Hello and welcome to the show. This particular episode, I will attempt to explain, elaborate and elucidate a theory I have been sitting on for over a year now: the Perspective of Infinity.
But before we begin, some highlights. First- the career aspect. I took up multiple jobs in all sorts of fields and have learnt to understand the concept of a career and the lifestyle that corresponds to it. I have learnt discipline and routine, and understood why it is I don't enjoy it. I have seen different characters and appreciated and criticized the system. I now find myself equipped to empathize with the working man. I have also become adept at looking ‘too busy to deal with more work, so go away you fat lump’.
Second- social aspect. Brilliant summer, really. Re-evaluated and restructured all my ties and have solidified many relationships. Furthermore, I have utilized those long hours of passive behaviour studying to my advantage, and don't see any reason why you won't be my friend. Yes, the future looks bright.
Third and final, I have thoroughly examined this game people call 'love' and feel empowered to take on the next encounter with all guns blazing. The downside to this, however, is this unassuming feeling of awareness that has come over me and taken the reigns so that I don't fall into some sort of unintelligent, emotional trap. To a layman, that would imply being "guarded", but nay, it isn't. It is merely the act of looking out for myself.
Yes, I guess that still pretty much means "guarded". Let me just make clear that I am prepared to put myself into another compromising situation, all the while understanding the importance of my own personal freedom. And the importance of being idle, but perhaps I'll get to that in the next segment.
Time is an illusion. What? But sir, in your last post you clearly expressed utmost respect towards the powerful concept. Well yes, it took me a while, but I managed to uncover its secret. Along with many others. In my quest for knowledge, I have learnt that societal influence plays a vital and overwhelming role in our pursuit and sometimes this role can tilt our scales of judgement while looking for the ever-elusive entity of objectivity. Not to discredit Man, but I have discovered that there are certain concepts and terms that are suspiciously ambiguous and difficult to define. Upon further examination, I learnt that these terms were potentially masking the truth, or giving a bit of a push to those concepts that seemed difficult to explain/understand. It is human nature to find truth, but it is also human nature to delude itself in this journey. The end justifies the means? Not usually, and definitely not in this case.
Imagine if you will, a line. Draw two arrows on either side, so as to imply limitlessness. Right there. That word – limitlessness. A synonym for another, more powerful word – infinity. Hold that thought. Now apply this concept to the universe. If one were to move towards one side, one arrow, do they achieve contact? Or does the line keep moving forward, as if to thwart any efforts made to find its end? Perhaps, dear readers, the universe is like this line. Perhaps that would explain its ‘expanding’ nature. Mere speculations, but let’s not get physical here. Philosophically speaking, time is man-made and essentially just a means for humans to unitize and better understand the ‘flow of the universe’. Do we really understand the word ‘infinity’? Do we seriously grasp the concept and its implications? We don’t because we tend to believe that everything has a beginning and an end. We subscribe to the idea of starting and finishing, of life and death. It’s what makes us human. Speaking of, I have recently recognized life as a mere classification. We attribute so much meaning to everything, especially “life” but from one existentialist to another, there’s the rub, isn’t it?
We are free to create and destroy meaning at any moment we please. Let’s just leave it at that, shall we.
This constant ping pong match between truth and reality, hope and despair, happy and sad, togetherness and loneliness, friends and not-really-well-acquainted-folk, life and the absence of it has left me in a pickle. One tends to create new answers for questions that are hard to battle. Solutions for a way out. A loophole, perhaps... or maybe an ideology. We’re attached to a system and this system has us fooled. It also has us inspired, berated and amused. We’re victims of what is termed “freewill” but tsk, are we really worthy of such luxury? Or punishment? Wicked game, this freedom of thought, action and expression. We’re still always confined to limits, aren’t we? And once choice is limited, where’s the freewill then? Assume for a moment, we are not free beings, but in fact, just entities imagined by ourselves floating through existence able to perform actions based on conducive circumstances and preferred consequences. I do not see any meaning in contradicting that.
How are we different from that rock lying near the pavement? Yes, complexity in composition, biological systems etc, but really – are we not pretty much the same? That rock is not able to move across the road, unless kicked by a passerby, or maybe picked up and thrown. It is a victim of circumstance. Similarly, in a larger scheme, we are victims too. Don’t be thrown by the word, it isn’t necessarily derogatory or belittling. Merely implicative of our submissive, powerless nature. We can’t just stand up and fly across town, can we? We are bound by our own physical capabilities. In essence, not free to act as we desire. That rock doesn’t seem to have it any different, now does it?
