And the question that comes to mind is...why?

I say why because, we have reminders everywhere that enlighten us to the fact that things are not supposed to be that way. What am I talking about you ask? Well here think about this: there are reminders of balance everywhere that we look. Nature tells us that balance is a unforgettable part of existence. For instance physics tells us that every action has an equal but opposite reaction. Chemistry tells us that an equation is not completed until both sides of the chemical reaction are balanced. Mathematics also tells us that each side of each mathematical equation must be balanced before we are done solving for the variable. The waves that we perceive everyday are products of balance as well for there could not be a crest without a valley. Another example, and I'm sure you've seen it, is the yen and the yang. Even the "scales of justice" are supposed to be balanced.

But sadly, this is not the life that the human being seeks. We consume and don't think about how much we consume, or where the products come from, or even where they go when we throw them away. We cut down trees, which are the lungs of the planet and complete the CO2 cycle (that should be a clear example, trees breathe in what we breathe out and vice versa). Even the civilizations before us knew that you were to use as much of what you were using as possible and you honored the earth that way.

Now I'm not saying that we should all be tree huggers and vegetarians, because I like my steaks just as much as the next guy, but I think it would do well for us to come to the understanding that the way life is, is not the way it is supposed to be. Why is society digressing instead of progressing; is it really supposed to be that way? And maybe when we accept the fact that we're being screwed from all sides, we will be able to start working, at least to turn ourselves in the direction that we need to go.

A True Constant

It's weird using a blog, because you start to wonder should I write this on the web or should I put it in my notebook. The way I see it, the two are not interchangeable. Some things I put in my book will probably never make it too the web simply because the web isn't worthy...kidding. In actuality it's more like somethings that come out of my mind are better when they are just for my personal growth and not necessarily for people outside of myself, but if I find something that would be beneficial, why not share it with the world. Besides, not everyone will read it, and not everyone will absorb it, and those that do read will analyze then weigh it to see if it fits their philosophical operation or not.

All that being said, I seem to have a knack for finding employment that is very much interesting, and I always use my employment as a way to learn something or gain a new observation (I think that should be the goal for anything, there's always a new perspective to gain). But I have had the good fortune to be able to watch people. They bob about from their office buildings to the places where they eat lunch. And they have to eat their lunches within a required time frame (gotta be back to work within the lunch hour). But it makes me ask, "How oblivious are these people? What would happen if there was an event that changed everything? How open would they be to change?" I've heard it before, and maybe you have to, that humans are creatures of habit. We settle into our little patterns and that's how we like things to stay, and when something changes or threatens to change that pattern somebody has got to answer.And I remember coming across a quote: "It is not the strongest nor the fastest that survive, but the ones most adaptable to change."

How willing would we be to change what we think is the best life that there is to offer. Better yet, how open are we to accept that this is not the best life that there is to offer. I think people know that, deep down, but the question I want to ask is how willing are we to accept that that is the case. The fact of the matter is, things aren't going to stay the same and they shouldn't.

We also can't go back to the "simplicity" of the "good-ole-days". I think it's time we embrace our evolution and come to grips with the fact that the only thing that is and can ever be constant is change. Then maybe we can get to work really making things better.

A thought...

On a planet that is the result of what happens when things occur the way they do, I am glad to be here existing against the odds. I am the expression of the universe trying to figure itself out through objective/subjective experience/consciousness. It's an extraordinary honor to be able to have said that I lived, when there are so many others that could have, but didn't. I am glad to be...peace and love.

Cologne and Classical Music

I don't subscribe to horoscopes. I don't fit in boxes. I can't be described. I purposely don't do things the right way, sometimes I don't do them at all. I don't grasp laws. I don't judge...because when it comes down to it, who am I to do so. I do work. I pay the toll to exist in society, although sometimes I don't see what the point is, especially when society is terribly confused. I wear a watch, but I'm not always on time...who decided that we have to live by the clock anyways?

What I do do (*chuckle* doo-doo), is exist. I was born, I grew up and I exist. I constantly perceive the world around me. Sometimes I'm impressed, often times I'm not...especially when I find myself observing my fellow human beings. I don't watch the news, I don't really watch tv, for it can be the source of much frustration, fear, dismay, fright, anger (I could go on, but you can fill in the blanks). But when I do watch tv it's mostly just for the cartoons and comedies. I definitely don't watch the news (especially when they started using TMZ in some of their segments); is that really part of the "news"?

I don't subscribe to the stardoms and fanfare, e.g.: the royal wedding...really...really?

I sometimes wonder when I look around at everything, is this the best that we can do? For us to be fallen angels, or god's creations, you'd think we'd hold ourselves and each other to better standards, but who am I to say. In my eyes we are all primates, trying to figure it out. Some of us think we control things. We think that with all of our money and shares in the market, we are better than others but in reality, those people are the same as everyone else...organisms in an environment, just trying to live (I think I've heard or seen that somewhere before).

It's amazing though. Sometimes something comes across my perceptive field that makes a new neural connection. It could be a new solar system that scientists have found, or a discovery about the way that something works, like fire. Do you have any idea what fire is on the molecular level? Ponder it, think about it, concentrate on it, or just google it...you may be surprised with the results. Or maybe you won't be. But when I think about the beauty that goes on, that is hidden from the human eye, it makes me cower in prostration (I think that word fits there). It will make you want to behold nature in all it's gloriousness. I will be forever impressed.

But in the meantime, all I can do is exist. I let the curiosity of just wanting to know what's next fuel me to keep existing. To keep perceiving, and most importantly (at least to me), to keep learning, because that's what it's all about...isn't it?

Rambling

I once thought that I thought too much, then I realized I was only thinking about what I was thinking about so I could figure out what I know that I know :)