Modern Life

[CLPM]

I won't hide the fact that I'm an absolute loner and I find it almost impossible to relate to anyone.

 

I am a young person in the Western world. This means that my peers are too busy checking their Blackberry phones every .5 seconds and comparing the size of their penises (size of their breasts if you are female) to have meaningful conversation.

 

Talking to a random person is met with extreme suspicion. I don't see anything odd about talking to the person next to you on the train. But no, they look at you as i you were a ghost. It seems as though the only time it's acceptable to talk to people is if you are at a club with loud music, and you both hve lethal amounts of alcohol in your system...only if the intention is to go to bed with each other later.

 

And even if you get a conversation going, what is there to talk about? I like 60's European cinema, the majority of people my age couldn't sit for 2 hours and watch something. I like books, the majority of people my age can't read.

 

I don't mean to sound egocentric. I have genuinely tried to fit in with the average person, I have genuinely tried to pretend I can associate with them, but eventually, their need for superficial media and superficial interaction fills me with anxiety.

 

I'd rather live in a village somewhere in some poor mountain region. I'd rather live in a place where there is community cohesion rather than suspicion and anxiety about talking to your neighbour. I'd rahter live in a place where people have real problems, like, 'Crap we've run out of food', than, 'OMG I HAVE TO VOTE ON THE X FACTAH!'.

 

Immature rant over.

 

[9th]

Poetry. Throbbing veins begging to be lanced?

 

Take from it what you will.

[Aetherous]

I feel that, CLPM.

[CLPM]

Thanks.

 

It's nice to know I'm not the only one.

[TheSongsofDistantEarth]

I won't hide the fact that I'm an absolute loner and I find it almost impossible to relate to anyone.

 

I am a young person in the Western world. This means that my peers are too busy checking their Blackberry phones every .5 seconds and comparing the size of their penises (size of their breasts if you are female) to have meaningful conversation.

 

Talking to a random person is met with extreme suspicion. I don't see anything odd about talking to the person next to you on the train. But no, they look at you as i you were a ghost. It seems as though the only time it's acceptable to talk to people is if you are at a club with loud music, and you both hve lethal amounts of alcohol in your system...only if the intention is to go to bed with each other later.

 

And even if you get a conversation going, what is there to talk about? I like 60's European cinema, the majority of people my age couldn't sit for 2 hours and watch something. I like books, the majority of people my age can't read.

 

I don't mean to sound egocentric. I have genuinely tried to fit in with the average person, I have genuinely tried to pretend I can associate with them, but eventually, their need for superficial media and superficial interaction fills me with anxiety.

 

I'd rather live in a village somewhere in some poor mountain region. I'd rather live in a place where there is community cohesion rather than suspicion and anxiety about talking to your neighbour. I'd rahter live in a place where people have real problems, like, 'Crap we've run out of food', than, 'OMG I HAVE TO VOTE ON THE X FACTAH!'.

 

Immature rant over.

 

 

 

I think your sentiments are shared by many here. I believe that I am a monk at heart, and often fantasize about joining a monastery. But there is something within me which resists running away from life that I haven't mastered. I would only allow myself to be a monk if I felt successful in ordinary life. I believe that Gurdjieff espoused these same sentiments, that one needs the material of ordinary life as 'grist for the mill'. Absenting oneself from that often leads to spiritual sterility if one is not truly ready.

[Aetherous]

One thing which recently happened in my life...I crossed paths with an old high school buddy, who had subsequently kind of lost his mind through drug experimentation or shamanism. And concurrently, I had temporarily lost mine too, through incorrect practice and lack of sleep.

 

We met up at a local cafe, and ended up talking about tons of stuff. It was very awkward and forced conversation at first. Then the flood gates opened the more we opened ourselves and attempted.

 

Weather magick, power animals, Taoism, poetry, high school people that we know, natural living, survivalism, conservationalism, minimalism, etc. Many things were discussed.

 

We ended up going back to the cafe many times, writing poetry, talking about whatever, meeting random people that we knew.

 

So...point is that cafes are a good place to have interesting conversations. Especially the shady ones...not Starbucks. Certain things open people up, like sharing poetry and art with eachother. Sharing information about spirituality. Getting involved in projects.

 

This just came to mind.

[TheSongsofDistantEarth]

One thing which recently happened in my life...I crossed paths with an old high school buddy, who had subsequently kind of lost his mind through drug experimentation or shamanism. And concurrently, I had temporarily lost mine too, through incorrect practice and lack of sleep.

 

We met up at a local cafe, and ended up talking about tons of stuff. It was very awkward and forced conversation at first. Then the flood gates opened the more we opened ourselves and attempted.

 

Weather magick, power animals, Taoism, poetry, high school people that we know, natural living, survivalism, conservationalism, minimalism, etc. Many things were discussed.

 

We ended up going back to the cafe many times, writing poetry, talking about whatever, meeting random people that we knew.

 

So...point is that cafes are a good place to have interesting conversations. Especially the shady ones...not Starbucks. Certain things open people up, like sharing poetry and art with eachother. Sharing information about spirituality. Getting involved in projects.

 

This just came to mind.

 

Nice. I agree about how the funkier places open up the conversation to wider spaces.

