Strange Times

The manifestation of progression

2011-10-17T22:23:00.002+02:00

It's not the manifestation of reason that has progression as a result. It's the endless desperation of regression.
The road to happy ignorance is not to able say: "Fuck the world", but to say "Let the world fuck me."
Ik heb hoop voor de wereld niet omdat ik geloof dat de meerderheid het zal veranderen, maar omdat er altijd een mooiere minderheid is geweest die de meerderheid heeft weten te vergeven.

Blogpost is coming up soon about this philosophical thought of mine.

A few brilliant quotes

2011-07-13T23:35:00.003+02:00

“Our firmest convictions are apt to be the most suspect, they mark our limitations and our bounds. Life is a petty thing unless it is moved by the indomitable urge to extend its boundaries.” - Jose Ortega y Gasset.

"Those who want the Government to regulate matters of the mind and spirit are like men who are so afraid of being murdered that they commit suicide to avoid assassination." - Harry S. Truman

“The human spirit is not dead. It lives on in secret... It has come to believe that compassion, in which all ethics must take root, can only attain its full breadth and depth if it embraces all living creatures and does not limit itself to mankind.-” - Albert Schweitzer.

"Remember being a child and asking all the questions you could about the ways of the world and the people around you? Through the paths that have been laid out before you and your continuous progression through them you many a man has lost his will of life or the ability or willingness to ask those questions that could result in clearer sight of the road ahead, polished up stones and a nicer scenery around you. One who walks the path and is able to see it from above, hear what's going on around it, smell the fresh air 10 miles away and feel the warmth of calmth at the end will have grown 60 years beyond their age and will therefore find that life is beautiful and meaningful. But in order to perceive all this, one has to slow down and have a mindset that will give him peace and purpose beyond the pressure of his peers, or those in authority. Only then will you understand life." - Johnny Wijngaarden.

Valedictorian Speaks Out!

2011-05-17T11:55:00.004+02:00

"Here I Stand
Erica Goldson

There is a story of a young, but earnest Zen student who approached his teacher, and asked the Master, "If I work very hard and diligently, how long will it take for me to find Zen? The Master thought about this, then replied, "Ten years."  The student then said, "But what if I work very, very hard and really apply myself to learn fast - How long then?" Replied the Master, "Well, twenty years." "But, if I really, really work at it, how long then?" asked the student. "Thirty years," replied the Master. "But, I do not understand," said the disappointed student. "At each time that I say I will work harder, you say it will take me longer. Why do you say that?"  Replied the Master, "When you have one eye on the goal, you only have one eye on the path."

This is the dilemma I've faced within the American education system. We are so focused on a goal, whether it be passing a test, or graduating as first in the class. However, in this way, we do not really learn. We do whatever it takes to achieve our original objective.

Some of you may be thinking, “Well, if you pass a test, or become valedictorian, didn't you learn something? Well, yes, you learned something, but not all that you could have. Perhaps, you only learned how to memorize names, places, and dates to later on forget in order to clear your mind for the next test. School is not all that it can be. Right now, it is a place for most people to determine that their goal is to get out as soon as possible.

I am now accomplishing that goal. I am graduating. I should look at this as a positive experience, especially being at the top of my class. However, in retrospect, I cannot say that I am any more intelligent than my peers. I can attest that I am only the best at doing what I am told and working the system. Yet, here I stand, and I am supposed to be proud that I have completed this period of indoctrination. I will leave in the fall to go on to the next phase expected of me, in order to receive a paper document that certifies that I am capable of work. But I contest that I am a human being, a thinker, an adventurer – not a worker. A worker is someone who is trapped within repetition – a slave of the system set up before him. But now, I have successfully shown that I was the best slave. I did what I was told to the extreme. While others sat in class and doodled to later become great artists, I sat in class to take notes and become a great test-taker. While others would come to class without their homework done because they were reading about an interest of theirs, I never missed an assignment. While others were creating music and writing lyrics, I decided to do extra credit, even though I never needed it. So, I wonder, why did I even want this position? Sure, I earned it, but what will come of it? When I leave educational institutionalism, will I be successful or forever lost? I have no clue about what I want to do with my life; I have no interests because I saw every subject of study as work, and I excelled at every subject just for the purpose of excelling, not learning. And quite frankly, now I'm scared.

John Taylor Gatto, a retired school teacher and activist critical of compulsory schooling, asserts, “We could encourage the best qualities of youthfulness – curiosity, adventure, resilience, the capacity for surprising insight simply by being more flexible about time, texts, and tests, by introducing kids into truly competent adults, and by giving each student what autonomy he or she needs in order to take a risk every now and then. But we don't do that.” Between these cinderblock walls, we are all expected to be the same. We are trained to ace every standardized test, and those who deviate and see light through a different lens are worthless to the scheme of public education, and therefore viewed with contempt.

H. L. Mencken wrote in The American Mercury for April 1924 that the aim of public education is not

to fill the young of the species with knowledge and awaken their intelligence. ... Nothing could be further from the truth. The aim ... is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train a standardized citizenry, to put down dissent and originality. That is its aim in the United States. (Gatto)

To illustrate this idea, doesn't it perturb you to learn about the idea of “critical thinking.” Is there really such a thing as “uncritically thinking?” To think is to process information in order to form an opinion. But if we are not critical when processing this information, are we really thinking? Or are we mindlessly accepting other opinions as truth?

This was happening to me, and if it wasn't for the rare occurrence of an avant-garde tenth grade English teacher, Donna Bryan, who allowed me to open my mind and ask questions before accepting textbook doctrine, I would have been doomed. I am now enlightened, but my mind still feels disabled. I must retrain myself and constantly remember how insane this ostensibly sane place really is.

And now here I am in a world guided by fear, a world suppressing the uniqueness that lies inside each of us, a world where we can either acquiesce to the inhuman nonsense of corporatism and materialism or insist on change. We are not enlivened by an educational system that clandestinely sets us up for jobs that could be automated, for work that need not be done, for enslavement without fervency for meaningful achievement. We have no choices in life when money is our motivational force. Our motivational force ought to be passion, but this is lost from the moment we step into a system that trains us, rather than inspires us.

We are more than robotic bookshelves, conditioned to blurt out facts we were taught in school. We are all very special, every human on this planet is so special, so aren't we all deserving of something better, of using our minds for innovation, rather than memorization, for creativity, rather than futile activity, for rumination rather than stagnation? We are not here to get a degree, to then get a job, so we can consume industry-approved placation after placation. There is more, and more still.

The saddest part is that the majority of students don't have the opportunity to reflect as I did. The majority of students are put through the same brainwashing techniques in order to create a complacent labor force working in the interests of large corporations and secretive government, and worst of all, they are completely unaware of it. I will never be able to turn back these 18 years. I can't run away to another country with an education system meant to enlighten rather than condition. This part of my life is over, and I want to make sure that no other child will have his or her potential suppressed by powers meant to exploit and control. We are human beings. We are thinkers, dreamers, explorers, artists, writers, engineers. We are anything we want to be - but only if we have an educational system that supports us rather than holds us down. A tree can grow, but only if its roots are given a healthy foundation.

For those of you out there that must continue to sit in desks and yield to the authoritarian ideologies of instructors, do not be disheartened. You still have the opportunity to stand up, ask questions, be critical, and create your own perspective. Demand a setting that will provide you with intellectual capabilities that allow you to expand your mind instead of directing it. Demand that you be interested in class. Demand that the excuse, “You have to learn this for the test” is not good enough for you. Education is an excellent tool, if used properly, but focus more on learning rather than getting good grades.

For those of you that work within the system that I am condemning, I do not mean to insult; I intend to motivate. You have the power to change the incompetencies of this system. I know that you did not become a teacher or administrator to see your students bored. You cannot accept the authority of the governing bodies that tell you what to teach, how to teach it, and that you will be punished if you do not comply. Our potential is at stake.

For those of you that are now leaving this establishment, I say, do not forget what went on in these classrooms. Do not abandon those that come after you. We are the new future and we are not going to let tradition stand. We will break down the walls of corruption to let a garden of knowledge grow throughout America. Once educated properly, we will have the power to do anything, and best of all, we will only use that power for good, for we will be cultivated and wise. We will not accept anything at face value. We will ask questions, and we will demand truth.

So, here I stand. I am not standing here as valedictorian by myself. I was molded by my environment, by all of my peers who are sitting here watching me. I couldn't have accomplished this without all of you. It was all of you who truly made me the person I am today. It was all of you who were my competition, yet my backbone. In that way, we are all valedictorians.

I am now supposed to say farewell to this institution, those who maintain it, and those who stand with me and behind me, but I hope this farewell is more of a “see you later” when we are all working together to rear a pedagogic movement. But first, let's go get those pieces of paper that tell us that we're smart enough to do so!" - Erica Goldson.

Thank God for such a wonderful piece of work.

Share this with whoever you know. For this is not just America, this is not just university, this is concerning education in general and all over the world.

So what about hope?!

2010-10-17T20:22:00.002+02:00

Hi folks!

Just now have I watched a philosophical episode of Millennium and it happened to trigger alot of emotions and questions in heart and mind. All these questions and emotions are all about this one theme, one big question, being; "Why do I want what I want?"

