Posted by Raul on January 10, 2011
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When I see high school teenagers driving a fairly new sport car, having lunch at a restaurant, meeting at a Starbucks for a friendly chat while sipping a coffee or some surfing in a modern laptop, it makes me wonder how their lives will be in the future.
What would happen when, from an early age, a teenage kid gets accustomed to experience and enjoy some “pleasures” of life that are supposedly reserved for an adult that already have accomplished something in life?
The first time can be magic, but the time number twenty is not that much, and by the time number fifty, it has become a routine that classifies as a standard necessity instead of a pleasure to enjoy.
Parents provided and children had an easy life. Asking for a car at the age of fifteen; having money to eat at restaurants, having a coffee at Starbucks and using the latest cell phone in the market; living the life of a well paid professional when still going to High School and sometimes not even getting good grades!
How much money they will have to generate in the near future to sustain a higher life that has become just the base for them? What could be a nice honeymoon trip when graduation from high school with a “C” implies a cruise to the Bahamas?
I can understand the concept of giving the “taste” as a motivational way, but when the results in school don’t reflect constructing the base to reach the presented image and standard to achieve; then the good intentions become a misleading guidance.
Instead of earning every little advantage, that should create the mentality of working hard to supply the needs and enjoy a small luxury from time to time, the concept generated in teenagers these days is that they have to be surrounded by the expensive and the latest, and disregarded the part of generating the income necessary to supply such luxuries.
It is acquiring prestige by the possession and continual use of the latest material elements, rather than the pride of being good at something.
And then, what would happen when the material possessions are lost due to…let’s say…a falling economy. Those who have lived a life of pride based on owning material luxury would become lost and without identity when loosing the material elements; while those who acquired pride by the sense of knowledge and expertise will still have their pride, even if is under a new, deprived economic situation.
Something to think about…
Raul
Posted by Raul on November 11, 2010
There is such a fuss nowadays about self growth and reaching a perfect state, where we can be at peace and balance with life and nature. The idea seems to be reaching a point where we don’t get affected by the negative situations around us, so we can remain in a state of happiness and inner balance
If we reach a state of never being mad, never being sad, never being scared, how we suppose to call ourselves real human beings? Wouldn’t we become just smiling robots? Courtesy people all around, that flows in a society where a full range of human feelings are an uncivilized custom from the past? Could that be called “Living Life”?
I’m not saying we should let our anger flourish at any time we feel it, so we are being human, but rather accept the experience while we remain polite in the outside to those who have no part in it, and politely argue with those who might be the reason for our anger.
One thing is to have control over our emotions, and another completely different is suppressing them.
So, in my personal opinion, it is not about learning and adapting to always be happy and seeing the good in every situation, but rather learning to control our reactions to our feelings rather than suppressing them.
Reality is harsh and ugly sometimes; there are wars and crime and deceive in society, so closing our eyes to it in order to see just the beauty and good will (which does exist) will only promote selfishness in everyone.
“My personal world of happiness”
Closing our eyes and mind to the bad things of reality in order to see and feel just the good, so we can remain in a happy state permanently it is not just perceiving half of life and thus, living half a life, but with it we are being just half a human being.
So my point is: Is it the right direction to go on and pursue the perfect balance in the way of retreating to an idyllic state, where we can shut off the commonly considered negative feelings by the way of training our perception to filter the given situations, and become capable of only perceiving the happy part of it, discarding the (still real), ugly side of things?
Or should it be a more realistic approach to learn to deal in a more civilized manner with the ugly side of things, in order to retain the full range of feelings a human being is capable of, instead of just creating a shortcut and just eliminate part of ourselves?
Raul
Posted by Raul on July 9, 2010
The area where I work is a new one; it used to be countryside until it was covered by houses and streets just a few years ago. It was a natural habitat for rabbits, foxes and coyotes…now the bigger animals are gone and only rabbits remain.
Without the dangers of predators an easier, safer life for the rabbits has created an overpopulation of those cute creatures, so they now can be seen in big numbers in front and back yards.
Maybe because of this safer habitat, after a couple of generations rabbits have started to show signs of “stupidity” They don’t run as fast as before anymore; they run in any direction, including the wheels of the approaching vehicle, getting killed instantly without giving reaction time to the drivers.
The same situation happens with any specie that finds the elements to easily multiply itself out of control. So is happening with the human race.
People used to know how to drive in snow with an older car without FWD, 4WD, ABS, TCS, airbags, etc, now they easily crash even having all that aid and all the teaching videos available in the net.
People used to find their way around in the cities and long trips using a paper map, while now many depend on a GPS system to not get lost.
I might be sarcastic or cynic, or whatever classification you want to give me, but I really don’t believe in changing people’s minds and turning the cards; that could have been done from the beginning.
The more knowledge accumulated by the human race, the more technology created to increase the living standards of people, the worst the situation becomes. Sure, we live more comfortable and safer than before but, is it better for the planet?
We are after all another specie in this planet, and no matter how advance individuals might be, as a race we still behave as many other species, so the reduction in population and the change in habits to stop the planetary destruction will be all coming as a consequence rather than a planed course of actions. We start saving after we experience a traumatic lack of money.
This entire civilization is based on trade rather than knowledge, so the mentality is about physical and material growth instead of knowledge or spiritual growth. You are valuated in proportion of what you have more than what you are.
In a personal level people can be valuated for who they are, what they do and how they do it, but in society as a whole is not; how many people would be happy to show a picture of themselves with a president, even if that president was considered a dictator? Showing the others a possible personal relation to the big dogs!
Insisting in better behaviors like recycling is fantastic but doomed to fail. It is not just the monetary interests of some few in power, but the laziness of the majority that screams for justice and new practices but remain in the old ways that maintain the status quo of things.
