August 22, 2010

It’s a brave new world…

Life is a tricky ricky thing.

We have all been there before, those times when everything becomes difficult, when the world seems to be crashing around you. Friends pass away, sickness comes in the family, your computer explodes, whatever is might be, we have all been there, in those series of unfortunate events that everyone says comes in 3’s. I had lightening strike a plane I was in, took out a little hole on the outside, right next to where my seat was. The response I heard from people was, “well, it comes in 3’s” I spent weeks worrying that I was gonna get struck by lightening, not once, but two more times. We call these times, times of trials. It’s always those times that we sit, reflect, and really start to think about life, about this roller coaster we are on, and hope we don’t get struck by lightening.

We live in a dichotomy of sorts, which Bill Hicks speaks of amazingly,

Living through the eyes of fear and love. I know, I’ve put that on here so many times, but it’s such an amazing allegory that can encompass more than just one situation. I guess both words have been said so much, that they become somewhat loaded, really losing the true meaning and strength behind them. Fear is not always what we assume, it’s not always something that we are scared of or hiding from, it’s not always associated with a horror film, with walking down a cold, dark alley alone, with the creature hiding under your bed as a child, fear is the source of violence and strife. Talk to anyone who is involved in a physical confrontation and you’ll see, fear is the center of it.

Fear separates us.

Let’s not use the word fear, lets use something else, how bout detachment. Detachment because that is what fear causes, a complete detachment from the world around you. Naturally we are all connected, all working off of and with each other, in an amazing webbing that holds everything together, this fear and detachment breaks that natural webbing, and puts us in the state we are in. If you break one piece of the machine, the whole god forsaken thing will crash. Look around you, from one corner of the world to the other, the natural order is breaking down, we are breaking down. Money, power, control, they all loom over us. They is no clear enemy, no Cobra Commander that we can destroy. Fear, fear is our enemy. These actions are killing the planet around us, killing us. My home has been covered in oil, oil that is still washing ashore, no matter what the news reports tell you, much of the ecosystems destroyed. My home will never be the same, and this is happening everyday, everyday single day! China is going through the same oil spills, Russia is on fire, Pakistan is flooding, economic systems are crashing, why is all of this happening?

Because.

We forgot what we are here for.
We forgot our mission, our meaning, and our truth.
We have lost sight.

Let’s go back to the beginning, fear and love, or detachment and connection. Fear has taught us that we need bigger locks, bigger guns, bigger fists, more violence, more walls, more protection so they can’t get us. “They are all after you”, fear says, “they all have it in for you, they are going to tear you to pieces and rip you apart”. This has caused all of us to live within cubicles, our protective walls, from home, to the car, to work, and back. We hurry down the street when we walk, hurrying to our safe home, hurrying to our protection, never making eye contact, running form connection. I’ll be the first to say I’m completely guilty of it, and I’m ashamed. We cut off and disconnect, but we yearn for connection, because that is what’s natural, that is the natural order, love is what we are and what we want to create. Don’t believe me? Ok, what is the most popular websites, besides porn (which, that’s a whole nother topic to talk about and disect)? Social networking sites, facebook, myspace, all that stuff. What are these people making millions of dollars off of?

People talking. You and I talking to each other, about everything we do, staying connected, that’s their damn pitch line, “stay connected”.

Stay connected.

Stay connected.

Stay connected.

Obviously this is what’s natural, it’s what we want, but why? Why do we want that connection? That connection, that is your God, Allah, whatever you want to call it. It’s all we have ever had, and all we will have. Art, creation, music, it exercises that, it draws us closer, it proves that we are one, and that we need each other, we want to feel, to live, with eachother. One can only gather that it’s because were always connected, we started this journey that way, and we want to end it that way, through the eyes of love and connection.

How do we do that, truly? Because right now we are living lives that are artificial realities, like making love to a robot instead of a human. We speak through robotic voices, and embrace each other with plastic and microchips. We have to reconnect, and the only way to reconnect is to abandon fear, detachment, all of it.

How do we do that?
I think that is the constant question when reading things like this. I’ve gotten the responses of, “Well, that’s all good and well, but what do we do? What can be done?” We all know what can be done. First we abandon fear, all of the knowledge for everything else is inside of you, you just have to listen. You are the key to your own lock, and it’s up to you to open it. You know what you need to do, not me. I have no clue how you are going to change the world, but I know you will, and I know it will be amazing, things that I could have never thought of. “Imagine, if we were an army”…we could do anything, and we will do everything. You will do it, you can’t be scared.

What are we really scared of? Failure, or worse, Death?

“Death, where is your sting?”

I remember years ago getting a phone call. A friend of ours had passed away, suddenly and abruptly. Her boyfriend, who is also a close friend of ours, told us how they were on the phone together, and she said she was on her way over, and never got there. When she had hung up the phone, she had an aneurism, a blood clot in her brain, and died immediately. They found her on the floor in her house. We drove up there to comfort him, and to talk to everyone about her life. We drank, hugged, and talked. He said something that will always stick with me, until the day I die, I will never lose what he said.
He said, “I think that when you die, you relive every good experience, every good memory of your life, forever. Every hug, every never ending day, every endless sunset. I don’t have any logic behind it, but I know it’s true, because that is what she deserves”.
That’s what we all deserve.
You deserve the greatest life has to offer.
Here’s a lil tid bit of truth for ya, the meaning of life.
It’s to live, that’s it. Every hug, every never ending day, every endless sunset, that is why we are here.
So I guess it’s time for us to turn our back on fear, detachment, hatred, all of it,
and create something good,
good memories
that we will live in
for eternity.

Comments (4)

May 4, 2010

Live Free.

A few months ago some nice people came by the shop and spent some time with us.
Out of that, they made this documentary.
All of us at the shop were really happy with it.
thanks again alek, bess, michael, bijani, annabelle and everyone else involved.
check it out.

Live Free from Alek Rost on Vimeo.

also, check out some of the nice things they had to say about it at needles and sins.
check it out here

Comments (0)