A Living Magazine - Days 181-183 - A Rant About Rants

Each of these days at the end of the Journey were pretty unremarkable and all very much alike. It would be a waste of my time to write the same thing for each separate day, and an even bigger waste of your time to read it.

Suffice it to say that, I woke up, packed up, walked to Starbucks, worked, went to have dinner and returned to the sleep spot each of these days. There were no exciting chance encounters and no photographs (since I was out of batteries). The most significant work done was on the essays.

I hope you find the following amusing. It is not meant to be a heavy thing. But, I feel I have to write it, in order to use it as a point of reference in the future.

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A RANT ABOUT RANTS

The reaction to my holiday rant - which was really only supposed to be an afterthought to the Star Wars post - was predictable. Like my comments to see spiders as innocent creatures or the appeal to not text while you're driving, practically no one admitted to agreeing with it and two people defended keeping things just the way they are. So be it.

I want you guys to know some things...

I write my opinion of how I see things. It might sometimes have nothing whatsoever to do with how things ACTUALLY are. That is what makes them opinions. That anyone would place importance on what I say (for or against) baffles me. Of course, I'm happy when you agree. But, if you disagree, that is just fine.

Someone implied that I was only complaining and asked me what I thought the answer was to the hypocrisy I see. Well, I have written SO much about thinking for yourself, abandoning ideology of all kinds, not spending money on things for no reason, not fetishing matter... and on and on, that, in my own defense? I've already answered what is needed. And, yes, it applies to the mish-mash we call Christmas.

Generally speaking, we are a confused and wishful thinking bunch of animals. If we are satisfied with the fact that we fall into habits and then codify them as "the right thing to do", just because we do them, then, my god, there truly is no hope left at all.

ALL the social behaviors we have run down, carving deeper and deeper ruts in a road we can't even see the surface of anymore, are connected.

I like Christmas, though Christmas doesn't seem to like me very much. I want to like a lot of social things that are not my friend. But, please don't ever think that just because you like them - because you do them - without thinking about why, that they are your friends. That's just silly.

If you think that the "spirit" of Christmas must include buying things, for example (and if you disagreed with my rant, then that is exactly what you think--since, all social problems are related), no one can tell you that it doesn't. I reminded you why. You know it intuitively, but you are trapped into the full meal deal. Why would you let me remove the foundational ace of spades from the house of cards, by suggesting that we should differentiate between the spiritual qualities and the commercial quantities of the season? That would be crazy. Wouldn't it?

Confusing commercialism with spiritual realities is probably the most destructive influence on the holiday season, nay, the whole year round. And, it is not just the conservatives who want America to ONLY celebrate a Christian holiday that is the problem--though that was my particular point in that particular rant. Liberals want to bring all of the religions into the shopping milieu. The conservatives call the liberal approach "PC", and the liberals call the conservative approach "intolerant". They are both WAY off. Neither side faces the fact that the holidays are really only beneficial for corporations.

Yes, there are deep emotions, treasured traditions, individual and personal sentimentality associated. And, yes, those are wonderful and precious things (they are to ME too). But the commercial aspects of the holidays and the personal feeling about them are in FACT not even in the same universe--logically speaking. But, philosophically, we slice them down their middles and try to sew them together, without the body-politique rejecting such an abomination.

I get that people who have money to spend look forward to the pleasure of buying things that they know their family and friends will enjoy. That is giving, and in some partially-distorted way, loving.

But, there is also just the regular old narcotic rush of simply BUYING in order to buy. The drugged elation of seeing "new" things in our crisp little plastic bags with the logos printed on them... Your serotonin levels just spiked slightly by reading that very sentence. Animals - bless their furry, scaly, feathery little souls - don't addict to the accumulation of things. We do. And, the association of a "spiritual" aspect to it all is the greatest marketing scheme the world has ever known (or has refused to acknowledge). Thing junkies go to their WalMart or Macy's drug dealer and get their fix; complete with the false "spiritual" rationalization that they are "doing it for someone else". I mean, come on!

Sunday, here at Starbucks, I listened to a young couple who had just come in from church. They talked about the sermon, and then about when they were going to do the rest of their Christmas shopping (love those two words together). That was all fine and dandy. Eventually, the subject worked its way around to what she wanted for Christmas. She told him very specifically that it was the white sweater with high collar. (I remember the item's description well, because she repeated it at least six times.) He said, "duh," he knew.

She joked and told him that if she didn't get that particular sweater, "I'm gonna kill you!" They both laughed. There was some other talk about how he'd bought an item similar to what she'd asked for last year, but because something didn't exactly match her request, she had to return it. Again, he said he remembered. Not once did she double check about what he wanted. But that isn't the point.

