Saturday, March 7, 2015

Absurdity


We live in  a strange world.

How often do we stop to question not only what's going on around us, but our entire reality? With all the distractions out there, we tend to just accept everything as soon as it's presented to us. Our scepticism is to a large part based on trying to figure out whether something is good or bad, not whether it exists or not.

We are becoming an increasingly passive generation. More self-centered. Most of us have seen so much stupidity that when we hear something new that reeks of idiocy and is going on, we immediately think that it's fact, without really caring one way or the other. Then again, as soon as someone says "No, it's fake", we tend to believe them as well. I'm not speaking for all of us, nor nececcarily for myself either. But based on my observations, this is true for many people.
In the current day with the current media, people tend to be more and more drawn towards escapism.

I don't really have a stance on whether that is good or not. Because I have other more important, and or entertaining things to focus on. The irony hurts.

We go to school, move in our social circles, do our jobs, and eventually return home, back to our books, our games, our computers, or perhaps our phones. What the approach is doesn't really matter too much in the end. Only on an individual basis.

I'm not saying that all our attention lies in another world, but it sure seems to own a lot of our focus. We are so divided between different tasks and wishes that we totally miss out on what is going on around us. I know that this at least is true for me, in most cases. There's always something going on; some distraction or something I feel the need or want to do.
So I seldom just take a break and think about how weird everything actually is.
But when I do, it really hits me. What the fuck is going on? Really.

I was walking home from my granparents' the other day. Yes. Walking, alone. That's the easiest way to get our (or at least my) thoughts going. And even while walking, many of the times I find myself thinking of not much else than my destination, my plans for the day, or memories. There's nothing wrong with that; it's just something to do while walking. I guess it's naught but natural to focus on ourselves or those around us.

Anyway. As I said, I was walking home. Maybe it was the weather, or maybe it was something else, but for some reason, all my attention was shifted to my surroundings. I saw everything, felt everything, heard everything. The trees, the wind, all the buildings, the people, the smells, the cars. Everything. I walked past a few windows, saw people sitting by their desks, doing work, or perhaps thinking about something completely different. What were they going to eat today? How much money would they be making by the end of the month?
Everyone outside was going somewhere, and people didn't really exchange much else than a few glances, if even that with each other.
There's nothing inherrently weird about this. But I continued thinking.

Although it's very distant to most of us, there are a lot of seemingly normal things going on elsewhere in the world. People are hungry; they're having wars; they try to find solutions for diseases; they worry about global warming; they think that homosexuality is unnatural; they think homosexuality is completely natural; They go to the gym; they worry about their looks; they are depressed; they are having the time of their life; they make love; they make hate. Imagine if for just a few seconds, everyone would stop to think about what the fuck they're actually doing.
It probably wouldn't change much. But for those few seconds, we would have peace and calm.
But what is peace, what is war? Why do they exist to begin with, along with everything else?

Doesn't anyone find it absurd that for eternities ago, humans didn't even exist. But for some reason, nature decided that the most logical thing for the living beings was to develop two different sexes, along with their private parts. And God (despite his inability to actually exist as anything else than a concept) knows that it's perfectly sense making that all the dna which is the code for pretty much all living things should be transmitted though a penis, in the form of semen, into eggcells, which would during a certain time develop into a new creature, which in turn will or will not eventually grow up to be circumcised if for example, Jewish, grow up to praise the holiness of cows if born Hindu, or perhaps won't care either way, but wants to become a great writer. Meanwhile, there are billions and billions of lightyears of space surrounding us, minding it's own business. So large that we can't even begin to comprehend it's size. Still, more than half of us believe that in that vast universe, there is a God who rules over all and everything, infinitely bigger and more significant than us. But remember, he really cares about what an individual human does in the privacy of his/her bedroom. I could rant more about this, but it's far beyond the point.
Only in our universe does all this seemingly totally make sense. And still, as expected, people find the need to judge other people, ourselves, and any disagreement may or may not lead to violence. Because we are bound by our primal limitations. We may overcome them for a while, in certain areas. But in the end, despite being this intelligent, we have no idea what the hell we are doing, nor for what reason.
Don't get me wrong. I am a strong believer in science, secularism, I am an atheist, and I have no more illusions about what is real and what is not than your everyday person.
I just think that all people, including me, should pay some mind to all the absurdity in the world.

I have a proposition for you. There is no real loss or gain, but I urge you to do this, because why not?
The next time you find yourself outside, just walking around. Perhaps going somewhere, maybe in a hurry; it matters not. Take one minute, and pick up something that is in your immediate surroundings. It may be a rock, a leaf, or something made by humans. Preferrably, something that is not too dirty and contains a disease that will eradicate society as a whole.

Take that minute to look closely at what you've picked up. Study it; hold it close to your face, then far from it, or vice versa. Really try to take in the details. While doing this, just think about how weird everything really is; give the absurdity some credit. Don't think about your worries, just lose yourself to the moment. Until it gets boring. Because eventually, it will. But stopping in your path every now and then, doing something like this, is great therapy.
To some of you this may just seem like plain stupidity, and you have the right to hold that opinion. On the other hand, I'm sure that many of you do things like this regularly without me telling you to, especially if you're artists, or generally very curious about/ observant of the mad world around you.
It can be nice to take a break from your self-centered (which is entirely different from selfish, in case you failed to notice the difference) reality.

That is all. I'm tempted to make a segway into the equally weird reality of dreams once again, but I'm sure that none of you have any interest in reading about that right now, considering you're probably very busy studying rocks and leaves.
I will surely write more about dreams in the future though, so be prepared!













In terms of music, I have composed some, and I'm working on a few projects. Most noteworthy is probably this piece though, so if you want to, please take a listen!


I hope I didn't bore you to sleep with my eyeopening ramblings.
See you next time.

Yes...

Time...