WTF? Part II

Random Essay

Welcome to society! The sea of writhing humanity desperately clinging together out of some inexplicable need for a sense of community; or maybe just a good conversation, maybe just to get laid. All we know for sure as we drift, stranded in the open ocean of existence, is that we are unique creatures on this Earth and perhaps we should stick together. However, while individuals may show sparks of intelligence, crowd psychology necessitates the sharing of the communal brain reducing them to a herd of dumb, panicky animals; hence the need for warning labels that read: "for external use only". Also, the ratio of patience and tolerance seems inversely related to the number of individuals crowded together in one community. It is a difficult thing to "love thy neighbor". If only you could find just one... that ONE person who can understand you. That one person who will fill the gaps of your faults and depend upon your strengths, validate your perspectives, recognize your accomplishments and forgive all of your shortcomings, and love you unconditionally. Hmmm, sounds too good to be true; at least too good to be free.

Relationships mean compromises... will you compromise yourself for another person? Compromise your beliefs in order to recognize the values of another? Compromise your home to make room for someone else's crap? Compromise your career to raise a family? Compromise your freedom to devote yourself to one other person for the rest of your life? Where does it end? Sounds to me like slavery wrapped up in a fairy tale with a big pink bow on top. So the next times you are facinated by the twinkle in a stranger's eye or attracted to a gleaming smile, ask yourself: am I willing to submit?

Love is an excellent pedagogue, a prime example of the wheel of life: excitement born from a curious drive, flowing through your veins like molten lava from the churning heart of a volcano. But then it cools, as the exploration of novelty is complete, the mysteries uncovered, all flaws laid bare; and sometimes turns to stony disappointment and even regret. Such fickle fanciers we turn out to be. So even blissful love dies; but never seems to be buried long before another sensual grin catches our crow's eyes. Every facet of life seems to follow this pattern - mighty Mother Earth grows old and dies in the dark seasons of autumn and winter to be reborn callow and green in the sunlight of spring and summer. It is the cursed gift of impermanence that humanity has no solid ground to stand upon as every rock is eroded by relentless time; yet your mind reaches and grasps at shadows for support. You look to build your life upon something solid in a transient world. So you base your identity on your name, biography, family, friends, heritage, credit cards, career - all castles made of sand. Without them would you really know who you are? Without all of your props, you are faced with just yourself, a person you do not know, an unnerving stranger with whom you have been living all this time but never really wanted to meet. Isn't that why you try to fill every moment of your time with activity, however boring or trivial, to insure that you are never left in silence, alone with this stranger? This points to something fundamentally tragic about our way of life. We live under an assumed identity, in a neurotic fairy tale world with no more reality than the Mock Turtle fromAlice in Wonderland. So, Mr. Turtle, check your agenda of distractions and do tell, what's next?
 

© 2004