What's this human predilection for
growing so engrossed with individual moments
and petty melodramas that we neglect
to notice we exist merely as temporary
expressions of organized energy within an
infinite universe? This mind-trap is in evidence
in all aspects of life, assaulting our sensibilities
on the evening news, in the work place,
within the politics of family life. . . .Everywhere
the noise of fleeting, immediate concerns
floods the senses. Move away from those
channels of social indoctrination and you can't
help recognizing the essential folly of man's most
frequent concerns.
An infinite, eternal universe beyond the
Hypnotizing preoccupations of man is a wellspring
of boundless promise. A life spent pursuing
the goals of selfish social hierarchies must,
in the end, be a life with minimal intrinsic value
‑‑ a squandering of one's human potential. We must
measure our existence against the infinite universe,
not against the meager, shortsighted socioeconomic
webs we spin in which human societies operate.
Continuing to advance into that infinite sphere,
Exposing ourselves to the great unknown that waits
beyond the local, closed socioeconomic prison,
both human individuals and their social aggregations
can only benefit.
20090722
Mind-Trap
Copyright © 2009 Ernest Bloom.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Sometimes you need to be careful what you say or how you say. The society is like a prodigious group of children and if you throw a tale at them, their wild fancies can permutate your words into wholly wild and undesirable theories that blow your mind, your sense of logic and good intentions to pieces. I fully agree- we need to break away from the prison of everyday, the conventions etc., we need to look away to stars, realize that our culture may be only one in hundreds and even if there is no other life out there- ours might change drastically in the future and we needn't cling to any old-age values just for the sake of petty conservatism. But, ah, before you have enough time to say 'New Kaleidoscope Medicine', you will have a thousand hippies dosing on so many drugs they couldn't count or reminiscence them on every toe and finger of their hands and filled to the brim with nonsense philosophies where no notion adds to another, a mixture of communism with Buddhism etc. etc.
ReplyDeleteMan takes what you give him and it is wishful thinking to expect him to process or digest any carrion you hurl at him. I think before you elevate philosophy, more so popularize it, we need to teach people thinking, real hard-steel thinking. I should start by building education from the very foundation. Oh, and speaking of hippies we should explore the possibilities inherent in LSD and perhaps like in Huxley's Island, adolescent individuals would participate in special rituals where they would consume small doses of lysergic acid, meditate, pray and reflect on the nature of the universe together with their peers, discussing the expanded perception they experience.
i don't really agree with all your points (make a sacrament of lsd? formal religion is always about mind-contraction and control, not expansion), but all i can do is refer you to 'Gautama and Goldhill': some must guide the people through the doors; some must be way out ahead blazing new trails. seems to me we've had thousands of years to 'teach people thinking.' you can only spend so many lifetimes re-re-re-reinventing the wheel. but this is a difference in personal experiences and life-experiences, too. i'm not advocating the violent overthrow of society and replacing it with anarchy. i'm saying the societies we have corrupt human values and the emphasis is in the wrong place. i believe in science and technology; i don't want to smash things up: only the walls of bigotry, suspicion, paranoia and fear, that most people don't even know are there.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very thought-provoking piece, E.B. Like you mentioned, the poem doesn't bluntly say: "You're corrupt! You must change!" It does, however, make the reader sit back and ponder their own 'individual moments' and their own 'preoccupations with the trivialities of life.' :)
ReplyDelete