Our every day life is based on a number of misconceptions. Right from childhood we are made to believe some things about life which we rarely review or question. Even when all circumstantial evidence force us to believe the contrary, we somehow latch on to these so called 'universal truths'. In reality many of them break down on closer examination, without even applying the slightest of rational or logic.Concept of luck is one of them. You have to believe in luck, how else will you explain the success of those you hate? And I don't see any other reason to believe in it. We never care to take a second look at the concept and realize that it is but just another name name to call somebody else's hard work. While we claim pride for all the successes in our own life, the same things happening in somebody else's life is discounted as mere luck. Luck is about being at the right place at the right time and it seldom happens by chance! Just because we are not able to see things in its entirety, we feel that a lot of them happen by chance. Like a fruit falling from a tree is still a matter of chance for many!
Good brings good - Now, how does that work? It used to work in the Darwinian world where it made sense for everybody to be good with each other, as a necessary condition for group survival. But I don't think it works the same way in the hopelessly 'engineered' world we live in. For us, being good is no more a pre-requisite for survival. So be good if you 'feel' like, not because it will come back to you one day. We better use that superior intellect we have and 'decide' to be good because that is the most 'sensible' and 'meaningful' thing to do, even if it is not so tightly attached to survival these days. Show the world that we don't need some white bearded guy hiding behind the clouds to threaten us with a list of 10 things, for us to be good!
Time being a great leveler is just another of the myths. We often say that time will heal everything. Time does not always wipe off the paths you traveled. You always remember all the good things you enjoyed from the time you were 5. Then why do you hope that time will do selective deletion of all those unpleasant incidents, just because you happened to dislike them? Time and memory have minds of their own and the feeling that you control both, is a necessary illusion created to ensure survival. Past is often a mixture of triumphs and failures, content and dissatisfaction, regrets and fond memories. The sad thing is that, its the disappointments and dejections that get more weightage once you look back at life. Probably we are wired to retain more vivid memories of pain than pleasure. There is no real forgetting than amnesia!
Heard this among the recordings of the 2005 'Rainbow' Gathering of the Tribes in Mexico. This passage by Hakim Bey is part of an essay called 'Chaos' from the book 'Temporary Autonomous Zone'.
"Everything in nature is perfectly real including consciousness, there's absolutely nothing to worry about. Not only have the chains of the Law been broken, they never existed; demons never guarded the stars, the Empire never got started, Eros never grew a beard.
No, listen, what happened was this: they lied to you, sold you ideas of good & evil, gave you distrust of your body & shame for your prophet-hood of chaos, invented words of disgust for your molecular love, mesmerized you with inattention, bored you with civilization & all its usurious emotions.
There is no becoming, no revolution, no struggle, no path; already you're the monarch of your own skin - your inviolable freedom waits to be completed only by the love of other monarchs: a politics of dream, urgent as the blueness of sky."
7 comments:
Beautifully said. Over the past several years I've come to the realization that most everything we've been told is wrong, or at the very least distorted. As you pointed out in your post, we live in a highly engineered world where manipulation has become an art. Society tends to prop up the superficial and the genuine rarely gets acknowledged. How I cope is I never lose my sense of wonder. Hakim Bey is right and so are you!
We are happy following the herd.. and we are good at that too! Who has time to stop and listen when we have so much more to 'achieve'. If we can pass on just one thing to the next generation it should be the sense of wonder!
Agreed. I could get into a long discussion about this :) I read an interesting book called "Who Are You Really?" by Gary Null and he identified several energy types that humans are born with.
He also quantifies what percentage of the population falls under each type. The most common energy type (80% of the population) are called Adaptive-Supportive.
They are content to maintain the status quo, to do what they are told and to not challenge authority. I do not fault the Adaptive-Supportives because they are doing what comes naturally and what they need to do to be content in life.
But, one can see how this is quite beneficial to the few who maintain control over the many. In regards to the drive to "achieve", I think it would do everyone a lot of good to relax a bit and to rediscover what is truly important in life.
There is so much beauty in the world, so many interesting people and so much to experience that to waste such opportunities on climbing the corporate ladder, or to become wealthy and attain status is a shame.
Personally, I would rather achieve a greater level of wisdom and awareness. This is one of the reasons why I decided to get rid of my tv. Let me tell you, not having a tv is a blessing! I don't miss it one bit.
Bingo! I couldn't agree more. And did I tell you I don't own a TV either.. and its a real bliss! :)
No, I didn't know that you had gotten rid of your tv as well. Way to go :)
u r so truly a blessed person.all small little things so beautifully said.
@Anonymous: Thank You :) All small little things are indeed the most beautiful things... at least I think so!
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