“I went into the woods because I wanted to live deliberately, I wanted to live deep and suck out all marrow of life. To put rout all that was not life; and not when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” – Henry Thoreau
Henry Thoreau says he wanted to “put rout to all that was not life” – wrapped up in this is putting rout to Society, with a capital “S”
Recently, in my family, I’ve been faced with the issues that breaking with Society throw up.
A family member has lost their place in Society.
We don’t realise that we have a “place” until it slips from our grasp.
The ”Game” has a very distinct set of rules, depending on which country you come from. Somebody moving to a new country has to quickly figure which of their own learned rules applies, or does not apply in their new home.
We hear so much about Immigration these days. One of the stories that is oft repeated is that immigrants band together in ghettos and don’t bother to try to assimilate in their new country. “They are happy to take our money, but they wont play by our rules.”
Whilst this is a massive generalisation, it is true to some degree.
In Birmingham, it’s possible to find people who have lived in the United Kingdom for thirty years and who cannot speak English at all, they live a ghettoised life, where they only need speak with their fellow countrymen, only attend churches in their language, and are offered translators, if they need to speak with the local Council or doctors.
Life’s Not Fair!
It doesn’t seem fair.
This is the point! We have assembled a set of rules for the “Game” and we expect that if you want to be part of the idea of the United Kingdom, then you should also stick by the rules of the UK Game.
If I give you a monopoly set, and neither of us understand how to play, you might be making paper aeroplanes out of the money, whilst I’m trying to make a castle out of the pieces… god forbid a third person who does know the rules tries to play!
This is the kind of chaos we hope to avoid in our daily lives.
God says “thou shalt not kill, steal your neighbour’s wife or oxen” – Phew, a great sigh of communal relief must have ensued!
Now at least we have a start to a set of rules…
These days, the rule set has become perhaps too complex, when we get to granular conversations about the actual meaning of “being a woman!”
Whatever you happen to think of the rules, you have several choices.
If you don’t like them, try to change them. This has several paths including through the political system, or via a route of violent or passive resistance…
If you don’t like the rules, you can move to somewhere that has different values…
Or, Like Henry Thoreau, you can move into the woods – you always have a choice.
Sensitive people
I’ve written recently about “sensitive people” – it’s on my mind a great deal, as a family member is struggling with the rules of reality right now.
This person is definitely a “very sensitive person” – there are various tests online that help you to identify these characteristics in yourself.
I certainly see that in them.
But what is sensitivity? What does it mean in practical terms to “Society”
In this person’s case, they were not able to follow along with what we all see as “normal” behaviour. This person had damaged themselves through the heavy use of Marijuana over an extended period.
Alcohol is so prevalent in our Society and is a “socially acceptable” drug. It seems to be condoned (although we are all aware of how dangerous it can actually be…) because it is essentially something that we do together. It’s seen as a “social lubricator” and so goes under the government radar. It’s also clear that the governments raise huge amounts of tax from the industry, so banning it will never be on the table…
Why then is Dope illegal in many places?
When I was young, “American-style grass” was a very funny, fun and social affair.
Somewhere in the Eighties, dope started getting much more heavy.
Drug gangs and growers were looking for strains that were easier to grow and with a stronger effect. The genetic modification of Marijuana, made “Skunk” exceptionally powerful and mind bending – essentially a totally different drug to “Grass”
Why change your mind, feeling and emotions in the first place?
The more robust amongst us rail at Society, shout, moan and bitch about it, and then get on with life. The more sensitive amongst us just find Society oppressive, stupid and REALLY difficult to deal with.
Dreamers, Artists and Musicians
Dreamers are often accused of viewing life through “rose-tinted spectacles” – but if one is feeling deeply upset and repressed by this tough, loud and harsh life, then retreating for a few hours behind a rose-tinted haze seems like a great thing to do.
It seems to make life more bearable, turns bad TV and bad tasting food into something more fun, takes the edge off the demands of Society.
I think that we are not encouraged to smoke dope, because it lowers many of our people’s productivity.
I think it stops us from being a functional unit in Society’s ranks of earners and workers.
You can still get things done with a hangover, I have fifteen years in the City of London as a broker to attest to this being possible!
Having a quick toke on a joint slows everything down, and is so easy to do.
I think Society, which moves faster and faster is insulted that you might want to get off the ride for a little while. You need to keep your shoulder to the wheel, not sit back and stare at the wheel, with a vacant amused look, whilst the rest of us do the work!
