O.J.Simpson and the Habits

Adrenaline oozes out of tiny glands, filling his body with supreme energy. His heart is beating a little faster as he walks with his head high. The pounding in his chest continues, he can hear it pumping, creating a soundtrack of his life movie.
At this moment he is more aware of himself than he has ever been, he is alive, breathing, soaring. His palms sweat, he moves quickly, decisions are mere impulses, his body acts, his mind follows. He moves like an animal, intent in its direction, one goal in mind…everything is clear.

After narrowly escaping a murder conviction a decade ago, OJ Simpson he has again found himself in a legal drama. He is charged with armed robbery and kidnapping in what he said was an attempt to retrieve sports memorabilia stolen from him.

OJ is in trouble again, not because anything was stolen, but because he has a strong habit he is unaware of. Its results are obvious- the legal predicament - but the impulse that led him in the direction of jail remains a mystery. His machine chases after the memory of energy and wakefulness, the alertness that comes from living on the edge, with one hand on a gun- yielding the power of life and death.

The same impulse is expressed thousands of ways, depending on the machine. One might parachute, or eat chocolate ice cream, or make love.

It is the impulse to wake up, to feel energy moving in every direction, to feel the body and be completely alert.

But all of them are habits, ultimately just an image of wakefulness when done by a sleeping machine. They are repeated often, out of habit, unconsciously.

Some manifestations have more intense consequences, like jail or death, but they come from the same place at the most basic level.

OJ, unaware, repeats the habits he learned as a child, following the example of adults in his life. A slave to his machine habits and impulses; perhaps wondering why he is in tight silver shackles again.
He has learned nothing since 1994, he has not learned to control his machine. He is still a victim of his own habits. He will continue making the same choices, hanging with the same surly people, repeating the same habits until he has a moment of understanding, when he can see himself from the outside- perhaps then he will understand who is in control.

Lucifer

As humans existing in a world beyond our immediate control, we have developed habits that attempt to provide a sense of stability. One manifestation of this can be seen in the way we cling to our ideas, morals, images, thoughts and feelings as "fixed." Thinking, believing perhaps, that they are and have always been true and will always be correct.

Lucifer, among modern Christians, is associated with Satan and the Devil- they are one and the same. Like all our common perceptions- about the world, our environment, ourselves- an idea changes and evolves…it is not fixed and has never been stagnant.
Always, where there have been people, myths, stories, and words have been morphing, in a state of evolution.
What many Christians consider common knowledge: the story of Lucifer as the fallen dark angel; has been added to, developed, changed, embellished, and re-written.
"The scholars authorized by ... King James I to translate the Bible into current English did not use the original Hebrew texts, but used versions translated ... largely by St. Jerome in the fourth century. Jerome had mistranslated the Hebraic metaphor, "Day star, son of the Dawn," as "Lucifer," and over the centuries a metamorphosis took place.
Lucifer the morning star became a disobedient angel, cast out of heaven to rule eternally in hell. Theologians, writers, and poets interwove the myth with the doctrine of the Fall, and in Christian tradition Lucifer is now the same as Satan, the Devil, and --- ironically --- the "Prince of Darkness."
Christians believe that Lucifer, the being, has existed since, or near, the beginning. But the concept of Lucifer as Satan did not appear until the Bible had gone through many translations of the old testament (from Hebrew, to Greek, to Latin).
A Latin word, Lucifer means bringer, or bearer, of light (lucem ferre), known in Roman astronomy as Venus (the morning star).
"In the original Hebrew text, the fourteenth chapter of Isaiah (which is the only place Lucifer is mentioned) is not about a fallen angel, but about a fallen Babylonian king, who during his lifetime had persecuted the children of Israel. It contains no mention of Satan, either by name or reference."
This story and now common belief for millions has not always been a truth, it has changed. With every translation with every new interpretation, new layers and meanings are added.

