idiot: From Latin idiota, Greek idiotes, short spirited man, ignorant; double gendered adjective and common noun; lacks inteligence; stupid, imbecile; ignorant;



How it's not God's fault we're in this mess

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Some years ago, when I was more into New Age and believed a lot of things I'm not sure I believe in now, people spoke a lot about The Era of Aquarius. Simply put, mankind was leaving an age of darkness of thought and action, associated with the impulsive behaviour of a teenager (I don't think teenagers are stupid, though. But that's a thought for another post, one of these days...).
The beginning of the new millenium would mean the end of a cycle where we had the blind rationality of the Greeks, the cruelty of the Romans, the ignorance of the Dark Ages, the European despotism, the two World Wars and a number of other negative atittudes and reactions. In this sort of second chance, people would globally become aware of the self, and consequently, of the global consciousness, starting to make gradual positive changes. The Era of Aquarius symbolizes the growth of Humanity as a whole and, surprinsingly, as an adult civilization on its way to a better world.

Well, then it happened: the two towers fell (and this is a too serious a sentence for any associations with The Lord of The Rings) and hell broke loose. A group of badly influenced people hijacked a couple of commercial aeroplanes, with people inside, and thought it was an Allah-recognizable sacrifice to crash them against two legendary skyscrapers, also full of people, and kill them all in the name of God.
After this, I really can't say as a proper human being that I have much faith in the concept of The Era of Aquarius; I'm more inclined, unfortunately, to go for the Nostradamus predictions of chaos and destruction. Or perhaps, more inclined into the catastrophic scientific possibility that we, human beasts, are more likely to self-destruct than to do anything good on this Earth.

You can look at this from almost any point of view: social, economical, political, geographical, etc...
I think about all these changes in the past six-and-so years from a religious point of view, because what blind rationality, cruelty, ignorance, despotism, occupation, poverty, rage and aggressiveness all have in common is one simple concept: guilt.
Do you really think it was one nation's fault that led to a massacre? Or that religion is to blame?
Do you really think that Islam is wrong, and you are right?
I don't know, but in my humble opinion, maybe you should think again...

This simple word "religion" comes from the Latin re + ligare, which means "to connect" or "to bind". It can be interpreted as a set of beliefs that, connected, form a core of values and rules to worship the Divine; it can define a group of people who follow a specific core of values and rules, not only in terms of worship, but also in terms of the way those people choose to live their lives.
I like to think that "religion" is a reminder that, no matter what those values are, that we are connected to the Divine (regardless of that Divine) and, therefore, we are all connected.
In a more basic way, as I like to put it, we all have two legs, two arms, two eyes, brains and the ability to talk. In the absence of making a point, we all have souls. That should be more than enough to connect us all somehow, don't you think?

The big issue with world religions doesn't have a thing to do with the god people revere to, in any case. That's not even the point. The point is how the appointed people to guard and preserve the religion interpret their set of beliefs and the correspondent values and rules.

Take the Christian "Thou shall not kill". This is an order: you will not kill, because it's wrong to take another human life in an unnatural way. You can imagine it like this: "Thou shall not kill, because then you'll be punished. You'll be arrested, convicted, rot in jail, burn in hell, etc...". I guess that, at the very least, you'd get a very heavy conscience, and that suits you very well.
But... if I kill an animal, even if it is to eat it, will I be punished?
The general answer to this would be "no", for a series of reasons: because you need to eat animals to survive; because animals don't have souls (only people who never had, or don't like, pets would go for this...); because it was an accident, bla bla bla...

Most people don't think about this. They don't have time, they think it's a good enough interpretation, or they don't dare to question themselves too much with religion, because it might crack their brains... or they can't, because someone will kick their asses for questioning God.

The same problem with interpretation arises from Islam, from Judaism, from Buddhism and neo-pagan and modern religious movements.
The Divine doesn't interpret anything: humans do. And being the interpreter doesn't automatically make him/her a good person. Actually, the world is filled with terrible interpreters, who forget that the Divine is inside us all, and that it would never lead people into disgrace, on the contrary.
Communicating with the Divine, on our own, without interpreters, is an extraordinary and easy experience.
When you are walking by the sea, and you listen to the waves and feel good about that moment, you are communicating with the Divine.
When you are helping someone in need, selflessly, like listening to a friend talking, you are communicating with the Divine.
When you are with your friends, and you feel happy having drinks, that's also communicating with the Divine.
When you are committed to becoming a better person, on your own, and for yourself, you are connecting with the Divine and coming closer to that form of consciousness.
And all of this, with or without a religion, it doesn't matter.

Now, do you really think the enemy is the muslim dude sitting next to you, or that nation full of them? Or those people who call themselves witches?
Do you really think that the bad-guy-whose-name-I'm-not-writing-who-says-we're-on-a-holy-war did it and influenced others to do it in the name of religion and of Allah?

