"It's more important to be nice, I guess, than being wise."

(Title quote: Julian Casablancas)


Even though I am, on a philosophical level, against the idea of Zoos, I will admit that I love visiting them. I enjoy spending time around animals, and observing their behaviours and anthropomorphising their interactions.

One thing that gets me, though, is how this experience is obviously one Zizek would class under "fake passion for the real", it's a watered-down, sanitized experience, just like everything else in our lives.
We want to go so that we can see these magnificent Earthmates, because we are fascinated by their habits and their lives. Except that it's never about those particular individuals.

I'm talking about, for example, those little information boards they have in front of the cages (or habitats, or houses... semantics). The information is usually about the species inside the cage, but all the details are about how that species lives in the wild. We want to see a strong panther, and we visualize them running around the jungle and hunting, but the panther in front of us at the  zoo has probably never hunted in its whole entire life, and it's very likely that many of its ancestors were already born in captivity. The animal inside lives a cushy, controlled, lazy life. It doesn't do anything of importance to its environment, it probably doesn't even have that much about its life that it enjoys.
All their majesty is artificial: their muscles come from playing with toys provided by their keepers, their shiny hair is a result of a controlled diet. These are strong, healthy animals... wasting away in a box.
Their muscles may be strong, but they will never be put to any use. The above-mentioned panther wont ever feel its muscles push to the extreme in order to catch the prey that makes the difference between life and death.
It's shiny coat will never be admired by those in the wild with less shiny coats, and it won't help it attract a mate because the mate will be chosen probably by the zoo keepers.

But this isn't about the animals.

I see people going to the gym and running on a threadmill for hours and keeping a healthy diet to keep their body in ideal condition. But isn't it pointless, if outside of the gym you never have to run, or lift anything?
We want to create a perfect human being, but what is it for?
I see people working extra hours to get a promotion to get more money or more praise.
All everyone is doing with their life is going to work in order to buy things and be a respected (accepted? not even...) member of society. People study for years and accumulating knowledge that never benefits anyone because these people end up working a job where no one cares what they think.

And that is my problem.

Do you people realize that you won't ever get all those hours spent at the office and spent at the gym back? Never. Those hours are gone. Everyone needs to stop acting as if this lifetime is the waiting room for something else, because while you're waiting, life is happening.
If your entire life does flash before your eyes at the moment of death, what would you see? Hour upon hour spent on Facebook, working, watching TV. Here and there something meaningful, but considering the speed necessary to flash 60 (on average) years in a matter of seconds, I doubt you'd even get a chance to register those milliseconds of meaning.

We as humans hide that pointlessness behind man-made activities, such as sports competitions, academic conferences, and status symbols. But at the end of the day, all your life amounts to is many hours at the office and no one to even remember your name. When those who knew you die, you die with them.
You can choose to believe you're special enough, but think about it. There's billions of people on earth, how many of them have you actually heard of? How many of them could die without affecting your personal life?
I've read about natural disasters (etc) where the amount of people who lost their lives was larger than all the people I could think of in my life. Billions of people, living and dying and being forgotten.

So why are we still wasting this time? Why are we still treating ourselves like animals in the zoo, living in our "houses" and trying to control every aspect of our lives?
Do you really want to spend your time on this earth creating a zoo exposition of yourself, for a world that will never even get to see it, let alone react with anything but apathy? I bet you can have the fittest body, the nicest cage and the shiniest coat. And it doesn't really matter in the world, at all.
Then that's your choice.

It's a shame, because what we have done to nature is only a fraction of what we have done to ourselves. We have taken our majesty and beaten it to submission, we have negated it and turned ourselves into slaves to our own pointless pursuit.

Wouldn't it be great to get out of the zoo? Wouldn't it be great to not only look your full potential, but also live to it?
I think humans are capable of amazing things. But we need to stop caging ourselves in zoos, depriving ourselves from everything that is natural and healthy to us. We need to stop spending so much time doing things like working and going to school. We need to all, one by one, just decide to stop pursuing this pointlessness and start pursuing our passions.

So, are you going to stay lazying about in the zoo, proud of your display, or are you going to courageously break yourself from the bondage and pursue your full potential? It really is your choice.

Pilarism # 1

"Live and let live" shall be the whole of the law.

You have the freedom to speak, not the obligation.

