Pride and Arrogance

For some reason both of these things seem to go hand in hand. It is unfortunate how we strive to be proud of things only to fall into the trap of becoming arrogant about it. I think this applies to many things, large scale and small. So many empires and civilizations have fallen victim to their own arrogance that they lose their drive, and that becomes the beginning of their downfall.
I find it difficult to understand how advanced the ancient civilizations were, from Greece, to Egypt, to Rome. These places and others truly reaches a level of advancement that we find very hard to appreciate from this day and age. Things we cannot even do today. They had running water to a city, working sewage systems, advanced politics, architectural wonders, even y today's standards.
And they all fell. They reached a peak, and then fell. I believe this is due to their own arrogance, "We have made it so far, We can do anything, Nothing can stop us now". If history has shown us anything, it is that what goes up, must come down. Why don't we learn from history, taking the ancient part away, the Islamic Empire was also very advanced and at it is very hard to appreciate that. They fell too. They are still recovering from that fall, but sometimes still maintain the arrogance that came with it, hence causing a difficulty to rise up again.

Todays civilization should have a serious look at history. We must appreciate the advancements of the past, appreciate our own advancements, be proud of the work we have done. That is the easy part. We must also know at all times that the work we do and the advances we make can all be taken away and lost, and we may fall just as all civilizations before have. We need to keep this in mind in order to destroy the seeds of arrogance and nurture the seeds of humbleness.

If no one is there, does it matter?

I am watching the documentary series BBC Space. It is presented by Sam Neill and is incredibly dramatic. In one episode, it talks about how a comet may hit earth and wipe out all life. It also tries to hypothesize on solutions and things to do. Now here is my question. If all of life was wiped out, would it be sad? If there is no one there to experience the after effects, it would be momentary and one second we are there and the next we aren't. So whats the big deal? Would you even want to know it was coming at us? Would you want to know the world would end? Are we just wasting our time trying to protect ourself from inevitable death? Shouldn't we be doing things to improve life for all, as opposed to trying not to die? Isn't that a better use of time and resources? Making our lives meaningful as opposed to empty.

Myth of Freedom

How free are we? Everywhere I look i constantly see things that I can't do. In every society I have visited or lived in, even visiting a country. You can't visit this place if you have this visa, you can't work here if you worked here before. You can't leave here. There might be the illusion that one can leave but in reality, institutionalized consequences prevent us from really experiencing the freedoms that we are told we have. After the enlightenment and the increase in "religious" freedom as in the freedom to choose, or to refrain from choosing, as well as the decrease of the power of institutionalized religion in aspects of our lives, it has been replaced by a new "legal" code that is just as restraining as the "religious" code it replaced.

2pac and Gandhi - Opposing the Status Quo

I find very many similarities between the lives of these two men and their lasting legacy, even though they are separated by time and space. They both brought about "radical" ideas that disturbed the status quo. They fought against oppression, albeit with different tools. They prodded the oppressor, trying to confront them with a picture of their own madness. And hey, they were both bald and skinny. And both shot.

By using reason and logic to humiliate the oppressor, they made some significant steps for the oppressed. With Gandhi, it was non-violent resistance, which was meant to embarrass the British and wake the world up to the madness and oppression occurring in India.

With 2pac, the idea of "Thug Life" and shocking stories and imagery to confront America and make it face the reality of the ghetto. To embarrass them and wake them up, uncovering some false assumptions. Nothing was made up, it was just reality.

In both cases, what i admire the most is that they both appealed to people's basic humanity. I believe that our soul is in essence good and against hypocrisy, oppression and all things that arise from a lack of logic and reason. Oppression, poverty, these are things that do not make sense, whilst caring for each other makes sense on every level. Whatever religion you follow or lack thereof, it only makes sense to foster positivity. A dog eat dog world is very dangerous, and if you eat someone, someone will come and eat you.

Ofcourse, society cannot have people like this running around. Can you imagine people were prodded to think? Imagine a world where everyone thought about their actions in the long term, thought about their responsibilities, and grew out of ignorance. That would be a place where our current status quo could not exist. The rich might stop getting richer, and nobody really wants that....

Reminds me of Socrates too and Malcolm X as well, prodding people to think with questions, and his execution. There is no room for thinkers, for challengers, for reformers that keep the oppressed, the impoverished and the weak in mind and try to improve their situation. Will things ever change? And what will bring it about?

Journal Writing

I have never been one to write journals or to write things that I dont expect anyone to read. I never really realized why but some have assumed it was some sort of vanity, and a search for congratulations. But a few days ago I had an epiphany, or an excuse, whichever stance you prefer. This is not a shot at all the Journal Writers out there, but I never saw the point of writing anything that no one would read. If I don't want anyone to know, I just keep it to myself, "no evidence". I guess I always thought that writing something that wouldn't affect anyone else was pointless. I understand the benefits of writing journals that include documenting one's thoughts, venting, and a form of memory among many other things. I am just glad that I have figured out why I can't journal.

A Brother's Poetry

THE OPTIMIST (Feb 2007)

reason could rein in
the sublimity of your dreams,
but use it to reach them

realism may restrain
the lushness of your ambitions,
but use it to shape them.

cynicism can constrain
the pursuit of your goals,
but use it to achieve them.

WikiKnowledge - The Rise of Fundamentalism and Loss of Meaning - Armstrong

Central to her reading of history is the notion that premodern cultures possessed two complementary and indispensable ways of thinking, speaking and knowing: mythos and logos. Mythos was concerned with meaning; it "provided people with a context that made sense of their day-to-day lives; it directed their attention to the eternal and the universal". Logos, on the other hand, dealt with practical matters. It forged ahead, elaborating on old insights, mastering the environment, and creating fresh and new things. Armstrong argues that modern Western society has lost the sense of mythos and enshrined logos as its foundation. Mythical narratives and the rituals and meanings attached to them have ceded authority to that which is rational, pragmatic and scientific - but which does not assuage human pain or sorrow, and cannot answer questions about the ultimate value of human life. However, far from embarking on a wholesale rejection of the modern emphasis in favour of the old balance, the author contends, religious fundamentalists unwittingly turn the mythos of their faith into logos. Fundamentalism is a child of modernity, and fundamentalists are fundamentally modern.

Emptiness at the Crossroads

I have reached a very important point in my life. A point I think we all reach at one point or another, I hope. It is a crossroad that will dictate the path of my life. 

I am becoming aware of things, things such as racism, poverty, gaps. Not to say that I was not aware of their existence before, but I think there is a difference between watching a documentary, attending a lecture, or writing an essay and feeling it and seeing it. I feel like I must pursue this further, knowing how many roadblocks there are on the way because it goes against everything our society tells us. 

I am at this point, this point where I am deciding about what to do with my life, what path to take. And i am faced with this and I am trying to study my options. Well here they are:

1) Pursue what I feel in my soul is my purpose. Follow the injustice, knowing if I ignore it I will be a hypocrite. Go against what is asked of me, what is required, what OTHERS think is required of me, and do what I think is required of myself, what will give me a peace, even though the path leads into the darkness, and I dont know what I face. I disagree with a lot of things in the world, picking one, and working on it. And making that my goal, not life, not happiness, but actually making that STRUGGLE my goal, not marriage, not children, not money. It is a hard decision to make since everything is geared towards us ignoring these feelings. It makes me think about our society, our society that ENCOURAGES us to ignore, in order to get by, to look out for number 1. It hides this is an illusion of fulfillment, where it sets the goals of life for us, goals that seem meaningless and empty to me, get a well-paying profession, get a family, raise em right, and thats seems to be it. Help as many as you can, but devote most of your time and effort to your worldy fulfillments, remember the crap in the world, but forget about it at the same time so it doenst depress you to nothing. Live for YOUR kids, live for YOUR family first. 
Why is it like this, is this a new hidden message with the new generation or has everyone faced these choices? 

2. The second option, incase you havent already guessed, is to ignore it. See the injustice, but convince myself that I am dealing with it in other ways. Pursue what is expected of me, because I know once I devote myself to it, it will get done, doing it before making the choice implies a lack of devotion and unsureness. So whatever choice I make I must be sure. I must devote myself to it. Set small goals, small goals, get a degree, get a job, get a wife, get kids, enjoy it, live it, get sucked into it, deal with the hypocrasy and the suppression I feel by immersing myself in my family and my job, as rewarding as it is. Everything in pop culture, everything it seems we are taught and the messages of society from east to west, as a person who is lucky enough to have grown up in both, seems to say take this option. All our movies, songs, books seem to point here. Why? Option 1. is scary, extremelly. It could lead to chaos, it could lead to madness, to imprisonment, it is risky. But what is life without risk. How can we live our lives without that risk, how can we expect change to come easily, how can we call it a STRUGGLE without having to struggle against everything. It might be easier if I had something to lean on that confirmed all this, but there isn't now. Just my jumble of thoughts at this crossroad, the outcome of which will decide my life. 

All I know is now I feel empty, feel meaningless and feel lost. I dont know where I am going, and I dont know what to do. Am I the only one? Do we all go through this? Did we all and I am late? What is going on? I just know this silence makes me want to scream, this emptiness makes me want to choose quickly, and convincingly. 

There isnt much more to say... just frustration and emptiness.

Anonymous words, similar feeling.

"I’m writing this because often times we feel helpless. Often times we feel powerless. I’m writing this because today I saw a documentary, and it matters not which one I saw, because at the end of the day, there are countless times in our lives when we feel inspired. But so often, so little changes. We go back to that feeling of being helpless, powerless, because, when it comes down to it, we are only children, with so little difference we can make at this time. And that is why I am writing this, because so often we feel helpless. I have been noticing a lot of what I like to call ‘dualities’. Seeming contradictions in our lives, yet both sides need to be accepted. In this case, I am specifically referring to how you tackle that feeling of helplessness. On the one hand, our existence is irrelevant, and more often than not, harmful. Sometimes, it feels that just by being alive, and being one of the few privileged people in the world who have every resource available to us imaginable (which, if you are reading this, you are likely one of them), we are partly responsible for the atrocities in the world. Or maybe for its eventual demise. Yet, on the other hand, our happiness should be our number one concern. Because, at the end of the day, nothing exists outside of our own mind, and, therefore, our reality is the only consequential thing in the universe. So how do we resolve this duality? Who knows. I still am at a loss for what I am trying to say. I only know this: I’m writing this because often times we feel helpless. But I do know I have a desire to leave this world and the people in it whom I love in better shape than I received it in. The means to that end, I have no idea. I feel helpless now, that is certain, but I also know that we can work towards a goal. I think that the generation previous to us has not left the world in better shape than it received it, and it is up to us to change that trend. So for now, like I implore all of you, I keep my ears constantly listening. Keep my eyes sharp. I will keep my mind open, and, most of all, my heart beating. One thing I’m sure of, the world we leave behind will be very different than the one we have inherited. For better or for worse, however, is up to us."

WikiKnowledge - Socrates - Wisdom and Knowledge

Despite claiming death-defying loyalty to his city, Socrates' pursuit of virtue and his strict adherence to truth clashed with the current course of Athenian politics and society.[6] He praises Sparta, archrival to Athens, directly and indirectly in various dialogues. But perhaps the most historically accurate of Socrates' offenses to the city was his position as a social and moral critic. Rather than upholding a status quo and accepting the development of immorality within his region, Socrates worked to undermine the collective notion of "might makes right" so common to Greece during this period. Plato refers to Socrates as the "gadfly" of the state (as the gadfly stings the horse into action, so Socrates stung Athens), insofar as he irritated the establishment with considerations of justice and the pursuit of goodness. His attempts to improve the Athenian's sense of justice may have been the source of his execution.

According to Plato's Apology, Socrates' life as the "gadfly" of Athens began when his friend Chaerephon asked the oracle at Delphi if anyone was wiser than Socrates; the Oracle responded that none was wiser. Socrates believed that what the Oracle had said was a riddle, because he believed that he possessed no wisdom whatsoever. He proceeded to test the riddle through approaching men who were considered to be wise by the people of Athens, such as statesmen, poets, and artisans, in order to refute the pronouncement of the Oracle. But questioning them, Socrates came to the conclusion that while each man thought he knew a great deal and was very wise, they in fact knew very little and were not really wise at all. Socrates realized that the Oracle was correct in that while so-called wise men thought themselves wise and yet were not, he himself knew he was not wise at all which, paradoxically, made him the wiser one since he was the only person aware of his own ignorance. Socrates' paradoxical wisdom made the prominent Athenians he publicly questioned look foolish, turning them against him and leading to accusations of wrongdoing. Socrates defended his role as a gadfly until the end: at his trial, when Socrates was asked to propose his own punishment, he suggests a wage paid by the government and free dinners for the rest of his life instead, to finance the time he spends as Athens' benefactor.[7] He was nevertheless found guilty of corrupting the minds of the youth of Athens and sentenced to death by drinking a mixture containing poison hemlock.

WikiKnowledge - Ibn Abdul Wahab and Bin Laden - Dr. Natana DeLong Bas

The global jihad espoused by Osama bin Laden and other contemporary extremists is clearly rooted in contemporary issues and interpretations of Islam. It owes little to the Wahhabi tradition, outside of the nineteenth-century incorporation of the teachings of Ibn Taymiyya and the Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah into the Wahhabi worldview as Wahhabism moved beyond the confines of Najd and into the broader Muslim world. The differences between the worldviews of bin Laden and Ibn Abd al-Wahhab are numerous. Bin Laden preaches jihad; Ibn Abd al-Wahhab preached monotheism. Bin Laden preaches a global jihad of cosmic importance that recognizes no compromise; Ibn Abd al-Wahhab's jihad was narrow in geographic focus, of localized importance, and had engagement in a treaty relationship between the fighting parties as a goal. Bin Laden preaches war against Christians and Jews; Ibn Abd al-Wahhab called for treaty relationships with them. Bin Laden's jihad proclaims an ideology of the necessity of war in the face of unbelief; Ibn Abd al-Wahhab preached the benefits of peaceful coexistence, social order, and business relationships. Bin Laden calls for the killing of all infidels and the destruction of their money and property; Ibn Abd al-Wahhab restricted killing and the destruction of property... The militant Islam of Osama bin Laden does not have its origins in the teachings of Ibn Abd al-Wahhab and is not representative of Wahhabi Islam as it is practiced in contemporary Saudi Arabia, yet for the media it has come to define Wahabbi Islam in the contemporary era. However, "unrepresentative" bin Laden's global jihad of Islam in general and Wahhabi Islam in particular, its prominence in headline news has taken Wahhabi Islam across the spectrum from revival and reform to global jihad.

WikiKnowledge - The Practicality of Philosophy - Al Farabi

The practical application of philosophy is a major concern expressed by al-Farabi in many of his works, and while the majority of his philosophical output has been influenced by Aristotelian thought, his practical philosophy is unmistakably based on that of Plato.[54] In a similar manner to Republic (Plato), al-Farabi emphasizes that philosophy is both a theoretical and practical discipline; labeling those philosophers who do not apply their erudition to practical pursuits as "futile philosophers". The ideal society, he says, is one directed towards the realization of "true happiness" (which can be taken to mean philosophical enlightenment) and as such, the ideal philosopher must hone all the necessary arts of rhetoric and poetics to communicate abstract truths to the ordinary people, as well as having achieved enlightenment himself.[55] Al-Farabi compares the philosopher's role in relation to society with a physician in relation to the body; the body's health is affected by the "balance of its humours" just as the city is determined by the moral habits of its people. The philosopher's duty, he says, is to establish a "virtuous" society by healing the souls of the people, establishing justice and guiding them towards "true happiness".[56]

Of course, al-Farabi realizes that such a society is rare and will require a very specific set of historical circumstances in order to be realized, which means very few societies will ever be able to attain this goal. He divides those "vicious" societies, which have fallen short of the ideal "virtuous" society, into three categories: ignorant, wicked and errant. Ignorant societies have, for whatever reason, failed to comprehend the purpose of human existence, and have supplanted the pursuit of happiness for another (inferior) goal, whether this be wealth, sensual gratification or power. It is interesting to note that democratic societies also fall into this category, as they too lack any guiding principal. Both wicked and errant societies have understood the true human end, but they have failed to follow it. The former because they have willfully abandoned it, and the latter because their leaders have deceived and misguided them. Al-Farabi also makes mention of "weeds" in the virtuous society; those people who try to undermine its progress towards the true human end. [57]

WikiKnowledge - Human Beings and the After Life - Al Farabi

Human beings are unique in al-Farabi's vision of the universe because they stand between two worlds: the "higher", immaterial world of the celestial intellects and universal intelligibles, and the "lower", material world of generation and decay; they inhabit a physical body, and so belong to the "lower" world, but they also have a rational capacity, which connects them to the "higher" realm. Each level of existence in al-Farabi's cosmology is characterized by its movement towards perfection, which is to become like the First Cause; a perfect intellect. Human perfection (or "happiness"), then, is equated with constant intellection and contemplation.[36]

According to al-Farabi, the afterlife is not the personal experience commonly conceived of by religious traditions such as Islam and Christianity. Any individual or distinguishing features of the soul are annihilated after the death of the body; only the rational faculty survives (and then, only if it has attained perfection), which becomes one with all other rational souls within the agent intellect and enters a realm of pure intelligence.[44] Henry Corbin compares this eschatology with that of the Ismaili Neo-Platonists, for whom this process initiated the next grand cycle of the universe.[45] However, Deborah Black mentions we have cause to be skeptical as to whether this was the mature and developed view of al-Farabi, as later thinkers such as Ibn Tufayl, Averroes and Ibn Bajjah would assert that he repudiated this view in his commentary on the Nicomachean Ethics, which has been lost to modern experts.[46]

WikiKnowledge - The Oneness of God - Al Kindi

According to al-Kindi, the goal of metaphysics is the knowledge of God. For this reason, he does make a clear distinction between philosophy and theology, because he believes they are both concerned with the same subject. Later philosophers, particularly al-Farabi and Avicenna, would strongly disagree with him on this issue, by saying that metaphysics is actually concerned with qua being, and as such, the nature of God is purely incidental.[45]

Central to al-Kindi's understanding of metaphysics is God's absolute oneness, which he considers an attribute uniquely associated with God (and therefore not shared with anything else). By this he means that while we may think of any existent thing as being "one", it is in fact both "one" and many". For example, he says that while a body is one, it is also composed of many different parts. A person might say "I see an elephant", by which he means "I see one elephant", but the term 'elephant' refers to a species of animal that contains many. Therefore, only God is absolutely one, both in being and in concept, lacking any multiplicity whatsoever. This understanding entails a very rigorous negative theology because it implies that any description which can be predicated to anything else, cannot be said about God.[46][44]

In addition to absolute oneness, al-Kindi also described God as the Creator. This means that He acts as both a final and efficient cause. Unlike later Muslim Neo-Platonic philosophers (who asserted that the universe existed as a result of God's existence "overflowing", which is a passive act), al-Kindi conceived of God as an active agent. In fact, of God as the agent, because all other intermediary agencies are contingent upon Him.[47] The key idea here is that God "acts" through created intermediaries, which in turn "act" on one another - through a chain of cause and effect - to produce the desired result. In reality, these intermediary agents do not "act" at all, they are merely a conduit for God's own action.[43] This is especially significant in the development of Islamic philosophy, as it portrayed the "first cause" and "unmoved mover" of Aristotelian philosophy as compatible with the concept of God according to Islamic revelation.

Unfair Dealings - Reflections

So i just watched this documentary and I need to get a few things off my chest. 

What kind of democracy is this? I mean serious, how can we stand by and watch this happen. Shame on us. How can we ever pat ourselves on the back for no racism, multiculturalism and all that great talk. Arrested a bunch of individuals who ARE and WERE labelled so guilty that they reek of it and there were not even given a fuckin trial. There are in SOLITARY CONFINEMENT!!!! What the hell is going on, i didnt think this happened in Canada. 

I just also watched Taxi to the Dark Side, which is simillar stuff but happening to our comrades in the South of us. I mean serious, am i going to get arrested for typing this. Will someone knock on my door? Why do we take our freedoms for granted when we dont even have them. We have a myth of them, a myth of success and freedom, when everwhere you look in the world, EVERYWHERE, there are violations, oppression, and persecution that is sickening. It is disgusting. And why do we always seem to forget this. Why do we forget this, or become desensitized to it that we arent still shocked and appaled when we see it again. The world is crumbling, but it never really was up in the first place. 

There is a myth of success, of progress and ESPECIALLY about HUMAN RIGHTS!!!! THe myth of freedom, and of human rights. It simply doesnt exist in the real world. Where are human rights? Why are we in such despair and garbage and SOOOO many of us dont even know it. 

Some of us struggle, the best of us struggle. Why cant we all struggle, will it even make a difference. Is there a light at the end of the tunnel? Is it even important for there to be a light at the end of the tunnel, who cares about results? Lets just fight the good fight, fight oppression wherever it may be, from half way across the world, to our own neighborhoods, to our own hearts and prejudices. Struggle against them, not for the hope of winning, but from the fear of giving in to them. 

.....

The Why?

Every journey worth undertaking is done with the Why question first. If we cannot ask why, then we are mindless drones, an ideal for some. That is why I start this. I am trying to hook into the future, my future, to see if documentation will help me on my journey. I want to document my thoughts, because to be totally honest, I feel like I will explode if I don't. I also want to you, whoever you are, to read this, and to know. 

I called this Dare to Know , the road to ignorance. There are many reasons. First, dare to know is a motto favored by Kant. What it means to me, is that it is a challenge, a push to figure to step out of your comforts and your uninformed ignorance and to challenge your mind, to walk down a path leading to..... you don't know. It is accurate to call it darkness. The steps from the superficial lights of society, into the darkness, and hopefully, find the true light, or find solace in it's non-existence. This is very vague I know, but that is the precise reason I am undertaking this; to find some clarity in the vagueness. That is where road 2 ignorance comes in. This has just as much to do with the journey that it does the destination. The road implies a path, whether it be straight or winding, beat down or bush, the road is what we trod, whether we like it or not. It leads to ignorance. I chose this word for a lack of a better term. Socrates believed that the wisest person was one who was aware of their lack of knowledge. Hence aware of their ignorance; aware of what you do not know. That is what I am trying to do, to become more aware of my ignorance, and to accept it. 

So here is the beginning, may this be a fruit full journey, and enlightening one, where I may push my limits, and maybe prod some minds.