Why do I want to be a succesful and famous writer, change the world in the process and make people happy if in a thousand years my words and the effect of those will be gone? The evil that exists today could be eliminated, but why would we have made such a big effort if evil will return in a hundred years? Everything we do as humans is making sure that we live peaceful lives, 'we' being every individual for his own. This peacefulness is difficult to share and even harder to find. It's a state of mind, an attitude towards life. Ofcourse, it's not just that, but all the external influences aswell, like living in the highlands of Scotland, there where peace and quiet aren't rare and the only noise will be that of happily whistling birds flying by.

A good example to make clear what I mean is this; it's as if giving candy to a child, whilst taking another child's candy. The candy has ran out, but the children want more or just can't get anymore. We're not speaking of good or evil here, but about desire and what we choose to do with this desire. In our lives we try to be just or try to seem just, but why do we do this? Why would we put in all this effort?

Because of this kind of thinking I am heavily tempted to become selfish. I am tempted to stop worrying about other people. I am tempted to stop making an effort for anyone. I want to believe so badly that I can do something to improve the world. I want to believe that being a good person will be enough, like I have been told as a child and into adulthood so often. But why would I care?

And still there is this strong feeling of guilt towards my ancestors, towards every single person in the past that has fought for our freedom, for a better future for those that will live on when they're gone. They have actually fought, killed and died over this. They went to bed with exactly the same questions, worries and pains as I am going to bed with today. Yet they kept going, did not give up. Have they been fools? I know for sure they were good folks, big hearted people that cared.

So I might have given up on hope. I don't know what to do anymore, what direction to take in my life. I am disappointed in life, society and humanity in general. But I will go on, I MUST go on. First, by creating this piece of writing and by seeing if anyone is interested, by seeing if I can inspire others. Wouldn't it be wonderful if everyone suddenly woke up to reality and said: "Guys, we're fucking up terribly here. Could we stop for a moment please and look around to see what we have created?"

This thinking of mine robs me of my happiness, my passion for life. But do I deserve to be happy? I know that I am trying to be a good person, but is this enough? What I do know is that I will be closer to completing my quest than anyone that is just trying to be happy.

Yet there has be something positive to all of this, there just has to be! Who knows better the definition of luck than him who has lived to be an unhappy person for many years? Who knows better the meaning of beauty than him who has known only the ugly? The reward of the positive is so much bigger if you have lived through negativity. But what if you get rewarded for something that doesn't linger? Would I want to be rewarded for changing the world for the good only to see the world becoming worse next? We were used to all of the negativity in the first place anyway. The question I am no longer asking is the reason for my life, for the lives of all of us. The question I am asking is whether everything I am doing is worth it. Why would I want to live happily in heaven only to get used to the happiness? What then are my future perspectives? More happiness? What would be my quest, my objective, my goal, my desire, my purpose? Or is it simply to big for us to understand? Isn't ignorance bliss after all? I am agnostic by the way. I will not verify the existance of some higher form of life, but I will not deny it either. The word 'heaven' was merely a way to help me express what I meant to say.

So what is the reward? Love? Or is life one big joke you have to understand? Is cynism the ultimate tool of the wise after all? But I know love would do me well, at least it will for a little while, right? I'm just wondering if I wouldn't get bored, just like I think that heaven would be boring.

And still there are these elderly people that have been together for 80 years. For them there has always been love. Wouldn't they have given up on it if it was boring? I guess there's still hope. And mine is with love. Undying, everlasting, worldwide peace, love and unity.

This world seems so messed up. So what do you think? Do you still have hope?

Een gedicht over ambitie

2010-03-20T19:38:00.006+01:00

"We kennen allen een streven,
een doel voor ogen,
iets om voor te leven,
daar op het winddroge,
veilig, uit de wind.

Twijfels over doel,
brengen ons vaak niet,
daar waar gevoel,
ons streven niet ontziet.

Resoluut en ambitieus zet ik voort."

Rond dit gedicht draait mijn leven. Ik begon als een depressievelling, althans, zo begon ik als tiener, ik denk dat je leven dan pas echt begint. Alleen ik zocht naar manieren om eruit te komen. Ik heb die depressie nooit geaccepteerd als mijn emotionele comfort zone. Ik probeerde vastberaden een weg te kiezen, maar dat viel me zwaar en ik twijfelde en dacht lang na over alle keuzes die ik maakte en nog maken moet.

Je gevoel en je streven liggen vaak nogal ver uitéén. Ik wou altijd al een groots schrijver worden, maar het voelde verkeerd. Ik wist dat roem vergankelijk was en dat grootsheid in naam geen grootsheid in karakter betekende. Maar ik begrijp het nu. Ik zet me er nu alsnog voor in. Gevoel en streven worden bij mij nu met elkaar verbonden door actie. Nog steeds is er dat dubbelzinnige gevoel, maar weet je? Dat is goed. Laat me op die manier er maar aan herinnerd worden dat arrogantie en een groot ego me niks opleveren, maar een mooie persoonlijkheid des te meer.

Dit is dus echt mijn gedicht.