The Hyena

    

       Don't be fooled by the person who appears to be jolly. Though they may lighten the mood and perhaps be a joy to be around, don't be so quick to deem them as the greatest manifestation of the human form. Hopefully they are as they seem: a genuine person of good will who only desires to bring smiles to others faces. The danger in assuming this is that so often a person such as this is all smiles and laughs but the root of why they act that way may be as simple as it is their salve for nervousness, insecurity, and/or possibly cover for a deep inner sadness. This is not a problem to make much note of unless the hyena character is largely false and their true character is something vile. There are very many back-stabbing people or people who seem to be joy-loving and "sin-free" but are truly an undesirable character.

      Parents are often fooled by the hyena. Often the hyena is the chuckling friend who seems to enjoy their conversation with the parents too much. This person is often described as "bubbly" by the mother. Though he/she claims to be an enemy of excess and is a stickler for following rules, they will often be the one instigating drinking and driving and other reckless activities.

      Women are also commonly fooled by the hyena. A hyena working consciously as a sociopath may manipulate a woman who is not very bright in her method of choosing a partner. If a woman is not very perceptive and sees personality traits in a very flat way, "funny", "nice", etc. a sociopath may act out a role of a very charismatic person who "loves to laugh" in order to stimulate the desired chemical reaction in her. Because of the way that her emotions make her feel, this type of woman will decide that "feeling good" around this guy means that "he is good". Lacking depth, regardless of her other qualities, she will be lured by this facade and regret it later. 
      The main point here is to not be fooled by false-fronts of behavior and to have the insight to see the true character of those one keeps in their company.

Those Who Believe in Fate

 

     The essence of fate, what the whole idea entails, is essentially that an outside force takes hold of the steering wheel in one's life and shifts the building blocks, the events which the individual encounters, in a configuration that is not of that person's choosing. The individual is in a submissive position while "Daddy", the bigger force, is allowed to do as it pleases. "Daddy" is in charge in this belief.

      Those who have had things "handed to them" or those who have had devastating events drastically change their life may claim that fate rules the lives of the many people of this world. A person who is lazy and lets the world pass by may claim that fate is making everything happen because from their point of view they are thrust into situations such as their childhood, their career, and marriage with little or no action on their part. This situation is an example of a person who has let their point of view distort their perception of the rest of the world's population. They will likely believe that all or nearly all people are like them. This individual always had the freedom to do whatever they pleased, but in having such a small amount of ambition chose not to. In continually nurturing their own belief in fate, by choosing not to act, letting events go on around them, occasionally getting caught up in a flood of circumstance and being carried off to an event without their consent, it all happened as they said it would.

The Return of the Passions

 

      In the modern age we denounce our beliefs. As a result we cannot settle on any one thing. We are always in the mindset that what exists will no longer "be" in the blink of an eye. Therefore, we tend to focus more on our own consciousness rather than the crumbling structures outside ourselves. One must not forget then, to be wary of the temptation to place folly in the space that false-beliefs once filled.

      If those who came before us found their passions in that which we toss away as broken childrens toys, what then can we feel for? What can inspire us? When so much territory of art (that sacred craft) has "been done", is it our fate to tread over old, overdone styles?

       Love endures regardless of what we uncover about what emotions are composed of biologically. Passion for life endures when the mythic stories of the religions of our forefathers have been denounced. That passion is not gone when we toss Moses and Jesus to the garbage heap- on the contrary, the the passions are purified when we liberate ourselves from those rusty old machines. Those irrational fears can cause only harm, cripple the spirit, and misguide the individual.

Substitutes for True Life

      The main focus here is what masses of people flock to, that empty television programming simple in it's content but content nonetheless. This suffices to give fuel to those who are so pathetic to not have content of their own creation to engage themselves with.

       Entertainment is of worth in that people often need a break from whatever labors they are involved in in daily life, but that entertainment should only be a side dish to the entree, a snack beside the main course of a fulfilling life. If one is an artist, the pursuit of their craft is a far different thing than someone who idly consumes the products of others and never participates. Join in the creation process, by all means!

