how sane is our sanity?

While watching a program on the Soviet mass murderer Andrei Chicatilo it was mentioned in the commentary that an internationally embraced definition of insanity is centered around whether the individual knows the difference between good and evil.

In the Genesis account of the garden of Eden it is said that there were two trees in the centre of the garden. One was the tree of life and the other, positioned in the centre of the garden right next to it, was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil – a tree that seemingly bore fruit that if eaten would achieve in the devourer of the fruit the apparently fatal ability to distinguish between good and evil.

The story declares that mankind desired the fruit of this forbidden tree and after having partaken of it something seemed to be opened up in their understanding that wasn’t there before. It was as if a Pandora’s box was opened and this act of rebellion facilitated the spiritual death and degradation of all creation.

In this day of superior knowledge and self proclaimed sophistication we now seem to celebrate as a virtue of sanity the same attributes and ability that the account of the garden of Eden presented as death inducing.

Perhaps we need to ask the question, “how sane is our sanity?”

we can’t trust beauty anymore

we can’t trust beauty anymore
we’ve been lied to
and we’ve liked it
we’ve loved it
and it’s become beautiful
we couldn’t see its ugliness anymore
and we hated ugliness
so we turned our back on beauty
and now we lie
even when we speak the truth

 

24.12.2012

the mating season

… every mating season the little mongrel wanna-be alpha males see a small glimmer of desperate hope that they too might just be able to bury their little spear in the rear of as many bitches as possible, …and who knows, maybe even take pole position in the rabid pack …

… after all, it’s the law of nature and the nature of all beasts…

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Politics/Malema-lashes-out-at-Zuma-20120616?fb_action_ids=10151031317815396%2C10150873092201363%2C10150873090026363%2C10150873087146363%2C10151031227160396&fb_action_types=news.reads&fb_source=other_multiline

… but then again, can we not say the same about churches, church leadership, social groups, clubs, the workplace, sub-cultures … even our own families… in fact, any and every grouping of humans in conscious or subconscious purpose driven collective?

… but that’s not the way it will be with you. Instead, the greatest among you must become like a person of lower status and the leader like a servant   –   Jesus Christ

how beauty turns to ugly in the blink of an “I”

A beauty, celebrated by a significant sector of our society is stripped once again and exposed, only this time in disgust and to public outrage.
This beauty was once on display before us and we gazed upon her with desire and lustful admiration but now this beauty has turned ugly by simply saying something that somehow cuts us deep, causing us to react in anger, even disgust.
And we turn towards her again… all of us, from all sides…

http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/2012/05/04/racist-tweet-model-stripped-of-title-by-fhm

One concerned person, perhaps speaking for most of us I dare to suggest, posted this sentiment:

“No kidding? This disgusting behaviour keeps dragging us back into the dark ages.”

She was stupid to tweet what she did, no doubt,… (and she has acknowledged this already) and the expression and its sentiment is without any doubt unacceptable, but I think on all sides of the politico-cultural swamp we think and feel the same things.
Perhaps some of us are more “socially appropriate” about it all and don’t succumb to that many ‘irrational’ outbursts and also not in such a public forum, but I believe it’s deep in there… in all of us.
Yes, she is totally out of line, but we perhaps should consider that it might not be any more than just us turning on her in a bestial “pack-mentality” … Perhaps vainly to purge ourselves of these inner demons through her vicarious substitution?
We are a sorry bunch, hiding behind the illusionary veneer of the vanity of our belief in ourselves that we are the worthy possessors of a superior intellect…. That we are above the other creatures, that we are good and upright, civil and morally just?
Instead, I’m sorry more for us as a species than for her alone…. It’s sad, very sad.

’tis the season to make money

deck the malls with signs of folly

fa la la, la la, fallaciousness

 

’tis the season to make money

fa la la, la la, fallaciousness

 

forget the poor, and stuff your tummy

fa la la, fa la la, fallaciousness

 

abracadabra sounds so jolly

fa la la, la la, fallaciousness

 

join the throngs of mindless nations

frolic in sensual divination

 

fa la la, la la, fallaciousness

___________________________

 

 

 

sex in the new age?

