"The trouble with self-delusion, either in a person or a society, is that reality doesn't care what anybody believes, or what story they put out. Reality doesn't "spin." Reality does not have a self-image problem. Reality does not yield its workings to self-esteem management."-J.H. Kunstler
I violently disagree that truth is subject to the whims of ego. Since returning home, repeatedly reflecting on some nagging ideas has pushed me over a threshold. I am moving quickly into a room shared with a rude abrasive bitch calling herself Personal Responsibility and away from the escapist fairytale that "The Fates" are so preoccupied and impressed with glorious ol’ me that they only live to provide a precious lesson-a-minute from their classic handbook The Magical Meaning Hidden Inside the Mystically Mundane. No, I suspect we're required to evolve and learn without constant spoon-fed intervention from The Universe.
I've also always held an acute, almost unnatural, disdain for the book/movie The Secret. It implies that you can manipulate the “Law of Attraction” to accumulate wealth, fame, and random booty; as though by thinking “happy thoughts" you can have an unfettered ego and spiritual enlightenment at the same time. "You too can make Karma and fate your own personal wench!” If you practice this, Karma, God, Joe Pesci…whatever you call it…is on to you.
I've said it many times: neither fate, karma, nor God are any man's bitch. Neither will be coerced into manipulated action by disguised self-serving egocentric acts, no matter how eloquently they're spun or how cleverly they’re presented. We possess freewill and the ability to make decisions based on our instincts for a reason. Yet, if we choose to relinquish common sense or submit to compulsions thinly veiled by an overbearing ego's voodoo linguistics, succumb to a self-centered and overzealous mysticism, or ignore common sense all together? Well, life isn't a first-class safari. To the extreme, the consequences can be as mocking, harsh, and unforgiving as any of the other savage blows dished out by Nature. Ask Chris McCandless about it.
Oh, sorry. You can't.
The shallow hypocrisy of “charity as a tool" is a similar mentality as that behind The Secret and resides at the heart of my disgust for "missionary" work, and loaded charity of any kind. It's egocentric in nature and it's my belief that you would be further ahead with "God" by admitting that you care little for helping people, are primarily concerned with making yourself feel (or look) important, or are simply kissing Holy Asscheek. Essentially saying: "Hey! God! Lookee what I did! Lemme to the front of the line!”? Really? Is your deity a short-bus breed of special? Or are you just kidding yourself? If that's the case, what about that whole "vengeful God” thing? What about all hypocrites go to Hell? Personally, I would think long and hard about who or what you're supposedly manipulating.
I've also mentioned this several times, but at the heart of my beliefs are that, above words, coerced, loaded action, or any doctrine and dogma, the true intent, what's in a man's heart, is the core of his existence.
If you submit to any sort of higher power, yet practice the art of trying to fool "God" or Karma with "tradeoffs”? Ha! When you’re dead, if you’re not too busy frolicking at the celestial pool with Jesus, of course, let me know how that works out for you! If I were God, (despite accidental impressions, I don't believe I am) I would stamp your coach ticket to Hell with the words: "Who the fuck did you you think you were “bargaining” with, gnat?"
Blasphemous? Hardly. Thinking you can outwit God, Karma, or the Universe may be the ultimate ego trip and might itself be the oblivious height of blasphemous arrogance...
Updated composite From Navigating The Rubicon and Don Quixote Revisited, 2009
I've also always held an acute, almost unnatural, disdain for the book/movie The Secret. It implies that you can manipulate the “Law of Attraction” to accumulate wealth, fame, and random booty; as though by thinking “happy thoughts" you can have an unfettered ego and spiritual enlightenment at the same time. "You too can make Karma and fate your own personal wench!” If you practice this, Karma, God, Joe Pesci…whatever you call it…is on to you.
I've said it many times: neither fate, karma, nor God are any man's bitch. Neither will be coerced into manipulated action by disguised self-serving egocentric acts, no matter how eloquently they're spun or how cleverly they’re presented. We possess freewill and the ability to make decisions based on our instincts for a reason. Yet, if we choose to relinquish common sense or submit to compulsions thinly veiled by an overbearing ego's voodoo linguistics, succumb to a self-centered and overzealous mysticism, or ignore common sense all together? Well, life isn't a first-class safari. To the extreme, the consequences can be as mocking, harsh, and unforgiving as any of the other savage blows dished out by Nature. Ask Chris McCandless about it.
Oh, sorry. You can't.
The shallow hypocrisy of “charity as a tool" is a similar mentality as that behind The Secret and resides at the heart of my disgust for "missionary" work, and loaded charity of any kind. It's egocentric in nature and it's my belief that you would be further ahead with "God" by admitting that you care little for helping people, are primarily concerned with making yourself feel (or look) important, or are simply kissing Holy Asscheek. Essentially saying: "Hey! God! Lookee what I did! Lemme to the front of the line!”? Really? Is your deity a short-bus breed of special? Or are you just kidding yourself? If that's the case, what about that whole "vengeful God” thing? What about all hypocrites go to Hell? Personally, I would think long and hard about who or what you're supposedly manipulating.
I've also mentioned this several times, but at the heart of my beliefs are that, above words, coerced, loaded action, or any doctrine and dogma, the true intent, what's in a man's heart, is the core of his existence.
If you submit to any sort of higher power, yet practice the art of trying to fool "God" or Karma with "tradeoffs”? Ha! When you’re dead, if you’re not too busy frolicking at the celestial pool with Jesus, of course, let me know how that works out for you! If I were God, (despite accidental impressions, I don't believe I am) I would stamp your coach ticket to Hell with the words: "Who the fuck did you you think you were “bargaining” with, gnat?"
Blasphemous? Hardly. Thinking you can outwit God, Karma, or the Universe may be the ultimate ego trip and might itself be the oblivious height of blasphemous arrogance...
Updated composite From Navigating The Rubicon and Don Quixote Revisited, 2009
