5 peeps, 1 guitar ~ Human Creativity vs Human Loathing

I really appreciate the great beauty of human expression in this video. Such creativity and talent, it reminds me that even though our society tends to sensationalise the darker side of life, there are still so many wonderful and beautiful things out there, and much of it coming through human beings as well. I mean sure, the beautiful skies, oceans, nature, etc — but I think its important to see that humans also create beauty and expressions of peace and joy.

The Human Loathing Factor

This is rather a big topic, and I wouldn’t want to dive too deep with it just now, so I’d just like to share a few thoughts I’ve had in observation of our own species in this particular society.

Allow me to digress for just one quick moment.  You may have seen me mention our society a few times thus far, and I think it may be important to clarify my perception on this.  It may be generally easier to just refer to things as “human”, like the term “human nature”; however, I have found that many things that people consider “human nature” are actually more like “our societal nature”. Society being a collection of base beliefs that define a particular perception through which life experience is processed. ….. There! yea! … that cleared things up right? hahaha! I think I’ll have to read that one a few more times to see if I get it *chuckle* What I mean to say is that there have been and are many other cultures/societies of humans.  So much of our behaviour stems from the Society we have joined. So what many refer to as “human nature” is more than likely just “learned behavior” through base beliefs.  This means WE CAN CHANGE!  Whereas if its just “human nature” then whatever it is, we’re all doomed! hahaha OK, back to the previous point 😉

We humans in this society seem to have a base belief that we are somehow bad or wrong or sinful or just something not right.  Its not surprising that religions speak on this.  Religions are a reflection of the people as well.  Combine to this the base belief that we are somehow separate from nature, and we have a explosive concoction of people that feel lost and guilty. We judge ourselves harshly.  Think about it, when you see a puppy, or kitten, or pony, or even human baby, there’s an appreciation of the innocence. They are easily forgiven, or even further, are not even judged to require forgiveness.

This is an important thing to recognize. At the core of our societal belief is the concept that we are separate from Nature and that we are bad, guilty, wrong, etc. How do these two societal beliefs affect us in our daily lives?

Separate from Nature

Don’t you find it interesting that we have the term “Natural” to describe things coming from “Nature”, unrefined or unmodified by “Man”, and we revere these “Natural” products as something good for us, healthy, beautiful, and balanced. But as soon as we humans get our hands on it, refine it, modify it – it becomes somehow unnatural, tainted, poisoned, wrong, unhealthy, ugly, etc.

I say to you now:  We humans are born from this planet (at least in part), which is born from this solar system, which is born of our galaxy, which is born of this Universe (from a linear perspective).  We are just as natural as any other creature or plant or element.  We are made up of the SAME PARTICLES as “Nature” – we are natural, and thus everything we do and create is NATURAL!

But yet we see things “man-made” and dub them wrong or even EVIL! Oh dear, how EVIL we little humans are muahahahaha *cackle*.  Oh, but there is the light, and there is the dark, and that is natural.  Well, so is good and so is evil, its all natural!

“Yin Yang: The oriental symbol of the Laws of Polarity and Synthesis.”

Now, lets consider WHY we might believe that we are separate from nature.

Consider the nice red packaged containers of ground meet in the grocery store.  We call it BEEF.. when in fact, its COW.  We call it port, bacon, ham, anything but the truth… its PIG!

Consider the massive corporate farms which are torturing these creatures from birth to a horrific death, just so it can be packaged up all nice and neat for you in the grocery store.

Consider the massive rain forests which have been annihilated so that you have your “lumber” in the Home Depot, and build your homes so that the banks can take them away from you (chuckle – yea I had to throw that little jab in there).

Consider the diverse “natural” wildlife in those rain forests from the tiniest bugs to the largest mammals, all being displaced or wiped out due to you removing their home so that you can have the bank build your home.

Consider the thousands of oil refineries pumping away at ancient fuel reserves, destroying the “nature” around them, and the lives of countless thousands of creatures, all so that we can drive our SUVs around, polluting air, land and water.

Consider the outright raping of our natural resources so that we can pump consumer products out at alarming rates, so that we can all continuously buy more stuff every year, discarding last years stuff because its out of “style” or because it has a nice built-in timebomb just after warranty.

From the Story of Stuff video, you really should check it out and join their movement!

Now considering all of these things, is it any wonder why we believe ourselves to be so separate from Nature? Would any of this be possible if we believed we were Natural and one with Nature? Our entire society would crumble as it in fact RELIES on our belief that we are separate. We could not do the things we do without that belief of separation. There have been and are other cultures/societies on this planet that do not have that same belief.  In fact they believe that we are one with Nature.  And when you look at these societies, you’ll see how their living is more balanced, or if your head is well absorbed into mainstream society, you’ll see them as primitive tree huggers, hahaha I guess whatever floats your boat.

Human Self-Loathing

So who wouldn’t hate humans after recognizing all of the above, right? We’re such dirty, nasty, greedy little shits… destroying our planet so that we can have stuff and be greedy YAY! Maybe we should all just get what we deserve, wipe us out, extinction, we’re too far gone, we’re guilty as charged, we will just all burn in hell!

…. ok, now that we got that out of our system, lets retract a moment.  Scroll up to the top, watch that video again.  But this time, really focus on the beautiful creativity of these 5 humans. Feel their creative expression. Feel revived knowing that this is but one small example of the beauty that emanates from humanity.  GO GO, DO IT, SCROLL UP!

OK, back now?

