Rant on Joy (Not another fucking Goth Moment)

[Zurtok Khan]

My philosohpy teacher said something wise.  I suppose that's to be expected from a philosophy teacher, wisedom.  Of course, it is the exception rather then the rule.

He says that an intitution, in order to be a religion must have the idea of something trancandant, something beyond.  You know, I think he's right.  He uses the idea of Darwinism as a foil to religion.  But Darwinism is simply a belief that we are running the rat (from whom humans only separated 6 million years ago) race of evolution, and when the sun explodes, we're done.  There is nothing in this belief that points to a purpose, nothing that says, "Human I bid you Joy."

We need that, we humans.  We need joy.  I'm sure all the depressed goths would like to tell you that they hate the world, because the world is an empty shell, where joy is but an illusion and pain and death is all that we come to in the end.  But, we still need joy.  They feel it.  They all feel it.  They crave it like a mad dog after meat.  But, joy isn't that simple little feeling you get after you've achieved something, it's not the feeling you have on christmas morning after you open you're presents.  Joy is what lingers, it's that peaceful inner calm that comes from love, love of everything.  Acceptance of the Everything.  They can't have joy though, because they think they can find it in a christmas present, or in a moment.  It is not from without that it comes, it comes only from within.  But you've got to listen for it, and let it be.

We want joy, because when we have it, we're done.  It's not contentment, you get that on christmas too.  It's more than contentment, because, again, it will last, it will go on forever.

My teacher's aide for this philosophy class has a funny idea.  For reason he seems to think that the trancandent beyond is somehow separate or above this world of base forms and dull energies.  I think he's wrong.  The beyond is here.  Thats the irony of it.  It is here.  You are just as much a part of it as the spider that is now going up the wall in my room.  Everything is a part of it.  More than everything is part of it.  Isn't it pretty?

I have another teacher that's very wise.  This one teaches Classical Mythology.  He seems to think that there is a mindset that the mythmakers had.  He says it's a rare gift.  It's the gift to see the beauty in life.  It's the gift to have joy, I think.  

One person may look at the world and say, "This is dog shit."  But, those with the so-called "Mythological Mindset" could never see it that way.  They see it as beauty, as happiness, as that free feeling that you feel when you spin in a circle and yodel and don't care who see's you.  The myth makers had it, because it didn't matter what happened, the world was still basically good.  You could even go as far to say (and you'd probably be correct) that it is the bad that makes the good so wonderful.  Certainly it was a horrible thing that the Tsunami happened in Asia, but what more beauty could there be then the amazing outpouring of support from all over the world?

Why mention both of these?  Well isn't it obvious?  The Mythological Mindset is Joy, it is having Trancended.  To touch that, and know full well what you are experiancing, that is Joy.  That is what opens your eyes to beauty.

I've slowly begun to relize that I am not my body.  It seems though, that I am not myself tonight either.

[East Coast Hustle]

dude...quit smoking that shit....it's making you feeble-minded...

[agent compassion]

That was beautiful, Zurtok.

But, joy isn't that simple little feeling you get after you've achieved something, it's not the feeling you have on christmas morning after you open you're presents. Joy is what lingers, it's that peaceful inner calm that comes from love, love of everything. Acceptance of the Everything. They can't have joy though, because they think they can find it in a christmas present, or in a moment. It is not from without that it comes, it comes only from within.

Sometimes those little moments, I think, are a "taste" of it, because we'd go mad if we never experienced it at all - the visual I have carried within me is that I am forever trying to break through the ice, or open the REAL door, or something, to transcend, to connect to it all - and oh, if I couldn't just touch it, or glimpse it occasionally, I'd be a bigger mess than I am right now.

[Eldora, Oracle of Alchemy]

dude...quit smoking that shit....it's making you feeble-minded...

I hate to agree with you, you know I mean it, but as I was reading this I was thinking, what kind of drugs is this person on.  Holy Crap!!  But there were glimmers of some kind of awakening, so I am guessing that Zurtok is just in the process of absorbing whatever experience it was.  If it was drug induced, it'll be reallllly weird when he reads what he wrote.        

Keep in mind that the "Goth" set get joy from misery.  Their gloom brings them peace.   That's one of the reasons I like shopping at Hot Topic, it is verrrry dark in there.  Also why I hate Walmart, it is so bright, I feel like I need to keep my sunglasses on.  An all those fakey plastic looking smiles.  Who the hell is that happy all the time.  Seriously.

[agent compassion]

Keep in mind that the "Goth" set get joy from misery. Their gloom brings them peace. Cool That's one of the reasons I like shopping at Hot Topic, it is verrrry dark in there. Also why I hate Walmart, it is so bright, I feel like I need to keep my sunglasses on. An all those fakey plastic looking smiles. Who the hell is that happy all the time. Seriously.

That's also true. Fuck fake happiness!

I had a surreal experience inside a MallWart once. I had just been to Planned Parenthood a few hours beforehand, and they gave me some pills(the kind that your typical Mallwart shopper would protest mightily) to take at certain times. During that window of time, I was in the Mallwart, and so I took them right there in the lobby and laughed my ass off.

[Zurtok Khan]

I wasn't on anything at the time, I was about as lucid as I ever get really.  Of course, my RL friends will tell you that that my Lucidity is about the same as a Normal(tm) person who's completely stoned.

And I had to reread it multiple times to edit it already.

And I work at MallWart, I am happy when I'm there.  Not because I'm there, but simply because I think I ought to be happy because I choose to be.  Work can be fun  

[Pedero]

Yes, you only suffer because you want to suffer.

[East Coast Hustle]

well said!

and AgComp, your sweeping generalization of everyone who shops at WalMart is a little cheesy....I mean, I shop at WalMart, for fuck's sake...so does everyone else I know...I think the views of the handful of suits who run the corporation probably have very little to do with the views of the proles who shop for cheap jeans and tupperware there...

also, "Goth" is absolutely the most retarded social phenomenon ever.

EVER.

anyone who's really that gloomy/depressed/bummed-out on life should just get it over with...also, guys wearing fishnets on their arms is just about the lamest thing I can think of....

[Horab Fibslager]

dude...quit smoking that shit....it's making you feeble-minded...

I hate to agree with you, you know I mean it, but as I was reading this I was thinking, what kind of drugs is this person on.  Holy Crap!!  But there were glimmers of some kind of awakening, so I am guessing that Zurtok is just in the process of absorbing whatever experience it was.  If it was drug induced, it'll be reallllly weird when he reads what he wrote.        

Keep in mind that the "Goth" set get joy from misery.  Their gloom brings them peace.   That's one of the reasons I like shopping at Hot Topic, it is verrrry dark in there.  Also why I hate Walmart, it is so bright, I feel like I need to keep my sunglasses on.  An all those fakey plastic looking smiles.  Who the hell is that happy all the time.  Seriously.

teh less drugs i use the madder i become.

[Guido Finucci]

But Darwinism is simply a belief that we are running the rat (from whom humans only separated 6 million years ago) race of evolution, and when the sun explodes, we're done.  

Assuming that, by Darwinism, you are referring to Darwin's theory of evolution (and its successors) then you are very, very wrong. Darwin's theories provide a mechanism for the genesis of biological traits and, very carefully, do not make reference to the sun exploding or pass judgement on the quality or meaning of the lives that we live. Perhaps a more appropriate foil would be some sort of naive empiricism?

Hope this helps.

P.S. is the word you're looking for 'transcendent'?

[Eldora, Oracle of Alchemy]

I mean, I shop at WalMart, for fuck's sake...so does everyone else I know...I think the views of the handful of suits who run the corporation probably have very little to do with the views of the proles who shop for cheap jeans and tupperware there...

