I know call this meeting of Discordists Anonymous to order.
"I'll have a ham on rye!"
Shuddap!
Okay folks. I admit it. It's happened. I swore that it never would, but it did anyway.
I have become.....ooh it sickens me thinking of it....
complacent.
Yup, I freely admit it, I have become complacent.
I've got the house, I've got the wonderful wife, the beautiful, creative, and spirited daughter. I've got the 2-car garage, complete with two cars. I have graduated from lower middle-class to mid middle-class. I've got the job that gets me networking with all of the State heavies, and the sky is the limit for me career-wise. My family is financially secure and at this point we have little to worry about.
Help me!
I KNOW that just because I'm now happy in my little speck of the Universe that all of the bad stuff hasn't gone away. I know The Machinetm is still out there, constantly paving the roads with bones. I know that the Policticians are just as crooked as they've ever been. I know there are 20 something saps in the desert who are being expended like Red Plastic Cups. I know the collective imagination of humanity has festered and stalled for the past few decades, if not longer. I know all of this to be true.
But....
Damnit, I'm happy. I also admit, sometimes I just don't give a fuck about anyone else. Yeah, I know it's selfish. But fuck it. Sometimes I just don't care.
It's hard to get riled up about the human condition when your condition is minty fresh.
And this, my friends, is exactly why nothing ever gets done. Why progress seems to be made in ant-steps. Why molehills become Everests and McKinleys. Who wants to bother to struggle, to care, when at the end of the day, it doesn't pertain to them. Or at least, they don't see how it pertains to them.
I think the problem becomes, instead of us rallying together to make one bunker, we've built a series of bunkers, complete with moats of flesh-eating acid. We're safe as long as we stay in our little fortifications.
The question becomes, how does this change? Can it change without the world melting around everyone? I think being here with all of you I still have a connection to keep me honest. While I am happy, and I have become complacent, I still know, at the end of it all, anything can happen. It's just hard to keep it at the front of your mind when your mind isn't in that space.
So, there it is. What next?
Buy a digital recorder, and collaborate with me, ECH, LHX, and TOG over the intertpipes.
Either that, or start doing something that makes you uncomfortable.
relevant thread:
Is it time for a jailbreak? (http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php?topic=12928.0)
Quote from: LMNO on July 16, 2007, 04:24:44 PM
Buy a digital recorder, and collaborate with me, ECH, LHX, and TOG over the intertpipes.
Either that, or start doing something that makes you uncomfortable.
I've got a shipment of instruments arriving today. You guys need any Kalimba or Slide Whistle tracks? :D
Quote from: LMNO on July 16, 2007, 04:24:44 PM
Buy a digital recorder, and collaborate with me, ECH, LHX, and TOG over the intertpipes.
Either that, or start doing something that makes you uncomfortable.
like meth?
RWHN
he showin his age again
unhappy with the plush life of successful american
barbecues and play pens
road trips loungin at the Days Inn
no longer phased by rumors of AIDS in africans
complacent
restless
"how does this change?" is the question
encouraging the masses to be born again discordian
shrapnel embeddin
producing audio of a unknown origin
baptised as the illigitimate son of convention
hard to sacrifice the present
by acting without discretion
specially with a youngster and a wifey second-guessin
i aint got no answers
at least you detect the complacency tho
its hard to move away from comfort
the only thing you can do is determine if that comfort is legitimate or not
and if it rests on a solid foundation
LHX waxing troofly poetic.
Even tho my flow is wack, I might try to lay this down.
The ship sinks slowly.
As it descends the stern is pointing upwards and the passengers scramble for the ever more crowded space at the top.
Fighting becomes more vicious as space becomes less and the fallen drown.
If you have a nice secure place in the tail section complacency is easy to adopt, after all what's the point of living if it aint a happy life?
But the boat is sinking and eventually everyone is gonna drown.
Quote from: SillyCybin on July 16, 2007, 05:18:23 PM
The ship sinks slowly.
As it descends the stern is pointing upwards and the passengers scramble for the ever more crowded space at the top.