Little do we know that the people who find Society so difficult to interface with, are self-medicating against the game we play. These people are using Dope as an anaesthetic against the game of life.
We don’t see sensitive people as “useful” to Society. Their exceptionally ethereal skills and high functioning minds don’t “seem” to turn the wheel in the way we require.
We have never developed Society to cater for them. I suspect other ancient Societies valued these people and even prized them much more highly, these are the musicians, painters, and spiritual leaders that don’t fit our business model.
We shove them out of the mainstream, where their fragility often breaks them, as Society smashes roughly past them…
If you are working at a physical level only, you’ll never understand somebody who’s working at a Qi level or a Spiritual level. Point of fact, you’ll probably never even believe that their level even exists…
My Mask
Daily, I accept that I shouldn’t touch your bottom, take an apple from your stall, steal your car or walk down the High Street shouting obscenities at you.
Since a child, I have absorbed “right and wrong” as laid out by my family, school, religion and government.
These are masks that I wear every day. I put on my Society mask, where Henry Thoreau was no longer happy to do that.
In essence, he abdicated from Society. This is NOT encouraged.
Suicide is not encouraged either. When this “Game” gets too tough for you, the idea that you might get out of the game this way upsets government and church alike.
It’s the same story, why should you get out, and leave me to do all the shitty work?
Therefore we make rules and taboos around suicide to keep everybody in the game and to keep the game from looking ludicrous at best, and horrible at worst.
We don’t want anybody’s attention to be drawn to the miserable lives that people on the fringes of the juggernaut of Society are living, so we make suicide illegal! What a laugh!
Maybe we should actually spend more time finding out what it is that makes the more sensitive people unhappy.
What is it that drives people to using heavier and heavier drugs, to living rough on the streets, to drinking more and more?
Well I think we all know, if you don’t fit in; if you look or sound a bit broken, then we push you aside, rather than gathering you up in our collective loving arms and patting you gently on the head and asking lovingly “what can we as a Society do to help you?”
We all have our own escape.
People read books every waking moment of their spare time, people watch entire series of Sci-fi shows on Netflix, people become obsessive home cooks digesting hours of TV cheffing to inform their habit, people become wine buffs to numb the pain, others travel the globe so that life never has a chance to catch up to them.
Work is a serious addiction, it’s possible to soak yourself so deeply into the pursuit of money that you don’t even see life passing by.
Work until you finally hit the ever receding target of retirement, and then die shortly after.
What’s the difference between smoking yourself into oblivion or working yourself to the same place…? Money… just money.
Can you demonstrate that you were a useful member of Society and put some Money in the pot, our did you just take money from the pot as you smoked your pot?
What a nice world it would be if Jeff Bezos decided to surrender $200 billion of his reputed $250bn fortune to make a fund for sensitive and artistic people to live from.
Let’s pay 10 million sensitive people a yearly basic wage so that they no longer have to struggle for survival and see what rewards their creativity brings Society as a whole…
If Jeff’s fortune gets spent, and we don’t advance Society at all, then he’ll still have $50bn in the bank and we can all get on with the old ways…
What about if we ask all the World’s Billionaires to put half their fortunes towards creating an Art and Spirit fund?
Yes, I can see what you are thinking, no doubt we’ll screw this up too, somebody will profit vastly, somebody will find a way to siphon of the cash…
Dear lord, will we ever learn?
I happen to believe the answer is YES.
I happen to believe that many more of us are beginning to “understand” our true divinity and see that Consumerism has taken over Christianity and Islam as the new religion.
I think many millions of us are tiring of the new gods, and their high priests…
The long robes have become sharp suits, but the message of control is just the same.
Like a magnet, under a paper covered with Iron filings more and more of us are aligning with the magnetic poles of self-discovery.
Bit by bit, even platforms like Instagram, Youtube and Facebook let new teachers send us their messages like never before.
The old religions have taken thousands of years to dominate, the new understanding of self might only take a few lifetimes. We are witnessing the biggest shift in perspective of the human race, since the enlightenment period.
All births are difficult and violent affairs, I know as I’ve attended two of them. It’s astonishing what a huge struggle it takes to bring forth new life, but nothing will stop it, when it finally decided to arrive.
Keep the faith people, change is inevitable and it’s coming…
There will be a place for the sensitive souls in our midst…
The only place for you to be, is deep inside yourself. That’s where god lives, that’s where the answers lie.
If you are in doubt, BE SILENT, stay inside, you’ll eventually understand everything…