Miss Wednesday's blog: "*"

We never remain in the present. We anticipate the future as being too slow to come, as if to hasten its progress; or we recall the past in order to hold it back as being too quick to go: we are so rash as to stray into times which are not ours, and do not think about the only one which belongs to us: so futile as to think of thoes which no longer are, and to let slip unreflecting the only one which subsides.

The truth is, the present commonly wounds us.

Think about your direct bodily experience in life.

No one can lie to you about that.

How many hours a day do you spend infront of a television screen? A computer screen? Behind an automobile screen? What are you being screened from? How much of your life comes at you though a screen, vicariously while you sit and watch. Is watching things as exciting as doing things? Do you have enough time to do all the things that you want to do? Do you even have enough energy to?

Do you think for yourself, independently, or do you take others words for the truth? How often do you find yourself repeating something you heard another say without it having any bearing on your personal experience; your personal truth? How many hours a day do you sleep? How are you affected by standardized time, designed solely to synchronize your movements with those of billions of other people? How long do you go without knowing what time it is? Who or what controls YOUR minutes and hours? The minutes and hours that adds up to your life.

How do you feel in large crowds of anonymous masses? Do you find yourself blocking your emotional responses to other human beings? Can you put a value on a beautiful day? How many dollars and hour salary does it take to stay inside and sell things or file papers for someone else? What will you get later that will make up for this day of your life? How many days have you given to such things?

Do you have any ideas or do ideas have you?

Who prepares your meals? Do you even eat by yourself? Do you ever eat standing up? How much do you know about what you eat and where it comes from? Do you trust it? Of our many time and labor saving devices, do you find yourself with more time or ironically less then ever? Is it even possible to save time?

They're buying happiness from you

Steal it back

How are you affected by being moved around in prescribed paths, even in elevators, buses, subways, highways and sidewalks? By moving, living and working in two and three dimensional grids? How are you affected by being organized, immobilized, and scheduled instead of wandering, roaming freely and spontaneously? How much freedom of movement do you have-freedom to move through space, to move as far as you want, in new and unexplored directions?

How often are you waiting? Waiting in line, waiting in traffic, waiting to eat, waiting for the bus, waiting for the bathroom-learning to punish, ignore and control your spontaneous urges? How do you feel when you suppress your desires, when you delay or deny yourself pleasure?

Do videotapes of yourself and your friends fascinate you, as somehow you are more real in image then in life? Would a movie about your life be interesting? How do you feel about the nonstop barrage of audio, visual, print, billboard, computer, radio, and robotic voices that guide you though a forest of advertisements? What do they want from you?

How often does you happiness come in conjunction with buying something?

Do you feel like without the mainstream stimuli that you will miss something? Will you? Does if make you tired reacting all the time instead of thinking on your own? When was your last true moment of silencenot white noisebut pure silence?

Have you ever asked yourself these things?

Do you feel violent impulses?

Do you fell inexorably lonely?

Are you really happy?

Do you ever feel like you are going to lose control?

Do you have the energy to create change?

*Seized, interpreted, re-organized, and plagiarized with permission and encouragement from "Days of War Nights of Love"

TBS