Fighting becomes more vicious as space becomes less and the fallen drown.
If you have a nice secure place in the tail section complacency is easy to adopt, after all what's the point of living if it aint a happy life?
But the boat is sinking and eventually everyone is gonna drown.
Fuck that, I took the plane.
now, correct me if i'm being completely stupid here.
as far as i remember you've had your fair amount of struggling to get where you are right now, RWHN. finally you've hit a plateau where you can rest for a little while. man, i wish i could EVER find such a place, but that's besides the point here.
you seem to know that the world isn't in fact as shiny as it appears to you now.
but relatively speaking to what went on before, live is peaches!
my suggestion for now: take it easy, enjoy it while it lasts, and last but not least, stick around here, cause i'm certain something will catch your eye sooner or later (and probably sooner than you'd like).
but IMO there's no need to actually go looking for trouble when you've finally hit a point where things aren't as turbulent as they have been. nothing lasts, but nothing is lost. all composite phenomena are impermanent.
Quote from: Rev. What's-His-Name? on July 16, 2007, 04:22:32 PM
I have become.....ooh it sickens me thinking of it....
complacent.
Yup, I freely admit it, I have become complacent.
...
Damnit, I'm happy. I also admit, sometimes I just don't give a fuck about anyone else. Yeah, I know it's selfish. But fuck it. Sometimes I just don't care.
What's wrong with that, if that is what you want to do?
Knowing that the Con exists... knowing that the machine is in the works... knowing that people can't really think for themselves, doesn't make it incumbent upon you personally to try to fix it. If you fix it, only in your own life... that's a helluva lot better than most people will ever do.
Christianity and Political parties teach us that we should convert people to our side. While it may be useful to convert people to Discordianism (in some sense), it's not a requirement or even a recommendation. You must choose for yourself what actions you want to do and what actions you don't want to do. As long as you're careful not to fall into the trap yourself... you can tell the world to sod off.
Or, if that's not what you want to do... then don't do it. If you want to be a Discordian activist, then be a Discordian activist. If you want to sow seeds of doubt in society, then do it.
You get control over your life (and your life alone). You get to choose how you will use the Golden Apple. You can hurl it at a punchbowl, you can put it on an Alter in the most private part of your reality. Its up to you. There are no rules, there is no requirement for evangelism, do as thou Will is the whole of the Law.
Quote from: triple zero on July 16, 2007, 06:07:33 PM
now, correct me if i'm being completely stupid here.
as far as i remember you've had your fair amount of struggling to get where you are right now, RWHN. finally you've hit a plateau where you can rest for a little while. man, i wish i could EVER find such a place, but that's besides the point here.
you seem to know that the world isn't in fact as shiny as it appears to you now.
but relatively speaking to what went on before, live is peaches!
my suggestion for now: take it easy, enjoy it while it lasts, and last but not least, stick around here, cause i'm certain something will catch your eye sooner or later (and probably sooner than you'd like).
but IMO there's no need to actually go looking for trouble when you've finally hit a point where things aren't as turbulent as they have been. nothing lasts, but nothing is lost. all composite phenomena are impermanent.
I think I am experiencing some sort of guilt from not being able to contribute anything worthwhile around here except for the lame jokes and half-baked (and sticky) metaphors.
Quote from: Rev. What's-His-Name? on July 16, 2007, 06:23:09 PM
I think I am experiencing some sort of guilt from not being able to contribute anything worthwhile around here except for the lame jokes and half-baked (and sticky) metaphors.
Guilt is the product of the Dying God. You MUST Sacrifice, YOU MUST proselytize, YOu Have Found the Truth, You Must Spread It.
If you feel guilty about anything Discordian, you may want to adjust your paradigm and see if it helps ;-)
Quote from: Ratatosk on July 16, 2007, 06:19:41 PM
Quote from: Rev. What's-His-Name? on July 16, 2007, 04:22:32 PM
I have become.....ooh it sickens me thinking of it....
complacent.
Yup, I freely admit it, I have become complacent.
...
