AndrewBrunelle.com

Whenever I find myself watching an extended marathon of Law and Order: SVU or South Park, there comes a point where I think to myself, “What the hell am I doing here?  Haven’t I seen enough television for one day, possibly even one month?”  The same thing happens when I get caught up reading a blog for hours, even days.  I devour the archives in a gluttonous manner, without even receiving much value from it, due to the fact it all  blends together anyway.  Reading four hundred posts is the equivalent of at least 800 hours of work for these bloggers and I get through it in a day?  I guess you could call me a blog junkie.  I’m out here just looking for my next fix.  Where is the next blog that can take up some of all this free time I have?  Or the next television show that acts like a drug who just happens to be having marathons running every weekend?

All these activities are distractions from what we are truly supposed to be doing with our lives.  It is an utter disconnect to veg out in front of the television with the intent of watching one show and then proceeding to watch until you fall asleep listening to the newest infomercial.  And we all seek out distractions.  There has to be something to help us forget about how badly we’re getting screwed by the system.  There has to be something to laugh about after getting audited by the IRS.  There has to be something I can buy to feel better about myself after my current breakup.  There has to be a movie out there that will make me feel happy.  This is the mindset that allows the entertainment industry to keep growing.

I remember someone who said, “People will do almost anything to avoid facing themselves.”  I forget where I read that, but it makes a lot of sense to me.  From observation of people (including myself), I find that this theory is true.  People in need of constant entertainment, constant activity.  Now I know why people freak out when the power goes out.  After lighting candles, what will we do with ourselves?  “I can’t have a real face-to-face conversation unless it is about one of my new toys or my favorite television show.”  I think what has happened is we’ve lost our identities to an extent and we define ourselves through external possessions and through groupthink.  We all want to  be part of some group, some conglomerate who will tell us how to think, tell us what to do, what not to do.  We are starting to become everyone but ourselves.

And I think this realization scares the life out of some of us, so we can never really face it.  We always have to define ourselves by something external.  We need distractions to keep ourselves from hearing the truth about our situation.  But by doing this, we neglect our internal self.  We are stuck in the ego or persona phase and we never delve into our true self.  Perhaps it is because we do not accept ourselves fully and need to hide certain parts of it, even from our own egos.  So we turn on this personality, the persona, where it is like we are playing a part in a play.  And when we get home and the mask comes off, we need something to distract us from getting to know ourselves.  And I believe all the entertainment industries know this and exploit us for their ever-increasing profits.  But this isn’t about them.

The solution to this problem is self-acceptance.  If we accept ourselves fully for who we are and not who we wish to be, then we may make some progress.  If we start creating our entertainment instead of watching it on a screen, then maybe there will be some hope for us.  If we start embracing our unique self instead of falling victim to groupthink, then there may be some hope for us yet.  As for me, I’m going to go see what is on TV.

I believe the key is to stop our chronic dependence on the system.  We are like addicts, because we hate the current civilization, yet we are unable to live without it.  It is the only way of life we know.  And many of us remain blissfully and purposefully ignorant of its un-sustainability.  We depend on the people in charge to solve all the big problems for us.  We depend on them to build our roads and get our food into the markets.  And we pay them handsomely for their effort, whether or not their effort is for the greater good.  And we accept the fact that if any major collapse were to happen, we would not be able to sustain our life the way it is.  We also accept that if civilization collapsed, very few of us would survive.  We remain subservient to a system simply out of fear of our own demise.  We take jobs that destroy the ecosystem because our only other alternative is to starve to death.  Of course, I am simply talking about those who have no special skills that can be marketed by corporations and television companies who market materialistic lifestyles to an unsuspecting public who think they are relaxing in front of a tube that is passively sending them more and more advertisements that market useless junk, both food and material.  And we use this diversion from reality to feel like we are part of some American dream, like the people who are living it up on the screen.  And yet, we fail to realize how we are being brainwashed to fear the outside world and buy more stuff, especially prescription medications and lousy food.  We are taught from and early age that any health problem can be treated with a pill and that this is the only way.  But it does not stop there.  Living in a totalitarian government knows know bounds.  We are fed lies upon lies to the point we don’t even know what is real anymore.  We are conditioned to believe that the government will look out for our best interest, when all they are really doing is answering to richer and more powerful people who will probably have them killed if they do not comply.  Our rights are stripped from us at every bend, for the sake of ‘security” and defending our country.  And the thing that bothers me the most is we are the only species on this planet that do this.  I believe, wholeheartedly, that we are too smart for out own good.  And this causes problems.  But in the same light, we are also too dumb for our own good, destroying ecosystems without the comprehension to understand what damage we are doing.  But that doesn’t stop us, does it?

