Here is a rare occasion where numbers can make crystal clear sense to me. Observe:
7,000,000,000 == the approximate number of people on this blue Earth.
6,999,999,999 == the approximate number of people on this blue Earth who are ready and willing to put shit on you, tell you what to do, and make your life hell.
1 == the number of people in your life who are capable of making ANY kind of change for the better. If it takes you more than three goes to guess it, then there is no hope for you! (Hint: it's a real, corporeal person, so "God" doesn't count.)
These numbers can give or take a few, depending on how much the people closest to you are really actually close to you.
Have fun!
From The Tominator.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Culture Clash
I must have written something about this before in this blog, but right now I'm not inclined to check (it being 2:12am and all).
I was attempting to explain the primary difference between Japanese culture and Australian/Western culture.
The difference, in a word, is FREEDOM.
Romanticism aside, this should be assessed and evaluated in all possible ways you can think of. And once you've done that, think up more ways!
for now, I'll mention this one: In Australia, we have the freedom to be good people, and we also have the freedom to be arseholes. I will hold no punches when I say that most people where I came from have misassessed their freedom, and, be it through apathy or true evil (or anything else, really) they have chosen to be arseholes. This is the challenge I face back home.
However, for the last year I have been facing the challenges presented by the Japanese culture. Most important to say first is this: The Japanese are NOT free.
In Australia, we have a constitution that gives dictatorial (and quite undemocratic) powers to the Queen and, vicariously, to the Governor-General. But by conventions, unwritten rules that can not really be broken for sake of a potential political shitstorm, we are able to recognise and use our freedom.
Japan is apparently the opposite: In Japan, there is a written set of rules, a Constitution and what amounts to a Bill of Rights. They have their freedoms all neatly laid out, as it was when it was shoved under their noses back in 1947 by the US Occupation.
But the Japanese culture realistically prohibits freedom! Through conventions which are likewise unwritten and very difficult to break, the Japanese people achieve a polar opposite in their lives and lifestyles. They are not free, and the vast majority of them don't want to be free.
It is true that brainwashing, when started at a young age, can be quite effective. And it is true that conditioning remains highly effective if it is reinforced regularly. The Japanese culture and its brainwashing is reinforced every single day by the cultural structures set up here in this country, and those structures differ in absolutely no way wahtsoever from that of a slum-house in which all occupants live in the same room, and have nothing to occupy their time or minds other than the business of the other people they are crammed into that room with. Centuries of isolation in this psychological structure has morphed the general cultural capacity of the Japanese people to essentially grow up, learn life's lessons, and become realisticall free individuals. The society itself is one big chain-gang.
This would all be good and well for Japanese people if not for the irrefutable fact that all humans are born free and equal. At that very moment in which each and every one of us is dragged kicking and screaming out of the womb, we are all the same. Every damn one of us human beings. Even cases of birth defects, congenital diseases, all of us are the same, and all of use are really possessed of an inalienable right to freedom. The problem for Japanese people is that they are all, at every point in their lifespans, fundamentally fighting against this ultimate freedom, and repressing it themselves.
The Japanese government is not entirely to blame for this. Even the politicians and bureaucrats are yoking themselves. If ever there were a truly devious political Japanese mastermind, he could control the entire country instantly, and use it, its people, and its resources to whatever ends he wanted, and the people would never ever complain or rebel or revolt. ((by the by: that was what happened back in that period we call WORLD WAR II!!!!))
Some Japanese people see the freedom and want it, but are pressed from all sides in society to toe the line and "act normal". Some others see it, but have no idea what to do with it. And still some others are ignorant (thanks to the education system proving utterly ineffective in promoting inqusitive thought).
This presents a life of torture for those unfortunate few who see it and want it. It presents torture for those who meet and wiish to help all the others. ((that IS me, by the way, referring to my ex-girlfriend (who is Japanese, and doesn't know what the fuck she should do with Freedom))) .
The bad news is that there is really no immediate end in sight, and perhaps not even within our current lifetimes. It's going to stay like this, so their only option is to get the fuck outta Japan ASAP.
((some people emigrate for refuge from war. Japanese people have the unique position of being able to emigrate for refuge from cultural oppression!))
There is some good news, though::
All the aspects of a culture are linked, inextricably and quite closely (though sometimes cryptically...). And it should therefore be no surprise that what has led to this horrid and unenviable culural situation is also leading directly to the plummeting birthrate here in Japan. It will become its own demise. Of the three futures for Japan - Robots, Babies, and Immigration; Babies is NOT happening, and Robots leads to the end of humanity here on this cramped, mountainous isle. Immigration will be an unstoppable force for change on some very fundamental levels.
The Japanese culture is critically flawed, and it is leading to its own demise. It is self-destructive. I would order that all those who are intelligent enough to realise this and are already on the inside, GET OUT NOW and begin to enjoy life more in the West. For the rest of them, may their gods have mercy on their souls, because their gods and culture are not going to save them from extinction. And when the slow and painful demise is finally complete, the world will rebuild again. Because that's life, and you should never beat your head against the wall. The Japanese are, and look what's happening to them!
From The Tominator.
I was attempting to explain the primary difference between Japanese culture and Australian/Western culture.
The difference, in a word, is FREEDOM.
Romanticism aside, this should be assessed and evaluated in all possible ways you can think of. And once you've done that, think up more ways!
for now, I'll mention this one: In Australia, we have the freedom to be good people, and we also have the freedom to be arseholes. I will hold no punches when I say that most people where I came from have misassessed their freedom, and, be it through apathy or true evil (or anything else, really) they have chosen to be arseholes. This is the challenge I face back home.
