To sparkle means to shine brightly with flashes of light: my life should be a display of this metaphor, should it not? The BBC news and the media, in general, would suggest that few, if any, achieve this state, however. There has always been a surfeit of literature on the human condition and its perennial state of angst and suffering. “One third, more or less, of all the sorrow, that the person I think I am must endure is unavoidable. It is the sorrow inherent in the human condition, the price we must pay for being sentient and self-conscious organisms, aspirants to liberation, but subject to the laws of nature and under orders to keep on marching, through irreversible time, through a world wholly indifferent to our well-being, toward decrepitude and the certainty of death. The remaining two-thirds of all sorrow is homemade and, so far as the universe is concerned, unnecessary.” (1) Any look in another’s eyes at a stoplight would only reinforce this belief. But does this have to be so? I believe not. Yes, we need a full range of emotions to be truly human. In spite of this, happiness, peace, love, and curiosity are our natural bedfellows. We need but one essential element.
Anthropomorphism: should it be simply dismissed?
The birds, bats, bees and bugs that occupy our world are seemingly oblivious to us. They are but a part of a much larger animal kingdom. We exist in bizarre parallel time warps. When we as humans are forced to interact with that ethereal sovereignty, the consequences are usually unpleasant (and often fatal) for the non-human life forms, that is. Think of the last time you killed a cockroach or a mosquito. In truth, we have little to no respect for anything outside our limited field of consciousness: that includes people, as well — but, we will speak to that next week. How am I going to be a citizen of Planet Earth if I do not really acknowledge and laud the natural world? I can’t be, obviously. That being said, we are so attracted to Gaia, to Mother Earth, as represented in the virgin environment, that any time spent with her makes us feel renewed and rejuvenated. I wonder how we might achieve a link between these two necessary components of human existence. Great playwrights like Euripides (1) give us some insight. “The best and safest thing to keep a balance in your life is to acknowledge the great powers around us and in us. If you can do that, and live that way, you are really a wise man.” Euripides is telling us that if we must find a way to truly live in harmony with the Earth and, additionally, with all its forms of life, we must speak with our very personal God — not easy!
Continue reading Anthropomorphism: should it be simply dismissed?
Did Socrates ever retire?
The negative paradigm of aging continues to imbue our civilization. I recently had the opportunity to discuss the concept of getting older with my class of fifteen-year-olds at a local high-ranking high school. These young people are all from good families with mostly well-educated parents. Though there were some exceptions, the vast majority continue to view aging as a disease, not as a celebratory time of deep wisdom and societal involvement. It was a tragic wake-up call: we must educate more. Where does this misconception come from? Firstly, it is from the aged themselves: many old people are apologists for a life poorly lived: they are physically, spiritually and intellectually unwell. These attributes are many times, chosen by a dissolute life and not arbitrarily given by the heavy hand of an “unjust” God. Secondly, our concept of retirement as an institution is from Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898), Chancellor of newly formed German Empire (1). His policy was to remove older, hence less productive, workers from the labor force and to prevent poverty (and probably a revolution), the old industrial employees were awarded a small stipend or pension. The main motivation here was capitalism (2) and productivity, not caring and compassion.
We are all called by a mission!
As a child, I remember the fog. That ghostly covering lingered everywhere: on the cars, on the houses and even on the people — at least it seemed. My consciousness is filled with countless images: this, however, is the most indelible. The suspended moisture created a pregnant silence: all could be serene, all could be at peace. Is it true — is it possible? As you walked, it felt as if something or someone was being produced right before your eyes, if you could only grasp it. Some semblance stood interspersed in the haze. It was there but so, so difficult to clearly identify.
I hope you’re having a good day: peace, man!
I grew up in a generation of wannabe hippies. (1) We had missed the full Haight-Ashbury, San Francisco revolution (1967) and its deep-seated protest to the Vietnam War (1955-1975). “The mainstream media’s coverage of hippie life in Haight-Ashbury drew the attention of youth from all over America. Hunter S. Thompson (2) labeled the district “Hashbury” in The New York Times Magazine, in reference to hashish usage. The “shocking” activities in the area were reported almost daily in the national press. The Haight-Ashbury district was sought out by young people eager to create a community based upon counterculture ideals (peace), drugs, and music. This neighborhood offered a concentrated gathering venue for people to create a social experiment that would, ideally, spread throughout the nation.” The movement failed, however, and soon began to cannibalize itself. An influx of hard drugs and violence (plus young people returning to university in the fall) soon changed the “vibe” of the region. (3)
Continue reading I hope you’re having a good day: peace, man!