I am sorry for the rant, but I feel it was warranted.  Now, I know our society is doomed and I accept that.  I just want to raise awareness to some people, the people who will also see the warning signs and help to create the new paradigm.  I’ve been reading many blogs that are anti-civilization and they have such merit and such clarity in how this all happened and why we are so pathologically imprisoned in a system we hate which we cannot live without.  I encourage you to check out a couple of blogs.  One is called How to Save the World, while the other is basically a whole website devoted to dropping out of civilization and living with joy.  His name is Ran Prieur.  He is a very smart man.  Check out his essays and Zines.

But I want to stress I do not blame anyone in this occurrence.  At least no one alive today.  They are just following the scripts of their ancestors throughout history.  They are just doing what they feel is right from their context.  I am sure they are not aware of the extent of the damage they are causing, because from their high-up domineering perspective, they are doing nothing but fulfilling their duty to society.  They are just mimicking behavior from past role models.  I say we will need a monumental paradigm shift to change things, and I am an optimistic guy, so I feel it is going to happen, but probably by necessity.  Only when all other options are exhausted will be learn to live in harmony with nature.

I believe there will be a way out, but right now I do not feel that we possess the consciousness on a mass scale to do this today or in the next few decades.  But it will come.  I am sure of it.

I believe it is obvious that television and materialism go hand and hand. For me, it is blatantly obvious and when and if I partake in watching the ever-expanding tube, I try to watch with a critical eye. To tell you the truth, most of the shows really impress me. To be blatantly honest, maybe two shows impress me and the rest–they are not for me. I am a big fan of stand-up comedy, but you won’t catch me watching a comedy special on Comedy Central anymore. I use Youtube now to get my comedy fix and even though they have advertisements on the sides and wherever else they may hide, they are not on the screen in which I am watching. It will not take up a significant portion of my valuable time to sit through the newest stupid, but funny beer commercial. “First time at the opera, boys?” The one aspect I love most about Youtube is if I want to find a specific clip from a specific show or comedy routine, all I have to do is type it into the search bar. And if the company who supposedly “owns” this intellectual property hasn’t threatened a lawsuit against Youtube, then I am able to watch it. And if I am not able to watch it, then I don’t think I want any part of that corporation anyway.

And I understand that these corporations want to make money by selling advertising so that they can have nice houses and cars and live the lives that are portrayed on television. You know the lives I’m talking about: six-figure income, nice clothes, nice car, disposable income, and all the other trappings this society hopes to lure us into. When we watch television, it projects a lifestyle that for some reason we regard as real. We think people really live the way that those on television do. We believe that to be a “good citizen” and have a “fulfilling life” that we need to buy this kind of car, that kind of wallet, a Prada bag, and since everyone around us is also thinking this way and taking these actions and going further and further into debt, we feel that we do not want to be left out. So we conform. We start small, maybe buying a nice watch or a sweet new car, and then we go further and further into debt, but by looking at the way the government spends our taxpayer’s dollars recklessly for whatever they want, we feel no guilt about going $50000 into the red.

But something happens. We start to realize how the things we own are now owning us. We are slaves to Mastercard and our 2500 square foot house. Our bank owns us. Our Tempurpedic Swedish sleep system owns a part of us. It is almost like we are a company and a certain amount of stocks go to the corporations. Then new industries form to take advantage of those in this predicament. All these debt consolidation companies I’ve seen advertised on television that say debt is okay. They say, “We understand you are in debt and we’ll help you get out. For a fee, of course.” It kind of reminds me of an episode of the Simpsons, where the lawyer character, voiced by Phil Hartman who said on his business card, “No Money Down,” but when Marge needs his legal counsel he says something like, “Those damn printers got it wrong again! It’s is supposed to be ‘No, Money Down.’” It is a way to lure you in, a promise of no money spent, when the reality, especially in the long run, is much more money spent. I am sick and tired of “Make no payments until 2009!” It is so misleading. Well, it’s not really misleading. It is true. But they never say how large the payments will be in 2009.

And no money down really does help the companies more because they’ll be able to squeeze more interest out of every person who does this. If you buy a car or put $5000 down on a car, you’ll pay significantly less in interest than if you come with no money down. This may not be true in all cases, like the real estate gurus who say that you can get cash back when you buy a house with no money down, but I am not going to delve into that subject because I know nothing about it. Television glorifies the get now, pay later mentality, but it never emphasize the pay later, only the get now. Once I move into my own little household in the (hopefully) distant future, I will probably not own a television and if I want to see a particular show, I can always order it on iTunes, even though I don’t own an iPod. I can watch it on my computer and I will be fine. I just hope they don’t come with commercials. If they do, I will buy them on DVD when they come out. And this is one, maybe two shows tops. Even though I own almost all the Seinfeld DVDs, I hardly ever watch them. I’ve seen them so many times, I need a break. I haven’t been to see a movie in over three months and I’ve maybe gone to see two in the last nine months. I’d rather rent them on-demand if I really want to see them. And that’s maybe one to two movies a year. I am just not very impressed.

