on enticement ...

This world is filled with sensory experiences, from touch to taste, to smells of aromas, perfumes, food, to images, art, tv, radio, animals, it is a serious abundance of all the possible combination   of senses existent nowadays. I think that as humanity has grown so it has grown our need to fill more and more those sensory experiences, perhaps as a product of discovery of even new methods and technology? We as a society have decided to try hallucinogens, all sorts of drugs, adrenaline, the rush of events, sex, etc etc etc in order to have more and more of these type of experiences, they are super enticing; But what is that we are really searching for when we engage on them? Is it simply the desire to fill that knowledge of how it feels? is it curiosity? some call it experimentation but I think this term it is too big for sometimes such endeavours, as the process of experimentation entails some sort of a method; a method that requires a process, a scientific method per se and more often than not engaging on these adventures is not with the intent of following a method to prove a point but rather for pure and simple pleasure. If I won't call them experimentation then what are they? curiosity? Curious comes from the Latin cura which means to care, not quite the mark either, as this entails a desire to learn, the eagerness of it, the care of learning. Yet most of these are rather addictive behaviours, they chain us to habits so hard to break that we live our entire lives practicing them, experiencing them and yet never achieving any supposed knowledge from them, better even never realizing we are trapped by them, slaves, yet screaming along the way: I am free and thats why I do it! (ironic eh?)

Can it be that it is simply our yearning for pleasure? Let us see. Pleasure is defined as a feeling of happiness, enjoyment or satisfaction. I found rather interesting that this word did not exist prior to the 1500's, did people before that had no pleasures? Of course not, one needs only look at the Greeks to assert that they surely did and they sure looked to feed those pleasures, to indulge! Words have changed and or have been added with the passage of time to express more clearly the development of new ideas (see article on language evolution) But what I think is happening here is rather the evolution of the word happiness, the reinterpretation as we all desperately seek for this most precious commodity of all, ever since day one. The evasive happiness search.

One interesting observation on our movement on the continuum of our search for happiness is how with age, from our early stages and on, we find happiness on our relationship with our family; parents first, baby feels happy when mother holds him/her on her arms; soon enough baby walks and finds himself with mixed emotions about that happiness, still mother's arms are great but those toys look mighty enticing too, and so does the yummy food, and all that is around, to the point of slowly leaving mom's arms by the time one is a toddler, our needs grow and further from Mom it seems. Friends come into the picture, relationships start to breed and soon enough mom's arms are not the  only source of happiness they once were, yet no matter at what age they will always remain the safest place on earth. We are enticed by other forms of finding happiness as if it evades us since the separation from Mom; we grow old and it seems to go back to those roots of finding happiness at home, in the arms of loved ones, in the simplest things. The paradox of this trip is that perhaps one starts unknowingly happy and ends consciously one and on the way looking for it everywhere to find it exactly where one started, at home.

What happens in between childhood and old age? if it all seems to be a circular pattern? Growth of course, yet, how do we loose track of what really matters? Are the things around us too enticing to makes us lose focus? are they just simply there for us to enjoy them all and experience them? The obvious answer is that surely things are made for our enjoyment, yet one cannot follow the argument that one is to try everything given that certain things would end with our lives if we try them and this roller coaster of experiences. Surely one is to live and enjoy this life, no doubt about it, to find joy, happiness.

I like to think that we somehow loose track on our journey; as we enter those years from young adulthood to start parenting it seems that the constant bombardment of our attention is in full march, sports, bars, drugs, games, magazines, tv and so forth. If there was an intent behind, what is it that is trying to get us away from? If it is a conspiracy theory of sorts what do "they" want us to be away from? Why the so intense bombardment for our attention and time?  What is it so crucial during those years that "they" want us away from? Sure there is the theory of economics and the desire to make consumers of us all and the training starts at a very young age I suppose. Or it is perhaps simply that the businesses of tobacco, alcohol and drugs are simply fighting for economic success and higher ROI's.

We have been made to believe that the fear monger religious people have come up with this idea that every action, every thought has a consequence, an impact on the future, because they put it on terms of heavens and hell, when in reality it is a natural process; all we do, every thought we have, every habit we acquire, a repercussion on our immediate, near and far future, there is no way around it. The time has come where is no longer the job of religion to teach us about it but science is now talking about the same issues and in their own terms; no wonder the other day I read this:
"In order to understand the way our brains behave, we can observe our emotions and their effects. In the past, it seemed as though science and spirituality were opposed to each other. However, it’s not a useful division to maintain, because the one tradition deals with knowledge of the material world and the other with the inner world of the mind; we need to know about both." Dalai Lama

As we choose to participate on anything beware of what some people have called the sweet soft threads of silk, I want to use rather the fabric of kevlar; we partake of one beer, one improper thought, one cigarette, one bad habit, a prideful heart, an unforgiving heart, a grumpy attitude today and the best advertisement agencies will tell us, will lie to us I should say, it is all good, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, you are young and have the right to have fun, it is only once, it is part of life, you only live once, etc etc etc. we have heard them all, all lies; lies because they say the main purpose of all this is to enjoy and enjoy again and again our freedom yet the consequence of its use is the opposite, it makes us slaves, slaves to addictions , slaves to bad habits, not as free as they claimed  eh? oops!; freedom ought to be maintained by a constant battle not by surrendering nor by giving up (or in) not simply to be used but to be used wisely so it is maintained intact; maintained is the key, never to surrender our freedom, to no one to nothing. The magic of silk and kevlar is that they are soft and nice on their own and at a small amount, yet it is the constant threading and pilling that makes out of such soft and nice materials one heck of a strong cord or one heck of a bullet proof material even, near impossible to break later on, impenetrable. No wonder the interest in youth, to slowly bind us, to make us consumers of that pseudo freedom. I don't say this as a theorizer but rather as someone who realizes what has happened in his own life, I recognize the pattern as I have felt to it too. We ought to be smarter, to recognize that every action, every thought has a long term repercussion; just like the man who truly understands this pattern, yes, even the farmer; the farmer knows that he will reap only what he sow and that whatever he plants that and only that he will sow, if he wants apples he must plant apples not oranges. His crop is exactly connected to his efforts exerted on that field, he can not afford a day of distraction, of carelessness because he knows he will reap the consequences, let us all be better farmers.
Let us smarten up on what we plant for our own future, I am determined to constantly, daily, observe my planting, and because I am certain I will plant the wrong things from time to time I will weed, constantly too;  weeding, as a close and personal process of introspection, of inner honesty, of change. I will check on those bonds made with silk or kevlar and take them off to maintain my freedom, I will check on the things that entice me and their repercussion on my future freedom.