I'm going soft.
I once lived with a guy named Mouhammed Abu Asakar. He was from Gaza, Palestine. The way he talked about world peace, you'd think it was tangible, like bread. He believed in peace because he knew the terror of war. This guy was truly dedicated to a peaceful society in the Isreali-Palestinian region.
Can you imagine being dedicated to a peaceful world? Or having a Department of Peace alongside a Department of War?
I, and other people I know, have been so caught in the pervasive misnomers of our society. Ideas like anything can sold (or if it can't be sold, you can buy something to get it) or that we are in competition of production/consumption with our neighbors. We get hooked onto ideas that are empty. We are marketed to with symbols on a daily basis.
The supermarket is a big obvious one. I'm simultaneously terrified and curious to think about how products are marketed, who they are being marketed to, what the buyer perceives they are buying, and what the products themselves actually are. What is the marginal value of buying an additional jar now of peanut butter for $0.35 less as opposed to having the free space and ensuing peace of mind? Is free space worth $0.35? Why do I have these thoughts? Why do I need to have these thoughts?
I think similarly in terms of sex...What is the marginal value of adding another lover now when really what I desire is spiritual awakening? (now there's a conundrum [not the lover, the desire])
Ultimately, I've decided to renounce the lot. Fuck desire! Fuck sex! Fuck anything people think they can use to get me to do something for them! From now on, I will try to think freely and do for people what I feel is important. I vote with my actions. I vote with what I buy. This fucked-up polity we call a country is still a democracy and, in this day and age, democracy is a subversive act.
Time to embrace the world and what I believe. Time to look my neighbor in the eye and say "Even though you don't realize it, we are interrelated and you are my brother." It's time to look at the world with compassionate eyes. The time is now to stop oppressing animals and, moreover, ourselves. We are animals.
I once lived with a guy named Mouhammed Abu Asakar. He was from Gaza, Palestine. The way he talked about world peace, you'd think it was tangible, like bread. He believed in peace because he knew the terror of war. This guy was truly dedicated to a peaceful society in the Isreali-Palestinian region.
Can you imagine being dedicated to a peaceful world? Or having a Department of Peace alongside a Department of War?
I, and other people I know, have been so caught in the pervasive misnomers of our society. Ideas like anything can sold (or if it can't be sold, you can buy something to get it) or that we are in competition of production/consumption with our neighbors. We get hooked onto ideas that are empty. We are marketed to with symbols on a daily basis.
The supermarket is a big obvious one. I'm simultaneously terrified and curious to think about how products are marketed, who they are being marketed to, what the buyer perceives they are buying, and what the products themselves actually are. What is the marginal value of buying an additional jar now of peanut butter for $0.35 less as opposed to having the free space and ensuing peace of mind? Is free space worth $0.35? Why do I have these thoughts? Why do I need to have these thoughts?
I think similarly in terms of sex...What is the marginal value of adding another lover now when really what I desire is spiritual awakening? (now there's a conundrum [not the lover, the desire])
Ultimately, I've decided to renounce the lot. Fuck desire! Fuck sex! Fuck anything people think they can use to get me to do something for them! From now on, I will try to think freely and do for people what I feel is important. I vote with my actions. I vote with what I buy. This fucked-up polity we call a country is still a democracy and, in this day and age, democracy is a subversive act.
Time to embrace the world and what I believe. Time to look my neighbor in the eye and say "Even though you don't realize it, we are interrelated and you are my brother." It's time to look at the world with compassionate eyes. The time is now to stop oppressing animals and, moreover, ourselves. We are animals.
The problem is that I feel too many people want an easy ride but are unwilling to see what facilitates that ride.
The answer of course is that their easy ride is facilitated by other people's suffering.
Unfortunately this is as much how democracy works as any other system of government.
If everybody was to realise how capilatism works (IE through oppression of those less well off (generally overseas) and maniupulation of consumers) it would quickly die and be replaced by a better system.
But people like capitalism because it removes the guilt clause by dressing it up as something it isn't.
Its run on desire rather than fear and unlike fear, desire is a tough nut to crack.
Wish I knew the solution. Everyone becoming monks?