       It is sad to me whenever I overhear common people speaking about their preoccupations. I sense that they missed the train, so to speak, they missed encountering the events that would inspire them and form them into a full-fledged individual with flowering passions. Instead, hollow drama or sports entertainment enters their eyes and ears; the repetition of regurgitated clichés are vomited out for the simple masses who desire what is easy, retreating from whatever threatens to challenge them in any way.

       In peering into the lives of these simple animals it seems they often seem to bark the same answer: That retreat into the simple is a way to sink away from the stressful, unfulfilling job, and escape from the nagging wife or the neglectful, emotionally dead husband. If only better choices were made, but alas, this cannot be expected of from this sort of person. The experience of life is not one to be pondered, oh no. And these important decisions such as what sort of labor will consume one's time and who one will spend the rest of their days with require no special thought, of course not, no no no. Confronting a person about a break up or considering a career change is far too scary. Trying to enrich what one has? Far too much trouble. Best just to charge toward death.

       Bad life choices and a lack of internal growth seem to lead one to have such low standards and be so easily elated by that which is predictable. These uninspired people have fallen into the rut of the false-efficiency model, getting by following trends like a lemming. They are the mob, the mindless face of society following each fad blindly as one of the flock. They are everywhere promoting endless rehashes of the same empty television entertainment, buying up tabloid fodder, squawking on like the bird-brains they are.

Sit in Awe

 

      In taking up my pen to criticize my fellows in their way of religion I mean not to stop them from expressing their purest selves. By all means express yourself and imagine a connection with some force beyond our human selves. By all means people need that purity in their everyday lives. The problem is when people limit that force or forces when they begin to declare certain things about it which they really do not know about. Just leave the defining alone and sit in awe of it all. Purity is key.

Pure Judgement

      One must be mindful of pure judgement. Pure judgement can only be attempted when one frees oneself from the false-self, that of gender, nationality, instilled morality, etc. Only the pure self should remain when meditating on something for pure judgement to be possible. Anger and/or hastiness must be left behind, along with all but the pure mathematical layout of the events involved to be judged and decided. Only in this mindset may one have a hope of pure judgement.

Naiveté Through the Ages

      In watching a bad 90s film about "the youth having it their way!" (Yes, the one that came to your mind likely applies because those movies are numerous and cliché) I wondered if in 20 years I will appear that way to those who come upon what I have created. The clichés in these films are centralized around a faintly thought through notion that "society is bullshit!" and "the youth will have it their way!" (Not that they have a better idea of how to run things). It is so miserably naive. In watching it it is hard that people were so childlike in their responses to issues that seems elementary now. On a second thought though, it is those naive people in the 90s who seeded so many of "the new ways of thinking" that have become so integral to our worldview.

       In the films and television programs of the time that naive revolutionary spirit was everywhere and the issue of accepting gays and lesbians, for instance, was pushed so fervently. Seeing these shows today the issue seems like it was made a spectacle of in how much the topic of gays and lesbians gaining acceptance was pushed with such naive radical fervor. It almost seems like a moot point to us now but we may forget how naive society as a whole was for these "revolutionaries" to seem so naive to us well into the 21st century. For the naive to be the "enlightened" the rest of society must be very blind indeed. We must remember to be thankful for the work that certain dreamers carried out, for although much of society is still ignorant they are much less so because of those who spoke out.

       Each thinker from the ancients to our modern age is submerged in the mode of thinking of his or her time. It is the slight deviation from this that influences society into losing some of the ignorant modes of thought they once held. It is the goal for the revolutionary thinker to be relatively free of naive blunders of thought that are typically seen in the general populace. That blindness is so difficult to see. It is like standing within fog but being unaware that it is there. The deciding factor when judging people from the past is on the ideas themselves, and so naiveté is acceptable when one remembers to separate the idea and ad hominem judgments.

       This reminds me that my critical judgment of my own work is both a good thing but also that in the process of editing my work I do not need to be so fearful that the minuscule detail, means success or failure. I realize that my own naiveté is just fine for such a quality is typical. I am willing to point out as false what the general society of today deems as acceptable at the risk of humiliation if I make an error in judgment. I must remember that error is normal on occasion. It is more acceptable today to stick one's neck out and take a chance in speaking from one's heart so I don't have much to fear. Each decade sees some construction of the blocks leading with each ascending step to greater heights of awareness, and so my struggle, I feel, will be much easier than that of those that came before me. Perhaps this is naiveté.