Winter Brings Throughts of Aging

12.11.12

Do Not Lament the Passing Time

  

Time makes no concession for me,

nor does it care that I am fighting its relentless forward march.

Try as I might to ‘be in the moment’,

it seems to me that as soon as I am aware of that moment,

it has passed me by and I am wondering what I may have missed!

Each day I awake and am stunned that I am already getting up for yet another week of work, when it seems like the much-longed-for-Friday had just arrived!

I share my experiences with friends and co-workers

and suddenly realize that I am speaking of events which are twenty years past –

though they feel as if they are of newer stuff.

I begin to see the march of time played out on the faces of the famous and the popular and,

either refuse to see it in my own face,

or I am looking at myself through rose-tinted glasses.

A graying beard and salt-n-pepper where dark brown was so prominent are the only signs I’m aging!

I don’t have wrinkles, and my chin is still that: SINGULAR,

And while I was never muscular, I can still see definition in my frame,

in spite of my growing paunch.

But I AM getting older.

My body – the unseen parts – my bones, joints, brain, vision, and yes, memory

are all beginning to make the change that tells me I am in the beginning of decline,

and can anticipate the autumn of my life.

I am getting older.

Time does not pity me – nor does it seem to even notice I am here.

I try to redeem the time, because I know that MY time is fleeting,

but I find that I am continually being passed by the sands flowing through this mortal hour glass!

But wait – aging isn’t dying!

Getting older doesn’t mean getting worse!

Would I rewind my days and relive the moments of my life? Never!

I am a much better man as I am!

I am a much wiser man at this time of life!

I am a much kinder man, and a more caring man than ever I was before!

Would I dare to trade who I have earned the right to be

for one more decade, one year, one month, or day? No!

I have paid the price for my gray hair and my mellowed heart and peaceful mind.

I would not cast these gifts upon the tide of time and ages

and force myself to pay the price already paid.

I will age.

Time will continue, and I will redeem my hours as I may

and not lament the moments which pass me by.

Instead, I will capture those moments with pen and paper,

and I’ll hold them captive on a page,

and thereby live forever!

© 2012 by Michael Hunter

18 Days - a "tree hugger poem"

I normally don't write "tree-hugging" anything - but something really flipped my switch today, and this poem is the product. It's intended to be read "live" - as in performance poetry, or spoken word poetry - so just go with it...

18 Days (12.21.12)

18 days left until the end of the world!

We’re down to the wire folks – so get your living in now because in 18 days, all this chaos, selfishness, hate, bigotry, joy, happiness, and beauty will come screeching to a halt.

I wonder if the WORLD – the PLANET knows its end is near? I wonder if it knows that a puny, insignificant species on its face has declared its end and death? I wonder how many times before it’s heard about its end and has kept on rollin’ merrily along?

To think that one species can – and has – imposed its superstitions and god-myths on such an immovable and ancient cosmic body. If you need a definition of arrogance my friend, look no further!

For billions of years this wonderful water-ball has spun its way through the cosmos and has nurtured, raised, and even destroyed countless forms of life upon its face, and yet only one species – amongst the millions that have come and gone, presume to declare its end.

While spiritual and metaphysical voodoo can make grand pronouncements about our doom, we are unique in one other aspect, and that is we are the most intelligent species on earth, and we use our accumulated brilliance to figure out better ways to kill each other, foul the very air we breathe, poison the water which sustains us, and contaminate the soil from which we spring.

So foolish.

So near-sighted.

So ignorant in practice.

So cruel to our mother.

I wonder what makes us – the most intelligent of them all – so incredibly stupid that we spend enough on war every day to eradicate world hunger ten times over, and yet, expect us to believe that in 18 days our world is going to end just because a culture composed of humans ran out a room on a circle of stone? 

Pathetic.

Oh silly misguided human animal. 

The only thing that’s going to destroy this world – this beautiful, self-protecting, self-correcting, self-balancing world – are the pitiful human animals who don’t even have the humanity to love each other – let alone the earth – enough to lift us higher than a stone-age culture looking at the stars and seeing only themselves.

18 days left before the world ends? I don’t think so. Maybe we’ll do the earth and all its wonderful life-forms a favor and stop the madness we’ve created, and in 18 days finally learn to love again.

 

© 2012 Michael Hunter

To Know, or Not To Know – That is the Question

I was recently asked – in all seriousness – to suppose that the premise of the movie, “The Matrix” was real. To believe that all of the reality around me was simply an elaborate computer program and that I was the equivalent of a battery plugged into a giant power source being fed and nurtured in pink goo, and having my life experiences fed to me by a cable screwed into the back of my head. With all of that having been established, the question was asked, “would you want to know the truth and be freed from the system, or would you rather continue in the fantasy?”

