SELLING SOULS

It’s such an oddity how we’ve made life a commodity to be bought and sold, salvaged and ravaged until we have extracted all that is vital and essential to its possibilities and potential. While some people debate abortion, others argue that portion which depicts people as something less than equal to or made in God’s image. They see life instead as a sort of pyramid where those at the top have power to stop its evolution through whatever solutions they deem desirable. Of these remedies, most aren’t final but they are routinely fatal to natal as well as to the able –those whose potential has yet to become fertile based on contemporary definitions. So souls are traded on world markets even as economists refuse to hearken to the notion of life’s sanctity. What matters is its profitability. If this element is missing, then buyers go fishing for lives that they deem more prize-worthy. Thus it isn’t enough to be human. We must also be liquid instead, capable of becoming capital in the service of those who head contemporary systems. It doesn’t matter what the issue is, politically or economically speaking. What heads want to know is their prospects of reaping a profit off it. Realists attribute this manner to the nature of society. Moralists, in contrast, decry human depravity. Meanwhile souls are bought, sold and aborted all in the name of the need to make a profit. This calculus catalyzes efforts to erode the equitable distribution of basic necessities. Otherwise we wouldn’t despise the poor and coddle the wealthy. Yet the last warfare will be between classes, guided by the peculiar glasses through which they see life, whether Marxist, Socialist or the strivings of the Zeitgeist.

CHARMED

Our lives seem charmed when circumstances change. Then we cease feeling estranged from our dreams and everything else that we esteem whether or not our deeds astound. On the contrary, something about progress and the feeling of success brings us to a rest within ourselves. Rest profoundly fulfils if it has taken us years just to get us here where we are today, especially when so many others fainted along the way. That’s what we don’t always understand about the journey. That’s also why we are apt to abandon our dreams when things are continuously turning against us. Yet during these times we must bind ourselves to our dreams, acting as if they are the only things that matter. We must do so, however, without compromising our morals. Otherwise we become estranged from virtue instead. It may not matter now but it will in the end, unless of course we fail to mature. If so, then all we care about is success and its lure.

MAKING A STATEMENT...CHASING GREATNESS...

We make a statement whenever we are waiting and working toward our dreams, especially when it seems as if it will never happen. Yet that’s when we must truly play the part of a Captain lest we be crushed by the stuff that life brings. Doing so is especially hard when others sing because Fortune rings their bell and screams through the keyhole that “ALL IS WELL!” We meanwhile must learn to smile and to rejoice in their good fortune. Otherwise regarding our requests Fortune will fail to hearken. That’s why hating on others makes no sense. It’s also why waiting on our dreams makes us dense if we work while we wait. If so, we will reach the point where things tip and life takes a turn for the better despite the bad weather we endured. Meanwhile we must be diligent daily and strive to endure. That’s what those who made it did. Like us, they too endured a season when they were hid from view. Remember this when you are tempted to quit. Success eludes if you split, colloquially speaking.

DEMOCRACY IN DRAG.....

The elite and the masses attend different classes, metaphorically speaking, politically especially. Hence, the difference in their dressing, especially intellectually. Thus their views are inevitably divergent because of the nature of their nurturing. This doesn’t mean that each is fated to cling to their respective perspectives. Yet conciliation begins when each lends a willing ear to better understand the other’s fear, which is the basic root of division and all other antagonisms. Yet the less they talk the more they balk at values and views that serve as fuses to inflame dissent. Even then, however, the masses are meant for better. Yet better can only be achieved when they come together under the banner of their common humanity rather than maintaining the insanity of class, color and other codes that keep them at opposite poles, morally especially. In fact in this climate morality is messy and suggestive of world views that only serve to light the fuse until tempers flare and truth ceases to care for the soul. At least that’s how it seems when things explode. Plainly speaking, democracy is wreaking with an odor that disrupts the order its ideals are intended to bring; likewise the dignity it is designed to promote beyond the fact that citizens vote. What good is the ballot when we sell ourselves for the carrot discretely dangled before our eyes? How in this climate can citizens rise even as democracy supplies the means of social reform? It isn’t, however, a reductionist question of either/or because nature is generous when we confess our faults and acknowledge the fears that incite the division which today smears democratic garments all because our arguments are intended to defend the narrow ends for which we aim. Some even do so in God’s name!

OUR LOSS, WHOSE FAULT?

We blame the serpent for usurping but the desire was incipient. Otherwise neither Adam nor Eve would have bitten the forbidden. But their decision merely displayed how good we are at practicing bad faith, philosophically speaking. Thus we not only refuse to face facts but also ourselves, and act instead as if we aren’t aware of the consequences of our decisions before we make them. Saying so isn’t meant to throw arrows or bend angles that ignore moral demands. On the contrary, acknowledging our folly puts responsibility back into our hands where it belongs, and ceases to be belittled because we are fickle in mind and faint in heart. Thus it doesn’t matter whether it was Eve or Adam who erred. Few can refuse temptation when rightly dared, which is what initiated the celebrated Fall. In this regard, the Garden of Eden yet exists. Daily in fact each of us risks being tempted and evicted when we are morally indifferent. Unlike Adam and Eve, however, we can’t blame a serpent, unless of course we’re Christians. Then we have a reason and a means of vindication. But those without this view must opt to own their duty or pretend to be clueless instead. No wonder democratic morality is merely a figurehead, a figure of speech also in many circles because of our tendency to be morally fickle. Even so, life proceeds and consequences follow deeds. Thankfully, though, they aren’t as severe as we routinely fear unless we enthrone fear by being too fickle, repeating thus the dreaded cycle.