“….and I wear those skinny jeans so you can see my fat wallet”

 

I heard this on the radio this morning. A ‘hook’ lyric from a pop song, and boy did it ever ‘pop’ into my consciousness!

However, missing a lamp pole and the occasional pedestrian or two I swerved back onto the road of life, shook my head (the one rocking on my shoulders), and then the questions came….

 

Is this sex in the new age?

How did we get here?

STD’s?

CVI crash? (‘C’onsumer ‘V’alues ‘I’ndex)?

The Fractional Reserve Morality System meltdown?

 

Could this be an indicator of one of materialism’s little orgasms?

Is this the apex of the euphoric terrestrial roll-in-the-hay?

The pursuit of a currency that has no value other than what we fantasize about like a permanent Betty Ford sex-rehab in-patient?

“Hi, my name is Bob, and I am a sexaholic, ….. and boy do I like the bulge of your wallet”

 

Is this what could be called romping with the god of our age?

The great spiritual erectile dysfunction – a mile high sky-scraper who’s lift does not stop at the top?

Pie in the sky faith or perhaps sky in the pie faith?

This god has a name or two perhaps ….

“the thirst and the lust”

“hellfire and winsome”

“the begging and the trend”

“the alfalfa and the omega-3”

“the blight and the mourning scar”

 

………. but we do like to watch – don’t we?

 

__________________________

the moth

I circled high and saw the glow,

A candle flickering down below.

I’d heard of danger,

Cries of “don’t go near!”

But surely there was not that much to fear?

 

I swooped on down, I felt its charm

A sight so warm could do no harm?

I circled round, I spiralled in

I could not keep my excitement in.

 

It was a risk, I knew quite well

But not to venture leaves no story to tell.

To face a challenge and grab the prize

I knew I could do it, what they said was just lies.

A caution echoed inside my head

A twinge of fear, a flutter of dread.

But I had to see, I just had to find out

What this fear-filled fuss was all about.

 

I moved in closer, it felt so fine

The warmth was thrilling, almost divine.

The pull was enticing, the pleasure so great

My heart was pounding at a mind-spinning rate

 

Circling, intoxicated, racing around

I swirled, swooned, lost myself, not desiring to be found?

Suddenly it turned bitter, I managed a shout

But it was too late, my flame had gone out.

 

 

 

the mechanics and chemistry of love

As far as we know there is no society on earth that does not have romantic love as part of its make up. In all of their studies anthropologists have never found a society that did not have the presence of romantic love in its social fabric. This sounds wonderful and quite warming, a positive constant in an ever changing world, but the reality is that romantic love is not always a positive or happy experience.

Love, and specifically romantic love seems to be a type of madness on both sides of a continuum. As powerful as the effect of positive romantic love is, the effects of romance failed is seemingly more so and for a few reasons perhaps.

Romantic love is one of the most powerful things on earth. It is in the evidence of its power over our decision making that it can be almost seen as a type of madness. We have also come to discover that romantic love is an obsession, a drug that can enslave us and change us dramatically.

Paul Simon wrote a song called “Allergies” on his Album “Hearts & Bones”

“My heart can stand a disaster
My heart can take a disgrace
But my heart is allergic
To the women I love
And it’s changing the shape of my face”

We have also come to discover that the other side of romantic love, rejection or broken romance is even more obsessive.

It seems clear now that in the human brain the same area fires up and is activated in positive and negative romantic love i.e. – when you have just fallen into love and are ecstatic as when you have just been unceremoniously dumped and are in devastating emotional distress.

Another interesting discovery that modern science backs is that the less our hope is in obtaining an object of our desire the hotter our desire for that object is. This is crazy stuff. Just when one would think that a failed romance and the accompanying disillusionment would cause reason and sanity to set in and snap the hurting party out of the pain and into reality the opposite actually happens – the obsession with the relationship intensifies all the more, and not always in the best way. It can tip us over the edge and get us to act totally irrationally. It can literally change the shape of our face. It’s as if we shift our perception on reality and then willingly risk all as we ride this wave obsessively all the way to the shore.

