drama
The Way of 12.21.12
“Do good, for good is good to do. Spurn bribe of heaven and threat of hell.” — The Kasidah, Sir Richard Burton (aka Haji Abdu El-Yezdi)
“The end is near.” So they say. Have been saying. Will continue to say. It is our way, isn’t it? To want to know when the end is? And why is that, do ya’ think?
I have been listening and watching all this for at least 25 years, since 1987 when the hyped-up ‘great’ Harmonic Convergence began this 25-year countdown. A clock that has finally wound down (thank goodness!). But believe me, another clock will start up to replace it, one way or another. And we will be facing another ‘end-of-the-world’ or ‘spiritual rebirth’ scenario.
I think there are a couple of factors of why we paint ourselves in a corner with these scenarios. First, we fear the end of everything, because we think there is nothing after ‘the end.’ So, this unknown end cannot include us, because it is ‘the end.’ And second, fear seems to be a common fuel that our world runs on. If the powers that be can keep that fire stoked, then there will always be something else out there to fear. Another end of something we must stress out about. And stress and tension will always keep us down, keep us bound to a never-ending cycle of perpetual concern.
Wired Up & Down, Part 1
“The march of science and technology does not imply growing intellectual complexity in the lives of most people. It often means the opposite.” – Thomas Sowell
In my humble estimation the worst invention in the history of humankind was the television set. It was the beginning of a hypnotic march towards unbridled voyeurism, insidious sedentary-ism, and cloistered groupthink masquerading as expressive individualism. The countless modern distractions now take so much away from a rich inner life that it only leaves us drained, and longing for more and more media to fill the sagging emptiness, day in and day out. We have been duped once again, fair people. And the enemy is us.
Yes, it all started out so innocently. Those 50’s TV sets were such fun new novelties where our families could sit around and watch their favorite shows together. And yes, actually it was a logical outgrowth of radio’s popularity. I know I certainly had fun growing up in the fifties and sixties watching my favorite shows, or whatever I was allowed to watch. Because back then we were limited how much we could watch, because it always seemed we had so many other things to do.
Next thing that came were color TV’s, and bigger TV’s, and then cable, because early on we only had the three main networks, and eventually PBS. So as time marched on, more and more stations, and more shows, and longer hours. And VCR’s came along and we could record shows and buy videos of moves to watch on TV. More and more distractions. And guess what else? Drama. More and more drama in our life. If dealing with our own daily dramas wasn’t enough, now we got inundated with all these other dramas to keep us enthralled. But what else? Colored, distracted and tensed out, we demanded more. For why pay attention to our boring little lives when we could tune into something much more intriguing, and falsely satisfying? Why eat real, nutritious fruit with a blemish on it when we can have perfect-looking plastic fruit we can watch but don’t really have to eat? So safe and distant, but so alluring and demanding.