It is important to notice how easily we settle into a "fixed" idea, perception, or interpretation . Religion, sense of self, morals…a multitude of image-like perceptions.
And precisely because we change, because our stories change, it is important to notice. We should open our eyes,expand out heart and senses and notice just how much is in flux, sometimes it takes centuries, sometimes only a couple of years, but the change happens. Allowing the process, noticing it, seeing how all is ever changing…this will open up space for our fixed images to break.
Perhaps the lines will become a little more blurry between us and them. The words we associate with our own identity may shift or lose their importance and maybe our mask will begin to melt.

http://www.lds-mormon.com/lucifer.shtml

The Cult of the Amateur

The book, The Cult of the Amateur, by Andrew Keen, examines the cultural revolution being spawned by Web 2.0 and its millions of users. He argues that this new form of media and information sharing is killing our culture, replacing experts and professionals with speculative, no-talent amateurs. Where there were once cultural gatekeepers- publishing houses, editors,
curators; with the web, anybody can post a video, regardless of quality. This, he says, is destroying our publishing, music, and news-gathering industries.
While much of the blogs are opinionated rants, and newspapers and television have dumbed themselves down for the general public; there is a space, a need that this new venue fills. It allows, like never before, the ability for people to move their energy.
Why limit creativity?- that amazing urge, that indescribable need to "do"? This is an outlet for people to express themselves, create books and t-shirts, artwork and express anger in the form of rants.
Most of the time they are not award winning pieces of work, but they are testaments to energy allowed to flow, ideas and attention that was brought to the surface. The physical content merely reflects what once was.
It is the energy we cannot see with our eyes, but it is physical and real nonetheless. It has moved through the machine. The end result, good or bad, is that it journeyed. And that is what we strive for, to move and transform our energy.
There have always been artists and writers, scientists and musicians who were not considered great in their time. The professionals Mr. Keen sentimentally desires were once themselves amateurs, perhaps rejected from the professional world.
Everyone must start at the beginning- an unknown. We should be careful to idealize "professionals." They are the living vessels that energy used to create. But they are not alone in this. Lightning can strike in more than one place.
We do not create for titles, we create because we must. It is always wonderful when the general public engages and responds to the product, but we labor for something much greater. We move our energy to transform ourselves, our space, our perceptions and perceived limitations. We create for the beings and realities I have no words to name.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/29/books/29book.html?ex=1189656000&en=afa6261f3d52bf20&ei=5087

Growth Without Patience

We call it "building a fire."
One must create a fire slowly, first finding small twigs and pieces of paper. It takes time and attention, a little piece here, a little bit of oxygen there…adding larger and larger branches until the fire is roaring.
An easier method, one made for the impatient and short sighted is to add some lighter fluid. This quickly creates flames, but is more volatile and liable to explode.
One method requires patience and skill; the other, fueled by need and instant gratification, needs only the fluid and a squirt.
China has used the quick-lighting method of expansion and they are on the brink of an explosion. Their unprecedented economic growth- growth driven at all costs- is having serious implications on the people and the environment of China, as well as the rest of the world.
This spring, a World Bank study done with SEPA, the national environmental agency, concluded that outdoor air pollution was already causing 350,000 to 400,000 premature deaths a year. Indoor pollution contributed to the deaths of an additional 300,000 people, while 60,000 died from diarrhea, bladder and stomach cancer and other diseases that can be caused by water-borne pollution.
China’s environmental agency insisted that the health statistics be removed from the published version of the report, citing the possible impact on "social stability," World Bank officials said.

All growth- on an individual scale or country-wide should be done with some attention, using all available knowledge, and applying the previous experience and lessons of those who came before us.
Expansion for its sake alone, without any thought for conscious development or evolution, is bound to explode.
At the very least, it maintains the status quo.
It is the machine state at work with extreme power- without the Being in mind.
China is one huge machine- producing goods for the rest of the world- its leaders tout progress while the workers themselves are dying of cancer. The majority of people do not have clean drinking water and much of the rivers are not even clean enough for industrial use. The Communist party realizes there is a problem, but the mechanism is moving at a pace which seems too fast to stop, and it’s gaining momentum. The government is trying to keep the health statistics secret.
Most of the people now are just caught in the cogs, trying to eat and fulfill their basic human needs- but when enough people are dying from the pollution and its subsequent manifestations, people may have a moment of clarity in which they will see the machine apparatus. Then there will be unrest. And the machine will struggle against the necessary changes, changes that could ultimately help billions on the planet and countless others.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/26/world/asia/2