Everyone has an opinion. About anything at all, every single person on earth capable of thought will have an opinion.
And that's great, it really is. And I think no one should ever try to impose their opinion on another person, or try to manipulate or coerce or whatever, someone else's opinion. 


And you have every right in the world to express your opinion at any given moment, about any given subject.
But you also have a sort of responsibility over your opinion. Like every responsibility in life, you can choose to take it or not, and that decision determines your character and who you are as a person.


Especially when it comes to the things you say.


Yeah, you CAN say whatever you want, but that doesn't mean you HAVE to. And there's definitely a lot of truth to the power of silence.


I think we should all live a logical life, and go by what isn't, for lack of a better word, bullshit. I think we should approach a bit of utilitarianism in our lives, and base our decisions on whether the good of the outcome outweighs the bad.


Criticism can be very helpful. A lot of times, hearing someone else's honest opinion about us can give us a new perspective of ourselves and can help us learn and grow. 
In these situations, it makes sense to speak up. It's helpful.


But there's times when people express their opinions about a person, and these opinions are neither constructive, nor helpful. These opinions may not even be based on facts, which makes them a simple opinion.
In these situations, I think people should choose to keep their opinions to themselves. What good will come from what you think might be true based on nothing other than your opinion?


There's people in the world who have their freedom of speech threatened or outright negated every single day of their lives. People fight and die for it, because they know how powerful speech can be.
I think as people we need to learn to use our powers for the good, and not just to harm others.


If your opinion's sole outcome will be upsetting or hurting someone, why are you saying it? Why is it so important for you to "express" yourself, that you think it justifies someone's pain?
We need to learn to take the responsibilities as well as the rights.

Learning in perspective.

I'm currently studying my seventh language, and so far I can only say that this is probably the easiest language I've ever learned. Perhaps because by now I can find similarities between this language and the ones I already know, or perhaps because I've figured out the most efficient way for me to learn new languages.

But all things considered, learning a new language literally means learning to speak all over again.
It's starting as if you were a baby, having to memorize which sound corresponds with which letter (if your new language has its own alphabet- and this is the 3rd one of mine that does), and then which words correspond with which objects or concepts.
It means your brain has to create some form of compartmentalization, which allows for translation between the languages while keeping the words from one language separate from the others. Otherwise, I would find myself unable to write a coherent sentence in English.

For me, this means I'm learning how to speak for the seventh time. I'm learning cultural references, sayings and common phrases. I'm learning which words are exceptional in their pronunciation or spelling. I'm learning which words have bad connotations, and I'm learning to intonate and to accentuate.
Like being a newborn again. For the seventh time.

We're never too old to learn anything, and our brain will never be full. At least mine isn't, yet.

Are you truly awake or is your mind blinded by your ego?

This is a great time for humanity. Because of the cosmic alignments, or because of our cultural achievements, this is a time where many people are making enormous advances in their spiritual path.
There's a downside to all this awareness, I'm afraid. The downside is of course, the hype. Not everyone is awake simultaneously, but there's enough people waking up for there to be a hype.


Those considered more "awake" have become some sort of upperclass of humanity, which if you've been doing some work on yourself, by now you will appreciate, is deeply ironic.
Anyway, these upper-classpeople go around telling people how they've "realized" (rationalized?) the "truth". And then of course they go on a series of "advice" phrases which is nothing but them telling you what you have to do.


Ask them how they know what you should do, and they accuse you of becoming defensive and aid themselves with Freudisms.
What these rationalized egotists fail to see is the limit of their awareness. What they have "realized" is merely the adoption of a new idea through rationalization, and they call it the truth, because they fail to see the bias of their own reason.


Let me ask you this directly, "awakelings" (rationalized egotists): Why are there so many people here on earth? We've all come here to personally experience the human condition. The only "truth" is the accumulation of all those personal experiences. If only your experience mattered, why is it necessary for more people to go through this experience?


It's great that you've rationalized your own condition. But you need to stop trying to impose your experience on other people. They also have their own experiences to live and their own realizations to make. You trying to hinder or control their experiences should be a clue as to how much you've yet to realize.
We are here to help each other, but you can't help anyone much until you've mastered yourself. Until you've truly awaken, you don't know what other people need to do or live through or experience or realize. How could -you- know what is best for anyone? You can only know things from your own perspective and experience. It's a whole other dimension when it's someone else.