When we suffer in this way it seems that the desire of love is replicated in the opposite and in fact even tends to exceed the intensity of the positive romantic love it once seemed to have had. It has now been observed that the reward system in our brains for wanting and which sparks motivation and develops drive to achieve our goals can go into almost a craving for what we desire. This gets more active when we cannot get our hands on the object of our desire. The more something is seemingly out of reach the more we stretch and reach for it and the more we intensify our passion in this quest.

Another interesting discovery is that the same area of the brain that measures and calculates the extremities of gains or losses is the same area that fires up when we make decisions to take huge risks with the possibility of huge loss in order to gain something we desire. Here also it seems that sober reason and irrational, high risk seem to come from the same source.

It is madness of a sort, but it seems like when we are at greater risk of losing out we are fired up all the more.

Could taking a sideways step to look at this suggest that in the same way faith and doubt are from the exact same place? What about love and hate? They seem so opposite but maybe they are the same thing? Is it reasonable to suggest that love and hate are also so similar – possibly even from the exact same place, two sides of the exact same coin? Maybe even the exact same thing – just expressed and experienced very (extremely) differently?

If we turn our attention towards faith and religion and specifically the concept of a professed “love for God,” could it mean that the more we desire to press in and believe and seek after the love of God towards us we are actually faced with the opposite reality as a very present factor in our minds?

I have always found it very interesting that so many turn to a belief in God in times of deep and desperate pain, sorrow or rejection, or in the face of significant failure and even loss. Loss of dignity, worth, even of physical things like health or finances? I have also noticed that those who are the most adamant and vocal about their belief and often adopt a fundamentalist stance seem to be either in or coming out of a very desperate situation in their lives. Could it be that those of us who are passionately aligned to our belief systems are actually in the realm of ‘madness’? Could it be that we are reacting and energising ourselves to pursue what we feel is so out of reach to us, possibly even lost forever?

Could this be what is being suggested or referred to when we are challenged with the “golden Rule” – the command to love others as we love ourselves?

What could this all say about love? Why we love, how we love, whom or what we love?

What might it say about our theologies and the groupings we choose to gravitate towards or even belong to?

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/helen_fisher_studies_the_brain_in_love.html

what is this thing called love

what is this thing called love
this funny thing
called love
just who can solve its mystery
why should it make
a fool of me?
(Cole Porter)

What is love? Maybe we have been led astray by modern media? Could it be that wittingly or unwittingly we have been herded into an understanding and definition of love that is misleading? What web has Hollywood spun? …. and like a dog, have we become befriended?

Romance, a walk on a sunset beach, a suggestive touch over a glass of wine, a prelude to final consummation and the promise of eternal, uninterrupted bliss.

Has love always been like this? A superficial tingling, an obsession, an insatiable desire? An all consuming passion that burns and totally distracts everything else until we take possession of that which we desire?

Or could it simply be peace? Could it be more like a harmonious resonance as time and space is shared by two or more beings who find themselves in close proximity? Could it be the embracing of someone outside of yourself in a meaningful, committed manner? Perhaps love could be as bland as a decision, a commitment to honour and support regardless of circumstance?

There was a time when marriages were pre-arranged. The deal was done before the couple had even set eyes on each other. Do these marriages suffer the absence of love? Statistics seem to suggest that they last longer than marriages that are made by self determined choice between couples.

We love God, a favourite dish, our pet, a movie, a favourite sport, a child. What are we loving when we love these – the objects/subjects of that which we love or the feelings we conjure up about them in our own minds. What is the source of the pleasure love offers? What is the focus of love? What is the goal of love? Do we feel the way we love or love the way we feel?

Perhaps love has become so blurred in our times that it is no wonder that we can fall out of love as easily and as quickly as we seem to fall into it. Whatever it really is we are obsessed with love. We write novels, songs, poems about love. We look to love for healing and wholeness and love failed tears us to shreds, and in some cases even suicide. Love seems to have the ability to give life and destroy it.

In the ancient texts we are told that God is love. We are challenged to love God and others as we love ourselves. So, how do we feel about ourselves? Is that the feeling of love? Perhaps this is the only data we have that is not outside of ourselves and therefore somewhat speculative? If the idea of God being love was our departure point would we love others around us differently? approaching the same thing from the other way what might it say of our love for God if we really were honest about how we loved others and even ourselves?

