The Human Condition

      I'll keep this short and start this blog post by saying that society is a really terrible place. I have come to realize this through my own experiences and Walden has given me a point of reference. This post is going to go briefly into my views on the ills of society and the imperfections of man-kind, as well as include a short summary of the work we have recently been doing in World Literature class.
       Walden is a book that shows me that the world has always been a place of less-than-fair judgment and money-driven ignorance. I am still in the chapter called "Economy", and this chapter is still a shining truth in a world of, for lack of a better word, bullshit. I never thought I would find a book that represents my ideas so well. It's something outside my own head that I can connect with and that's meaningful to me.
       As I said, I plan to keep this short, so enough about Walden. I'm actually more excited about my class work. Roman literature has always been interesting to me. I enjoy studying old things and hearing ancient stories. I relate to them, because there's something inside of me that connects with all the conflict.
       That conflict which lives in all of us is similar to many of these epics. In the poems, there are several things going on at once. We see the emotions of the characters and the struggle they face in search of an ultimate goal. That's something that everybody deals with in their own way. I also find it interesting to point out that these stories never start at the beginning. It's always a recount of recent events. This can be tied to my previous statement concerning the relation to our own problems in that we never look all the way back to the beginning when we thing of the things we battle in our lives. When we think of things; when we really look back on our lives; we don't start at the beginning. We begin at the start of the problems that are relevant at that particular moment.
       Enough of my chatter. Tune in next time, boys and girls. I'm sure there are some more thoughts floating around my head that somebody might find interesting. In the meantime, enjoy the picture on the other side of this link!

     

ZEITGEIST: THE MOVIE

Every person in the world should be forced to watch this. Open your eyes folks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTbIu8Zeqp0

Please, do not ignore this. Very little has ever been as important as spreading this film to every person it can be spread to. Get on it!

The End And The Beginning

       In this blog, I will conclude my thoughts on The Hobbit and begin to delve into my opinions concerning Walden. I'm incredibly happy that I took the time to read both, and I feel as though my thoughts recently have been very much inspired by them.
       On the topic of The Hobbit: I am very pleased to say that I absolutely loved it. The themes of the story are almost prophetic if looked at from a certain perspective. It is easy to discover ideas within the story that are representative of the world we currently live in, or at the very least, parts of it. Allow me to elaborate on this idea as best as I can.
       The story takes place in a world much like ours. Regions are separated and several races exist (not always harmoniously). The Hobbits are rather shy and reserved. They enjoy their beer and food and pipe weed and don't generally go on too many adventures. The coming of Gandalf in the first chapter is symbolic of the call to adventure that we all face at some point. In saying that, I mean that people always have a conflict that we must face in our lives, and that call to adventure is nothing more than the start of something larger. After this first visit, Bilbo Baggins needs some convincing, as we all do before taking a risk. He ends up going out on this adventure and facing all the hardships that can be thrown at him by the world he lives in. He must fight for his life against forces of evil with the intent to inhibit him and his company from reaching their ultimate goal: The capture of the Dwarven city that was taken over by the dragon, Smaug the Magnificent.  My opinion is that we all have dragons to fight in our lives. We need our friends, our band of dwarves to stand at our backs and fight with us. We are all corrupted by our personal rings. Things that we received, perhaps by unfortunate mistake, and must deal with for the rest of our lives as we struggle with addiction, love, loneliness and obsession. In that sense, The Hobbit is a book containing many symbolic clues about the nature of human beings.
       Now, I said in my opening paragraph that I found The Hobbit to be prophetic. I will explain why I got this vibe from the story. Hear me out on this. The idea that everything is always going to be okay is a blatantly ignorant notion. Nothing ever remains as happy or easy as we want them to. Life in the shire was an obvious representative of this. Bilbo's live could not simply stay the same, because nothing ever does. There is always a corrupt force such as Smaug or, in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Sauron. Bilbo embarks on his journey with expectations that he will not be too badly injured by the world around him. He expects that he will not be corrupted and forever changed as we all are in our lives. The ring is just wealth.Wealth is an idea created only for the mass control of entire populations. In the book, it was introduced by Golem and quickly became a sickness. Wealth, just as the ring did, corrupts people and rots us from the cores of our being to the surface and manifests it's self in expensive clothes to show our social class and monetary status.
       In the end, there is always a battle. That battle is also the start of something new. Smaug stole everything. He took all the wealth and he took all the land. Just as our governments do to us on a daily basis. In the end, it was imperative that he was overthrown. The company of 14, though small, had to fight something much bigger than themselves as individuals. They did so in the name of an idea, and a very righteous idea. This is what we must do. Overthrow and take what belongs to us.
       Those are ideas that I will not be shaken from and will not apologize for. Forgive me if you found them offensive, or rather, stop reading my blog if you found them offensive. I see not one logical reason to give a solitary damn about opinions spawned from uninformed thoughts. If your intelligence is questionable, your time is wasted in reading intelligent thought.
 