Feel better?  Maybe a little choked up? Few tears?  If you see beyond just 5 peeps and 1 guitar, if you appreciate the expression from their soul, and use that to relieve your self-loathing condition, you will have tears. REMEMBER that we humans are made up of the same stuff as everything is in this Universe. We contain both the light and the dark within us.  We are capable of great beauty and great atrocity. Just because our media (news, tv, movies, magazines, etc) focuses so much on the darkness that comes from humans doesn’t mean that there is no beauty.  It just means that because we have a societal belief that we are “bad”, we are attracted to the media that reflects our belief. Therefore it sells, and therefore is all our mainstream media produces.

Are you still skeptical?  Perhaps you are having a hard time seeing this belief within you? Perhaps you need more proof that this is in fact a base societal accepted belief?

ENTER OUR GOVERNMENT

I’ve said before that this reality we experience is a reflection of our selves. So lets look at the governmental reflection shall we? Everyone knows and agrees that our government has 3 branches:

Legislative – Make laws because we humans are so bad we must make rules to keep us in line.

Judicial – We humans are so bad, we are GOING to break the rules we make for ourselves, so we need a method of judging ourselves for our wrong-doings.

Executive – Now that we hath been judged and found GUILTY, we need to enforce our harsh punishments and torture ourselves because we all know a little bit of torture makes for a greatly improved human being!  Oh, and just in case you haven’t been judged yet, and you try to run from being judged, we’ll send our executive enforcers out to get you, slap you in chains, and treat you as guilty until we judge you as guilty. That little bit of pre-torture torture goes a long way!

Now, I’m sitting here wondering where the hell is our Enlightenment branch of government?  Where’s our Peaceful Problem Solving branch of government? Where’s the Environmental branch of government (don’t even bother saying EPA! what a worthless joke that reflection is *teehee*) – Sure you can argue that departments within these branches exist to address “humanitarian” issues, but I would challenge any evidence that any one of these branches has been successful at performing their chartered duties.

So here we have created 3 branches of government, all meant to deal with bad little humans, and effectively, create more bad little humans.

Why would we create such a system if we did not loathe ourselves so much?  You might say its because someone killed someone else, and they had to be dealt with, and I agree, something should be done — but where in the hell did we get the idea that locking them up in a cage with a bunch of other humans that have done bad things would be “correctional” / beneficial in any way?  They call them “correctional facilities”, but they are breeding pits of more dark human expressions in reality. They do not serve to rehabilitate the person who did something bad, they only serve to PUNISH and TORTURE that human even more than they already are.  Yes, this feels good, “they” got what they deserve… they should hang’em, electrocute em! Sounds a lot more like unforgiving revenge than rehabilitation, no?

If we did not hate ourselves so much, our reaction to people that have done “wrong” would be a reaction of compassion and prevention. We would seek to prevent them from doing any further harm to another person, but we would also feel compassion for the human whom is obviously self-tortured enough to act out with such fear-driven actions. I cannot really say what the world would look like if we did not loathe ourselves so much, but I can say it would not equal cops, judges, juries and jails!

Now I know there are many out there that would agree our way of handling bad deeds is ineffective and perhaps even wrong. And these people may try to come up with alternative ways of dealing with humans who do bad things. However, I say the solution is not in rearranging the physical reality reflection, but rather in realizing the SOURCE of our current re-actions (executioners), then seeking to change those base societal beliefs within ourselves. This is the truth path of lasting change! As within, so without! Thats really a whole other topic as well that I will write on some day if I remember to 😉

But from where did this societal base belief come? Why do we feel so guilty, judge each other so harshly? Remember you would not judge other animals so harshly. Hmm, I can’t really say with where it came from, but being that I was raised Catholic, I have a pretty good notion on where it might have come from! Many of our Western Society Religions contain the notion that humans are bad little children and must repent for their sins. In fact, they often go so far to say that we must SUFFER for our sins. And that if we suffer enough in a repentant way, we MIGHT be saved from the eternal suffering of Hell when we die.

…. Say what?!?!

You know… I’m really not one for slamming Religions, I’m not anti-religious. I understand their purpose and reflection. They are what they are and they do what they do. For many, Religions have been a very beneficial influence in their own life experience. I think its good to contemplate God and the nature of our existence. I also see that deep within each Religion are the ancient mystic values and truths.

But really, WHAT THE FUCK were we thinking when we let our Religions tell us that we are born “wrong” (sinful)? *chuckle* Silly silly humans, you so crazy! You all know the beauty and innocence of a smiling new born baby, ya?  And if you don’t yet, I have faith one day you will.  When you wait for that new born baby to finally crack its first smile, and the joy you feel when it happens, there is nothing but pure life and innocence there.

So without turning this whole thing into a Religious debate, I would just state that if we are curious as to how we got it in our heads this whole self-loathing thing, it is a likely place to look.  You can still have your Religion, but please reconsider some of the more negative perceptions within your religion. God is within you, and your answers can come through you, they do not have to be dictated by some book or force outside you.  Listen to God within, you will know His/Her voice when the words bring nothing but Peace and Unconditional Love.

In Conclusion

As you watch this little light-hearted video, imagine if the animal you see is a human performing the same act, and take note of your feelings between watching some non-human do these things vs if it was a human.

While we have many societal beliefs that ultimately forge our reality / reflection / experience / perceptiion, these two seem to be at the base of it all. Imagine if you were able to identify these base beliefs within you, and alter these beliefs into their opposites?  What if you truly believed Humans were part of Nature and all that we do is natural… what if you truly believed that you are innocent and deserve the same forgiveness and understanding that you would give to a cute lil bunny?

1. How would it change your experience of your current reality?
2. How would it change your view of your Spouse? Your Parents?
3. How would it change your view of the Government, Big Brother and the Almighty Man?
4. How do you think you would feel deep inside?
5. How do you think the world would change?

You are beautiful. You are Innocent. You deserve forgiveness. You deserve peace and joy.

PS:  And here I thought I was going to write up a quick post *giggle*