And I believe my lack of impression in regards to entertainment was that I was raised in a house that was allowed to watch no more than a half-hour to an hour of television a day from a young age until I was about 16. That is when I got my own television in my room and I watched maybe two hours a day, but mostly comedy shows. This was before I had any opinions on television whatsoever. I loved to read and still do and I love listening to podcasts online, especially ones that are thought-provoking, but I now know that the entertainment value of television is subpar because it doesn’t really care so much about the quality of the programming, but more about how many people they can get watching. A show like Deal or No Deal is very entertaining, but I forget about it less than a day after I watched it. And it doesn’t inspire me to become a better person. It just keeps you in the moment with this one person who is just randomly guessing cases and the only skill involved is knowing when to stop, but I know they have pressure from the network and the show to drag it out, make it suspenseful so that people keep watching. Everyone I know who watches this show says they would probably stop after one or two rounds and a modest six-figure offer, but they should also consider how boring a show like that would be and how low the ratings would be for a show like that. The show would be canceled.

But the show is not really providing value, is it? I would get so much more entertainment by reading a novel or writing a blog post. Why should I spend my life watching someone else partake in an activity that I could just as easily partake in. I always had the joke that if they had a show 24 for my life, where it depicts 24 hours in a day of my life, it would be so boring because about nine of those hours would be me in bed and the rest of it might be me enjoying a cup of herbal tea, maybe writing a blog entry, possibly going to work for six hours, and then going home and basically zoning out for a couple of hours, maybe working on my comedy career. There would be no ratings and I know that. Most people’s lives would not make a good TV show. I’ve thought about writing for a television show or maybe creating my own, but if it is always going to be about the advertisers and the ratings, then I might not want to do it, unless I can comment on certain aspects of the show, like saying in the middle of a scene: “We only did this because we knew it would boost ratings. Drink Pepsi.” I have ideas for shows, like one about just people having conversations. I believe conversation is an art form, a living, breathing thing, and in the movie Coffee and Cigarettes, although I felt most of the conversations were rather shallow, I liked the idea. Just a bunch of random conversations. There was one with Steven Wright and one with Bill Murray and members of the Wu Tang Clan. But a show like that, unless the conversations were really good, will get canceled. I even heard of a show like that but it used clay animals to talk, but the conversations were real. It was made by those Wallace and Gromit people, who I believe are very creative. But it was canceled in America, and I know it is probably still on the air in Britain. It just shows you the difference there, not that I am insulting America, just our attention spans.

I believe this ties into materialism signficantly because since our attention spans are so short, when we buy something, it doesn’t fulfill us as much as it used to. We are always ready to digest the next piece of equipment. Our overindulgence and our need to live the lifestyles of the rich and famous control our very existence and for the most part it is inescapable? You feel like an outcast if you don’t have an mp3 player or a cell phone. You can still function in society, but you become more isolated. There are a few people who may live like you, but the rest of the mass conglomorate of America is out shopping on Black Friday in droves because they can get more stuff at a reduced price. And they’re helping the economy, right? They certainly aren’t helping their personal economy. They are making themselves poorer and the rich richer. All in this need to have nice things.

And it’s not that I don’t believe in having nice things. Believe me. I believe in having very few nice and durable things and reducing the need to go out and get more nice things. Right now I have more nice things than I could ever need. I may have to get rid of some of these things to make room for nice things I’ll actually use. But compared to the general population, my nice things stash is far below the norm. And I’m proud of that fact. I might own 20 DVDs, a laptop, essential furniture, an mp3 player, but I can’t really use it because it hurts my head, a desk to put my laptop on, and some books. And a bookshelf. Do I need all of this? No. But I am still not deprogrammed from the social conditioning I endured since the day I could speak and understand the way people are “supposed to live.”

I like to take the road less traveled. It is not just rebellion, but it just feels right for me. I’ve never fit into the mold that society has placed out for me and I feel that for me to conform would be an insult to myself and I would probably become numb and give up. While people are going out and buying things this holiday season, I am slimming down, giving away what I no longer use to those who will use it. If you actually use something on a daily or weekly basis, it is not a waste. If it fulfills you, then you made a good choice. But as soon as that item is looking at moving into the closet or the garage, why not give it to someone who would appreciate it? Why hold onto it? Why have to buy a bigger house just because you have too much stuff? Here is a good rant about suff from Geroge Carlin. I’m not sure if this link will work, because most links I use from Youtube always go to a page saying that the video was removed due to terms violations. Just search “George Carlin talks about stuff” if that link doesn’t work. “A house is nothing more than a place to keep your stuff while you go out and get more stuff.” Classic, but that’s just my opinion. I don’t need a big place for my stuff. If I go with the essentials, I become less tied down. And this is why I try so hard not to watch much television. I don’t need these artifically created needs that I would never even consider if I hadn’t watched that particular ad.

If I may, I would love to direct you to a website that is amazing when it comes to describing the effects of television and it even has a radio podcast, at least 30 or so hours of footage, about television and other issues in the news. It is called Turnoffyourtv.com and the radio podcasts are on Turnoffyourtv.com/radio. It is bypartisan supposedly, but I know this guy leans towards the left. Or maybe he is so far left, he does not affiliate himself whatsoever with a side. The man’s name is Ron Kaufman and I like this website and it speaks louder than words. What it preaches mostly is not the evils of television, but more the fact of all the much better things you could be doing instead of watching television. You could be out not buying unnecessary things. You could be out having fun. You could be spending time with family. Take it from me. Things will not be there to hug you at night. Things will not tell you everything’s going to be okay. But people will do these things. Television just wants you to keep watching. It happens to me. I say I’m just going to watch this one show and before I know it, it is three in the morning and I have to get up early the next day and I can’t sleep because I’m so wound up from Lawand Order: SVU. But I weaned myself off that show and those marathons. And I hope you can, too. Good luck.

I’m working four days a week and going to school five days, so I guess some projects are thrown on the back burner for a little while. I’m not enjoying as much quiet reflection time as I am accustomed to, so therefore, my blog entries are becoming fewer and further between. And that is okay. I am fine with it. I still write quite often, but it is more in what I call “journal format.” It is not something I would post online, unless it is in something like LiveJournal. I need to take time to learning Photoreading, a new revolutionary reading system that I haven’t had the time to really look at fully. This will most likely cut down on my study time and reading time to allow more room for other ventures. The only aspect that gets to me is when you read something, it takes a certain amount of time. But you never know how much time the author spent writing it. A book you read in three days could have taken the author three years to write. Reading a book in rapid format, in my opinion, does do the writer some sort of injustice, don’t you think? If you read a book in two hours and the author spent years and years putting it together… I am just ranting right now. It will pass. Everything does.

I am not used to writing with all this structure. Word limits, parameters, college writing is a bit limiting. I hope to change this. I’ve always been different and I wish to show my colleagues how being different and daring to express this abnormality can be a great asset in any field of study. I like to think outside the box. The box is too crowded. Expanding how we do things can revolutionize the world. I do almost everything stream of consciousness now. It is so present moment thinking. It does not matter what each sentence entails, but more the end result of it all. I believe it is an accelerated form of getting in touch with the being inside you for an everlasting effect. It is about getting ideas out and then working on them from there. Nothing has to be perfect the first time. If you spend your whole life organizing and preparing to do something, trying to get it perfect, you’ll be stuck in analysis paralysis for awhile. Why not just get out there and try something? And if it fails, you improve upon it, over and over, until you get it where you need it. Experience is the best teacher here.

You cannot be a failure in the external world. You can only be a failure in your own judgment. What some call a failure, others revere as a success. It is solely a judgment call. Everything just is…whatever you want it to be. Labels are subjective. So why limit yourself by always using them? I remember reading a passage in one of Chuck Pahlaniuk’s books about how when we start using language to describe something, we take away from the fact of its being. Now it is formed into some arbitrary category, like a mountain, rather than the wonder it is, the nameless wonder. It is harder to truly just experience it, now there is some sort of subjective label attached to it. But you don’t have to apply that label. Sure, others may try and force that label upon you, but you do not have to accept it.

We all have contexts anyway where we all encode the same experiences as totally different events. Any experience you have is yours alone. Someone standing right next to you can see things in an entirely different light and it is so enlightening to see this. I love it. And respecting all points of view, no matter how far away from yours they seem, can really show you the range through which people experience supposed objective events. Our set of beliefs really do create our reality. And when you open yourself up to new beliefs, just by considering the possibility that they are true, you will start to experience different things. You must admit you do not know anything for sure and that any point of view could be right. The only thing you know for sure is that you exist. And even that could be called into question. It is the whole concept of letting go of the limiting beliefs you have and adopting ones that will empower you. What would the world be like if we all did this? We all set down our negative beliefs and moved towards a greater good, a good of all of life on Earth. The only limit are our own minds. Join me in this pursuit. The rewards at the end will be abundant.

