An open mind is scary to some people who don't understand what it truly means to have an open mind. Some may carry the belief that because they are accepting of more than others, they are completely open-minded, and this is misleading to them. People who are confined to the paradigm that is the standard of today's living just don't realize how ingrained it is in their heads. Life is like a big glass house, and to confine yourself to one system of thought, and to always carry one set of beliefs, rarely allowing your mind to step back and take in more than what it is familiar with, is to decide to only look out one window that happens to be facing a brick wall of a big ugly building. It's just not the way to live if you want to appreciate everything there is to life. Not that I set the standard against which all life should be lived, and it's not like I am even a quarter way to understanding or enlightenment of any kind, but I like to at least think that awareness is the first of many steps into true 'free thought' and what it means to be alive to me has definitely taken on different meaning; far different from say, even my own parents, or my best friends. A person's philosophy on life is certainly more subject to change than his/her morals or ambitions, and that flexibility is only a good thing; it is characteristic of the human condition and people's unwillingness to change can not even override a change in one's outlook on life - that is something that just can't be voluntarily fucked with. It takes real events and real circumstances to shape how a person views the experience of life, and over time, I've learned that I can shape and build my own life however I want to, but that outlook on life itself and my general attitude never changed until I REALLY lost a few things that were important to me, and when I REALLY noticed a change in my cognition - those were real changes that I couldn't directly stop from happening, but helped shape the personality I carry with me today and the values I once used to only talk about possessing have finally solidified as safeguards and personality traits telling a story of who I am and what I want out of the time I have.
What I am trying to say is this: There is more to life than anyone will ever know for themselves, so look around, and look into every different thing you can before you call it quits. People want to bitch and complain about not being happy with their lives, then they do nothing to change it. I watch people work shit jobs to save up for things they've been told they want and need by companies who don't know them. I watch people define themselves by shows they watch on television and by the brand names they and millions of others wear just as proudly - just as uniquely as they can. Saving up for 6 months to buy a ground effects kit for a Supra isn't living by any means; that's feeding the economy so a fatcat can put more candy in his nose and raise figures from his office; he wants you to save 7 months, not 6. He wants more coke, and he wants you to want more shit.
Look beyond the commercialism, and beyond the window others have built for you to look through. Don't quit running because there is no path, if you want to fly, don't stop at the clouds, take it outside our galaxy. If you want a brand new pair of $50 jeans, try this instead: make a nice little pile of fifty dollar bills and set those bitches on fire. Bask in the warmth it creates, and laugh at the idea of burning what others kill each other for.
Life is a window, too, and make sure you take a good look at everything in it before you decide to look away. It's just too fuckin' good to be missed.
That's my flowery hippy rant, I promise those won't be coming out on a weekly basis or anything, it's just been on my mind for some time now and the words found themselves before I even understood it myself. Take it easy everyone, and go fuck yourselves.
James
