I try not to advocate too hard for anything specific. In the past I’ve overused phrases such as ‘we must’ and ‘one should’. It’s pretty arrogant for one person to think that they’ve got anything to offer another person via unsolicited advice. An effort has been made in this past year with the re-ignition of this site and the writings it contains to be less ‘preachy’.
I do not always succeed, and sometimes in a manic writing session where my fingers can keep pace with my thoughts I break this rule. In the throes of such flowing sessions it can be difficult to keep a thoughtful and diligent internal critic. Often that critic is the hindrance of such flow states. Perhaps that is why you should write like a jazz musician and edit like a surgeon. Allow your mind free rein without the encumbrance of your inner cynic while getting thoughts out, but wake your critic when it comes time to edit.
Contemplating this goal of non-advocacy in the near past has made me realize that I am indeed pushing an agenda. Most of my writings talk about the need to be kind to one another and heighten our capacity for love, empathy, and compassion. I have even pushed ideas related to a re-ordering of our national values, or better put, actually aligning our national policies with our self-described national values. What I am really advocating for in these writing is actually much larger.
I am presenting the case for a full paradigm shift in the way that we view our society and existence. This has little-to-nothing to do with any type of politics, policy, or law. Instead it is a re-imagining of what we could be doing with our precious time on this planet. It is taking what we’ve been told is the ‘good life’ and scrutinizing it to see if it is indeed the way we should be living. I do not want you to vote differently or support a specific set of policies. This is simply putting to question that which you’ve never thought to question.
This is a radical re-thinking of how one perceives our world – not that one should switch political parties, start voting for X instead of Y, or take to the streets in protest. Instead, I’m advocating for a shift in perception away from what we’ve been conditioned to believe is true and what might be resting just beyond those accepted notions of ‘normal’.
To some this is uninteresting and a waste of their time. I understand that and everyone is certainly free to live in whatever way they choose. However, should you feel something is amiss and you aren’t able to fully grasp what that ‘something’ is then a re-examination of what we conceive as normal can have tremendous utility. Not only does it have the capacity to provide a light in what can at times be deep darkness, but it is also available to everyone and anyone at any moment. You needn’t buy anything or take an expensive or specialized course. You can just choose to open your mind and then make it a practice.
While writing about ‘what I’d do if I were king’ can be fun, it doesn’t provide the reader with much insight – other than perhaps a glimpse into the writer’s massive ego. One needn’t follow the writer wherever they go. Certainly rejecting the premise of someone’s written thoughts can be as entertaining, informative, or just personally satisfying as accepting them. Like sharing an article with a friend with an attached note that goes something like, ‘can you believe this crazy asshole?’ I can only hope that one of my pieces has been shared in such a fashion. It’s better than being ignored I suppose – unless that is just my massive ego talking.
Indeed this is not for everyone. Most people are perfectly fine floating the mainstream, and I honestly don’t do any of this to make anyone feel bad about the way they live. I’ve said it a number of times and will likely say it many more times, most of us are doing what we believe is best for ourselves, families, and future generations. However, it does seem that there are a great many aspects of this society that we simply accept as ‘being the way it is’ that are only that way because we’ve accepted them as such.
What is beautiful about this existence is the natural world and our species capacity for love and compassion. Unfortunately I currently perceive the way we’ve structured society to be out of line with both of these beautiful aspects of existence. We treat the natural world with little respect, and see it largely as a place of extraction – or a place that has the capacity to make one rich. We see the natural world this way because we’ve chosen a society that selects for wealth over health.
We’ve structured society in a way that draws on our species’ capacity for greed, pride, and lust rather than love, compassion, and empathy. In every town in America there seem to be more restaurants that serve unhealthy food than there are medical practices. We’ve selected wealth over health. We live in the land of abundance at the peak of excess and we still have a homelessness and food insecurity problem. How can we look past such things when trying to justify our Greatness?
In America we claim we can do anything, but when it comes to finding compassion for our most vulnerable or disadvantaged we seem to throw up our hands in defeat. ‘We can do anything…well, not that’ is a sentiment that is getting pretty old and tired for me. Can we use that wealth and greatness to produce a culture that meets the proclaimed values of our society? Or will we continue to believe in the rose-colored ‘reality’ we’ve been conditioned to believe exists? We can have both a healthy and wealthy society, but currently we prioritize wealth over health. What if we tried it in the reverse order?
I appreciate your attention and hope you’ve found value in this.
Thanks for reading and please take care of each other.
Billy's Briefs 