However, for the last year I have been facing the challenges presented by the Japanese culture. Most important to say first is this: The Japanese are NOT free.
In Australia, we have a constitution that gives dictatorial (and quite undemocratic) powers to the Queen and, vicariously, to the Governor-General. But by conventions, unwritten rules that can not really be broken for sake of a potential political shitstorm, we are able to recognise and use our freedom.
Japan is apparently the opposite: In Japan, there is a written set of rules, a Constitution and what amounts to a Bill of Rights. They have their freedoms all neatly laid out, as it was when it was shoved under their noses back in 1947 by the US Occupation.
But the Japanese culture realistically prohibits freedom! Through conventions which are likewise unwritten and very difficult to break, the Japanese people achieve a polar opposite in their lives and lifestyles. They are not free, and the vast majority of them don't want to be free.
It is true that brainwashing, when started at a young age, can be quite effective. And it is true that conditioning remains highly effective if it is reinforced regularly. The Japanese culture and its brainwashing is reinforced every single day by the cultural structures set up here in this country, and those structures differ in absolutely no way wahtsoever from that of a slum-house in which all occupants live in the same room, and have nothing to occupy their time or minds other than the business of the other people they are crammed into that room with. Centuries of isolation in this psychological structure has morphed the general cultural capacity of the Japanese people to essentially grow up, learn life's lessons, and become realisticall free individuals. The society itself is one big chain-gang.
This would all be good and well for Japanese people if not for the irrefutable fact that all humans are born free and equal. At that very moment in which each and every one of us is dragged kicking and screaming out of the womb, we are all the same. Every damn one of us human beings. Even cases of birth defects, congenital diseases, all of us are the same, and all of use are really possessed of an inalienable right to freedom. The problem for Japanese people is that they are all, at every point in their lifespans, fundamentally fighting against this ultimate freedom, and repressing it themselves.
The Japanese government is not entirely to blame for this. Even the politicians and bureaucrats are yoking themselves. If ever there were a truly devious political Japanese mastermind, he could control the entire country instantly, and use it, its people, and its resources to whatever ends he wanted, and the people would never ever complain or rebel or revolt. ((by the by: that was what happened back in that period we call WORLD WAR II!!!!))
Some Japanese people see the freedom and want it, but are pressed from all sides in society to toe the line and "act normal". Some others see it, but have no idea what to do with it. And still some others are ignorant (thanks to the education system proving utterly ineffective in promoting inqusitive thought).
This presents a life of torture for those unfortunate few who see it and want it. It presents torture for those who meet and wiish to help all the others. ((that IS me, by the way, referring to my ex-girlfriend (who is Japanese, and doesn't know what the fuck she should do with Freedom))) .
The bad news is that there is really no immediate end in sight, and perhaps not even within our current lifetimes. It's going to stay like this, so their only option is to get the fuck outta Japan ASAP.
((some people emigrate for refuge from war. Japanese people have the unique position of being able to emigrate for refuge from cultural oppression!))
There is some good news, though::
All the aspects of a culture are linked, inextricably and quite closely (though sometimes cryptically...). And it should therefore be no surprise that what has led to this horrid and unenviable culural situation is also leading directly to the plummeting birthrate here in Japan. It will become its own demise. Of the three futures for Japan - Robots, Babies, and Immigration; Babies is NOT happening, and Robots leads to the end of humanity here on this cramped, mountainous isle. Immigration will be an unstoppable force for change on some very fundamental levels.
The Japanese culture is critically flawed, and it is leading to its own demise. It is self-destructive. I would order that all those who are intelligent enough to realise this and are already on the inside, GET OUT NOW and begin to enjoy life more in the West. For the rest of them, may their gods have mercy on their souls, because their gods and culture are not going to save them from extinction. And when the slow and painful demise is finally complete, the world will rebuild again. Because that's life, and you should never beat your head against the wall. The Japanese are, and look what's happening to them!
From The Tominator.
You just gotta LAUGH!
With respect to my previous post, I want to make the crux of it very very clear in this concise version:
Life is meant to be Lived.
Life has a sense of humour.
If you are not laughing, then you are not living.
If you are not laughing, then you are indeed, and in reality, killing yourself.
Don't kill yourself - that is not life.
Can I really make it any simpler?? If you still don't understand what I'm trying to impart here, then I suggest you pull your damn head out of the sand!
From The Tominator.
Life is meant to be Lived.
Life has a sense of humour.
If you are not laughing, then you are not living.
If you are not laughing, then you are indeed, and in reality, killing yourself.
Don't kill yourself - that is not life.
Can I really make it any simpler?? If you still don't understand what I'm trying to impart here, then I suggest you pull your damn head out of the sand!
From The Tominator.
Funny, that.
Well, today was somewhat slow, but I got two very important things done: chronologically: I packed and moved some boxes of my stuffs out of the apartment here in Mito, Japan, as I will be vacating it myself in a matter of weeks.
Secondly chronologically, and probably first for impact, I had a talk with a recent ex, and cleared a lot of things up. I am certainly not going to go into any gory details on this blog, but suffice it to say this: LIFE has got a sense of humour. The talk was long, yet equally necessary, and at the end things were more resolved on my side than they ever were. After it all, I soothed my nervous system with some good ol' Nintendo 64, playing Rogue Squadron (Star Wars, one of the best games!). I was labouring away at a particularly difficult level - Escape from Fest, a level that has caused me much grief for many many years. I finally got the Silver medal, and, I swear, at the EXACT moment the medal was awarded to me on the screen, my phone went off with a truly honest and expressive email from that aforementioned ex. After a 10 month-long relationship whereby practically nothing was ever discussed openly and honestly and with true human emotions (other than crying!), she sends me this. At this time - with the long sought-after silver medal! Some people would consider it fate, or wacky, divine something-or-other "It's a sign!". However, I am not so primitively minded, and the world we live in is not really a chick-flick. Of course there was no sign, and of course me winning this long-awaited and much earned Silver medal at the same time as a truly long sought-after occurance in my real life was not any sort of weird or wacky divinity. No, my friends, it was simply, and nothing more than, another GREAT example of Life itself having a sense of humour.