I cannot refute “choice”; it poses a solid argument. I am merely playing with the thought of freewill and how perhaps we are deluding ourselves once over. It does solve a lot of problems, doesn’t it? Oh but then nobody’s accountable and all hell can break loose. Oh, anarchy and terror will reign. Oh, this and oh, that. It’s true. It’s all true. Once freewill walks out the door, morals and ethics follow closely. See, there never really is a right and wrong since there’s only one way to go. Feel free to quote me. Now that sort of fixes a lot of philosophical debates too. So what do we have left, then? Hmmm.
I guess everyone needs a way to pass the time.
You know, I always have been infatuated with time. Ever since I can remember, I’ve played with it in my head, as I’m sure each and every one of you has. Back and forth, bending and breaking, stopping and starting, watching it move and creep all over us, wearing a pompous grin. The mind is a powerful tool and a terrible thing to waste. Which brings me to a topic of utmost relevance. Intelligence. Once all the smoke blows over, philosophy really doesn’t cut it in the big bad world anymore. It’s all in the practice. The actions, the words, the drama and the thrill. We strive to be effective beings pursuing a common goal of glory while dabbling in side habits along the way. World peace, no disease, no hate and violence, no breaking the law. Get your kick but stay in line because the system knows it makes for better sense.
The search for objective truth is like running on a treadmill. You better be in it for the exercise.
This year, I learnt that there is another pursuit that deviates a little, but proves more fruitful, more satisfying. The pursuit of immediate happiness. The Perspective of Infinity aims to do just that. We grow older and wiser and our minds expand and our vision grows broad. The art of maintaining an ideology of infinite perspective while pursuing immediate pleasure is the essence of the theory. It’s simple, elegant and worth revelling within. Of course, there is a level of detachment that comes with it. But that’s what we’re going for, I guess.
An unadulterated excerpt from a letter I wrote a friend that I find apt to place here, with regard to worldly issues and how we fit in, during this divine pursuit:
“Fuck that, I say. Why must we concern ourselves with things that don’t concern us? I mean, I’m all for people being socially active and humanitarians and such. But only if it makes you happy while doing it, you know? If I decide today, that global warming, AIDS, and other funny things don’t need to take up my attention and I grow indifferent towards these ‘causes’, what’s the harm? I’m merely simplifying my life. I’m focusing more on the things that concern me directly. I’m detaching myself from disconnected matters and attaching myself more firmly to things that are of real concern to ME. Like my family and friends. Like basketball or sex. Like music and movies and beer. That way, I manage to stabilize my existence and get the advantage of taking more pleasure from each moment, rather than feeling convoluted and claustrophobic because X and Y can’t seem to pay their bills on time, which leads to someone in Somalia having one grain of rice less. Which isn’t a big deal because they don’t have much to start with anyway. Haha.
Inappropriate humour. We discovered and developed it because it made sense to us to deal with sensitive situations and remove the stigma attached to various issues by objectifying them and therefore, desensitising them. That way, everyone’s cool with everything and we groove forward and continue to lead a healthy and free existence full of pleasure and yes, the odd hardship. But not because there was an earthquake in China, more so because your mother died. Something that hits you close, you know? I hope you dig. I’m becoming more and more intensively existentialist. And I enjoy it. You start to feel ‘free’, (I don’t say you ARE free because it’s only just a state of mind and again, isn’t real) and begin to enjoy the littler things until you are able to deal with everything in a seemingly stable and systematic way, instead of getting swayed by disconnected thoughts and only live for yourself and attach yourself to things that concern you directly and you have influence over. The pursuit of immediate happiness. The rest should and must fall under your indifference curve.
That way, everyone’s happy and if they aren’t, they’re indifferent. Which isn’t half bad. And everyone lives and everyone dies and everyone creates a memory and nothing more because there really is nothing more. Yeah.”
So add a splash of humour to your day, add colour and excitement. Have fun and be merry because, and I quote, “the future’s uncertain, but the end is always near.” Thanks, Lizard King.
And thank you for your time, Dear Reader. I wouldn’t know where I’d be without you... Oh wait a minute, yes I do. Nothing would change. This doesn’t pay any bills. That’d be the day, eh? Nonetheless, I sincerely appreciate your ability to scrounge through this ramble and find an inkling of value in it all.
Good day.