The point is that, receiving a "new" thing, in its clean factory sealed condition, is an even bigger shot in the arm than buying one, because you don't have to pay for it! Win, win! Everyone loves a freebie high! So, knowing someone is gonna get off on the drug (gift) you bring them, allows you to deceive yourself into thinking that you're doing it for them, when in fact, it still all about you. For the young man in the example above, no fate could possibly be more hellish than sitting at Starbucks next year, listening to your mate go on and on about your gift-giving deficiencies. Buy the damn white sweater, dude, and save yourself a lot of bullshit! Ha!

We are programmed from day one to enjoy this rusty needle in our arms, and to share it with as many thing junkies as possible. THAT is NOT love, folks. THAT is pure and undiluted stupidity.

And, if you function under that junky-mentality, then blame yourself for the depletion of the world's natural resources, for the homeless guy on the corner, for the wars to secure oil reserves, for the ONE BILLION people who go to bed hungry each day in YOUR world.
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But I said all these things are connected.

We disconnect them in order to be able to handle them in our brains. Your world is not filled with naturally loving social systems. Terence McKenna once gave a talk called, "Culture is not your friend", and this current one certainly is not.

You may think that a benevolent government has only your best interests at heart. I've reminded you many times why it doesn't. You know it, when you actually stop to think about it, but you cannot divorce your ties to this or that ideology long enough to change your own mind; to free yourself; to obtain Cognitive Liberty--the only unrecognized human right on the planet.

Therefore, no matter what ideology you adopt for yourself, it can only ever be divisive. Believing in a political platform, socially precludes you from believing any of the aspects of other political platforms, even if they make sense to you.

Of course there are still conservatives who are "prochoice", and liberals who are "prolife", for instance, but they don't mention these things to their ideologically-related friends, unless they like to argue.

I rant on the things that make sense to me and don't contradict the other things that make sense to me. I don't do this because I have my act together. I do it because it's so much easier for my pea-brain to remember the solid things I have staked out as an evolving belief system. I guess I'm lazy in that way. If I haven't formed a concrete view on something, you can bet your ass I won't rant on it.

To be very clear about the Christmas thing. I want people to not take the gift buying and giving of things as seriously as they do. I can't tell you how many tense family Christmases I've been through (and I know you've been through) where I worried and stressed out about not having a gift for every person; especially the one they really wanted. I watched (and I'm sure you have too) as people received the gifts I gave them with a forced smile; both of us, in that uncomfortable moment, knowing that my dart didn't even come close to the dart board.

I want people to give helpfulness and assistance to each other in this time of year. But it shouldn't all be saved up for the holidays. It should be a never ending, year-round thing. We all know that this is the ideal form of giving, but do we really practice this ideal? Wishing people a Merry Christmas is a wonderful thing. I just heard two people go out of their way to do that. It is like saying, "I hope you have the most spectacular day of your life!" Again, if something similar were practiced all year round with the same special warmth and intention--every day, we could warm the whole world.

I want to see inflatable Santas in your yards, and candy canes on your Christmas trees. It reminds me of the magic I felt as a child. The scintillation of glitter, the way colored lights reflect off of glass ornaments, the smell of cookies... All of it is rightful and worthy and needs no replacement. But, why tie these things exclusively to the life and teachings of Jesus?

The very time of year and all of this pagan imagery was due not to strength of the Christian faith, but to the copping-out of the early missionaries in Europe, who compromised their new religion by associating it with the much older traditions of the people they came to convert. Our incredibly beautiful displays and ornamentation are the absolute proof that Christianity never fully converted those people.

At the same time, and parallel with these pagan festivities, let ALL religions practice their own faith, without having to fend each other off, and compete for the name of the season. The Christian faith cheapens itself by forcing its name upon the season, ramming it down the throats of non-Christians or just people who like the pagan aspects. I mean, it would be a righteous thing to canonize a holiday as a pure faith interest, IF there weren't so many unrelated things that had to be choked down along with it.

Finally, all faiths do a disservice to themselves by equating their celebrations with the spending of money. Jesus didn't trash the Temple filled with money changers and sacrificial dove sellers, just because he was having a bad day. Money does not belong in your spiritual temple, whether that is a literal worship-building of wood or stone, or the temple where your own soul resides--your mind.

Having money on your mind as a primary force that determines what you do for other people, is like making a deal with yourself to equate the quality of love with some arbitrary quantity of stuff. They are mutually exclusive.

Like any thing (guns and drugs included), money is not evil in and of itself. Giving it to others, or buying things you need with it is a requirement, in my opinion. It is helpful and necessary to modern life. But being obsessed with how and who should deserve what you spend your money on - especially during a time that you are going around telling everybody is sacred - is an act that is antithetical to service and entirely absent of love. It is self-service in the name of self-love.

I DO wish you all a Very Merry Christmas AND Holiday season, no matter what you choose to name it. Let the love you give to each other fortify us all, and bring as much Light as possible into our minds.

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