Just as all those times you may feel overcome and overwhelmed by life, and you really have to just laugh at it all. This was that again.
You just have to laugh. Life is not trying to overwork you, make you miserable, or kill you - this is simply counter-productive in all respects! Life is trying to remind you that Life is supposed to me lived.
Or more accurately, life should not be used as a nominal pronoun or Proper Noun, because it is not any particular sentient supreme being like many humans want to think. Life is what we are doing, and all the feelings and apprehensions and adventures and actions and outcomes are all a part of life. Once you realise that it is YOU who is sitting at the controls of your life, then you can also realise that when I say life is trying to remind you, it is, in not so roundabout-a-way, YOURSELF trying to remind you that you are no longer living life as you really should, as it is meant to be lived. So sit back, listen to yourself, and be honest with yourself. If you are laughing, then you are once again heading down the right track.
This is The Tominator. If you learn anything from me, learn this: Life is meant to be LIVED!
From The Tominator.
Secondly chronologically, and probably first for impact, I had a talk with a recent ex, and cleared a lot of things up. I am certainly not going to go into any gory details on this blog, but suffice it to say this: LIFE has got a sense of humour. The talk was long, yet equally necessary, and at the end things were more resolved on my side than they ever were. After it all, I soothed my nervous system with some good ol' Nintendo 64, playing Rogue Squadron (Star Wars, one of the best games!). I was labouring away at a particularly difficult level - Escape from Fest, a level that has caused me much grief for many many years. I finally got the Silver medal, and, I swear, at the EXACT moment the medal was awarded to me on the screen, my phone went off with a truly honest and expressive email from that aforementioned ex. After a 10 month-long relationship whereby practically nothing was ever discussed openly and honestly and with true human emotions (other than crying!), she sends me this. At this time - with the long sought-after silver medal! Some people would consider it fate, or wacky, divine something-or-other "It's a sign!". However, I am not so primitively minded, and the world we live in is not really a chick-flick. Of course there was no sign, and of course me winning this long-awaited and much earned Silver medal at the same time as a truly long sought-after occurance in my real life was not any sort of weird or wacky divinity. No, my friends, it was simply, and nothing more than, another GREAT example of Life itself having a sense of humour.
Just as all those times you may feel overcome and overwhelmed by life, and you really have to just laugh at it all. This was that again.
You just have to laugh. Life is not trying to overwork you, make you miserable, or kill you - this is simply counter-productive in all respects! Life is trying to remind you that Life is supposed to me lived.
Or more accurately, life should not be used as a nominal pronoun or Proper Noun, because it is not any particular sentient supreme being like many humans want to think. Life is what we are doing, and all the feelings and apprehensions and adventures and actions and outcomes are all a part of life. Once you realise that it is YOU who is sitting at the controls of your life, then you can also realise that when I say life is trying to remind you, it is, in not so roundabout-a-way, YOURSELF trying to remind you that you are no longer living life as you really should, as it is meant to be lived. So sit back, listen to yourself, and be honest with yourself. If you are laughing, then you are once again heading down the right track.
This is The Tominator. If you learn anything from me, learn this: Life is meant to be LIVED!
From The Tominator.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
My first Essay!
I had a very interesting discussion today with my "Newsweek" class at the English conversation school I work at here in Mito, Japan. The beginning topic was Haiti, and the massive, devastating earthquake which hit it very recently. The class members (all Japanese adults between the ages of 30-70, predominantly male, (one female)) have once again shown their abilities to both appear interested and actually be engaged in the topic, which is remarkable given that I never really expected anyone to listen to me despite wanting it so much. Needless to say, this class is my favourite at this job I will soon be leaving.
We began on Haiti, but noticing conversation waning after the initial onslaught of facts from me a Wikipedia that were unknown to them before the class (the language, culture, ethnicity and brief history of Haiti, plus the correct pronunciation of the country in English), I steered the conversation toward the question of the USA's role in our world today. The article in question as, after all, to do with President Barack Obama's pledges to send aid in all various forms to Haiti.
It is THIS topic that I want to impart to you right now.
There exists in the fields of Political Science a plethora of questions. The most relevant for today was this: What is the most peaceful form of international order for this Earth to have? Unipolar, Bipolar, or Multi-polar????
I intend to write an essay on this. It will be the FIRST essay that I have written since graduating from the University of Newcastle (which I affectionately and privately moniker as "NewcU", though in this day and age people are either too simple or too scared to adopt it). It will also be the first EVER essay that I have written "for fun", that is to say I have not been prodded or indeed shoved roughly into it for sake of passing an exam or getting a grade on a paper. I actually look forward to it, which is something I have actually thought would be the case for a while, especially all those cold and lonely nights researching for Uni papers, wondering that if I could do this or that paper again, with time and the more comfortable attitude, then I would really really enjoy the experience! Let the great experiment begin!
From The Tominator.
We began on Haiti, but noticing conversation waning after the initial onslaught of facts from me a Wikipedia that were unknown to them before the class (the language, culture, ethnicity and brief history of Haiti, plus the correct pronunciation of the country in English), I steered the conversation toward the question of the USA's role in our world today. The article in question as, after all, to do with President Barack Obama's pledges to send aid in all various forms to Haiti.
It is THIS topic that I want to impart to you right now.
There exists in the fields of Political Science a plethora of questions. The most relevant for today was this: What is the most peaceful form of international order for this Earth to have? Unipolar, Bipolar, or Multi-polar????
I intend to write an essay on this. It will be the FIRST essay that I have written since graduating from the University of Newcastle (which I affectionately and privately moniker as "NewcU", though in this day and age people are either too simple or too scared to adopt it). It will also be the first EVER essay that I have written "for fun", that is to say I have not been prodded or indeed shoved roughly into it for sake of passing an exam or getting a grade on a paper. I actually look forward to it, which is something I have actually thought would be the case for a while, especially all those cold and lonely nights researching for Uni papers, wondering that if I could do this or that paper again, with time and the more comfortable attitude, then I would really really enjoy the experience! Let the great experiment begin!
From The Tominator.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Never Understimate the Power of Self-Deception
....And I'm BACK! ...Again!
OK. At this particular point in time I am wallowing somewhat in a personal matter. The true nature and extent of it I will endeavour not to give away in this blog, because I don't want to tell you every goddamn little detail, just express to you my feelings as I try to interpret them. Those of you who know me well could probably guess what has brought this feeling on.
This last year was, to put it somewhat dilute, a real eye-opener. I have coined and adopted more live-by phrases than I ever did in a given year in my life before, and it is for good reason: I am FINALLY getting that life experience I unwittingly craved and needed all those lost years in high school and uni.
To the current point: About 11 months ago (almost this time last year) I concretely cottoned onto and adopted the importance of HONESTY in one's life. To all whom I have met and spoken to since then, I have crammed my perspective that Honest REALLY REALLY IS the best policy down their throats. This is of course, like all things political (which is ANYTHING that involves human beings), in need of tempering. Some people really can't handle the truth!
But on this bend, I wish to reiterate my most recent cotton-on and adoption/adaptation of life: the extreme prevalence of SELF-DECEPTION. The reason I have prefaced this with a rehash of my "honesty is good" exploits and realisations is that Self-Deception is the act of NOT being honest with ONESELF.
I am daily now firmer and firmer held with the analysis that this is an extremely prevalent, present, and abundant facet of human life and activity. In fact, I will dare to go so far to say right here and now that Self-Deception IS the human condition.
We all know what that "nagging doubt" feels like in the back of our heads when we are pondering a certain aspect of our lives. "Do I really want to go to that bar?" "Do I really need to have another cigarette?" "Do I really want to have sex with that person?" "Am I really in the right job?" "Do I really want to marry this person and have children with them?"
I am going to stop there, but hopefully ONE of those examples has hit you, my dear reader, close to home. Looking at it with the useless and nigh-on nihilistic stupor that the average human would look at my examples thusfar, it would seem that I am advocating the "do nothing" approach to life. Let me assure you now, both the smart and the moronic of you, that I AM NOT advocating the "do nothing" approach.
"Do Nothing" is how we got Appeasment and WWII; do nothing is why the USA will never never (never EVER) have a decent healthcare system; do nothing is the reason Japan is rotting at the core and dying through population shrinkage and human/anime cross-copulation.
I would never advocate "do nothing" because I, in whatever limited time I may have on this Earth, consider such an approach to life to be a complete, utter, and quite insulting way to live one's life (if indeed it can truly be called "living").
Now that I've made that abundantly clear to you all, I shall procede with my main point::
Self-Deception is what keeps us in jobs that we hate -- "I will never find another job if I lose this one"
Self-Deception is what keeps the fear pumping through our veins in times of crisis -- "the economic recession will NEVER NEVER NEVER end!"
Self-Deception is what keeps women in abusive relationships -- "I really do love him (despite the beatings and pummelings and self-esteem destruction"
Self-Deception is what keeps us in personal relationships that should or should not have been terminated months ago -- "he/she does care about me, he/she just has no time in his/her busy life to show it to me properly."
And to finally (for now):
Self-Deception is why we can think our lives are headed in some sort of direction and we are going somewhere when in all of reality we are still standing knee-deep in quicksand.
That job you hate: you probably got it because at the time of your hiring you were running around like a headless-chook, spooked out of your undies at the prospect of being unemployed "forever", and took the first job you could find. Such a state of mind is most commonly achieved by a human being when she has either just lost/left her last job, or has just graduated from tertiary education. In both instances a human is prone to adopt this end-of-days mentality quite fervently.
The Economic recession: Sure, jobs are being lost all over the world. Sure, currencies are fluctuating, and stocks are vanishing. I've been hit by it too. But, to quote an favoured TV show of mine, all of this has happened before, and it will happen again:: The Great Depression of the 1930s ENDED! The 1970s petrol crisis ENDED! The 1990s catastrophe in Asia ENDED! And the only reason each of them occurred, expanded, and carried on was that the human beings involved (you were probably one of them!) each carried with them the mentality "This is nver going to end!"). The only reason each on stopped is that someone somewhere came up with an outside-the-box idea that broke that end-is-nigh trend; and the peeons also forgot over time, too, busying their minds with further insignificant affairs while the mechanics of the affected system were straightened out by a relatively tiny group of people who had screwed their own heads on straight. Whether or not they did it benevolently is more than open to discussion.
As for the abusive relationships: I am not going to play shrink here and diagnose you. What I will say is that you either have something clinically wrong with you, or you are a fool. I hope for your sake that it is the former, and it is treatable somehow, because if it is the latter you are in for one dull, monotonous life of trashy-soap opera melodrama. For those of you who can help yourselves but do not, you must pull your fucking head in and gain some perspective. My point continues in the next paragraph:
As for the doomed realationships: and as for the abusive ones as well, there is a common ancestor to the feelings you are having. You must, both kinds of relationship's people, pull your heads in.
NO, he does not love you. If he HITS you, he DOES NOT love you. This is not to say that no-one will ever love you! For fuck's sake, I cannot believe that I have to make this point I'm making right now, but I have to because "No-one will ever love me, so I will stay with him!" is the single most popular go-to self-deprecation that you women use!
For all the doomed relationships: If you think it is doomed, then DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!
If she will not make time for you inside the space of 10 months, then she will never ever make time for you in the future. Things are NOT going to CHANGE by themselves.
Never in the history of humanity has a person simply woken up one day and said "OK! Today I'm gonna be a better, smarter person!" out of the blue!!!! Every single goddamn change in ever single goddamn person's life has come about because of some god-awful hardship that was suffered, analysed, and computed in the fathoms of the human mind top be solved by this change or that adaptation.
PEOPLE DO NOT CHANGE FOR NO REASON!!!!!! They do not change if left to their own devices. Simple mathematics and science (the kind I DO excel at) dictates that if you leave a person in a situation that they are somewhat comfortable in, that person will not go to any great pains to change their situation.
Why???
Because "I will never be in a more comfortable situation ever again in my life!" -- THAT'S WHY!!
And finally (for now)::
As for a direction in life:
Let me eradicate this little prevailing myth first-off: THERE IS NO GOD, and HE DOES NOT HAVE A PLAN FOR YOU!!
The sooner we overcome that massive piece of time-proof idiot-think and moron-melodrama, the better the human species will be.
And of course, it is for the sheer improbability of that last sentence that the human species is quite certain to circle the drain as it has for millenia to date.
Your direction in life is chosen, dictated, and executed by ONLY ONE PERSON:: YOU!!!!
This next sentence is SO FUCKING SIMPLE it is the epitome of irony that I will never be able to express it clearly enough:
Your life is YOUR LIFE! It is NOT his life. NOT her life. Not your parents' life, not God's life, not your King's life, not your President's, your Emperor's, nor even your child's life.
YOUR LIFE is YOUR LIFE. the Noun is "Life". The Verb for it is "live". YOU are the one doing the verb, YOU are the one LIVING YOUR LIFE!!
How, in the name of anything and everything in this Universe, could you possibly assert that your life belongs to something or someone else???? Mum or Dad are NOT living your life. your Head of State or Dear Leader is NOT living your life. When you get up in the morning and have bad breath, who is tasting the foul taste on your tongue, and who is squinting at the light?:: YOU!
When you use the toilet, when you shave, and when you are feeling heart-burn and indigestion, WHO is feeling all these little everyday things that sum together into "daily life"? :: YOU!
When you win a race, when you finish a paper, when you write a blog entry, when you think of a song, a poem, or a funny thought or ANY KIND, WHO is thinking, enjoying, and living? :: YOU!
When your heart is broken, you are wounded, or a loved one passes away, WHO feels the pain, and who suffers firsthand?:: YOU, YOU, YOU!
The term "self-centered" is bandied a lot as an extremely negative concept, for it has been mutated into a concept whereby one thinks only of oneself and never for any other.
Whether it is a mutated concept or not, I am not advocating any such kind of self-centredness. I fully acknowledge that we all live in the world TOGETHER, and we must therefore exist in some semblance of harmony.
I truly do think that if honesty is employed, in its fullest and most potent forms, and the most appropriate of instances, and always, that our world would be a Utopia. paradise on Earth.
But inside this world we are all individual minds. Hive mentalities have attempted to work, but have failed, because they require complete honesty about ALL things in their utter entirety amongst all the hive-members. Therefore Hives do not work.
Greed and self-centeredness has recently become the driving force behind world economics, religion, and politics. It has most recently led us to the Great Recession, "Terrorism" (whatever that is), and that permeating fear we have embraced because we'll be damned if we have to lean on someone else, or have some one else lean on us for fundamental support.
My new theory of Social Darwinism holds true even now, so late in this blog post. I believe that the self-deceptive of us are weak, for Self-Deception IS a weakness, of the most fundamental nature. The greater the degree of it in a person, the weaker that person is. The weak will die to make way for the stronger. A human utopia will probably never happen, because, like I said, Self-Deception IS the Human Condition. Therefore any such Utopis free of it would not be populated by "humans" as they exist today.
Only the ability to recognise self-deception in oneself and one's own life and actions will ignite the bonfires that can guide us out of our own personal fog-shrouds. This is Self-Honesty, and it is not going to come from anywhere but from within.
I can tell you, blog it, and preach it until my voice and fingers grow numb and fall apart, but you will never be free of your Self-Deception until YOU free yourself. You are the one holdling those keys, because YOU ARE THE ONE LIVING YOUR LIFE!
I hope this finds you well and fit in mind.
From The Tominator.
OK. At this particular point in time I am wallowing somewhat in a personal matter. The true nature and extent of it I will endeavour not to give away in this blog, because I don't want to tell you every goddamn little detail, just express to you my feelings as I try to interpret them. Those of you who know me well could probably guess what has brought this feeling on.
This last year was, to put it somewhat dilute, a real eye-opener. I have coined and adopted more live-by phrases than I ever did in a given year in my life before, and it is for good reason: I am FINALLY getting that life experience I unwittingly craved and needed all those lost years in high school and uni.
To the current point: About 11 months ago (almost this time last year) I concretely cottoned onto and adopted the importance of HONESTY in one's life. To all whom I have met and spoken to since then, I have crammed my perspective that Honest REALLY REALLY IS the best policy down their throats. This is of course, like all things political (which is ANYTHING that involves human beings), in need of tempering. Some people really can't handle the truth!
But on this bend, I wish to reiterate my most recent cotton-on and adoption/adaptation of life: the extreme prevalence of SELF-DECEPTION. The reason I have prefaced this with a rehash of my "honesty is good" exploits and realisations is that Self-Deception is the act of NOT being honest with ONESELF.
I am daily now firmer and firmer held with the analysis that this is an extremely prevalent, present, and abundant facet of human life and activity. In fact, I will dare to go so far to say right here and now that Self-Deception IS the human condition.
We all know what that "nagging doubt" feels like in the back of our heads when we are pondering a certain aspect of our lives. "Do I really want to go to that bar?" "Do I really need to have another cigarette?" "Do I really want to have sex with that person?" "Am I really in the right job?" "Do I really want to marry this person and have children with them?"
I am going to stop there, but hopefully ONE of those examples has hit you, my dear reader, close to home. Looking at it with the useless and nigh-on nihilistic stupor that the average human would look at my examples thusfar, it would seem that I am advocating the "do nothing" approach to life. Let me assure you now, both the smart and the moronic of you, that I AM NOT advocating the "do nothing" approach.
"Do Nothing" is how we got Appeasment and WWII; do nothing is why the USA will never never (never EVER) have a decent healthcare system; do nothing is the reason Japan is rotting at the core and dying through population shrinkage and human/anime cross-copulation.
I would never advocate "do nothing" because I, in whatever limited time I may have on this Earth, consider such an approach to life to be a complete, utter, and quite insulting way to live one's life (if indeed it can truly be called "living").
Now that I've made that abundantly clear to you all, I shall procede with my main point::
Self-Deception is what keeps us in jobs that we hate -- "I will never find another job if I lose this one"
Self-Deception is what keeps the fear pumping through our veins in times of crisis -- "the economic recession will NEVER NEVER NEVER end!"
Self-Deception is what keeps women in abusive relationships -- "I really do love him (despite the beatings and pummelings and self-esteem destruction"
Self-Deception is what keeps us in personal relationships that should or should not have been terminated months ago -- "he/she does care about me, he/she just has no time in his/her busy life to show it to me properly."
And to finally (for now):
Self-Deception is why we can think our lives are headed in some sort of direction and we are going somewhere when in all of reality we are still standing knee-deep in quicksand.
That job you hate: you probably got it because at the time of your hiring you were running around like a headless-chook, spooked out of your undies at the prospect of being unemployed "forever", and took the first job you could find. Such a state of mind is most commonly achieved by a human being when she has either just lost/left her last job, or has just graduated from tertiary education. In both instances a human is prone to adopt this end-of-days mentality quite fervently.
The Economic recession: Sure, jobs are being lost all over the world. Sure, currencies are fluctuating, and stocks are vanishing. I've been hit by it too. But, to quote an favoured TV show of mine, all of this has happened before, and it will happen again:: The Great Depression of the 1930s ENDED! The 1970s petrol crisis ENDED! The 1990s catastrophe in Asia ENDED! And the only reason each of them occurred, expanded, and carried on was that the human beings involved (you were probably one of them!) each carried with them the mentality "This is nver going to end!"). The only reason each on stopped is that someone somewhere came up with an outside-the-box idea that broke that end-is-nigh trend; and the peeons also forgot over time, too, busying their minds with further insignificant affairs while the mechanics of the affected system were straightened out by a relatively tiny group of people who had screwed their own heads on straight. Whether or not they did it benevolently is more than open to discussion.
As for the abusive relationships: I am not going to play shrink here and diagnose you. What I will say is that you either have something clinically wrong with you, or you are a fool. I hope for your sake that it is the former, and it is treatable somehow, because if it is the latter you are in for one dull, monotonous life of trashy-soap opera melodrama. For those of you who can help yourselves but do not, you must pull your fucking head in and gain some perspective. My point continues in the next paragraph:
As for the doomed realationships: and as for the abusive ones as well, there is a common ancestor to the feelings you are having. You must, both kinds of relationship's people, pull your heads in.
NO, he does not love you. If he HITS you, he DOES NOT love you. This is not to say that no-one will ever love you! For fuck's sake, I cannot believe that I have to make this point I'm making right now, but I have to because "No-one will ever love me, so I will stay with him!" is the single most popular go-to self-deprecation that you women use!
For all the doomed relationships: If you think it is doomed, then DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!
If she will not make time for you inside the space of 10 months, then she will never ever make time for you in the future. Things are NOT going to CHANGE by themselves.
Never in the history of humanity has a person simply woken up one day and said "OK! Today I'm gonna be a better, smarter person!" out of the blue!!!! Every single goddamn change in ever single goddamn person's life has come about because of some god-awful hardship that was suffered, analysed, and computed in the fathoms of the human mind top be solved by this change or that adaptation.
PEOPLE DO NOT CHANGE FOR NO REASON!!!!!! They do not change if left to their own devices. Simple mathematics and science (the kind I DO excel at) dictates that if you leave a person in a situation that they are somewhat comfortable in, that person will not go to any great pains to change their situation.
Why???
Because "I will never be in a more comfortable situation ever again in my life!" -- THAT'S WHY!!
And finally (for now)::
As for a direction in life:
Let me eradicate this little prevailing myth first-off: THERE IS NO GOD, and HE DOES NOT HAVE A PLAN FOR YOU!!
The sooner we overcome that massive piece of time-proof idiot-think and moron-melodrama, the better the human species will be.
And of course, it is for the sheer improbability of that last sentence that the human species is quite certain to circle the drain as it has for millenia to date.
Your direction in life is chosen, dictated, and executed by ONLY ONE PERSON:: YOU!!!!
This next sentence is SO FUCKING SIMPLE it is the epitome of irony that I will never be able to express it clearly enough:
Your life is YOUR LIFE! It is NOT his life. NOT her life. Not your parents' life, not God's life, not your King's life, not your President's, your Emperor's, nor even your child's life.
YOUR LIFE is YOUR LIFE. the Noun is "Life". The Verb for it is "live". YOU are the one doing the verb, YOU are the one LIVING YOUR LIFE!!
How, in the name of anything and everything in this Universe, could you possibly assert that your life belongs to something or someone else???? Mum or Dad are NOT living your life. your Head of State or Dear Leader is NOT living your life. When you get up in the morning and have bad breath, who is tasting the foul taste on your tongue, and who is squinting at the light?:: YOU!
When you use the toilet, when you shave, and when you are feeling heart-burn and indigestion, WHO is feeling all these little everyday things that sum together into "daily life"? :: YOU!
When you win a race, when you finish a paper, when you write a blog entry, when you think of a song, a poem, or a funny thought or ANY KIND, WHO is thinking, enjoying, and living? :: YOU!
When your heart is broken, you are wounded, or a loved one passes away, WHO feels the pain, and who suffers firsthand?:: YOU, YOU, YOU!
The term "self-centered" is bandied a lot as an extremely negative concept, for it has been mutated into a concept whereby one thinks only of oneself and never for any other.
Whether it is a mutated concept or not, I am not advocating any such kind of self-centredness. I fully acknowledge that we all live in the world TOGETHER, and we must therefore exist in some semblance of harmony.
I truly do think that if honesty is employed, in its fullest and most potent forms, and the most appropriate of instances, and always, that our world would be a Utopia. paradise on Earth.
But inside this world we are all individual minds. Hive mentalities have attempted to work, but have failed, because they require complete honesty about ALL things in their utter entirety amongst all the hive-members. Therefore Hives do not work.
Greed and self-centeredness has recently become the driving force behind world economics, religion, and politics. It has most recently led us to the Great Recession, "Terrorism" (whatever that is), and that permeating fear we have embraced because we'll be damned if we have to lean on someone else, or have some one else lean on us for fundamental support.
My new theory of Social Darwinism holds true even now, so late in this blog post. I believe that the self-deceptive of us are weak, for Self-Deception IS a weakness, of the most fundamental nature. The greater the degree of it in a person, the weaker that person is. The weak will die to make way for the stronger. A human utopia will probably never happen, because, like I said, Self-Deception IS the Human Condition. Therefore any such Utopis free of it would not be populated by "humans" as they exist today.
Only the ability to recognise self-deception in oneself and one's own life and actions will ignite the bonfires that can guide us out of our own personal fog-shrouds. This is Self-Honesty, and it is not going to come from anywhere but from within.
I can tell you, blog it, and preach it until my voice and fingers grow numb and fall apart, but you will never be free of your Self-Deception until YOU free yourself. You are the one holdling those keys, because YOU ARE THE ONE LIVING YOUR LIFE!
I hope this finds you well and fit in mind.
From The Tominator.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Back Again in 2010! And the Twenteens!!!!!!
HELLO PEOPLES!!!!!!!!!!!
I am BACK!
My last post was sometime back in mid-December 2009, and jeez, wasn't that so damn long ago! Last year! Last decade! (Does the decade start or end on 2010??)
Anyway, I was in Australia for a truly good summer holiday, and have only three days ago returned to Mito, Japan for more WINTER! More on that later, I'm sure..
For now, as my return to the blog it is, I want to keep it brief, and officially introduce my name for the next decade.
Last decade - 2000-2009, was eventually monikered the "Noughties" or "Naughties", depending on your spelling or innuendo inclinations. Why? Because the tens column of the years was a naught! 2000, 2001, 2002, ..... 2008, 2009 you see how it goes!
In keeping with the tradition, as we have for probably at least a hundred years, with the twenties, thirties, and sixties, etc., I have PERSONALLY COINED the term to call the next decade.
Can anyone remember what we called the decade between 1910 and 1919? Does it matter anymore? That was probably just called the "War Period" and pre-war period. There was likely no need to coin a term.
Or they called it the 1910s, said as "the nineteen-tens", or something like that.
Saying "the Nineteen-teens", or just "the Nineteens", or some other such variation was likely considered too cute/dumb/clever, or whatever, depending on who was looking at it back then.
Needless to say the world was a different place a hundre years ago. We still had Empires in Europe, and Europe STILL ruled the world. The top five Great Powers were Britain, Russia, Germany, France, and Austria-Hungary. Hopefully we all know how it turned out. I am ending the history lesson here for now, and if you don't know how it turned out, ask me and I'll enlighten you.
So, back to the POINT!::
This century is the 2000s. For the last 9 years, I was content to say "Two Thousand and One", "Two Thousand and Two", and so on until last year "Two Thousand and Nine".
Saying "Twenty-Oh-Nine" or "Twenty-Oh-Six" never even caught on, the reason being that I do think all humans looked at it in their minds before actually uttering it and we all thought the same thing - that sounds Stupid!
But this year it all changes!!!!!!
2010! "Twenty-Ten"!!!! -----It has a STRONG and powerful ring to it. All matters of simple arbitrary meanings that are related to New Year's Resolutions aside, THIS YEAR sounds Great!
And with that now thoroughly explained, I want you to watch closely as I finally bring on the climax and introduce what it has taken me so many damn words thusfar to spit out:::
This next decade will be called------------> "The Twenteens"!!!!!!!!!
Did you imagine a drum-roll just then? I know I DID!!
Tell your friends! Dictionary people, enter it in there, and PUT MY NAME ON IT!
I am not doing it for the glory, but honestly, some glory would be really nice right about now!
And always ever more!!!!!
The Twenteens!
We can now safely say "Twenty-Ten", "Twenty-Twelve", and even "Twenty-Thirteen"!
We have been warned....! by the movie 2012, which came out last year, and is STILL in cinemas here in Japan. (I also gotta wait until MARCH to see Sherlock Holmes again.... but I won't be here anymore!) But 2012 is GOOD, by the way. I saw it twice on the big screen, because there is NO other way to see it! Special Effects! Special Effects!!!! End-Of-The-World-Subway-Trains-Coming-Out-Of-Uplifted-City-Blocks-As-Planes-Swoop-By-Special Effects!!!!!!!! And Yellowstone erupting! It all looks good on the big screen! Tv screen would lose it! Even a flat-screen gigantor!
For the nay-sayers:
Saying "Two-Thousand-And-Twelve" sounds crappy, and you know it!
And what were you going to do when 2020 rolled around? Say "Two-Thousand and Twenty"??? That's shit!
The TWENTEENS!!!!!!!!!
Get used to it. It's CLEVER, It's catchy, and I'm going to RAM IT DOWN YOUR THROATS every damn chance I get, because I want it to stick!!!!!!!!
You were warned!
Seriously, though, What do you think????????
From The Tominator :)
I am BACK!
My last post was sometime back in mid-December 2009, and jeez, wasn't that so damn long ago! Last year! Last decade! (Does the decade start or end on 2010??)
Anyway, I was in Australia for a truly good summer holiday, and have only three days ago returned to Mito, Japan for more WINTER! More on that later, I'm sure..
For now, as my return to the blog it is, I want to keep it brief, and officially introduce my name for the next decade.
Last decade - 2000-2009, was eventually monikered the "Noughties" or "Naughties", depending on your spelling or innuendo inclinations. Why? Because the tens column of the years was a naught! 2000, 2001, 2002, ..... 2008, 2009 you see how it goes!
In keeping with the tradition, as we have for probably at least a hundred years, with the twenties, thirties, and sixties, etc., I have PERSONALLY COINED the term to call the next decade.
Can anyone remember what we called the decade between 1910 and 1919? Does it matter anymore? That was probably just called the "War Period" and pre-war period. There was likely no need to coin a term.
Or they called it the 1910s, said as "the nineteen-tens", or something like that.
Saying "the Nineteen-teens", or just "the Nineteens", or some other such variation was likely considered too cute/dumb/clever, or whatever, depending on who was looking at it back then.
Needless to say the world was a different place a hundre years ago. We still had Empires in Europe, and Europe STILL ruled the world. The top five Great Powers were Britain, Russia, Germany, France, and Austria-Hungary. Hopefully we all know how it turned out. I am ending the history lesson here for now, and if you don't know how it turned out, ask me and I'll enlighten you.
So, back to the POINT!::
This century is the 2000s. For the last 9 years, I was content to say "Two Thousand and One", "Two Thousand and Two", and so on until last year "Two Thousand and Nine".
Saying "Twenty-Oh-Nine" or "Twenty-Oh-Six" never even caught on, the reason being that I do think all humans looked at it in their minds before actually uttering it and we all thought the same thing - that sounds Stupid!
But this year it all changes!!!!!!
2010! "Twenty-Ten"!!!! -----It has a STRONG and powerful ring to it. All matters of simple arbitrary meanings that are related to New Year's Resolutions aside, THIS YEAR sounds Great!
And with that now thoroughly explained, I want you to watch closely as I finally bring on the climax and introduce what it has taken me so many damn words thusfar to spit out:::
This next decade will be called------------> "The Twenteens"!!!!!!!!!
Did you imagine a drum-roll just then? I know I DID!!
Tell your friends! Dictionary people, enter it in there, and PUT MY NAME ON IT!
I am not doing it for the glory, but honestly, some glory would be really nice right about now!
And always ever more!!!!!
The Twenteens!
We can now safely say "Twenty-Ten", "Twenty-Twelve", and even "Twenty-Thirteen"!
We have been warned....! by the movie 2012, which came out last year, and is STILL in cinemas here in Japan. (I also gotta wait until MARCH to see Sherlock Holmes again.... but I won't be here anymore!) But 2012 is GOOD, by the way. I saw it twice on the big screen, because there is NO other way to see it! Special Effects! Special Effects!!!! End-Of-The-World-Subway-Trains-Coming-Out-Of-Uplifted-City-Blocks-As-Planes-Swoop-By-Special Effects!!!!!!!! And Yellowstone erupting! It all looks good on the big screen! Tv screen would lose it! Even a flat-screen gigantor!
For the nay-sayers:
Saying "Two-Thousand-And-Twelve" sounds crappy, and you know it!
And what were you going to do when 2020 rolled around? Say "Two-Thousand and Twenty"??? That's shit!
The TWENTEENS!!!!!!!!!
Get used to it. It's CLEVER, It's catchy, and I'm going to RAM IT DOWN YOUR THROATS every damn chance I get, because I want it to stick!!!!!!!!
You were warned!
Seriously, though, What do you think????????
From The Tominator :)
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