Normalcy

People from the (rapidly splintering) "mainstream" of society in Europe and the United States today take a peculiar pleasure in considering themselves "normal" in comparison to legal offenders, political radicals, and other members of social outgroups. They treat this "normalcy" as if it is an indication of mental health and moral righteousness, regarding the "others" with a mixture of pity and disgust. But if we consult history, we can see that the conditions and patterns of human life have changed so much in the past two centuries that it is impossible to speak of any lifestyle available to human beings today as being "normal" in the natural sense, as being a lifestyle for which we adapted over many generations. Of the lifestyles from which a young woman growing up in the West today can choose, none are anything like the ones for which her ancestors were prepared by centuries of natural selection and evolution.

It is more likely that the "normalcy" that these people hold so dear is rather the feelings of normalcy that result from conformity to a standard. Being surrounded by others who behave the same way, who are conditioned to the same routines and expectations, is comforting because it reinforces the idea that one is pursuing the right course: if a great many people make the same decisions and live according to the same customs, then these decisions and customs must be the right ones.

But the mere fact that a number of people live and act in a certain way does not make it any more likely that this way of living is the one that will bring them the most happiness. Besides, the lifestyles associated with the American and European "mainstream" (if such a thing truly exists) were not exactly consciously chosen as the best possible ones by those who pursue them; rather, they came to be suddenly, as the results of technological and cultural upheavals. Once the peoples of Europe, the United States, and the world realize that there is nothing necessarily "normal" about their "normal life," they can begin to ask themselves the first and most important question of the next century: Are there ways of thinking, acting, and living that might be more satisfying and exciting than the ways we think, act, and live today?

You know what everyone's greatest fear is? It is that all the dreams we have, all the crazy ideas and aspirations, all the impossible romantic longings and utopian visions can come true, that the world can grant our wishes. People spend their lives doing everything in their power to fend off that possibility: they beat themselves up with every kind of insecurity, sabotage their own efforts, undermine love affairs and cry sour grapes before the world even has a chance to defeat them... because no weight could be heavier to bear than the possibility that everything we want is possible. If that is true, then there really are things at stake in this life, things to be truly won or lost. Nothing could be more heartbreaking than to fail when such success is actually possible, so we do everything we can to avoid trying in the first place, to avoid having to try.

http://www.crimethinc.com/texts/selected/forward.php

Téměř veškerá skutečnost, vnímaná smysly, zpracovávaná a hodnocená vědomím, je efemérním konstruktem, který nabízí společnost, který si zvnitřňujeme a který svými činy rovněž spoluutváříme a aktualizujeme. Stálé trvání této sociální reality je rovněž konstruktem. Celý koncept sociální reality neustále vzniká a znovu se aktualizuje v jediném bodě -- přítomnosti, stejně tak, jako se neustále aktualizuje obsah operační paměti počítače (která by nebýt neustálého znovu-naplňování daty a elektrickým signálem během okamžiku celá zanikla).

-- ???

"Tradice je systém, který má zabránit, aby děti předčily své rodiče."

Ephraim Kishon

[ HAWKENS @ CITATY ... aneb veci, ktere vam pomohly otevrit oci ... ]

The Coward's Tale
http://www.viruscomix.com/page458.html

Pro správné vykonávání psychiatrie, a také tradingu, je třeba neztrácet ze zřetele společný hlavní princip: význam soustředění se na realitu a schopnosti vidět svět takový, jaký skutečně je. Abyste mohli žít zdravě, musíte žít s očima dokořán otevřenýma. Abyste mohli být dobrým traderem, je třeba hrát na trzích s očima dokořán otevřenýma, být si vědom skutečných trendů a obratů a nemarnit čas a svou energii v lamentacích či probíráním různých "kdyby"

-- Alexander Elder (milionář trader psychiatr ruského původu)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Elder

So here's the cosmic joke. If the goal was your life purpose, and you achieved it, what would happen? You'd stop. But once you stop, there is no precession, no side-effects - and it's the side -effect, not the goal, that is your life purpose.

Humans are MEANT to be IN MOTION.

Fuller looked at the fact that NO ANIMAL HAD TO EARN A LIVING. They are just doing what they are supposed to do. If they do that, then nature & God looks after them.

http://www.relfe.com/life_purpose.html
How To Know What Your Purpose In Life Is

It is not safe to hope for the best, without preparing for the worst.

Nic nežije, co hodno
bylo by tvých hnutí a žádného vzdechu
nezaslouží země.
Bolest a nuda je naše bytí a bahno svět -- nic víc.
Upokoj se.

— G. Leopardi, in F. Nietzsche: Nečasové úvahy, O užitku a škodlivosti historie pro život

Beauty, like happiness,
occurs frequently.
Not a day goes by in
which we do not,
for an instant,
live in paradise.

— J. L. Borges

-Co je největším nepřítelem osvícení?
Strach.

-A odkud pochází strach?
Z přeludu.

-A co je to přelud?
Myslet si, že květiny kolem tebe jsou jedovatí hadi.

-Jak dosáhnu osvícení?
Otevři oči a viz.

-Co?
že kolem není jediný had.

We created a spiritual vision that is based on our fears, not the truth.
(Caroline Miss, o duchovnim zivote Americanu, nejen tradicnim ale i spouste New Age)