Chapter 3

I am waxing philosophical this evening.

I often wonder what the purpose of philosophy is. I just looked it up and it is, apparently, a way of organizing your thoughts about life and the big issues of life. Apparently, what they are trying to say in their fuzzy way is that a philosophy is a PERSPECTIVE ... A POINT OF VIEW.

There cannot be just one point of view, perspective, or philosophy that will explain everything. So what is the point? Life is too complex and too nuanced to fit into one perspective.

But here is my current perspective:

I think a lot about how we are tethered to our destiny of being energy conversion units and that is why we cannot just sit and enjoy. I am too old to think all day long whether it is watching tv, reading, or playing video games. And I am too weak to stay physically busy at anything like walking or bike riding ... or working. So I have a lot of free time and so I keep trying to find a way to ... just ... fucking ... BE! It be hard to do.

We are all slaves to our origins and our destiny as energy conversion units. We MUST attempt to live long and prosper in the pursuit of excellence. We have no fucking choice. To do otherwise is to wallow in unnatural misery. And who can pursue misery for very long. Isn’t that what yoga is, an attempt to buck the tide and do nothing for a while. Because living long and prospering in the pursuit of excellence is becoming harder and harder to do due to the unending competition out there. Weed me please, because there are too many people competing over too few resources. New horizons are becoming extraordinarily scarce. And the old horizons are all worn and trite.

We are all trapped in this compulsion. We are all tethered to this treadmill. But due to the division of labor we mosly do just one thing all the time unless we are at home consuming. But consumption is inherently a shallow pursuit and it leaves our “spirit” feeling empty and pointless. Every thing is done for us, by other drones doing their thing, and unless we have a “thing” that satisfies us we are doomed to futility, which sux.

No wonder people seek to escape with weed, drugs, alcohol, social media, video games, opioids, etc. Without horizons to conquer we are not maximizing our potential as energy conversion units. And that sux. We feel the emptiness. We feel the futility. We feel the unnatural suffering. We are all trapped. We suffer from the pettiness of our existences. We feel that we are underutilizing our spirit and resources as individuals.

We have the illusion of “freedom” but nothing is really “free”. There is relative freedom as when someone is let out of prison, but once that ex-con gets past the outer gates he/she must begin to calculate where they are going to go, what they are going to eat, what they are going to do for a living etc. etc. etc. And so the inherent bondage of life takes over and we must begin the pursuit of happiness in a new place and situation ... but on the same old treadmill that has been moved to a new location. Where is your precious freedom then, assholes?

But we distract outselves with our “choices’ which we cherish and interrogate ad nauseum, but they are choices that are “free” only in the mind. In reality they are a limited set of options forced upon us by the nature of our existence.

Is all of this bullshit? What am I trying to say? Wish I knew.

Maybe the antidote to our dilemma is to not take ourselve so seriously. To relax, but maybe that is just another way of saying wallow in unnatural peace which causes unnatural suffering. Slow down and smell the roses????? What price will I have to pay? How long will the nice smell of roses keep me satisfied.

I go down to the waterfront on my bike from time to time but I am aware of something profound. Despite the awesome beauty of the ocean, the waves, the seagulls, etc., I tire of it quickly. Mostly I look forward to the RIDE. I enjoy the movement and the stimulation of riding my bike to and fro more than I enjoy just sitting and staring out at the empty ocean, watching the monotonous waves rolling in, and listening to the annoying screeching of the seagulls. Sitting and admiring life gets old quickly. Participation is the real stimulation. But I hate people and they hate me.

So what does all this mean? I don’t know, why don’t you tell me, asshole.

And dat’s da name a dat tune.