Happiness is not the elusive prize we think it is
I always ask a new class what their major goal in life is. Invariable two answers dominate: I want to be rich and I want to be happy. The former is great fun because everyone wants to be rich. Few, however, are aware of the price: time – time for your personal development; time with your children and time to build a relationship with your spouse. “There is … an emotional vulnerability in parents of wealth that arises from the prioritizing of material success over interpersonal relationships and the absence of supportive community networks and services. Just to choose one example, gated communities can also be prisons, cutting people off from the sense of place and community that may be found elsewhere. Research has focused on the kinds of dysfunctional behavior that arise from emotional deprivation. While in no way underestimating the challenges of poverty, Mother Teresa (states): ‘The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for food.’” (1)
Continue reading Happiness is not the elusive prize we think it is
We are told to be seekers in life: but do we know how?
When I step into a classroom, I remind myself that to my students, I look like a dinosaur, a fossil from a long time ago. Their imagery is such that they cannot possibly believe that you can understand who they are and what they are about. And, to be fair, it is a struggle. That being said, there are ways to penetrate the adolescent mind. Tantamount is the comprehension that you must earn their respect, not the other way around. They do not want a friend, nor a father. They expect a magician who can take them places and show them concepts or ideas they have never experienced. They refuse to be “talked down” to. (1) They want something akin to a neutral relationship, not one controlled by power: I am the all-knowing pedagogue and you are the dim-witted vessel into which I put my superior knowledge. This system, most fortunately, isn’t used anymore because it doesn’t work. Thousands, if not millions, of people, were educated this way. They hate school and they are simply not interested in further education. “Poor me, what shall I do?”
Continue reading We are told to be seekers in life: but do we know how?
What has love got to do with it? Think!
In my estimation, we possess four natural human qualities: we are intrinsically peaceful; we are naturally happy; we are continual seekers and we exist in a state of love. Over the next four weeks, I would like to explore each of these concepts.
Mediocrity cannot be the norm: we all know this!
I come from a generation of people, the post-World War Two industrial class, that were not good academic students. In a classroom, we twitched and fidgeted and generally displayed some form of anti-social behavior. Our idols were the icons of rock and roll: Led Zeppelin, America, Jethro Tull, the list was endless (1). Freedom was the buzzword. Get out of the system and become free. The enslavement, embodied in a school, had to be thrown off: the fetters unshackled. The first step was to achieve economic liberty: this was realized by “getting a job.” As grade ten and grade eleven came and went, much like the fluctuations of the tide, the institution retained fewer and fewer students (I didn’t join my compatriots simply because of my fear of the wrath of my mother).
After leaving school, however, what was quickly realized was the world had little time for triflers: mediocrity was quickly expunged. You gave 100% to your job or the system “kicked you out” and replaced you. The logging industry was one of the better-paid endeavors in our community. A “logger” walked with a kind of swagger that befits an arrogant young man (always a man). Setting chokers (2) was the bottom of the industrial heap. “If you could make it there, you could make it anywhere,” to paraphrase Frank Sinatra. (3) What terrible work! I had the great “opportunity,” if that’s what it was, to do this every summer while I was getting my undergrad. The day began at 5 o’clock. You awoke, washed, had a substantial breakfast, whatever your stomach could hold at this early hour, and walked up the street to catch the bus. Much like elementary school, the bus arrived at 6:30 and you proceeded to the marshaling yard where all men were counted and placed in crews for the workday. If you can imagine the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, you would not be far off. There was the kind of resentment that all men feel when they are selling their irreplaceable time for money. That being said: when we arrived onsite, at the logging location, a kind of magic fell upon “the crew.”The most bedraggled, alcoholic, and broken team member was suddenly Paul Bunyan (4) in his head.