I could go on writing for hours this way and I truly feel more enlightened when I do this. It is almost like there is this higher being writing through me. There is a way out of suffering. There is a better way of life. Find beauty in everyday things. Start noticing more. Become more present. Know that the present is all you truly have and the only time you can change. You do not change tomorrow, because tomorrow will be today, and today will be the present. When tomorrow rolls around, it will be now, so why not start now? Why put it off until a later “now?” Rise up above the confines of society and start living freer. Free of time, free of everything. Deflate your ego. Identify with everything. Realize everything is made from the same fundamental parts. In a way, we are all one. When you harm another, you really harm yourself. Have compassion. Understand that the suffering of others is really your own suffering. Send out peace and love to all of existence. And be sure to be grateful for the whole experience.

Thank you for reading,

Andrew Brunelle

Astronomy (n): The study of stars which makes humans realize how insignifcant they really are.

The universe is gigantic. Gigantic beyond comprehension even. Billions and trillions of stars, millions of galaxies, an infinite amount of energy, somewhere out there, in the universe. It sure makes you feel small. It makes everything on Earth seem so insignificant with respect to the infinity of the universe. But why is it so big? What does it mean for us that we are so much less important than we initially thought? Most people resist taking on a cosmic perspective, at least in my life, and I think I know why. Because it is overwhelming and kind of depressing at first. Even taking on a global perspective is kind of demotivating, if looking at your life with respect to everyone who has ever lived on this planet. It just makes you realize your time is limited here.

But if we are living on a spinning ball, making revolutions around the sun, in a heirarchy ofmillions and billions of other systems like this, some dying, some being born, then what are we ? Why are we here? That is the one question that everyone wants to know the answer to. Some so badly they will buy just about any story someone can come up with. If someone says that we are here to learn a lesson or that there is an invisible man in the sky judging you, that you should strive to do good and not evil, people listen with great intent. And it is not a bad thing to give meaning to your life, but in a way, isn’t it a form of denial? I mean, I do believe there is life after death, a spiritual life, but I still question what that will mean, or if it will all be revealed to me once I cross over (but not with Jon Edwards). And when discussing the meaning of life with the close-minded evangelical-like believers, they will never change their perspective or even consider yours. Which is a recipe for disaster if you ask me.

Sure, there may be, and probably is, a spiritual side of life, and it is more empowering to believe that after you die, you will still exist. The other perspective is worthless, is demotivating, and will bring you a very depressing life because if there is no meaning, what is the point? But if you believe that there is something beyond this crazy planet and the whole universe, then you will most likely have less fear because no matter what happens to your physical body, you still exist in some form, therefore nothing can really destroy you, the essence of your being.

But if we are spiritual in nature, why are we living on some gigantic sphere, spinning around in circles around another even bigger sphere, along with other spheres, and other stars, for billions and billions of years, forever and ever and ever? I don’t know. I still have not figured out what this means. There has to be some reason why all of this is here. It’s not just for us to look at. Before us, these things were still here, so there has to be some purpose to it. Animals don’t question these things, they just live their lives. They instinctively must know something we do not. They must already know something about the infinity of time and space and are just allowed to live. The human, with his inquisitive and rational nature, is always wanting answers to questions that, from his/her perspective, are unanswerable.

Life goes on. Like some roller coaster ride that never ends, the universe does what it does best. And we stay here, trapped on some blue marble in the perspective of the whole universe, our lives nothing but a cosmic wink in the grand scheme, and for some reason we still find a way to get out of bed in the morning. Even though we either consider life meaningless or timeless (in the spiritual sense). I guess the way to look at it is, you could either believe life is meaningless and be apathetic, lethargic, and careless about your actions, which don’t really matter, or you can believe in a spiritual life beyond the grave, and make an effort to enrich your life here before moving on to whatever lies ahead. It would seem to me that option number two, the latter, would make a better choice to live a fulfilling life. And even if I am wrong, at least I lived a good life.

I would like to close this post with abstract thinking I would like to share with you. Imagine getting a snapshot of the universe. Of the whole thing. And pretend you were looking from far above at this thing, and what would be outside of it? How would this provide a bigger context for living? Would this solve anything at all or would it only create more confusion? We are imbedded in this system, so we have no way to see the whole thing simultaneously. Maybe doing so would give us some sort of answer. Maybe not. Have a cosmic day.

I do not know about you, but I find exercising is a key to radiant health. I run on an exercise bike for most of my exercise as of late. I find that exercising a substantial amount (maybe 30-60 minutes) every day is an activity that nothing can replace. It will bring you greater mental clarity, a better physical condition, more spirituality, and a better outlook on life. It is right up there with laughter as one of the better medicines out there. I just wish doctors would prescribe it more. Getting fit is a personal goal for me. I started this goal in March of last year, so one year in the making so far. I’m down at least ten pounds from previously, and my energy level is substantially higher. My diet has also changed to a plant/fruit/nut-based diet with few grains and meats, and an almost complete exlcusion of dairy. I’m not a big fan of diary anyway, so that is not a big problem.

I can say that I feel lighter. Much lighter. It is easier to move around without this extra weight and harmful products floating around in my body. I feel more mentally sound and can concentrate better. I strive to continue this state of being by upping my exercise regime to include more cardio exercises and possibly some weight training, if I can muster it. I am not looking to be some gigantic guy, just strong enough to get through my workout. “I exercise to get through the workout.”

Currently, I am working on a project that has something to do with improving my writing and also conveying ideas in an articulate yet subtle manner. My first task was to eliminate what they call “passive voice.” That is not an easy task. I am working on it consciously every day I sit down to write, even when I am journaling. Supposedly, and this is from an Enlglish teacher way back in 11th grade, “have + verb = passive voice.” So I “have not done this yet,” would be passive voice.

Another roadblock I am currenlty working to eliminate is contractions. I remember in my first semester of college, I had this professor, well he was not really a professor, more of an assistant director of Residence Life who taught my class called Academy 101. He used to hand back the few papers I wrote for him with the words, “I do not accept contractions.” He took points off for it. It was a subconscious thing for me at that point, writing contractions, and I did not think anything of it when I handed in a paper filled with “I’ms” and “They’res.” I could say I learned my lesson, but it took until now to properly implement it. When I realize that these new techniques will not only help me, but the readers of my blog, it really puts everything full-circle and allows me to keep up this practice of bettering myself and the way I write, just so I can help others do the same. Why stagnate at a perpetual point with no acceleration when you can take the initiative to at least try to get better?

Another occurrence in my life. I am going for a full-out cancellation of watching any television. The last show I watched was last night, a new South Park episode, which I usually find quite entertaining. As of late, their episodes, or at least the last two new ones, were not really funny or entertaining. I may and plan to stop watching that show altogether, and because it is now the only show I watch, it will completely wipe out my television viewership. I used to love television when I was younger. Now I see that no matter what is on the tube, there is something better going on in real life. I used to have this joke I told, “I hate it when I see a movie that was based on a true story. It would have been better if I saw it in real life.” I know it uses passive voice, but that was me before this transition. But it rings true. You are better off experiencing something firsthand than you are experiencing it passively through a piece of “furniture” or “appliance.”

I can say goodbye to contractions and passive voice and bring on a new era of speedy, dilligent writing that gets to the point without extra words to fill the gap. I feel awkward writing like this, as it may take time to adjust. It is an ever-winding process, but it is yet another challenge for me to overcome. I need to start studying other ways to improve the way I communicate. Just recently, maybe five to six months ago, I improved my speech and how clearly I talk and now I even say the whole word, r’s and all. (I come from the Northeast, where “ca” instead of “car” is a given.) That is all for today. Hopefully I can sustain this level of discipline in all of these repsects. It was fun giving birth to this post. Good day.

Spending time with nature is one of the best things you can ever do. I can attest to this personally. The unbelievable beauty contained within this world is only seen through a certain lens, and if you are now carrying that lens, I encourage you to go out into nature and get a look at everything you are missing by spending hours a day inside, working at a job, or just spending time inside. One of my favorite things to do is to take an undetermined amount of time and spend it out in the wilderness. Where I am from, there is not much wilderness, so I guess a golf course will have to do. Even so, watching the animals get their food for the upcoming winter, the birds flying about, chirping incessantly, or the wind blowing the trees back and forth, back and forth, until you feel like this is where you are supposed to be, where we were meant to be.

I am a strong believer in coming back to our natural state of being, and I definitely feel that nature has a strong part to play in all of this. It is there from whence we came, and we shall return back to this natural lifestyle with epic proportion, soon enough, as so I hope. I feel that the more time I spend in that sort of area, the more centered I become, the less worried I feel, the more peace I can invite into my life. I feel that humanity, in a sense, has lost touch with our natural roots and are so concerned with technology and deadlines, not to mention fear of nature, that we completely neglect what is out there and focus primarily on what we have created rather than what has always been. To watch a tree, to know that it has grown for twenty, thirty years to get to where it is today, that there are whole networks of animals and insects, and whatever else could be contained inside that tree, living there, instinctively, intuitively, as if it came natural, without any rhyme or reason, except it is the only way for them to survive effectively. There is no logic behind this, it is all instinctive.

This is the concept I am talking about here, our instinct, our intuition, our sense of knowing without having to justify it. Things that just feel right. For the most part, humanity no longer relies on its intuition, except in some very rare circumstances. We have lost trust in our inuitive senses, spending so much time away from nature, and it has denied us a very powerful tool. I find that the more I get in tune with nature, the more I feel trustworthy of my intuition. I think what scares most people about nature is it is not logical in any sense. There is no math equation that can describe nature. And if there is, I don’t want to know what it is.