[TheSongsofDistantEarth]

This I heard on NPR this morning at 6 a.m.(paraphrased):

 

A child in Europe was upset because his pet chicken became lost. Apparently the parents tweeted about it and the tweet was passed on to the United States. A reply came back to look across the road and that's where they found the chicken.

 

*boing*!!!

 

 

 

In a way in which I can't express in words, this had a similar effect of a Zen Koan (although, to be honest, I never really 'got' Zen Koans. I mean, 'one hand clapping' and all that. I understand them intellectually, but it was always an unbridgeable chasm to the 'aha!'). But somehow, this little story just shifted my reality in a big way and gave me the 'aha!' transformation. It works on numerous levels which are hard to articulate. The truth in that old riddle. The Nature of Chickens. The Nature of Roads. The True Nature of Life...and so on. It's still reverberating in me hours later. Go figure...

[Encephalon]

 

So...point is that cafes are a good place to have interesting conversations. Especially the shady ones...not Starbucks. Certain things open people up, like sharing poetry and art with eachother. Sharing information about spirituality. Getting involved in projects.

 

This just came to mind.

 

Are you suggesting that I should pick another place for enlightened conversation besides the McDondald's inside the Walmart next to the strip mall by the industrial park?

[Samuel]

[Encephalon]

 

But what's it like in the proffessional environment? Is it still chock full of small people and playground politics?

 

"The Professional environment" is an awfully big place, so generalizations are bound to have limits, but I did have the same concern and while I was employed full time as a personal trainer here in LA I made a point to ask my clients exactly the question you pose; is the professional workplace also populated with morons?

 

Unfortunately, the answer is YES in many instances, and it seems that the bigger the organization, and the less personal, the greater the gaminess. I had one client working for the LA Unified school district and we would compare notes on which of us witnessed the biggest expression of stupidity. She often won, and I remember asking myself how things ever manage to get done in this world. But then, look at what the US did to Iraq, not to mention our public treasury.

 

I've been lucky to spend most of my life not working for corporate environments, and as much as I'd like to commence my teaching career, I know that academia is riddled with silliness and backbiting, and I couldn't get a teaching gig if I moved out of CA anyway. To tell you the truth, my last few years of employment included working in a pizza joint and personal training and I dearly loved it the absence of corporate-sponsored stupidity.

 

But the bottom line for me is, there's simply no way I could continue to maintain my optimism and sense of humor had I not commenced a Taoist practice three years ago. As I see it, if we can defuse the stress of daily life, including chronic pandemics of stupidity, shut off the "fight or flight" switch and turn on the "rest and digest" mode, then we might surprise ourselves with how much equanimity we can manifest.

[Samuel]

But the bottom line for me is, there's simply no way I could continue to maintain my optimism and sense of humor had I not commenced a Taoist practice three years ago. As I see it, if we can defuse the stress of daily life, including chronic pandemics of stupidity, shut off the "fight or flight" switch and turn on the "rest and digest" mode, then we might surprise ourselves with how much equanimity we can manifest.

 

Ridiculously true, I think. I began my practise when I was in comprehensive school, (high school for those across the pond, I think). Before practise I was describe by people I went to school with as "one grumpy motherf..." you get the idea. If I had to stop practise, I'm not saying that I would revert to that, but it'd be hellish difficult not to react to some situations with the same temperament as a wolverine.

[Encephalon]

Ridiculously true, I think. I began my practise when I was in comprehensive school, (high school for those across the pond, I think). Before practise I was describe by people I went to school with as "one grumpy motherf..." you get the idea. If I had to stop practise, I'm not saying that I would revert to that, but it'd be hellish difficult not to react to some situations with the same temperament as a wolverine.

 

I am moved that younger people like yourself are growing up in a period where these teachings are available at such an early age. I must have been in my mid-30s before I even heard the term "chi kung," and another 12 years would pass before I finally started the practice.

 

Hypothetical musings are useless, so I won't speculate on how my life would've been different with an early intro to chi kung, but if self-loathing is as much a part of consumer culture now as it was when I was raging teenage drunk, and I believe it is, perhaps even more so, then there's hope that people can be healed with these ancient tools. I believe Bruce Frantzis is right; the ancient Chinese refined these cultivation practices above and beyond what any other culture has contributed to the world.

[Samuel]

I am moved that younger people like yourself are growing up in a period where these teachings are available at such an early age. I must have been in my mid-30s before I even heard the term "chi kung," and another 12 years would pass before I finally started the practice.

 

Hypothetical musings are useless, so I won't speculate on how my life would've been different with an early intro to chi kung, but if self-loathing is as much a part of consumer culture now as it was when I was raging teenage drunk, and I believe it is, perhaps even more so, then there's hope that people can be healed with these ancient tools. I believe Bruce Frantzis is right; the ancient Chinese refined these cultivation practices above and beyond what any other culture has contributed to the world.

 

I confess, my "practise" was just the entranced study of the TTC, because that was all I had, or rather, could find on the net at first. My first copy of it was one I found posted online and printed off myself, in tiny print so that I didn't use up all the ink.

 

I suppose that is one of the positive things about modern life; it makes the spread of these teachings so much easier. Any other positives? (before I completely hijack the thread with nostalgia?)

[TheSongsofDistantEarth]

*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*

Edited December 17, 2011 by TheSongsofDistantEarth