"The evolution of the western mind is one of creeping abstraction - a turning away from the natural world."
It's tough to argue with that. I was perplexed earlier today as I watched a friend sitting at his computer, sweeping a piece of plastic across the table and ever-so-subtly removing himself from the group meta-psyche.
Sad.
In that moment, he was no more alive than the machine to which he was attached. His eyes were foggy and his skin was mayonnaise. He hadn't ceased to exist, mind you. He had merely ceased to matter.
What's the difference, anyhow? Consider this a challenge.
Freedom is not intangible. It is not without meaning and purpose. It is a very real, very important and very sacred gift from our creator. I know I'm free because I'm free to know I'm free. I know I matter because I flex my head muscle and Jiminy Cricket sings a song in my lil' head about how I'm not some stupid puppet.
I know what I should be doing. Why am I not doing it? I know what I am supposed to do. Why do I refuse to do it?
The mind of a man living in our times is filled with nonsense. Lame-ass Geico commercials, stupid music that really sucks, stupid shit that Dr. Phil spews in an attempt to make even more money than he already has.
Do these examples of excess represent freedom? Is this what John Locke had in mind (pardon the pun) when he developed his tabula rasa philosophy?
We are becoming insignificant and I just hate it with all of my heart. It just feels wrong.
I know what I should be doing. Why am I not doing it?
This GWOT feels wrong to me. Doesn't it feel wrong to you? Do you really stop terror with brute force?
How do you convince people they have every right to be as free as you are?
Maybe they can see more clearly than us that we're not really free. Maybe they can see the machine and hear the shitty music and feel the sticky mayonnaise skin and they just don't want it because it's not real.
We have to abandon our outdated, uninspired and simplistic notions of freedom. We have to overcome our abuse of the freedom from want. We have to show the uneducated, the impoverished, the ignorant and the evil that we are fit to be the leaders of men.
We all know what we should be doing. Fuck it, let's go change the world.
Greetings Mr. Ameen:
ReplyDeleteI have a two part question for you. First, do you mean by "Freedom is not intangible." that freedom is in fact tangible? And if that is true, what do you believe is the price of freedom?
I believe that most Americans whether they know it or not, trade in their freedom for material goods, like tricked out golf carts,
and the newest pair of sneakers.
We Americans have be domesticated.
Your brain knows things are not quite right, but we are driven by our stomachs. We are driven by consumption.
I do disagree with you about GWOT, though. There are men out there, the only way I can describe them as are 'wild dogs', that would love nothing more than to end your life.