I know that the way we are currently living, with the destruction of nature, our original home, our overconsumption of resources, our complete disregard for animal rights, and our high stress environment workplaces. That is not a utopia. There is nothing there that even resembles a paradise. We need to get back in touch with our roots, people, and I sure hope that it starts happening fast. We have turned our backs on our place of origin in the pursuit of “progress,” whatever that means, taking more and more natural resources out of the Earth and further depleting the very clean air and water we need to survive. And when you spend time in nature, you will wonder why we allow this outright destruction of such a beautiful thing. It is only because we have lost touch and now this nature has become the enemy. We fear what we do not understand, and until we once again understand nature, we will fear it, and be ready to destroy it. That is all I have to say about that. Good day.

I woke up this afternoon with some ambition in me, but off to work I had to go. Now I am back home and I am ready to do what it is I need to do. I have to start facing my fears. All the fears I am simply ignoring, being in denial of for what seems like common sense, but I feel that if I do not face all these fears, I will live a life that no one really will talk about much after I am gone. I know that the only thing to really fear is fear itself, but I think now I am actually “getting it.” You can understand a concept intellectually, but to understand it fundamentally is a whole other ballgame.

Like I said, facing fears is what helps people grow. If we did not want to grow and just stay sedentary our whole lives, then there would be no reason to face our fears. But that’s not the kind of life I want to lead, one filled with missed opportunities and regrets. I want to live a life of fun, accomplishment, and peace. I have decided that I need to reach for my dreams and just go out and pursue them, without any fears or doubts about how it will turn out, because I will be doing what I love and doing what I love is a success in itself, whether or not anyone else agrees with me. Just the fact that I go out and do my comedy and write these blog posts, and whatever else it is I may wish to accomplish is amazing in itself. Every moment where I am doing whatever it is I want to do, what I feel I need to do in my spirit, in my heart, is a success to me. This is why I will one day be able to acquire nice things, not material things, but nice redeeming qualities, like compassion, forgiveness, and oneness. I’ll be living a dream, where success is the only thing possible.

I just have to keep eliminating my fears about reality. I guess, as some people put it, the end of all spiritual wisdom is love, completely devoid of fear or insecurity. A place so high up, and so comforting that it is truly wonderful to be alive at all times. Where you feel like you are walking on air and swimming with the dolphins (?) A place where I live in peace and harmony with the rest of the world, without the assistance of eharmony.com.

I have to work through the irrational fears I have and start moving towards love and forgiveness. I know it is possible, as I am experiencing it further each day. I understand where I am going, and just need to find the correct path to get there. I do not rush there, as it is not a static destination anyway. It is the whole journey that is fulfilling, and as long as I keep going on it, life couldn’t get better. I find it amazing how far a spiritual journey could take me, and it is still taking me further.

Wherever this journey takes me, I am grateful for everything it brings me, and am grateful to be alive. The fact that I am here and able to pursue anything I desire is just icing on the cake, a bonus to me, an amazing bonus that can only make life that much more worth living. I only wish everyone else felt this way all the time, as I am beginning to feel lately. I’m not exactly sure how long this feeling will last, but right now, it feels like it could last for an eternity.

Open forum here. Nothing specific to talk about tonight, and yet I felt like making a blog post, possibly to create the illusion I’m being productive. It’s okay, though. I’ve got all night to pound out another blog entry and I guess my fingers are just along for the ride. I’ll never forget the day I was born. What a mess. I like to freestyle every once in awhile because it may lead to a mental breakthrough that could send me over the edge and into another dimension, and I would love to do that, just for the experience of blogging about it. It would give me some new topics to talk about. I have some dreams that seem so real that when I wake up, I’m kind of disappointed because it is amazing to me that the places in my dreams are all fabrications of my imagination. Every little detail is the inner workings of my brain, of my mind. There is so much data in there, and it’s so hard to quantify it, so most of the things in my head are a mystery “waiting to be unraveled.” Maybe I didn’t get enough sleep last night and this is making me sound strange, but I feel a bit loopy tonight, and I’m just going to run with it.

I grew up knowing that the only way a man can skin a cat is with his grandmother’s razor blades. I came to find out in my later years that this was a misguided assumption. There is definitely more than one way to skin a cat, although I wouldn’t recommend doing so under any circumstances. I can say one thing, though. One of my fondest childhood memories was playimg Monopoly and becoming so bored, I started laughing and laughing and laughing and eventually we just stopped playing, because of all the laughter. The game was no longer important. But I’ll never forget that day as long as I live. And I’ll never forget Stratego, the game I never won at, ever. Boy, what a miserable game that was, for me, but I made the best of it. I did the best I could with what I had. I’m just glad it wasn’t my dream to become general of the U.S. Army because I’m quite sure it would not turn out the way I wanted it to.