I half-expected the person who asked me this question to offer me a choice between the blue pill and the red one – but they were completely serious – and asked that I take this seriously, so I will. Knowing, as I do, the back-end motivation of this question, as well as the opinions of the person asking it, I am finding that I must temper my thinking and answer only the question as it is posed, rather than as the potential “open door” for efforts to convince me or recruit me to their way of thinking. Taking the question on its own merits however, it poses a very real dilemma – which the movie was intended to do – and which I suppose all of us should answer honestly, if we’re to view our world and society objectively. So I’ll venture.

Life is hard enough without having to always stare its ugliness in the eye day after day. The denial of this ugliness is basic mechanism of our survival as humans. I think that we can only take so much “reality” before we begin to be worn down by it all and slip into depression and even self-destructive behavior. The mechanism of “hope” is not only one of self-preservation, but it is also a key to finding happiness and peace. But, because life is a study in contrasts, you cannot have a world devoid of ugliness any more than you can have one without its moments of levity and joy.  If you’ll recall, in the movie the aliens needed to rethink their program and recreate it with trials, tribulations, and difficulty. Both elements are absolutely necessary for us to thrive.  But to entertain the idea that all of life’s joys and sorrows are contrived, and that there is some kind of reality beneath or behind it all which is “grittier” or somehow more “real”, and that it has all been “pulled over our eyes” is depressing.

The nature of the question negates the ability to really answer the question definitively. If you know that what you are seeing is not real, then of course you’re going to be curious about what your reality is. No matter now wonderful the illusion is, it’s still an illusion, and no one wants to live in a lie. But because you would have to gauge the difference between the two extremes, you would, by default, know which of the two choices was preferable to you and naturally gravitate towards that. Humans are basically self-seeking, and will typically seek out and pursue that which will make their lives easier and more fulfilling. Some people thrive on chaos. Others must live a “Polly Anna” existence to find satisfaction in life. Even in the current illusory world, if that is in fact what we’re living in, they will ignore the strife, contention, and ugliness as much as possible – sticking their heads in the proverbial sand, and always looking for the rainbows in life. Those who thrive on chaos are always seeing the negative in life and accept it as the only real alternative. They are typically pessimistic, un-trusting, and jaded to the extreme. They see conspiracies behind every event in life, and are often critical of anyone who is not open-minded enough or intelligent enough to see the reality staring them in the face.

Because of this – because there are always at least two options in life – I think the best way to answer the question of knowing or not, it to simply say it depends. The whole premise of the movie breaks down with knowledge. Once a person knows that the life they are living is an illusion, they are compelled, as all of us would be, to find out what the reality is. And, while it’s true that there will always be some people who seek an escape to their current reality, most of us deal with what comes our way, good or bad. The fact that the “reality program” is too much for some people is patently evident in the levels of drug and alcohol abuse in our society. People are seeking a way to escape the reality they are in. If you were a person who was prone to this kind of behavior already, I would suggest that you would want to avoid knowing the grim reality that the world had been pulled over your eyes because if you can’t deal with the “balance” as it is, you certainly won’t be able to deal with the depressing truth of a world gone mad. 

If, on the other hand, you’re the type of person that thrives on chaos, loves the grit and dirt, sees the glass as perpetually half-empty, then by all means, take the red pill and enjoy the ride. If the only way you can deal with reality is by ripping apart the façade and staring into the abyss, then you would naturally act on your knowledge. But again, regardless of your preference in life, you would be compelled to look reality in the face. You may want to close the door, shut your eyes, or bury your head again after catching a glimpse of that reality, but you would HAVE to know. 

This is why the act of asking that question breaks down the ability to answer it.  You would have to know, but how you chose to react to that knowledge will vary with everyone. To answer the question then, I would be compelled to see for myself the difference, but I would emphatically reserve the right to react to reality in a way that would preserve my ability to live a productive and useful life.

 

Are there forces at play in our world that are secret, malevolent, and dark? Absolutely. Conversely, there are also forces for good which counter the ugliness every single day. Choosing which one you focus on is what’s really at the heart of this question. I think it’s important however, to explain that just because your focus is on the positive, doesn’t mean that you cannot be doing something about the negative. We all have the ability to choose our reactions to life and the curveballs it can throw at us.  I also think that you have to choose your battles, and recognize your limitations – we can’t all go tilting after windmills and taking on every cause that it anathema to our happiness. It’s about balance. Taking the good with the bad, and adjusting accordingly. It all really comes down to you. Can you, as one human being make a difference each day in spite of the ugliness and gritty reality around you? Can you touch one person for good? Can you make one event easier for someone? Can you accept that there are always going to be things that you can’t change which are ugly and distressing, and regardless of that, put a smile on your face and focus on the positive?

