Mold

'

Cause it's a bittersweet symphony, this life
Try to make ends meet
Try to find some money then you die

All lyrics here. 

Power (political)

For six months, I have been following the tweeter account WW2 Tweets. The project has been started by a history professor and it will go on for next 5 years. Couple of days ago I stumbled on this photo on Pinterest. The photo was taken during the Nanking massacre in 1937 when Japanese army invaded China. I read of the mass scale bombing of Britain by Nazi Germany and the British retribution attacks on German cities. I read propaganda articles on both sides and wondering how all these atrocities could happen? How could we do all these horrible things to each other? Then I remembered the Croatian – Serbian war I lived through (luckily my town was spared from demolition and war conflict) and then I realised it happened because we didn't perceive other human beings as human beings. We saw them as objects, as non-humans. They were no humans. They were "others".

For people born and raised in the last 50 years in Western culture after the WW2, after Rock 'n' roll, the hippie movement and the rise of postmodernism it is hard to comprehend what horrible things we did to each other and why. I believe the reason is as I stated above.

We didn't treat others as human beings.

We didn't have sympathy for them, we didn't want to know that they have feelings as we do, that they love, care, hate, feel pain, can be bothered, have mothers, fathers, children, relatives, friends... Same as we do. If that is not true, then how could we know what love is, what fear is, what is sharp pain and dull pain, what it means to think or have an idea? How could we understand each other? We all share these experiences and that is why we understand each other, why we make connections or why art or science exist.

The Western culture learned a lessons from the past (or at least it looks like it did) and I'm hoping for good even not all the members of our society do. We still have people among us who look on other people as objects. We all do that on some occasions and that is the reason why we should keep remembering what we did in the past. Not to torment ourselves but to prevent us from repeating the same mistakes.

I see political struggle all around. There are basically leftists and rightists and whole spectrum in between. Generally I believe they all have some basically good values and all have blind spots but one thing must be set as the bottom line. No man or a party could win elections and rule if they do not perceive others humans as human beings. I haven't seen that line anywhere in the world and basically anybody could nominate and win elections. In other words anyone can be a politician. I agree with that but I would suggest that people who have that kind of ambition should pass a set of psychological tests. If we need to pass a psychological evaluation for getting the driver's license or weapon permit then the politicians should do the same.

We have more than enough examples of misuse of political power .

The Axe

Trees began to disappear at the end of November.

In parks.

The metal skeletons of park benches remained the rusted witnesses of the attack of tree-thirsty two-legged vultures. And the roots. Tiny. In craters. As if the parks had been under cannonade by a strange weapon that attacked only trees. All trees. With no exceptions. Pines, beeches, oaks, birches, plane trees, chestnut trees, etc. The cypress trees at graveyards were also hungry for warmth. For life.

“We’re running out of wood.”

“I know.”

“So what are you going to do about it?”

Being happy

I stumbled upon this interesting article where author suggest that compulsive thinking about ourselves is one of the reasons why we live unhappy lives. 

Researches prove it ! :-)

So is being happy all about shifting our tendency away from focus on ourselves? 

From my meditation experience - it is (not). 

Because when we manage to shift/change our focus from inward to outward and that slowly becomes our default state of mind, then our definition of happiness also changes. 

Can you imagine to be happy just because you are alive, you are right here, right now and have a chance to smell, hear, see, touch and taste life?

:-)

Well, all in all it's a trip, long and unending. Hard and full of surprises rarely pleasant but often good ones. Shifting attention from me to the world is only one piece of the puzzle. But very, very important one. In other words - the basic one.

So long, roaches.

Dance or die

Dancing is definitely one of the ways to spend your life. Especially if you're ballet dancer or pole dancer or something in between. My friends, in the other hand, believe that playing music is a good way of spending their lives. So they play.

And you could dance.

Or die.

Meditation or Medication?

So, cockroaches, what is the difference?

Do you want to plug out or you want to stay plugged in?

Once you pull out a chord, you can't plug it in anymore. Not really. Cypher option is out. After taking a red pill there is no coming back. We can pretend but it's useless. We can even forget but suffering continues and it is even worse than before. I have friends stuck in the middle – it is hell. Maybe that was the real meaning of crucifixion? Nor here, nor there. Crucified.

That's one of the reasons why medication option is more popular.

But let's start with the choice offered in the header.

What is meditation? In Western culture there is a general belief that meditation is something that you do with result of getting in some kind of Disneyland state of mind where everything is perfect. If you want that effect try some drugs that fit the description. I, for example, believed that it will solve all the problems I had at that moment. It didn't. I solved them (and created new ones). Meditation just makes it difficult for us to turn blind eye to problems. They are not avoidable anymore. So, what is meditation? In short: meditation is art of paying attention.

What is medication? It's quite opposite from meditation. When we can't stand the intensity of life all we want is to pull back. If stress isn't high enough, we can ease our day with a couple of beers. If stress is higher and lasts longer – we snap. We can't pretend anymore that we do have control or that we know what will happen or what people around us will do. We are forced to admit that the world is not as we want to be or expect it to be. And the world is least of our problems – we don't even know who the people we share meals and beds with are or what will they do next.
That's really fucked up! When that happens, we experience a breakdown. It's too much. That, in a way, is a good sign that we need to slow down a little. Slow down, not retreat. But long way before that happens we usually take a pill to – forget. Nice. Comfortably numb.

So, the blue pill or the red pill, cockroaches?

Just remember, don't mess with the red pill if you are not willing to go all the way.

Here is a great article from a Long-Distant meditator on his intensive 30 day meditation practice for you roaches to get the taste of how things are, once (if at all) you take the red pill.

So long, roaches!

Dead I am the one