He rode through the woods on a big blue ox,
He had fists as hard as choppin’ blocks,
Five hundred pounds and nine feet tall…that’s Paul.
Talk about workin’, when he swung his axe
You could hear it ring for a mile and a half.
Then he’d yell ‘Timber!’ and down she’d fall…for Paul.
Talk about drinkin’, that man’s so mean
That he’d never drink nothin’ but kerosene,
And a five-gallon can is a little bit small…for Paul. (5)
How do you inculcate a populace to always strive for excellence? It has to be in the belief that you as a being are mortal; therefore, your toil, your attempt, must be your very, very best. “There is no second chance at a first impression,” as the sartorial experts like to claim. This all comes to last Friday. I was attempting to explain the imagery in Taylor Swift’s new song, “Look What You Made Me Do.” (6) Now, I believe that when you know something, you can either embrace or reject it: your choice – much like religion. However, if you don’t know, you have nothing to refute (Please view the music video; it is “a real piece of work”: you can draw your own conclusions. As we speak, close to 50,000,000 young people have watched its images, it is thus, obviously, a social statement. Without reading too much into this, it reeks of average – good enough: when one personality is insufficient, I simply develop another, and another, etc). I was laboring this point, not too pedantically I hope, when a young man said he was not interested in learning about its depictions. He just wanted “to have fun!” I tried to explain the proverb: forewarned is forearmed. This fell on deaf ears. I was stunned and, if you can believe it, speechless. This then must be the danger of the Internet: indifference. I don’t want or need to develop my mind because everything is there: it needs no analysis. I wouldn’t let it go and sat with the young man explaining these thoughts: failure was the result this particular day. But, as Sun Tzu (7) tells us, “A lost battle does not depict the outcome of the war.” The great scholar, intellectual and introspective human being, Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), leaves us with a thought: The test of the artist does not lie in the will with which he goes to work, but in the excellence of the work he produces.
A closing thought: As I age chronologically, I am not so sure that anthropomorphism, giving human qualities to other creatures, is so illusory. The other evening, a truly enormous cockroach passed by my desk: I am always very curious about this because our office is very clean and there is nothing to eat. Her girth could easily elicit screeches and other notable signs of terror. In her haughtiness, she stopped and glanced up at me, her antennae all ablaze with inquisitiveness. “Why are you not here and vice versa?” she seemed to inquire. Her fanciful question only reinforced my belief that every human life is not an accident. We each have a mission and a purpose in life.
To sum up: This week we spoke about being “good enough,” being mediocre. The world will not forgive us. It is this generation that must change our world: anything less will have truly dire consequences.
A sardonic encounter: The other day, I was hurriedly driving between appointments when I passed a minor traffic accident: a Mercedes Smart Car, one of those little boxes on wheels, had hit a full-sized Mercedes Benz. I have a question: “Which one was smarter?”
Just for fun: The Rat Pack
This week, please promise yourself that your mediocrity is a “thing of the past.”
Every day look for something magical and beautiful.
Quote: I must remind myself that, whatever my religious conviction, in this life, I have one life.
Footnotes:
1) Top 100 Rock Bands of the 70s
2) Radio Controlled Chokers, Video #02, Vancouver Island, B.C., Canada
3) Frank Sinatra – “Theme from New York New York”
4) Paul Bunyan
5) Paul Bunyan – Poem by Shel Silverstein
6) Taylor Swift – Look What You Made Me Do
7) Sun Tzu
Peace I leave you; my peace I give you (1)
We exist in a curious dichotomy: On the one hand, we watch the news with its tragedy, war, and violence. On the other, we live out a normal life of peace and contentment. In spite of the latter, we opt for the negative and think ourselves to be the exception. The world is in a state of chaos and we are so, so fortunate to live in a little piece of reality that is safe and secure: I am very lucky. The truth is that most people are lucky and live in a state of tranquility. We are not in the minority, we are in the majority. Have you ever asked yourself: “What can I do to change the world – me?” The required answer, of course, is that you can do nothing: I am powerless. With its level of confusion and savagery, how could I change the world? Impossible! The person is thus compelled to be inactive, to feel impotent in an ocean of danger and change.