Damnit, I'm happy. I also admit, sometimes I just don't give a fuck about anyone else. Yeah, I know it's selfish. But fuck it. Sometimes I just don't care.
What's wrong with that, if that is what you want to do?
Knowing that the Con exists... knowing that the machine is in the works... knowing that people can't really think for themselves, doesn't make it incumbent upon you personally to try to fix it. If you fix it, only in your own life... that's a helluva lot better than most people will ever do.
Christianity and Political parties teach us that we should convert people to our side. While it may be useful to convert people to Discordianism (in some sense), it's not a requirement or even a recommendation. You must choose for yourself what actions you want to do and what actions you don't want to do. As long as you're careful not to fall into the trap yourself... you can tell the world to sod off.
Or, if that's not what you want to do... then don't do it. If you want to be a Discordian activist, then be a Discordian activist. If you want to sow seeds of doubt in society, then do it.
You get control over your life (and your life alone). You get to choose how you will use the Golden Apple. You can hurl it at a punchbowl, you can put it on an Alter in the most private part of your reality. Its up to you. There are no rules, there is no requirement for evangelism, do as thou Will is the whole of the Law.
Please to be not stealing the contents of my fucking head!
Quote from: SillyCybin on July 16, 2007, 06:44:42 PM
Quote from: Ratatosk on July 16, 2007, 06:19:41 PM
Quote from: Rev. What's-His-Name? on July 16, 2007, 04:22:32 PM
I have become.....ooh it sickens me thinking of it....
complacent.
Yup, I freely admit it, I have become complacent.
...
Damnit, I'm happy. I also admit, sometimes I just don't give a fuck about anyone else. Yeah, I know it's selfish. But fuck it. Sometimes I just don't care.
What's wrong with that, if that is what you want to do?
Knowing that the Con exists... knowing that the machine is in the works... knowing that people can't really think for themselves, doesn't make it incumbent upon you personally to try to fix it. If you fix it, only in your own life... that's a helluva lot better than most people will ever do.
Christianity and Political parties teach us that we should convert people to our side. While it may be useful to convert people to Discordianism (in some sense), it's not a requirement or even a recommendation. You must choose for yourself what actions you want to do and what actions you don't want to do. As long as you're careful not to fall into the trap yourself... you can tell the world to sod off.
Or, if that's not what you want to do... then don't do it. If you want to be a Discordian activist, then be a Discordian activist. If you want to sow seeds of doubt in society, then do it.
You get control over your life (and your life alone). You get to choose how you will use the Golden Apple. You can hurl it at a punchbowl, you can put it on an Alter in the most private part of your reality. Its up to you. There are no rules, there is no requirement for evangelism, do as thou Will is the whole of the Law.
Please to be not stealing the contents of my fucking head!
HAH! I'm In Yur Head Stealin Yur Contents!
I hear you RWHN ... I'm living a comfortable life now surrounded by corporate suits and the mod-cons of life. Funny, I still don't wear a suit and have my hair cut like a throw back to 1800's China, but I get away with it ... anyway, different story....
The complacency is there. The feeling of urgency, that sweet tinge of desperation that was always with me is gone. And for the most part, the angst has gone with it. For another part, that feeling of need to "do right" by the world, to help get things on a better course is gone as well.
When it comes to the rest of the world, I couldn't give a rat's ass. Let 'em drown in their own shit and if it affects my world, I'll deal with it when it happens. To me there's just to much shit going on for me to loose sleep over it. I do still watch the news, but generally just for the entertainment value of watching the absurdities of mankind.
When it comes to my life surroundings, I'm comfy and I like it that way. I did all the living day to day without food or electricity because I couldn't pay the bills. I've lived in pest infested, dives because I couldn't afford better, hell I even lived under a boardwalk for awhile in Florida. I've coem a long way and put up with a lot of corporate bullshit to get the lifestyle I have now. I'm not feeling guilty for it.
Where my drive still exists is within myself. I am not complacent with "who I am" in the very broad sense of the term. I guess to use the BIP metaphor, I am still actively engaged in re-decorating my personal BIP to suit. It's all internal though, nothing about the trappings of the exterior.