We should be fighting to become better people; we should be fighting guilt and ignorance; we should be fighting for fairness and unity; we should be fighting for our planet and for a positive future, for knowledge and for peace.
Instead, I guess the Era of Aquarius is becoming the Era of the Dumb Roaches, because that's what we are, running around and hitting our heads against each other.
And God is not to blame for this mess we're in. None of the Gods, by the way.


No Fear

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I’ve got voices in my head. Thankfully, these voices don’t prompt me to behead my mother or do other things which are archetypes of schizophrenia. Nevertheless, these voices are not really friendly voices, and tend do make me feel sad and destroyed.

One voice is the rational one: it’s the voice of my parents, of former teacher, of years of acculturation and education, the voice that impels me to do the right thing. It’s the distorted voice you can hear in the song “Fitter Happier”. This is the voice that tells me it’s perfectly okay to give away eight hours of my day, 5 days a week, under a contract and for a wage, even if the individual(s) I’m giving them to are people who are constantly reminding me that they are doing me a favor for having me work for them.

It’s the “shut up and swallow it whole now” voice.

The other voice is, obviously, the irrational one: it’s the inner voice that screams something’s wrong, that this is not the way things are supposed to be, and that I better move my behind and change, because I’ll be shackled to everything before I notice it, and way before I can do anything about it.

It’s the “politically incorrect” voice.

If you read any newspaper, or take a walk around your neighborhood, you’ll see and agree that we’re living in awful times. Sure everything seems normal, but we’re living for the past years in war, constantly fearful for prices which keep on rising, being reminded that we are guests in this planet (and rude guests, may I add), and in a deep religious, social and cultural crisis.

And this fear that we are immersed in is the perfect environment for those rational voices to take over. Don’t go out after 11 p.m.; don’t buy a house; envy thy neighbor because he doesn’t deserve to be happy or to enjoy life if you can’t; hate the difference unless it’s politically correct difference; don’t quit your job because if you do you’re a bloody slob and you don’t want to work; and I could just go on with the negative vibe all afternoon…

Of course, there are those moments when it’s just too much. You are under the spell of that rational voice, and then suddenly you look around you and that vein in your forehead just pops. POP

Now what?

The rational voice is out there, walking and screaming at you, naked; it’s a naked old bearded man with no teeth, who scares you shitless. But it’s a naked voice, with the things dangling while screaming and you realize: how much longer can you fear the madman inside you if he’s a walking joke?

I’m not listening to that bearded old man anymore.


The guy with the mother’s head under his arm

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This week, a very gory event took place in a pueblo on the outskirts of Murcia: a man chopped off his mother’s head with a kitchen knife, and then decided to walk around the main square, with his mother’s head wrapped in a sheet under his arm, informing passers by of the “load” he was transporting. This happened around 22.00 or 23.00 in the night, which is basically pedestrian rush hour in Spain, in the village of Santomera.

Well, of course the police came, took the man into custody, and returned the head to the body – as much as possible – in order to give the poor woman a proper burial.
All over the press and other media, it is said that this man suffered from schizophrenia, that he was known around Santomera as the “village madman”, and that the motive for this tragedy was the refusal from mum to give him his daily 100 €, from a sort of salary she paid him for running a café. Yeap, these were well-known people in the pueblo: the lady ran a cigarette shop and, next door, a small café-restaurant that she gave her son, so he would have a proper occupation.
So, as if it was not shocking enough that this violent murder took place, it involved people with faces; at least, for the inhabitants of Santomera.

People react in a mix to this story: they condone and feel appalled by this tragedy, but at the same time, crack jokes and laugh about the ridicule of the image of a chest-bare man, with a Rambo-like stripe on his forehead, walking around a typical Spanish village with his mum’s head under his arm, saying “Yeap, it’s my mum, and I love her, now that she’s shut up”. It’s horrific, but funny in a dark humour kind of way…

Nevertheless, it’s very sad.
Turns out that, in 2001, the mother appeared on television claiming that she feared for her life, as her son was mentally ill, and threatened her constantly. She asked for help from the Government, and she did eventually ask for a restraining order. However, neither she nor he ever respected it. In fact, she voluntarily broke the restraining order, allowing her son to work with her, allegedly because he was “doing better”.
That night, he went into the café and asked her for his 100 €. She refused for some reason, and they had an argument. Possibly running out of arguments, he took a kitchen knife, stabbed her and then chopped her head off. (which, by the way, must take a long time, since it’s not a guillotine…). And then…well, you know.

That night, a colleague of mine from work was driving home to Santomera, when he saw a huge commotion on the streets. He stopped and asked what was going on, and someone said: “This guy chopped off his mother’s head and was walking around with it under his arm.”
He didn’t believe it could be true.


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