Knowing or not knowing is a great topic for healthy debate. But simply knowing that the reality we face every day is going to have light and dark, joy and suffering, truth and deceit, and peace and pain is enough for me. It’s enough for me to know that I get to choose how I’m going to react to this world in all of its gritty splendor, and to accept that there are going to be things that I can’t change, or that will act upon my happiness. Regardless of whether my reality is determined by a few million lines of programming code, or by the dark and dismal reality of a world gone mad, I still get to choose how I’ll treat others and how I’ll react to what is before me – which fantasy or not, is still the defining characteristic that makes me human.

Is it really the Libyans and Egyptians, or Religion that's to blame?

“Disturbances in society are never more fearful than when those who are stirring up the trouble can use the pretext of religion to mask their true designs.” – Denis Diderot

“The most dangerous madmen are those created by religion, and people whose aim is to disrupt society always know how to make good use of them on occasion.” -- Diderot

In light of the recent attacks on the embassy and consular staffs in Cairo and Benghazi, the truth of these statements is made loud and clear. While it would be wrong to blame Islam for the actions of it’s adherents, it is completely accurate to blame the clerics and religious leaders – as well as some heads of state – for the rabid anti-American fanaticism which has infected much of the Muslim world. The firebrand interpretations of the Quran and the ignorant trend of blaming the west for all the woes of Islam are the tools of the dangerous madmen Diderot warned about in the 18th century.

Sam Bacile, reported to be an Israeli-born American citizen, practiced his right to freedom of expression and speech in writing, producing and directing the two hour movie in which Mohammed, the revered prophet of Islam, is depicted as a fraud, a womanizer and a madman. While Bacile has gone into hiding to avoid reprisals, the clerics and leaders of the Muslim world have used this opportunity to whip it’s followers into a rabid hate-fueled frenzy that has culminated in the death of 4 American citizens in Benghazi. Instead of directing their wrath at the perpetrator of the insult, they have seized upon this incident to further their religious and fanatical attacks against the west. That having been said, Mr. Bacile may have had the right to produce his hate-filled movie, but having the right to do something doesn’t necessarily make your actions or behaviors “right.” By carelessly exercising his freedoms, Bacile has provided a few psychotic and delusional clerics and leaders of Islam an excuse to incite their followers into attacks on citizens of a sovereign nation – citizens who were as innocent of offense as the occupants of the World Trade Centers and Pentagon were on the morning of 9/11.

Extreme fundamentalism has led to innumerable human atrocities committed in the name of Allah, Mohammed, Jesus, Mary, Jehovah, Vishnu, Buddha or Joseph. Throughout history, every religious movement has committed heinous acts of violence against those whom have been deemed heretics or heathens. Whether we’re talking about the Jewish conquests in Canaan,  the Crusades, the Huguenot purges, the Spanish Inquisition, the Mountain Meadows Massacre, the rise of the Ottoman Empire, the Holocaust, the ethnic cleansings in Serbia, the 9/11 attacks, or this latest series of attacks in Libya and Egypt, one common thread runs through them all: the crimes have all been committed by people who have been duped into believing that their particular brand of social delusion is superior to another’s preferred mass hysteria.

Every religion seems to claim that their god is a “god of love,” and yet, as Blaise Pascal said, “men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.” It seems to me that it isn’t so much an issue of god or gods, as an issue of religion and the madness it inspires in people who allow others to do their thinking for them.

Before we, as Americans, get all indignant towards Muslims, we should carefully consider our own beliefs and the unethical and questionable behaviors which have been carried out by the practitioners and followers of our many religions, and ask ourselves if we are really different? All religious movements are guilty of the same types of crimes – every last one of them. These recent attacks were wrong, and as a sovereign nation, we should respond decisively to them. The radicalized Muslims who committed these crimes should be hunted down and brought to justice – and so should every religious practitioner and cleric – of whatever stripe – who uses religion to inspire violence and intolerance towards another human being.

Religion is pabulum for a weak mind. Instead of asking yourself, “What Would Jesus Do?” or Jehovah, or Allah, or (*insert your favorite god here), perhaps the question all of us should be asking is this: “Is this how I should be treating another human being?” Until we, as a society, can successfully eliminate religion – not FAITH, but religion – we’ll never see the kind of world or society religion deceptively promises.