IT'S LIKE WE HAVE COLLECTIVELY AGREED TO LIVE DEPRIVED, SENSELESS, ARID HALF-LIVES. CONSTANTLY AFRAID OF WHAT A STRANGER MAY BE DOING AT THE FAR REACHES OF OUR OWN PAINFULLY SKEWED PERCEPTION, BUT TOO FRIGHTENED TO EVEN CAST A GLANCE, AS THE FEARFUL POSSIBILITIES EXPAND WITH OUR LINE OF SIGHT, WHERE SOMETHING WE DON'T KNOW OF YET IS GLOWING AT THE EDGES OF OUR VISION. WE FEAR THE OTHER AT THE SAME RATE THAT WE FEAR OURSELVES. EVERY LAST ONE OF US IS AFRAID OF OUR OWN POWER, AND WE'VE BEEN CONDITIONED TO SEE POWER AS A FORCE EXTERNAL TO OURSELVES, SOMETHING NOT ROOTED IN A SEA OF SENTIENT AWARENESS, SOMETHING AS SENSELESS AND UNFORGIVING AND LACKING IN ANY KIND OF ACTUAL ATTENTION AS THE CULTURE TELLING US ALL OF THIS IN MYRIAD STORIES AND SYMBOLS AND SENSES EVERY DAY. AND EVERY TIME I DANCE ON THE BUS OR CRY IN PUBLIC OR OTHERWISE MAKE MYSELF VULNERABLE, I MOVE CLOSER TO REALIZING MY OWN POWER, AND BECAUSE LIVING IN FEAR IS CULTURALLY NORMATIVE, EVERY TIME I MOVE CLOSER TO MYSELF--WHICH REALLY IS A KIND OF REALIZATION OF MY UNITY WITH EVERYTHING ELSE--I BECOME CONCERNED THAT I AM "LOSING MY MIND." WHAT I HAVE ACTUALLY BEEN ENGAGED IN FOR MANY YEARS IS A PROCESS OF UNDOING MY MIND, AND THE WAY THIS CULTURE HAS CORRODED IT: CLOSING MY HEART, AND BREAKING DOWN MY SPIRIT.
This is the feeling and the challenge and the commitment which drives the larger life experiment of seeking more liberated and existentially exercised ways of living and blog here which will document it. Thank you for stopping by, and please let me know if you'd like to collaborate on any experiments or projects which respond to this basic premise.