Has love devolved into merely a word? A simple abstract concept that is open for individual definition? Has the doctrine of love become an open negotiation?

Words paint beautiful pictures but they also burn them.

What is this thing called love, this funny thing called love? Just who can solve its mystery? Why should it make a fool of me?

for you Sir, … special price!!! … only for today!

Why do we want the full perceived value and benefit of something for less than it’s perceived or even actual worth?

I once was involved with an international luxury motorcycle company franchise which was amongst the strongest prestige brands in the world – I sold product to people wanting the perceived value and benefits of this prestigious brand and the full benefits of the perceived social status of being able to own this brand but they almost always wanted it at a reduced price.  No matter how rich they were they would almost always request a cheaper price than that marked.  In most cases money was not and should not have been the issue, but clearly it was.  Some even walked away from the deal because I never gave them their discount and others walked away only to obtained it by some other means – sometimes going to the opposition and some by alleged ‘illegal’ means.  They were going to get what they wanted and at the price they demanded.  Amazingly, many I have spoken to about this phenomenon have said to me that this is the way of the world, the way we are, some have even said it’s who we are.

Hence my question, “why do we want the full value of something for less than it’s worth?”  Is it the truth that this just who we are?  What underlying motives (conscious or subconscious) if any, are at play in this?

Why is it that we ask for “discount”?  How come it seems that this kind of action is barely questioned and seems to have somehow morphed into our ethical standards as normal practice?

I am involved with the Christian church on a regular basis and many of my fellow Christians claim to be sons and daughters of the most High God who ‘owns the cattle on a 1000 hills.’  Many profess to be blessed by this abundance and grace in God, that they are sons of the owner of all wealth and that they can do all things through the God who strengthens them ….  yet they seem to want most things for free and if not for free, definitely at a discount.  And clearly, they are not shy to invoke the name of God or religion to get their reduced price.  On a humorous but tragic note one of my friends once said, ‘…. having worked in musical instrument retail, I do know that if I ever again hear “enige afslag vir die kerk?” (“any discount for the church?”) I won’t be responsible for my actions.’

Can we not see that in participating in this kind of ‘discounting’ activity we are devaluing that which we claim to hold as most valuable?

Is it not reasonable that if we get a most valued item at a cheaper price we essentially reduce it’s value to the price we paid?  And amazingly, after doing this we still want to extract the full value of the high price of the item we purchased.

Our currencies (globally) are valued speculatively and in reality are not worth the paper it’s printed on.  The whole economic system of the present day is basically a hoax, a scam, an illusion which has no substance in terms of tangible collateral wealth.  Do we perhaps subconsciously know that it is all a scam and try get the illusion at a lower price (but even though it is a illusion we are still going to buy into it regardless)?  Or are we just dull and stupid?

Hopefully we are not intentionally blind?

Or are we?

Maybe we subconsciously know that money and the other things we seem to hold in such high regard, the things we seem to value so much, are actually totally worthless, so having a disdainful jab at it is not a problem to us?

Or maybe we are simply cheap and everything about us is cheap and devalued?  From our beliefs, to our possessions, to our thoughts, attitudes ….. ?

One friend responded to me that he draws a line between inanimate objects and people.  He claimed to hold the view that he pays people their full worth but in terms of product and commodities he has no problem playing it as hard as he can to extract the best advantage and profit for himself.  But can we so easily separate the two?  We just need to bring into the equation all the ‘sweat-shops’ that produce so much of our sought after luxuries and commodities we all crave so much.

For me all bleeds into one and we cannot ‘create’ wealth.  The universe to my mind, is finely balanced and a gain or a loss does not magically materialise independently and out of nowhere.  It comes from somewhere or someone and goes somewhere or to someone.  Something’s got to give.  Maybe it’s happened already?  We speak of “green” and being ecologically sensitive, but I think we are only paying lip-service to smoke screen the real problem that like an iceberg has 90% of it’s mass under the surface of the deep.