But I am not a man of war anyway. I am a man of peace. It is easier to have peace than war, yet people seem to lean the way of the sword. You can be a pacifist and pass-a-fist, or you can be a warmonger and kill a bunch of people. You always have a choice. Your destiny is your own, not someone else’s. If you’ve made it this far, I encourage you to keep reading. One of my favorite things to do is stop mid-paragraph and just go off on another tangent. There are no rules when it comes to writing, unless you’re writing in one of those countries that doesn’t have freedom of expression. There is an upside and a downside to this freedom of expression. Sure, all the great ones can spread their message, but so can the cult leaders and the hate-mongers. And you can’t tell one group of people not to express themselves without censoring everyone. As South Park says, “It’s either all okay, or none of it’s okay.” I’m just glad to be in a world where I can write whatever I want and publish it and allow other people to read it as well. There are no boundaries and that makes me happy inside.

I love the world we live in with endless possibilities and how any of them can be true for you or me or whoever else exists. It’s good to be here now, in this time period, where the world is becoming a better place every day, with our help and the help of others, we are becoming more peaceful and less quarrelsome, although we are not as peaceful as we could be. There just needs to be a shift in the collective consciousness of us all to surrender from the emotions of greed, hatred and disgust, in all aspects of our lives, and start to love and cherish every moment we have on this Earth, because we all know it could very well be our last. Life is unpredictable. I forget who said, “Live as if you’d die tomorrow, but dream as if you’ll live forever.” But it’s an interesting quote I have come to love.

I wish we all knew what a wonderful world this is, but with all the negative news and constant reaffirmation of negativity in the media and the social conditioning, we all feel like the world is getting worse, or at least most people do. Optimistic people are looked at as ignorant, with comments said to them like, “How can you be so happy with all the suffering in the world?” It is because I choose to be happy. Happiness is a choice. Peace is a choice. Every emotion and feeling you have is a choice on one level or another. We’re conditioned on how to feel in certain situations, but you don’t need to follow that path. You don’t have to be miserable if you don’t want to. There is always a choice for your emotions, I guess, would be the bullet point of this paragraph. God, I love Family Guy. (To those of you who don’t get that reference, don’t worry about it.)

I’ve had a tremendous time writing on this blog. I don’t even know if that last sentence makes sense, but I’m leaving it in there anyway. I have enjoyed this experience and my previious experiences blogging thoroughly. I am going to continue this blog with further posts, obviously, and I encourage you to keep reading, if you are so inclined. The choice is up to you. Take or leave my ideas, or ideas in general, as I usually do not like to claim ownership of my ideas, except for that one patent I bought beck in 1997 (caffeinated water). Anyway, I think this has gone on far enough. Have a fulfilling day. Good night, and good luck.

It’s your life. It’s your responsibility to decide what to do with it. It’s not someone else’s choice. It is only your own. If you do not make a conscious choice, someone will make one for you. It is as simple as that. And living a life someone else chose for you is not something most people want to do. But I see this every day, wherever I go. People staying at a job they hate for the pension plan. People who are afraid to pursue their passions. People who kind of got stuck into something and cannot find their way out. These people have fear of the unknown. They fear what will happen if they make a choice and it does not work out the way they wanted. These are the people who have settled for less than their best.

If there’s one thing you ever learn in life, it should be to always do your best in everything, while at the same time not being so attached to outcomes. Don’t compare yourself to others, either. You are not them. The only person you should compare yourself to is yourself, your ideal self that is. Most people know what they are capable of doing. Some people have not discovered where their strong points are, but the only way to do that is to try something new and see how it goes. Give it your best shot, no expectations, no regrets, no disappointments. It’s not complicated, although many people make it that way.

I wonder what would happen if everyone awakened to their real purpose for being here. What would happen to the world in a state like that? Everyone pursuing their dreams, doing what they love to do, enjoying pervasive inner peace. What a world that would be! And is it possible? If I can imagine it, then yes, it is possible. We just have to work harder to make it happen.

The first step to making this transition has to do with doing what you love to do in your spare time, as I do with this blog. Then, gradually incorporate more of these things that bring you joy into your daily life until it becomes your entire life. Eventually, if we all did what we loved to do, do you think there would be all these depression medications and commercials that make you look deprived of some amazing service if you don’t buy the Jack Lalame Juicer? We all have choices in our lives and the most important ones are the choices that will make us not happy, but completely fulfilled. No one wants to spend their entire life living out someone else’s dream, or do you? The choice is up to you.

“Do what you love and the money will come.” –One of my Business teachers in high school.