Deprogram

The easiest way to empty ones mind of all the horrible garbage that has been stuffed in there via TV, magazines, movies is to shut the influx of this negative media down. All those romantic films of how things aught to be clog your ability to actually deal with your own life situations. Adventure related entertainment, movies, video games, books, all these also paint us a picture of a reality which is false. Thus confusing us as to what we will encounter and how to deal with life. Post-modern media methods have been so successful that most of us do not know the difference between reality and TV. It is no wonder that those nations who are addicted to mass media are the most vulnerable to demagogues and their spin doctors. In the past people were more occupied with their own lives rather than those of the characters on The Young and the Restless, Friends, Lost or any of the countless false realities fed to us. If the mundane boring world of politics and economics were more prevalent to the minds of the masses, elections would be run more like actual issue related campaigns intended to choose those to represent us in governmental council. Instead of a sporting arena farce for choosing MVP's and best rookies of the year. Fodder for the masses to shield those who will do as they please either way.
The analogy of Plato's Cave has never been so obvious and relevant. But unless people run out of food the vast majority do not care and would much rather stay in the matrix than be aware and part of the grand complexity of reality. Burying our heads in the sand of hollywoodism is so much better a diversion that the pain of self analyze and soul searching. To see that the great Western Empire is not so much The Good Guys we were told it was. I remember Sting's song "Russians" were he sings, "I hope the Russians love their children too", which back in the eighties was practically considered treason by many. How simplistic and absolutely stupid! People literally thought that an entire group of people would be unanimously evil as to not care for each other. But wait are their others that we now attribute such negative behaviour? I'll let you think about that. Conquer and divide is just as apt a strategy as ever. We are not separate from each other we all inhabit this planet , breath the same air and eat from the same soil. So any thing which counters this must be denounced as lies and demagogic manipulation.
Turning off the flow of our minds addiction to media is next to impossible. Humans are so impressionable that we are susceptible to repetition. So maybe just cutting out and weeding down our media consumption can start us on the path to clearing up the subterfuge and escaping the cave. Socrates plan of life analysis is the path to get on. Who are we? Why do we think what we think? Who told us to think that way in the first place? These are good and necessary questions to start the immense task of "Knowing Thy Self". We cannot change the past, but here in the present the power is ours and as I always say to my son "if you're not controlling your self, who is?". A valid thought in an era where our hunger and sexuality are exploited by advertisers in the name of the powers that pay them. The burger on the screen isn't actually there, sex for selling furniture polish is irrational, but you will buy polish. Which one will you pick the one that reminds you of how mundane polishing your furniture is or the one that has implanted images of passion and affection into your subconscious? A drooling dog is the appropriate image here. We have been made into dumb beasts. The excitement and adventure that has been superimposed onto these fictions are making fools of us and proving us incapable of thinking for ourselves. Turn the advertising off. Block out the sly serpents tongue from your ear and its deceptive images of beauty and youth. Look in the mirror and accept who you really are.

Buying is not living.

Buying is not living. It's just deferring the responsibility for something you're either too ignorant or lazy to do for yourself. The fulfillment of the potential of human consciousness is only achieved within the context of our actual and original environment (nature). Walk through a forest and try to take it all in, every little detail all the noises, the clouds, the wind. Our minds were meant for that, to survive in the complexity of the true reality of nature. The intellectual pursuits of civilization are but a banal attempt at placating our intense sense of boredom, which is a product of the mis-use or rather under usage of our minds full potential. The focus on singular specializations have rendered us emotionally bankrupt and missing out on the wholesome fullness of human existence. We did nor evolve to be factory workers or bureaucratic paper pushers. Why do so many people feel empty and without purpose? The answer is not so hard to find, they do not have much of either. Our potential is not being met. The obsession with leisure is a poison eating away at the root of happiness. Purpose can only be achieved via actual practical actions. Why do so many people take up hobbies which were once viewed as chores? Gardening, exercising, cooking. Why are so many difficult or even dangerous activities pursued as pastimes? Mountain climbing, hiking, whitewater kayaking...etc. Simply, because post-modern life is vacant of actual meaning. Existing to consume and then consume some more is not a "reason d'etre". Pavlovian response may be effective in advertising but "man cannot live by branding alone". The market economy may give us mucho cargo but it has failed us and is destroying everything and anything of actual importance to our well being. Fulfillment is achieved through the act of creation, making your own food, growing your own food, carving a spoon, knitting a sweater, catching a fish, building a house or shelter. Doing it for yourself and not relying on another who has been disadvantaged enough to be paid so little to achieve a task that you can afford to have them do for you, doesn't do you as much good as you may think. We have been infected by the ancient ways and mannerisms of the ruling aristocracy. Living off the labour of the many poor and un-empowered. The problem is that honesty and goodness check out as we check into political extortion and heavy handed trade policies. The world has become very complicated and the lies we tell our self have also. This world wide scenario of the mercantilistic vision is exactly how Britain lost America. "Viva la revolusion".

Patience

Sacrifice and steadfastness have produced ample reward for me. Patience is not only a virtue due to its consideration and compassion onto those it is practiced upon. Yet rather its larger reaching arm is the strength and power it imbues to its practitioner. Patience is a root which gives forth such bounty that none can challenge its validity. Those who lack it suffer horribly under the weight and oppression of anger and hate. Such bedfellows one should not court wantonly. Betwixt them shall no man or woman find solace or contentedness. Being the prisoner of addiction and hotty sorrow. Every step towards calmness is a leap to freedom and new beginnings. We must never despair nor fear, for it is these very acts which sap our will and drive. To the solace of the heart and mind must we shift. The goal is an even keel, neither obsessively happy nor sad. Yet rather balanced and steady, unaffected by slight and trivial matters. Solid and strong as the very earth below our feet.