       On to Walden! This book is everything I ever dreamed it would be. Henry David Thoreau is a genius. I have never loved a book like I love this one. I'm sure that if my house caught on fire tonight, I would make it a priority to save my copy before diving from my window. Thus, I will make my insights known.
       The first chapter is "Economy". It tells of the ills of society as they relate to money and social class. In our modern world, people judge the character of an individual and anchor their opinions of him or her in the clothes worn or car driven. About 20 pages into the book, you can find a quote that will stick with me for the remaining years of my life:

Often, if an accident happens to a man's legs, it can be fixed; but if a similar accident happens to the legs of his pantaloons, there is no helping it, for he considers not what is truly respectable, but what is respected.

Just A Short Update!

       Hey there! It's been a long while since I posted on this blog. For that, I apologize. I have been busy and under a lot of stress in these past few weeks, and it has taken it's toll on my patience. Despite that, I am back now, and more inspired than I have ever been. Life is well, and with luck, it will continue to improve.
        Things you all can expect in the next couple weeks:
         I will be back on the blog, posting on several different subjects. I will do a post to finish The Hobbit, and move on to Walden, by Henry David Thoreau. I will post on the subject of music and creative works of that sort. I would also like to express political opinion if at all possible. I plan to jump right back into this blog and give the readers I have something to read every week.
         Thank you for taking the time to read this little update. I encourage you all to comment on my posts so that we may start conversations on what topics I choose to express my opinions on! If you enjoy my post, feel free to share them and earn me some more readers. Smile often!


     

Invictus

       In our World Literature class, we're discussing folk music. I suppose we were assigned to write a folk song and to post it on the blog. It was supposed to apply to the present. More specifically, to 2013. Rather than go down a political road (as we all know I love doing), I created this song at a time when I was have some relationship trouble. Who doesn't write a song about that every once in a while?
       With the help of my friend, Alyssa, a recording was created. I'd had this song for a long time and had been waiting to hear what it sounded like recorded, and I'm pleased to say that, although it is a rough track, we're very satisfied with the noise. All the instruments were programmed, and vocals were laid over that track. I shall post a video below, so y'all can check it out!

Lyrics:

My dear, come home. Come home to me.

My time is wasted with every breath I breathe

and these hands; they shake in the memory

of  all you gave to me.

I hope I surely do my best.

My faith is tested.

Here my head does rest, separated from my heart.

My bones aching, skin uncaresed. 

But I won't let my head hang low.

And I will not surrender for no more am I alone.

I'll not be defeated, as the sun comes out to warm me.

No, I will not let myself sink,

until you're home.

I untie my hands, and rise from my knees.

Though bruised and scraped I sing my reverie.

'Neath the bludgeonings of chance I raise my chin,

and and stand this ground for all to see.

For I am here and my heart is elsewhere.

Content amid the sand, as though this were not unfair.

Hold me for as many tides as you see fit,

then come home. Come home to me.

But I won't let my head hang low.

And I will not surrender for no more am I alone.

I'll not be defeated, as the sun comes out to warm me.

