Posted by john on August 08, 2002 at 12:10:56:
In Reply to: a dream i had today..i wanted to share with yall posted by Mister Metal on August 08, 2002 at 09:43:07:
..like i was really successful..and had my career and everything..it was nice.
: think GOD is tellin me...get a real job..and get your stuff straightened out!! well its a thought.
This is what i thought about after reading the above line from your dream:
Successful carreers and buying into the mainstream. sure it means you have money and you are validated by society at large which can make you feel pretty happy, but what about refusing to accept the system. What about the rebellion that was so much a part of my youth? Not a rebellion against truth but a rebellioni n favor of it. What about the ideal and not settling. Is there a balance or is there no real conflict. Am I just fighting the air to resist falling into the trap of modern society? Am i running the knife's edge by having a proffessional job while feeling this way deep inside? If I sold out and bought in to the mainstream, would i be surprised bythe peace it brings or would I hate my life at the end. But then if I struggle and fight the mainstream all along in hopes of attaining greater truth will I be fooled and come to nothing in the end? Am i playing the nietzchian game?
Perhaps I am looking at the wrong players. Perhaps this is the great deception. It has caught so many others in history. To fight against what fights you thereby creating the dichotomy, the poles, the right and wrong, the two party system. Perhaps there is no such thing, perhaps the opposition is really just a smoke screen to provoke me to fight what is really not the problem! What a great deception. If a fighter could spend his life fghting the red herring to borrow a phrase while all the time the enemy has accomplished the goal of operating unhindered because all those who could oppose were fighting the air. Of course I am not talking about Perrettiesque warfare. By enemy I mean that which seeks to blind us to greater truth, whatever form it takes. That which pulls all things away from Beauty and Goodness.
So then how do we fight such a tricky enemy, be it personal or not? I can think of only one way. To not play the game. To refuse to fight. By so doing we remove the power of any oppositionto hurt us. We step outside of the paradigm in which it works. We say that it is insignificant and unworthy of our time. Then we can focus freely on that which is truly good wherever it may fall. We would cease to see enemies in those who are on the wrong side of our opposition. Mainstream or rebellious.
But it is exceedingly hard when every corner screams absurdity at you. From the radio, TV, and people onthe street. How do we escape the immense annoyance that thrusts the absurdity in our faces from every angle. The Old Navy commercials, the bad drivers, the loud obnoxious restaurant guests, the stupid questions and the vain impressions. The cell phones and the makeup, the magazines and the billboards. It is all just too much. I try to love people through it, but this is the hardest thing for me. Because people are so wrapped up that I can't separate the ignorant jackass from his TV-cellphone warped paradigm of thought.