Blurred Lines

It is human to think in terms of things we deserve and things we do not. It is what has become natural to think in terms of what we are owed and what we are not, and it is in keeping with modern society to ask who is to blame.

However, it is divine to forgo all of this and instead ask who is to forgive. This is not because it is a a matter of being reasonable and congenial, but because forgiveness is something far stronger and from a place of greater nobility. 

The Divine stance on reality is always from a place of nobility, and not the mockery of nobility made in modern society. 

The Divine calls us to a higher purpose and a higher way of thinking. The playing field of normal life is transcended by this view and its very existence is called into question. 

Thus, in the face of all we face, ask, what is it you must forgive? What is it you must in forgiving release, and in releasing transcend to a higher purpose? 

On a night much forgotten from its original meaning as a time for a blurring of the lines between the worlds, ask, to what higher purpose are you being called? 

Making a Difference

I find it important to repeat myself at times. Repetition builds familiarity. Familiarity breads mastery. And it is mastery over specific things we seek to accomplish here. In specific, we seek mastery over the winds and high seas of chaos that threaten ever to detour us all, from mass society, to the single individual, from the light of reason and justice.

The world we currently live in is not getting more peaceful. The looming threat of a localized disease epidemic turning into a generalized pandemic, the rise of an extremist movement that hearkens back to several millennia of human history we would happily forget, and the continuation of inter state politics by other means we now see in our old adversarial area of influence. We have options as to how to deal with this. Succumbing to low grade panic with minimal commitment may be the most readily available method to respond.

On the Other hand, and this is where I repeat myself, forgo debates about policy and the need to blame elected officials for the current conditions we face. Take responsibility as the single individual for the world you live in.

The winds of chaos beat upon us all, but it is ever easy to ignore them via a low grade mass panic when they are far off.

This only masks the banal evils close by. It is not by the might of some overarching government policy that that homeless man on the street corner is going to get someone to treat him like a human being, and it is not by government power (because that has hence to for failed) that that street walker who is probably under the age of 18 is going to get anyone to treat her like anything more than a sex toy at worst and criminal at best.

Rather, as I have said before, do not be a slave to fashion. Do not go along with the popular anxiety of the hour. These only annul us to awareness of what is going on around us all the time.

Lift up modern society and there you will see the underbelly. The real world is not clean, from a distance, or from close by. But what is is is an opportunity for the single individual to change reality for someone more a victim of the world we live in than that individual.

It is for things like this that, if we would allow ourselves to delve into, more meaning and power would be found than 10,000,000 hours spent fearing whatever is the fashion of the day to fear.

Defend the weak. Insist on justice for the downcast, and do not allow fear of the distant to distract you from the work at hand. These are the precepts by which the single individual becomes the agent of change in his/her world. Isn't that what we all wanted to do anyway, make a difference?

Don't Hide

What you don't know will indeed kill you. But it is the emotional response we substitute for what we do know, but refuse to trust that leads to insanity.

In the face of the exotic and other and terrifying, it seems that no amount of rational evaluating can overcome the visceral terror that seems to naturally ensue, shortly to prevent all rational evaluation, and to infect the human thought process more surly than a physical contagion ever would. 

Nothing travels faster than bad news, and at the same time nothing seems to be harder to cure than irrational fear.  

We try hard to ascribe meaning and derive something of substance from everything that causes us panic. However, the majority of the time, it all comes down to not being able to distinguish the signal from the noise. 

There are many ways to deal with irrational fear, but the surest way to not cure it is to hide. As with nearly everything else, playing the victim is the quickest path to perceptions becoming realities. 

In the face of that which causes you panic, take the initiative. Charge strait in. Turn the tables and determine your own course. You will be amazed at what you can do when you have to.