Archive for the ‘Ideology’ Category
Let’s talk about love!
I was always taught that boy meets girl, they fall in love, get married, then forget the world.
That’s not true! I know that it isn’t true, and yet I still can’t help but think it. Right now, I’m accounted for, but that doesn’t mean that I expect to marry the fellow, or that I expect for us to live happily ever after. It doesn’t work like that!
What are some misconceptions of love, you may ask? Here are a few. People my age and of my generation are under the impression that the right person will meet all of our needs. We, in this case being the ladies of this generation, are looking for a man to sweep us away, take away all our problems, and be the only thing we need in the world. That is not and never will be the case. Expecting for a man to be almost omniscient, all-knowing, all-compassionate, love-machine. It wont happen. That’s too much for one man, too much for one person. The only way for us to be happy with another person—or even by ourselves—is if we rely on more than one person, and especially ourselves. We need to be willing to take responsibility for our own happiness, for our own actions, for our own well-being.
To continue, we are under the impression that we can change other people. We are under the impression that we can transform them from an irresponsible, relationship fearing mess to a family guy. That doesn’t happen. There is one person that you can change, and guess who that is? Yourself. Thomas a Kempis said, “Be not angry that you cannot make another as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be.”
Next, we think that love is a feeling. We think that those butterflies in our stomach are because of love. That the initial and absolute bliss that we feel around someone else is because we are in love. Not true! It is temporary and will go away! Love isn’t a feeling, it’s action. It is doing something for someone you care about—whether it be not talking smack or letting that person borrow your history notes. Love isn’t those butterflies, it isn’t that bliss, it is something so much more supreme, so much more satisfying.
Finally, we’re under the opinion that if it is true love, we don’t have to work for it. We’re under the impression that if it is supposed to work out, it will. That isn’t the case. Love is compromise, love is argument, love is everything. It’s more than just the picnics and paddle boats. It is the time together and the time apart; it is the walks in the forest and the distant phone calls; it is the happy times and the sad times. Love is complex, and we are under the impression that it is the most simple thing in the world!
Now, above it sounds like I am supporting the idea that there is the “one and only” someone. That isn’t the case. All people are loveable. I could conceivably, and I’m sure as happily as can be expected, live the rest of my life with any man I know. It’s about where he is, where I am, and the chance of our meeting. I could get married to the fellow I’m seeing right now, or I could get married to that guy I nod at in the hallway. There isn’t a predestined man that I will fall for. There isn’t a person that I am supposed to marry. There’s a chance.
We always look at others and at chance as if nothing else could happen, as if this is the only way for it to work out. That’s never the case! It is luck. There is good in everyone. If I marry a fellow and love him with all of my heart and he dies, guess what? I can marry another! Will that make either of the relationships not matter as much? No. They’d both be meaningful. Love is love is love.
Do I agree with polygamy? Not particularly. But I am fond of the idea to love as many people as possible as much as possible.
Eh, I guess my point is that I DON’T KNOW WHAT LOVE IS (or perhaps I do… I don’t know!) But it’s late and I meant to do my history homework and I didn’t because I’m stupid. So. Have a delightful day.
I love you!
Love,
Elizabeth <3
Matthew 6:1-4 reads “Be careful not to display your righteousness merely to be seen by people. Otherwise you have no reward with your Father in heaven. Thus whenever you do charitable giving, do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in synagogues and on streets so that people will praise them. I tell you the truth, they have their reward. But when you do your giving, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your gift may be in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.”
Hide your good deeds. Do not broadcast what you have done for others, in anonymity it is even better. Essentially, these verses from Matthew say that those who broadcast what good they have done already have their reward in this life, and need not have one in the afterlife. Instead of showing others what you have done and what you will do for them, do it without reward.
As people we want to be treated well. We want other people to notice us and we have been taught that good things have rewards and bad things have punishments. This isn’t always the case. We should do good for the sake of helping someone out and we shouldn’t do bad because, hey, it’s bad. This reward system that we have set up is almost disgustingly sick. We are so greedy as people that we will not do good without a reward and will only do bad without punishments.
But I compel everyone reading to keep good deeds in the closet, hiding them from as many people possible. Do not broadcast something good for immediate reward if an eternal reward is crushed in the process.