No, I will not let myself sink,

until you're home.

It matters not how strait the gate

or charged with punishments the scroll.

I thank whatever gods may be,

for my unconquerable soul.

Hear me. Hear me out now,

I will say this once,

but I will say it loud.

I shall not live til' you are home.

May The Force Be With You

       Has anyone else ever sat and stared at a keyboard, and no inspiration would come? That's what's going on in my life right now. I would say that it's an inconvenience, but instead I will have to say that the Force is not with me today. 

       The Force is a pretty great thing. I believe in the idea of the force. It is my opinion that the world is one living organism filled with many smaller organisms. God is not, in my views, a single omnipotent being. I don't think God is separate from humanity. I believe that everything around us (rocks, trees, people, fish, plastic and books) is all a part of the same thing. I don't think I can describe it as well as I would like to. It's a confusing concept at times. This belief, however, is similar to the Taoist ideas of the Jedi. 

       In our English class we are studying Chinese literature, and thus we must discuss Chinese culture. Are Jedi really just futuristic Taoists? I believe that they are. If you look at many of their ideas, they match up detail for detail. I didn't really pick up on it until we started this unit. 

      

        On a different note. I should probably tell you all what's been going on in The Hobbit. I would absolutely love to tell you how many pages I've read and what's new, but unfortunately, I either work or attend DMACC every day. If there was ever a pain in my ass, this week has made it feel like nothing. 

        So I'm not going to tell you anything about The Hobbit, but I hope this blog wasn't a waste of your time. If it was a waste of your time, I apologize. I'll be less busy in a week or so. Thanks for reading! 

People Are Trolls Too

In the abyss of society,

is the Mordor of the Earth.

There, stain defines humanity;

a mark received at birth.

It grows upon the skin

and plants it's roots down in the bones

of men and women caught in ignorance.

It spreads and makes it's home.

Like trolls beside the fire,

we feast without regret

for what we've stolen from our fellow man.

The lives that we upset.

Our greed becomes our motive.

Our motives decide our course,

and we eat horses at the fire-side.

We show no remorse.

No pity for the broken hearts.

Less care for broken homes,

than the lining of our pockets.

Our ignorance is shown.

Revealed we are as cowards.

We are strong beneath the lunar light,

but in the sun we falter.

Our values not near so bright.

Our stain sinks ever deeper.

No remedy exists

for shot values and selfish morals.

We are nothing more than this.

So in the sunrise, perish.

To stone our vessels turn.

An eternity of nothing,

is a fate we all deserve.

       As you may have guessed, I have taken some inspiration in the trolls of The Hobbit. I draw many lines between their carelessness and stupidity and ours. I suppose not all people are bad. Some people are charitable and decent, to a certain extent. My point is that humanity is flawed, and we don't seem to realize it. At the very least, we place much less value in others than ourselves. Allow me to elaborate.

       The trolls steal horses from the company of adventurers along their journey. They plan to eat them, but they don't care about who they stole them from. They don't care about the inconvenience to the horses' rightful owners. It's plain selfishness. Humanity is naturally the same. We think of ourselves before anyone else. Nearly everything we do, we do for selfish reasons. This wouldn't be so bad if we weren't constantly preaching about helping the less fortunate, which we do at times, but only after our own desires are satisfied. 

       An example: George Carlin, possibly the smartest man to ever live, once revealed an interesting fact about golf courses. (Side note: The game of Golf was invented when Bullroarer Took, during a battle with the goblins, knocked King Golfimbul's head into a rabbit hole.) Golf courses average 150 acres each. If we do the math, we find that within this country we devote space equivalent to two Rhode Islands and a Delaware to a game played by the people who say they want to help the poor. Why isn't any of this land being converted into low-cost housing projects? The reason is simple. There is no money to be made in doing that. We don't care to help anyone else unless we're profiting from it.

       I think I've made my point clear. If I have offended anyone with the views expressed in this particular post, I don't care. My opinion is more important than yours. Tune in next week!