Being the center of attention is quite a rush, but having more knowledge than someone else is even better, isn't it?


The clock's still ticking.

Stop dismissing my humanity.

On the issue of illegal downloading.

I suppose when talking about these things one must always begin with a disclaimer. It is often with controversial topics that people jump into the debate with their mind already made up about what they want to say, eager to reply even when they haven't finished reading what you're going to say. Disclaimers are the way to get those eager commenters out of the way, so here's mine: I'm not going to defend illegal downloading (I also won't be against it). Throughout my life, I've purchased hundreds of cds. I buy music from amazon (because I don't like iTunes), I max out on free downloads from legitimate sources such as signing up for artist mailing lists and those promotional free songs. I'm one of those few weird people who still buy actual physical copies of albums. I love music, and I respect the craft. 


I think people should buy music always. I understand that if we're going to live in a society where you pay for someone to put the word 'Kobe' in front of your (otherwise normal) steak, then we should definitely pay for  the masterpiece beauty of a song.
I think if you read this article, you will also agree.


There is also something to be said about the positives of illegal downloading, amongst them the most quoted fact that those who download the must music illegally, also purchase the most music legally.


But here's the thing that bothers me.
When everyone talks about illegal downloading, it's always about the artists, about the record labels and radio stations, about advertising, corporations, streaming sites. And of course about people wanting to get things for free, and the fact that nothing is for free so if you're not paying for it, someone else is.
But the most important factor always gets ignored.

We are HUMAN BEINGS. We are social, we are loving and we are creatures who love to share. 
We love to share food, toys, clothes, ideas and what have you, but most of all we simply love to share experiences.
We share experiences because it helps get to know ourselves and each other. It's an important part of how we socialize and how we live, and it's part of our humanity and wellbeing.


Music is undoubtedly one of the most important cultural celebrations for a lot of people, like me.
Most of us have a song or a band that "changed our life". 
When we love a song, the thing we want to do the most is share it with those we love.
Hence why the mixtape became one of the ultimate gestures of friendship and romance. A mixtape was nothing but a collection of songs "pirated" from the radio, obviously paying for nothing other than the recorder and the tape (and maybe the arts and crafts supplies to decorate, if one was so inclined).


In the era of cds we shared them too. I remember borrowing countless cds from my friends because they were rare to find or expensive. I remember letting friends borrow countless cds because my mom had bought them for me overseas. It's part of how we experience music: we want to share.


I'm not saying the only reason we all illegally download music is because we're loving hippies who simply want to share. I'm just saying that while before you could let your friend take your cd and bring it back, you can't let your friend take your iTunes download and bring it back. If you have an obscure song you love, you know your friend can't go buy it anywhere so there goes the discography in a USB for them. There goes a file in their email. On msn. On their phone. 
Are we all trying to get something for nothing? I really don't think that's what we're doing.
I think we're just being human. Human like when one person in the group has something, it gets divided amongst the rest of the group.  


I'm not religious but there's biblical piracy in the story of Jesus and the bread and the fish. The fisherman and the baker would surely have a lawsuit in their hands.


My point is simply that at the end of the day, the reason why all these talks about music piracy and all those "you wouldn't steal a purse" commercials don't get through is because we're not talking about the same experience, and we're not on the same level. Until the music industry, the artists, and everyone in our society starts remembering that we are having a human experience and take that into account, there wont be any progress in this debate.


It's NOT an isolated issue, it's embedded into the greater discontent we all have with the economic system. There's a lot more going on behind the main arguments you hear all the time. Arguments that don't get taken into account and get dismissed because constantly everyone sees a person as a corporation, as a business, and we're not all here to be businessmen and traders, we're here to have a human experience.


I find it sort of sad that the abovementioned article itself fell short on one of it's own points: it tells us how corporations and businesses are trying to get us to compromise our ethics and morality for their convenience. While this acknowledges how the system is not adequate for our human condition,  it fails to see how that is one of the roots of the issue.
Instead of creating more situations and more laws that ask us to compromise and even negate our human state, we must begin adapting our systems to allow a full, unobstructed human experience. 


If we had such systems in place, the fact that people want to share music wouldn't be a problem at all.

Do What Thou Wilt.

But you're still just one piece of the puzzle. Don't worship the clock's handles because they can't tell you anything about time.