A politician says and act based on what he/she is allowed by the people that refuses to take action by themselves and prefer to blame those in power for all the problems instead of changing their way of life.
Wars wouldn’t exist if people refuse to go by principle, and if that principle was a planetary concept, there’ll be no need for having military forces. In that situation just the proposal of creating a military body would be considered so…anti-human! While throughout history it always has been an honor to serve in the forces!
Big sport utility vehicles still sell while small European style cars are nowhere to be seen around. If conservation is so important for some, how come that the same people waste water in their front lawn?
Changing to sensitive practices implies changing the way of life and stop giving importance to elements like luxury, possession and overstuffing as a reference of success in life and turn to forgotten curiosities like dedication to family, self cultivation and the enhancement of the human part within.
We all know that, we just cannot make it happen as a race to an extent bigger than the promotion of the good practices. So just like the bills come after the impulse shopping, the tag for the planetary use will be handed out and nature will recover of the “day with a fever” to become again what it suppose to be and the human race will be back at the beginning striving for survival.
I’m not saying people have a bad nature, by the opposite, we can see how many are searching inside themselves for the right path; I can see it while reading blogs in the net, and it only means deep inside we all know we must be in the wrong path now and we know things suppose to be in a different way.
If the houses in the area where I work were to be removed it’ll become a disaster for the rabbit population that lost the sense of survival after so many years of easy life; they would die by big numbers and the few survivors would bring new generations of rabbits better prepared to survive while coexisting with the foxes and coyotes.
It’ll be hard for the human race again, but it’ll bring balance in nature and a new opportunity for the human race to start a civilization based in knowledge and self growth where human interconnection is the base of such civilization, rather than trade and wealth as the main references for success.
Raul
Posted by Raul on July 5, 2010
Reading several blogs I can see that many bloggers are in the long side posts; it is not uncommon to find writings with well over 1000 words. Even many “gurus” about blogging suggest going for no less than 600 words.
The problem for me is that I’m not really a “talking” person and that reflects in this blog; usually I have a hard time going over 500 words in a post and it is common for me to write in the average of 350 with only a few running to 600-700 words
Many of my posts trying to reflect something are very short (independent of if the intention was accomplished or not)
-Lonely Traffic Lights 142 words
-Perspective 412 words
-Inside a Picture 223 words
-The End Once Again 353 words
The other “problem” is that I have a thing for simplicity, the less words that can be used the better (in my opinion). For example: the most important things in life can be described with very few words, like:
-I love you
-I’m here for you
-Are you OK? (I love that one)
-Pass me the salt (a world of difference in the meal)
-I can’t see!
-She died yesterday
-I’m proud of you!
And so many more…
Even my favorite car is about simplicity; no long, big or fancy stuff.
Why not to try and express an idea, a concept or a feeling in the least amount of words possible? I’m not saying that long posts are wrong, but just a matter of personal choice and what works better for everyone.
If I could write very long posts I would be a talkative person in physical life and then I wouldn’t be an Alien Ghost, silently moving among people without being seen so I can observe life around.
I’ve seen many people who simply cannot stop talking all the times and I imagine how long their posts would be if they had a blog.
Can you imagine? Using a simple concept to develop it into an entire book, then paying for printing to pretend being a published author…I just work on cars to annoy my family! 
So, after writing for a while in this blog the concept and suggestions of long posts become discarded and the attempt of reflect a thought or a feeling in the least amount of words become the official task for me (I’ve been doing that all along anyway!)
What’s your preference?
Are you a talkative person in physical life?
Does the amount of words in your blog reflect how talkative you are?
Let me know.
Raul
WOW this one became a long one…442 words!
Posted by Raul on March 2, 2010
It is said that we should look and live the present instead of looking to the past or living too worried about the future; that we should give the most and get all we can from today, living the now.
I agree at some extent but also I think we should keep in mind the past and the future at the same time that we live in the present.
When walking you have to keep your eyes open and look forward to avoid tripping and falling, and also have to keep in mind where you come from so to maintain a sense of direction to where are you going.
The same thing is with life; if you leave the past behind completely in the attempt of fully enjoying the present you could loose the sense of direction and make the same mistakes again; you have learnt nothing from previous experiences.
Also, without looking to the future and where you are going it’ll be really easy to get somewhere that is not the place intended to arrive to.
An example that I see pretty often among friends: Living intensely the present and enjoying that latest movie or that fancy restaurant can lead to not having the money for car maintenance and later lead to car failure that, in turn, leads to tears and unnecessary complications.
They get a newer car that runs and looks great, but after just two or three years they are back to the same situation where they urgently need another, newer car, that would be as reliable as they need; yet they can recommend movies and restaurants on the spot!
I know it seems obvious what I’m saying, but if you read the gurus advice about living a fulfilling life you’ll see they simplify too much the concepts and with it, they might lead someone to a sort of irresponsible way of living.
Is my personal opinion that in everything in life we have to deal with several elements at once if we want to get the most of everything we get into; and that means that we have to give importance to the present to fully enjoy it but keeping in mind our past, so to avoid mistakes and keep a sense of direction, and also we have to maintain a vision of the future we want to get to, so to keep the right direction in which we are heading, at the same time that we are ready to change direction according to the situations we might and will encounter.
It just doesn’t make any sense to leave the past behind and don’t worry about the future, especially when you see people that keep falling into the same pits and repeating the same mistakes over and over again.
Sometimes the experts about teaching how to lead a fulfilling life might tend to simplify too much, probably in the attempt to create an easy to grasp message, but when simplifying too much we might end up finding life too complicated to deal with.
At the other hand, if we consider the complications of dealing everyday with many elements at once as a normal way of life we will be ready for many things that might come our way without becoming overwhelmed with the natural occurrences that are part of everyday life.
Raul
