An Icon is Dead
Yes, I know, I haven't written much lately. And it's not because there is nothing to say, it is because there is way TOO MUCH to say, and, like looking at an overgrown garden, you sometimes just don't even know where to begin, so you don't begin at all.
But the recent death of Alexander Solzhenitsyn caused me to pause for a moment and just write. So here I am just writing. Why did his death cause a pause? Because much of his life was about "the lie" particularly the lie of government, but also our own lies. Take a few moments and google Solzhenitsyn and quotes. Read a few of the things he said.
“He wrote that while an ordinary man was obliged “not to participate in lies,” artists had greater responsibilities(:)
“It is within the power of writers and artists to do much more: to defeat the lie!””
Our world has turned upside down. We have taken our present day "civilization" as normal. It is NOT. It is far from normal. It is brutally and deeply sick. Socrates was famous for his line, "An unexamined life is not worth living." I think this goes no where near far enough. I would say that an unexamined life is sick, dangerous, and that one who does not deeply examine life in general, especially their own, is a waste of space, a burden on the world, and probably a far better food for the non-vegetarian than the millions of animals that they cruelly and brutally murder each day.
Examine the sounds around you this moment. What do you hear? At the moment, as I write this, I'm hearing some asshole rev up his car like he's in the Indianapolis 500. I'm hearing car sounds, and airplane sounds and 'pop' music and every other human artificially created sound. I am NOT hearing birds or creeks or frogs or the wind through the trees... I hear only the sounds of the human virus. Even over 100 years ago, Thoreau wrote, "Our life is frittered away be detail. Simplicty, simplicity, simplicity."
How much of your time is wasted working for a living to buy crap you don't need?
Solzhenitsyn also wrote: “It is not because the truth is too difficult to see that we make mistakes... we make mistakes because the easiest and most comfortable course for us is to seek insight where it accords with our emotions - especially selfish ones.”
So, while you may say that Aja is off on a rant again, I am happy to rant if it makes one individual stop and think, to make a choice. While many of the present day 'philosophers and spiritualists' are going around saying it's all perfect and there is no right or wrong, they are full of shit. There IS a right and a wrong. It may all be perfect, i.e. it is meant to be the way it is, but does that does NOT make it right. "It is all perfect" is simply an emotional excuse to not examine where you are fucking yourself or others up. It is a way of continuing your own lie...to NOT examine your own life. I'm not even talking spiritual principles here. I'm talking about being a basic human being - something of which I'm afraid there are very few. These things you see around you, perhaps even in your own mirror, are not humans, but some kind of weird sheeple.
For instance, today, while listening to the radio in the background, I heard an advertisement for "Doctors Say Yes", to get boob jobs. In other words, your credit is probably good enough that the doctors will say yes to you being able to afford breast augmentation surgery. Isn't that great! Radical stupidity is now more affordable.
Obviously, I am not free of faults. None of us are. After all, to err is human. WAY human. But, can we take pause to look at our errors, our humanness, and at least seek to minimize the damage? Like the food crisis. Sure, we barely notice it around here, but hopefully you are at least aware that there are wars and killings happening all around the world due to a shortage of food. And do you know why there is a shortage of food? Greed, yes! But two of the principle reasons are that the grains, corn, soy, etc. that could go to feed people, EASILY, are being used to produce ethanol for cars, and to feed animals so people can eat meat. All the word wants to emulate the Westerners. China and India especially are eating much more meat. So think of it this way: since it takes 6 to 14 pounds of grain to produce one pound of meat, for each pound of meat you eat, you are potentially murdering 6 to 14 people, as well as causing immense damage to the earth, as meat eating has now been found to be one of the leading causes of global warming. (Don't take my word for it; look it up.)
Defeat the Lie! Look. Examine. Don't just let life progress in the hellishness we call civilization. Question everything. Be willing to look at everything with the eyes of truth. It is not always fun, but as Swami Brahmananda (1863-1922) said, "You seek peace? To attain peace, one must be willing to pass through the contrary to peace. Such is the teaching of the sages."
In India, often on either side of the front entrance, there is a gargoyle like creature. It is said that those two creatures are helplessness and confusion. To get to peace, it is essential to pass through helplessness and confusion, and that is generally what happens when one is sincere in seeking peace. But, please, please, please, do not turn away because it is scary or uncomfortable. Go forward with courage and conviction. It is the only way to ultimately come to Truth.
But the recent death of Alexander Solzhenitsyn caused me to pause for a moment and just write. So here I am just writing. Why did his death cause a pause? Because much of his life was about "the lie" particularly the lie of government, but also our own lies. Take a few moments and google Solzhenitsyn and quotes. Read a few of the things he said.
“He wrote that while an ordinary man was obliged “not to participate in lies,” artists had greater responsibilities(:)
“It is within the power of writers and artists to do much more: to defeat the lie!””
Our world has turned upside down. We have taken our present day "civilization" as normal. It is NOT. It is far from normal. It is brutally and deeply sick. Socrates was famous for his line, "An unexamined life is not worth living." I think this goes no where near far enough. I would say that an unexamined life is sick, dangerous, and that one who does not deeply examine life in general, especially their own, is a waste of space, a burden on the world, and probably a far better food for the non-vegetarian than the millions of animals that they cruelly and brutally murder each day.
Examine the sounds around you this moment. What do you hear? At the moment, as I write this, I'm hearing some asshole rev up his car like he's in the Indianapolis 500. I'm hearing car sounds, and airplane sounds and 'pop' music and every other human artificially created sound. I am NOT hearing birds or creeks or frogs or the wind through the trees... I hear only the sounds of the human virus. Even over 100 years ago, Thoreau wrote, "Our life is frittered away be detail. Simplicty, simplicity, simplicity."
How much of your time is wasted working for a living to buy crap you don't need?
Solzhenitsyn also wrote: “It is not because the truth is too difficult to see that we make mistakes... we make mistakes because the easiest and most comfortable course for us is to seek insight where it accords with our emotions - especially selfish ones.”
So, while you may say that Aja is off on a rant again, I am happy to rant if it makes one individual stop and think, to make a choice. While many of the present day 'philosophers and spiritualists' are going around saying it's all perfect and there is no right or wrong, they are full of shit. There IS a right and a wrong. It may all be perfect, i.e. it is meant to be the way it is, but does that does NOT make it right. "It is all perfect" is simply an emotional excuse to not examine where you are fucking yourself or others up. It is a way of continuing your own lie...to NOT examine your own life. I'm not even talking spiritual principles here. I'm talking about being a basic human being - something of which I'm afraid there are very few. These things you see around you, perhaps even in your own mirror, are not humans, but some kind of weird sheeple.
For instance, today, while listening to the radio in the background, I heard an advertisement for "Doctors Say Yes", to get boob jobs. In other words, your credit is probably good enough that the doctors will say yes to you being able to afford breast augmentation surgery. Isn't that great! Radical stupidity is now more affordable.
Obviously, I am not free of faults. None of us are. After all, to err is human. WAY human. But, can we take pause to look at our errors, our humanness, and at least seek to minimize the damage? Like the food crisis. Sure, we barely notice it around here, but hopefully you are at least aware that there are wars and killings happening all around the world due to a shortage of food. And do you know why there is a shortage of food? Greed, yes! But two of the principle reasons are that the grains, corn, soy, etc. that could go to feed people, EASILY, are being used to produce ethanol for cars, and to feed animals so people can eat meat. All the word wants to emulate the Westerners. China and India especially are eating much more meat. So think of it this way: since it takes 6 to 14 pounds of grain to produce one pound of meat, for each pound of meat you eat, you are potentially murdering 6 to 14 people, as well as causing immense damage to the earth, as meat eating has now been found to be one of the leading causes of global warming. (Don't take my word for it; look it up.)
Defeat the Lie! Look. Examine. Don't just let life progress in the hellishness we call civilization. Question everything. Be willing to look at everything with the eyes of truth. It is not always fun, but as Swami Brahmananda (1863-1922) said, "You seek peace? To attain peace, one must be willing to pass through the contrary to peace. Such is the teaching of the sages."
In India, often on either side of the front entrance, there is a gargoyle like creature. It is said that those two creatures are helplessness and confusion. To get to peace, it is essential to pass through helplessness and confusion, and that is generally what happens when one is sincere in seeking peace. But, please, please, please, do not turn away because it is scary or uncomfortable. Go forward with courage and conviction. It is the only way to ultimately come to Truth.