Turn it off

 I like the idea of temples up on mountains, separated from the man made jungle of townships and cities. A quiet reticent place to be alone with one's thoughts but demanding your time and effort to get there.


Do you have a temple on a hill? Do you have your own little place of solitude where you can get away from everything and spend time with your own thoughts? The world is crammed full of noise and nonsense. So much that it seems to infiltrate every part of our daily life. Have you noticed?

Everyday we are being manipulated and engineered. Billboards on buildings and buses tell us that we are not beautiful enough and that more fun is being had elsewhere. We are told what fashion is. Popstars - in all their wisdom, morality and profundity - provide us anthems for living. We get caught up in meaningless drivel. There are images everywhere. Open your eyes next time you head to work or school. We are being lied to, sold to. Do we ask to have all of these images and noises put in front of our faces and blasted into our ears?

No.

But that is the way the world operates. This is what it has become.

I like to think of the world before the days of print. Imagine what that would have been like. Signs would have been painted by hand and it would have taken a lot of work and man hours to create anything elaborate. I don't think there would be many signs or murals advertising medical holidays to get boob jobs. Think of the fashion and cosmetic industry without any edited photos and images. No endorsements or pin up models. I'd like to see the supermarket shelves full of products without lavish packaging trying to warrant the extra expense.

I listened to a Ravi Zacharias podcast a while ago and in it the statement was made: "Art used to imitate life but now life imitates art."

He was talking about how things have changed in the digital age, how we live in a world of images. How true that statement is.

We are so inundated with digital media in all its forms and suggestions that it detracts from meaningful personal thought. For better or worse it saturates our lives and it influences our thinking. Our imagination suffers. Our wonder suffers. I get so angry sometimes. It's a blatant form of abuse! It's on our way to work, it's at our workplace, it's in our home on the television and internet. We're having cheap shots taken at us everywhere. We're being preached to by soulless corporate entities because they want our pocketbooks.

So I ask the question; Where do we escape? Where is your place of refuge? I really think we need to balance the ledger.

Switch it off.

That's the beautiful thing about nature. Mountains. Lakes. Rivers. It's all natural. Get amongst the quiet.

When was the last time you got away and made a technological disconnect? When there were no digital distractions, seductions and influences? Is it something you can even contemplate doing? Sometimes you can't even appreciate your circumstances until you remove yourself from them.

Switch it off.

Get a sweat up and climb a mountain. Get amongst nature. Elevate your heart rate. Lose your breath. Feel your mortality for what it is. Listen to the truth. Maybe when you switch it all off you'll actually feel something switch on.

Your soul.

"Any advert in a public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It's yours to take, re-arrange and re-use. You can do whatever you like with it. Asking permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head. You owe the companies nothing. Less than nothing, you especially don't owe them any courtesy. They owe you. They have rearranged the world to put themselves in front of you. They never asked for your permission, don't even start asking for theirs."

- Banksy

What is your life mission?

  

What is your life mission? If you could put it in a sentence what would you write? Have you even given it a good amount of thought? Do you believe that there is a purpose in life and that you have a meaningful and pivotal role to play?

It's not an easy question to answer because it beckons your views and beliefs about existence. Why are we here? What are we doing? Where are we going? What is important, sacred, and what do we hold dear?

For most people it is likely a question that gives rise to so many more questions but how insane would it be to not ponder and ask questions about one's own life?

Such questions have come up a lot on my travels. When asked what a person's aims and goals in life are a large proportion will answer with something like "to live life with no regrets" or, "to be the best that I can be."

They seem content with such answers and don't give it much thought beyond that. But such statements have no foundation. They are like voices thrown into the wind, fading and taken in any direction. What is 'the best that one can be'? And how does one go about achieving that? I'm also uneasy with the saying 'live life with no regrets.' Isn't it more accurate to say : Make mistakes but learn how to live with the scars?

Surely we can do better.

It seems not much is sacred in this day and age. Technology has given proliferation to information, opinion and choice and post modernism has promoted an unbridled pursuit of pleasure. We are in the habit of living for the 'now' and giving in to the immediate but where will it take us?

What is your life mission? Is it to live the good life? Is it to pursue pleasure in all its forms and fulfill your every desire in the trust that that will bring personal fulfillment and happiness? Would it create a more harmonious world, to give in to each flutter of the heart? Is this what it means to be true to oneself?

I seek pleasure in my life but I believe that there are pure pleasures and illicit pleasures. Pleasure always has a cost. You either pay for it before or you pay for it after. Pure pleasures are often at the cost of patience, diligence, trust, and perseverance. You pay for them in advance. Illicit pleasures are those that cause harm or have impact on yourself or someone else somewhere down the line. Without guidance or a moral code or truth, pleasure is a problem.

Where do you think pleasure comes from? Is it merely a reaction of chemicals confined to the body or does it transcend into the mysteries of the soul?

As a great and wealthy king once wrote with his kingdom at the height of it's glory;

"I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired male and female singers, and a harem as well—the delights of a man’s heart. I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me.

I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;
    I refused my heart no pleasure.
My heart took delight in all my labor,
    and this was the reward for all my toil.
Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done
    and what I had toiled to achieve,
everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;
    nothing was gained under the sun."*

There has to be a foundation. There has to be something solid that dictates what is truly beautiful, pure and meaningful and what is not. There must be truth.

With post modernism and relativism I feel that we are drowning in a sea of triviality. There is no longer a black and white. Truth has become a relative term and has therefore become undefinable. There are no longer boundaries and therefore there is no longer substance. We are each kings of our little kingdoms toiling under the sun.

What is your life mission?

I fear that the world today doesn't ask the question. We are walking blind, chasing sensual pleasures in a hope to find meaning but we are getting more and more lost. An endless chasing of the wind.

What is your life mission? What does your heart and soul really long for?

It's not an easy question to answer but what are we if we don't give it serious thought.

*quotation is from the book of Ecclesiastes 2: 4-16.

Gandhi was asked to describe in twenty-five words or less
what his life mission was...
.  

He said, "I could do it in three: Renounce and enjoy."  

You renounce all worldly attachment to everything
and enjoy what God gives you.  

You give away what you have inside yourself, your love.  

You're not concerned with whether it worked or didn't work,
whether it was right or wrong,
whether you won or lost.  

You just constantly flow through your life  

without getting attached to the results.  

The irony is that the less attached you are,
the more you get.  

The more you keep circulating,  

the more keeps coming back to you.
It's a flowing system.

  


^{Matt 22: 36-39}
 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself."