Have you ever noticed the ants in your garden? They never stop working and working — constantly checking and touching and smelling and probing. They undoubtedly demonstrate what the concept of labor truly means. They work for freedom, for food, and for their little society. In our culture, however, we have come to demonize the concept of toil. It is something that must be undertaken, much like any inane activity, just because everyone else does — but rather reluctantly. It is not thought of in the same vein as a pleasurable evening with friends and family or a trip abroad. It is work, after all.
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You don’t have to ever grow old
Why do we get old? We don’t, it is quite literally up to me and my perception of the world, my state of consciousness. Most certainly, my body will age with time. I will physically advance in years. But the mind if I want will stay young, curious, and vibrant. For the youth of today, there will be no old age in the traditional sense. The conventional idea is that you are slowly worn out by work, like an old machine, you retire, have some fleeting moments of joy, and you die. Potentially, for the post-Millennials, due to modern medical advances, there will only be life and more life. This is the ideal, unfortunately.
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Worry
Why do we worry? This is, undoubtedly, the favorite human pastime. It is the mental sport that we most indulge in. But, what didoes our grandmother say? “Worry is like a rocking chair, it passes the time, but gets you nowhere.” This old proverb is true. Worry is pointless, but we still do it, don’t we? What is worry? Essentially, it is a concern for what has already passed or fear of events in the future. What links the two tentacles of worry is that neither can truly be controlled. In the case of the past, this is relatively easy because time has slipped away. It is retained in our memory and worked and reworked — mentally masticated and suffered. But, it cannot be changed no matter how much one would like to see a different outcome.
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Thanks
I recently came upon a major accident on a city street. This was more serious than most; the head of the scooter driver had struck the window of the car, which had subsequently shattered. He lay prostrate, unconscious, on the road, as the emergency personnel attended to him. The scene seemed to pass in slow motion with no one unduly panicked or concerned. They were efficiently doing their job.
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How do I stay positive in a negative world?
This is the modern day dilemma, I posit, for every thinking human being. We are smothered in waves of negativity. How do I live that positive life we hear so much about? It is to be noted that there is no optimistic or cynical reality. Life is what it is — a series of incidents unfolding in time. What is true, however, is that I fully “color” my consciousness. What I see is. My worldview is the net sum of me.
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Create a colorful life
The pandemic has seriously limited our opportunity to interact with others. Life has lost its color! The interplay provided by the computer screen is simply not enough. I have often heard this complaint touted. An endless cycle in human history: intense periods of joy and excitement — or, perhaps, pain and suffering — and then nothing, a type of societal fatigue. It is a concomitant period after wars, plagues, or environmental catastrophes. (1) The danger is that a type of human cancer can creep into this pause — this lack of direction in history — as we saw in Germany after World War One and in Russia after the Russian Revolution. (2)
These were external factors, however, to the average individual. “I was swept up in the tide of history,” to paraphrase Brutus. (3) This is no longer the case. Now, that we have the ultimate in human connectivity, the Internet, we can no longer blame our boredom on elements outside our authority. “My reality is my fault” rings hollow, but it is the truth. We experience ennui because the collective we, as individuals, cannot naturally stimulate our consciousness into a state of joy. This requires effort and thought — prayer and mindfulness. It demands critical thinking.
Many do not want to undertake this self-study, unfortunately. To avoid this introspective work, we are altering our perception of reality with more drugs and alcohol than ever before. (4) We cannot take the stress — poor babies! The healthiest and wealthiest population in human history, living in the best of times, and we are bored. (5) It would be funny and ironic if it wasn’t tragic. An over abundance of data has brought us to a state of mental overload. I can, for example, have hundreds of channels on my television. (6)
So, what can I do to return color to my life? I must get to work! Initially, I must stop and truly believe that I am in control of my reality, the world that I occupy. It is not mentally further than my jurisdiction. In turn, becoming more observant of the physical world is a requirement: its flora, fauna and human beings. Life is extremely interesting. We just need to stand back and use our curiosity. It begins with a quiet walk in a park or a stroll in the mountains. Many venerable sages suggest taking our shoes off if possible and feeling the ground or the grass. When we do this, two things come to the forefront: connectivity, my appreciation of time and my place in it; and secondly, the realization that I am in charge of my gift of imagination — I am only limited by my own power to dream. Then, color will flood into my life. The philosopher, writer and conservationist, Ralph Waldo Emerson,(7) leaves us with a thought : Nature always wears the colors of the spirit.
A closing thought: We are subjected to so much noise that it is hard to find peace and the time to reflect. But to grow, we have no choice. Jim Kwik (8) tells us to not look at our phone for the first two hours of every day. Use this time to exercise, meditate and write in your notebook: increase the connectivity with your self. The alternative is the blankness you see emanating from most people. I am sure this is not want you want. But sadly, only I can start my journey. I must begin individually if I want to help the people that I love collectively.
To sum up: This week, we spoke about adding color to our life and encouraging others to be positive, as well.
To be noted: From Edvard Munch (9) — To be a painter, one must work with rays of light
Just for fun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypJDXayM5FM
For reflection: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jremlZvNDuk&ab_channel=BigThink
This week, on your reflective walk, please ponder how you can bring color into your life.
Every day look for something magical and beautiful.
Don’t be a wage slave – critical thinking is great!
Quote: I am a novel only needing to be opened and read.
Footnotes:
1) Rebuilding the world after the second world war
2) Chaos In The Aftermath Of World War One: The German Revolution: 1918-1919
3) Julius Caesar RSC Theatre Production [FULL PLAY]
4) U.S. death rates from suicides, alcohol and drug overdoses reach all-time high
5) Proof that life is getting better for humanity, in 5 charts
7) LITERATURE – Ralph Waldo Emerson
I am a disappointment to my parents
I was a disappointment to my parents, my father more specifically. This changed when I was much, much older, but it took a long time. I grew up in an isolated village just after World War II. The era was still heavy with the suffering and responsibility of the previous epoch. The war years had infused the time with a fear of the future, a fear of the unknown. The worldwide conflict had brought so many “firsts” forward: first in military aggression, first in physical destruction, and first in incomprehensible immorality, to name but a few. (1)
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I have my own path
Many parents try to direct their children onto a given life path. This is usually not done out of family vanity or societal positioning. It is done out of safety or, as I like to think, out of fear for their offspring’s well-being. It is an understood fact that the majority of modern human beings have no goals whatsoever. (1) Parents feel that it is incumbent on them to aspire to do something in this regard. The attempt, rather sadly, is usually pointless because I must discover my own path.
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What if I don’t love myself?
Whenever you deal with a class of young people, you often hear language that is very self-deprecating: I am not very smart; I am fat; I am ugly; My language is very poor, to name but a few. I always caution that those ideas are your own. They are not necessarily how I see you nor does anyone else, for that matter. Beauty, intelligence, ugliness, laziness, and stupidity are all concepts that we adopt quite needlessly. Today in the Internet Age, there are so many images to compare ourselves to that it is difficult to develop one’s own concept of the self — of self-love.
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Can I catch your eye?
It is a curious thing — we are all isolated in our own thoughts. I look across the room and see you. How can I “catch your eye?” It is not easy. Aristotle (384-322 BC) along with many philosophers and thinkers, intimates that “The eyes are the windows to the soul.” (1) That said, if you misunderstand my gaze, there is virtually nothing I can do. How then do I make that journey from the self to invite the other into my world of kindness and understanding? With some caution, we are told. Studies tell us that we form a conception of the other individual within just seconds of our initial introduction. (2) The way I present myself, my personal brand, (3) goes a long way in determining whether you are encouraged to continue to chat with me or not.
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