GREATER THAN GREATNESS.....

There are several things greater than greatness; yet what do we do while we are waiting for these to flower and for our realization of these? This question determines what breeze blows in our lives. Love for some is all there is. But what good is love if our best we don't give which, characteristically, is a form of greatness. Others exalt forgiveness and the willingness to overlook faults. But such sympathy and compassion must inevitably be taught. Thus those who are capable of teaching and practicing have achieved some degree of mastery, which can also be called greatness. Peace is the prize that the pacifist eyes; yet even peace is the release of faults and shows a regard for love, which only the greatest are capable of. So, the question still remains, namely, what do we do to entertain ourselves other than watching others climb the stairs that lead to greatness. Besides, the age is bathed (and disengaged) from itself. Thus it requires ordinary people to rise to the level that would improve several of our systems whether they are atheist or embrace religion. What matters is their ability to effect change and rearrange broken bonds so that society ceases to swim in a polluted pond. This service true greatness provides. It has nothing to do with living high on the hog or being immune to the fog that clouds the vision of others. Service is yet the signet that posterity will eventually discover as the defining feature of a life of achievement.

IGNORING HISTORY, DESTINY AND WISDOM.....

History is being offended because we use incentives that incite riot and sow discord, politically and morally, because our hearts are hard. Our eyes are also closed, at least to what matters most. So, we justify policies and practices with the skill of actors and actresses, as if no other options remain than those we frame in the language of our preference. In doing so, we insult wisdom’s benevolence, which would act as a guide if we acknowledged our guile. Thus far, however, we prefer to be clever, conceited and clandestine, acting in darkness where the Light doesn’t shine. Even so, the time is coming when we will be running to and fro seeking to know the way of wisdom. First, though, we must experience the consequences of our decisions. Meanwhile a company is being prepared with whom wisdom has shared its intent. These will expose and expound until Wisdom’s sound pierces and penetrates. Only then will our nation begin to be great. Currently, we have the potential but lack the essential –a commitment to values conventionally transcendent. If we do not heed, woe to our descendants!

TRIBES AND BRIBES...

Every tribe has its bribe that it uses to get others to join. Some use praise and others use coins, cash and pizazz. You know, the prestige that comes from being in league (and aligned) with others. Consider, for example, sororities and fraternity brothers. They promise camaraderie but often commit robbery emotionally speaking, provided we have something worth seeking. If so, others court until we comply, consenting to join their peculiar tribe. Yet there are a few who refuse to glue themselves so. Conventionally speaking, others call them mavericks because they resist gathering when the bell rings or the Piper sings his fabled tune. They choose to sit instead in solitude. The strength it requires can’t be acquired otherwise; though, conventionally speaking, there is strength in numbers but only if the tribe is comprised of others who are strong within themselves. If not, tribes merely hide their inadequacy and their lack of courage to be apart from a group that hollers and whoops about its bond.

ENDURING CYCLES...

You must be sage to endure the cycles that repeat yet don’t replenish our soul. Persons who can’t often fold under pressure because they can’t measure rightly because things are tightly wrapped, warped even, in their lives. Thus life’s cycles they learn to despise, not realizing that fortune dispenses despite their winces and whys. Still, life must be lived and cycles endured until we have matured. The proof is in our reaction to repetition. Can we experience it without embracing superstition that things are the same and will never change for us? In this regard, cycles repeat until they repair something in our thinking. After which, we find ourselves drinking from the fountains of satisfaction.

CHANGING PEOPLE

The attempt to change people resembles trying to change evil into good, which is impossible unless the nature of both is understood. Even then we must strain to initiate change because of how the emotional (and molecular) structure of each is arranged. With good the challenge is in identifying the flaw, and then being able to call forth a person or an age’s highest faculties. With evil, in contrast, we must understand depravity and its influence on the soul despite the claim of some that people are naturally as “good as gold.” Perhaps? Yet how do we explain the lapse, the lingers, the unjustified anger that sabotages our systems. Maybe people are neither as good nor evil as we wish them. In either case we must understand the base and the basics in order to rearrange it to reflect what we suspect about human nature. Otherwise our efforts will only frustrate the person, ourselves included, because we aren’t sufficiently rooted in truth.

THE PRICE OF GREATNESS

Can you endure the solitary confinement that comes with having a solitary assignment?

The price of greatness is often under-rated or deflated to make it seem as if achievers are lucky rather than laborers. In doing so, however, others maintain behaviors that defeat success and retards progress, making greatness impossible and themselves impervious to its requirements. No wonder so many are ignorant of its dynamics. Even so, the price of greatness can’t be lowered without being gored of the essential –diligence, drive, and determination. Without these we can’t please others or ourselves. Neither will we discover the wealth God hides deep inside every soul. Others, in contrast, understand its price but aren’t willing to sacrifice accordingly. Instead they feign cleverly their commitment while being inwardly resistant to its demands. They want the spoils but the lack the spunk and are thus sporadic instead. Characteristically, most by average are led. Yet there are a few who willing eschew compromise, doing what they must until they rise into the place their gifts lead. Some go slow and others embody speed. What matters, however, is that they get better until they blossom no matter what it costs them.