Early Decisions

The attempt to keep the machine rolling along, creating more unhappy, unconscious, sleepy humans. It is a seemingly innocent
proposition. Beginning this fall, students at Dwight Morrow High School in New Jersey will be asked to pick a major. With this
declaration, they will devote their academic time and elective classes to fulfilling the requirements of the major. School
administrators hope this will give the students a competitive edge in college admissions- because "college admissions officers have said over the years that they favor students with expertise in particular areas since it demonstrates commitment and passion." But this is not true passion, it is the image if it. Asking a 13 year old to decide on a career path, then forcing that student to complete the required classes in order to graduate, is not the mark of passion. It is basically making someone jump through the hoops of public education; something Universities have perfected.Whether or not it will prove useful to students is somewhat irrelevant. Most people are unhappy and unfulfilled in their
chosen career paths anyhow. Picking it earlier probably won’t affect the long term. The more subtle thread of this story is
the larger machine structure. The societal need to funnel people into specific categories and fields. Modern society needs cogs, it needs nurses and teachers and construction workers. There is not enough space for people to be living spontaneously, to be following their true desires or passions.In an unconscious attempt, school boards and government agencies target people at a younger age, putting them onto the black and white path of limited choices. Deeper than this is the real question: For who and what are we working for? Are jobs supposed to fulfill us-should they give us meaning? This is the another great illusion. We have sought meaning everywhere around us- job, family, religion…the main things we identify with…the things we can look at and say, "yes, that is me, that is what I love and believe in." These are not real, they are not who we are. Everything we look to as an identity is a lie, a construct of the machine to try and create a reality that makes sense.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/16/education/16major.html?pagewanted=1

The Image of the Title

Please call me Chief Lydia, or if you prefer, Lydia who Brings the Moon to Daly City.
In Nigeria, I would be able to buy these titles, officially adding them to my name for the price of
$200,000 to $250,000, ultimately with the hope of renewed respect and esteem. It is a craze among the wealthy and Chiefdom has become common.
Financial manager Reginald Ibe, a chief of the Igbo people in the south-east, echoes this disquiet. "Chieftaincy titles have practically been bastardised these days," he says. "Everybody
wants to acquire one chieftaincy title or any other title. The number of honorary PhDs we have in this country is symptomatic of a people who have failed in so many aspects of life."
Originally, Chiefdom was not a title, it was a position earned through direct action. To be a chief was like becoming a small god- a man had proved himself worthy, by his actions.
Scarcity makes things special. Diamonds are considered precious, not just because of their beauty, but because of their rarity…for the time and labor required to dig them from the earth. It is not like picking up a piece of gravel, it requires patience and skill.
Likewise, the position of Chief was important, signifying to the people the man’s character. But many have become lazy, wanting the respect and prestige without earning the right for it. Money, it seems, is all that is required. In Nigeria and even here, in the US, $250,000 is an obscene amount of money to acquire a title, but this shows the eagerness for respect, the desire to standout from the general populace.
This is buying an image.
The image of a respectable man, the image of an intelligent, compassionate person.
These titles, now commonplace among those with bank accounts, have defiled ancient tradition, making the title no more important than a rotting banana.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6924870.stm
The title is an afterthought. The position is earned through action and Being. The title without foundation is merely a distorted ghost reflection of what once was. Ultimately everyone can see that, even if it is not spoken.

Keeping Up The Front

The New Zealand Parliament has just enacted a new law that makes it a crime to use video footage taken within Parliament for the purpose of "satire, ridicule or denigration."
Under the promise of imprisonment- such acts are now outlawed.
Deputy Prime Minister Michael Cullen accused the media of trying to portray the restrictions as "some sort of fascist state where the heroic media of New Zealand are being denied the right to lampoon politicians."
But what other road are they on?
In order to portray themselves in the best light possible, they are sacrificing free speech for image. Only 6 members of the 121-seat parliament voted against the measure.
In March 2005, speaker Margaret Wilson banned cameras from TV3 for seven days after the network showed associate education minister David Benson-Pope asleep during a parliamentary session.
The people that make up government are not gods- they have been entrusted with immense power, the power to enact laws that effect everyone in society. The very fact that they have power means there should to be more oversight, not less.
The New Zealand Parliament have become completely identified with their image- how they are perceived by the people. But this careful crafting of media portrayal will be based on falsities, not actual events or real displays of emotion.
They are trying to hide behind the guise of professionalism, stature, and civility- but what is it they are working for? Why are they there?
They have forgotten their original pure motivations... if they ever existed.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10448159http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/16541