That is the funniest thing you have ever said...EVER
But seriously, I shop there occasionally, if I can't find something somewhere else, but how in the world can you stand the overly bright lighting.  That is one of the things I like about shopping at Hot Topic, the darkness.  And the loud music.  I can go in there with a headache and it will be gone when I leave.  I am twisted and backwards, I know.  I also know there are places where about the only place to shop is Walmart.  Within 10 minutes of my house I have

2 Walmarts
2 Targets
2 Meijers
2 Kmart
2 Shopping Malls
1 Sam's
1 Save-A-Lot
~12 grocery stores
~12 drug stores

I can pick and choose when I want to.  Walmart is just an unpleasant experience for me.  A lot of people I know shop there, too.  If it wasn't for Target, I would probably have to shop there.

[Eldora, Oracle of Alchemy]

I wasn't on anything at the time, I was about as lucid as I ever get really.  Of course, my RL friends will tell you that that my Lucidity is about the same as a Normal(tm) person who's completely stoned.

And I had to reread it multiple times to edit it already.

And I work at MallWart, I am happy when I'm there.  Not because I'm there, but simply because I think I ought to be happy because I choose to be.  Work can be fun  

You did sound a bit trippy, at times, not so much stoned.  You did fine.  It is difficult to express awarenesses like these.  You'll change your mind about some of it, but you are breaking through barriers that you didn't even know were there.  

We are as happy as we choose most of the time.  Many people choose to be unhappy and they do not even realize they have made a choice.  Other people wear their unhappiness like a royal garment.  There are some who are only happy when they are miserable.  My vocabulary would differ from yours, but I understand what you were trying to express.

The biggest problem I have with Walmart is the lights.  I was mostly teasing about the people, but really, some of them are a bit much.  You aren't one of the wacko entry way greeters, are you?  What do they do, give them all the coffee they can drink?  THAT might put a goofy grin like theirs on my face.  About the only other thing would be ben wa balls, but then I think there would be other problems with that

[Zurtok Khan]

Assuming that, by Darwinism, you are referring to Darwin's theory of evolution (and its successors) then you are very, very wrong. Darwin's theories provide a mechanism for the genesis of biological traits and, very carefully, do not make reference to the sun exploding or pass judgement on the quality or meaning of the lives that we live. Perhaps a more appropriate foil would be some sort of naive empiricism?

Hope this helps.

P.S. is the word you're looking for 'transcendent'?

I was refering to Darwinism as the belief that we are the accidental product of sludge.  We are probably the product of sludge, but I don't see it as being accidental.

And yes, however the hell you spell it, that's what I meant.

[Horab Fibslager]

dude...quit smoking that shit....it's making you feeble-minded...

I hate to agree with you, you know I mean it, but as I was reading this I was thinking, what kind of drugs is this person on.  Holy Crap!!  But there were glimmers of some kind of awakening, so I am guessing that Zurtok is just in the process of absorbing whatever experience it was.  If it was drug induced, it'll be reallllly weird when he reads what he wrote.        

Keep in mind that the "Goth" set get joy from misery.  Their gloom brings them peace.   That's one of the reasons I like shopping at Hot Topic, it is verrrry dark in there.  Also why I hate Walmart, it is so bright, I feel like I need to keep my sunglasses on.  An all those fakey plastic looking smiles.  Who the hell is that happy all the time.  Seriously.

teh less drugs i use the madder i become.

this is a lie now that i think on ait  a bit, on account of it being some kind of curvy linsh type scale deal of precariously balanced unbalance.

[agent compassion]

and AgComp, your sweeping generalization of everyone who shops at WalMart is a little cheesy....I mean, I shop at WalMart, for fuck's sake...so does everyone else I know...I think the views of the handful of suits who run the corporation probably have very little to do with the views of the proles who shop for cheap jeans and tupperware there...

Cheesy? Yes. True? Yesish. Walmart's packaged as a very down-home, middle-American "wholesome" family shop, the kind of place that censors its CDs and would sell censored movies if it isn't already - I'm surprised *you* shop there, given that it's such an anti-communist place - but at the time, it just struck me as funny to be popping contraceptives in a store that caters to a certain "God, Gays and Guns" mentality which includes a deep hatred of reproductive rights.

And yes, they are too fucking bright, but I think that's just because there are too goddamn many flourescent lights in their stores.