Next, let’s talk about prayer. (It should be in the closet too!)
Matthew 6:5-6 reads “Whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray while standing in synagogues and on street corners so that people can see them. Truly I say to you, they have their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.”
I think that this verse kind of condemns out loud prayer, or at least for the purpose it serves today. In out loud prayer, who has tried to sound more spiritually minded than you normally are? Who has tried to impress others with the fantastic words coming out of your mouth? I know for a fact I have. Instead of having honest prayer, I am blending in a lie with fancy words to impress other people, not the Lord. I am glorifying myself in the eyes of others, but only condemning myself in the eyes of the Lord.
To be frank, in that action, I am being a douchebag. Out loud prayer is meant to be honest and true. It doesn’t have to be a well worded, spiritually arousing tangent about the good of others. It doesn’t have to be fancy, it just has to come from the heart.
THIS IS WHERE THAT CLOSET PRAYER COMES IN. Instead of participating in douchebaggery, closet prayer makes us Kings only in our own eyes and the Lord’s eyes. We aren’t trying to impress any other human being. There is no need to lie, because no one will hear.
So essentially, the idea to impress others only screws you. Don’t seek attention and do stuff in secret.
I love you, have an amazing day.
Hi.
So, I am currently reading a book called “the Shock Doctrine: rise of disaster capitalism” by Naomi Klein. I have not read all of it, I am currently lost somewhere in the third chapter. But it is sufficient that i feel the need to point at Milton Friedman, the guru of right-wing contra-revolution and laugh.
He is basically the guy who started the ideological movement of rightwing fanatics from University in Chicago, a group of dumbfucks that figure if you cause enough trauma to a country, you will subsequently have the opportunity to introduce a sort of *shock-capitalism* to said country because whatever opposition will be distracted by the trauma of war, invasion, ethnic cleansing, genocide, you name it. So then you have the window to introduce the ultimate free market, with deregulated toll barriers, tax cuts, privatization and the works.
So, this theory was first and foremost a theory, one of those “on-paper-only” “food-for-discussion” things. Until the coup in Chile 1973. Salvador Allende had been ruling the country for some time, democratically chosen and socialistic. Nationalisation, developmentarism, you name it. It was great. He got killed by Augusto Pinochet and his followers. The contra-revolution had started.
And the country which had been at a steady 3% unemployment got, thanks to Freidmans policy, as high as 30%. People got poor and had to spend (calculated) 74% of their paychecks on bread alone, something which before this capitalistic contra-revolution was less than 14% of their income due to price regulations. Over the course of 10 years, Freidman and his friends argued for more shock, more capitalism, less state interferance, saying it would fix everything. It didn’t. For everytime that puppet Pinochet deregulated and privatized, the people got worse off. Chile went from a stable planned economy in which its people flourished, to the laughing stock of the economical world. 307% Inflation, bitches!
Not until Pinochet got his mind twisted somewhat in the right direction and started nationalizing shit, Chiles economy got a little better.
So the point of this history lesson? It is to collectively (the best way) laugh at how the contra-revolution failed to do what it was supposed to, through free markets and privatization make the economy stable and the country rich, and instead it ruined the country completely.
No wait, that’s not funny, it’s infuriating and pathetic. Suppose we’re gonna have to keep fighting, then.
There are some religious things that religious people do that absolutely irk me. What is that, you may ask? I’ll tell you what!
I was on the facebook last night, and I commented on something about the United States not having a set language (so
people from other countries shouldn’t have to learn English to come here) and not being a Christian Country—because it isn’t—and some young girl (young being like… fourteenish. DON’T JUDGE ME) who has grown up in the Bible Belt of West Virginia all her life started getting pissed at me over it. This gal told me to “not ever start about Christianity, please and thank” because “God is [her] savior and [she] loves him with all of [her] heart.” Apparently she assumed that because I don’t believe the exact same thing as her, she would need to announce it to my three hundred facebook friends that she loves God with all of her heart—making it look like I disagree with that statement.
I used extensive examples showing how Christians justify their hate through their Religion—and she even angrier, because apparently Christians are blind and don’t see what they have caused. Justifying hate through Christ is disgusting. The goal of Christianity is to be like Christ, and I’m pretty sure Christ wouldn’t want to kill “them queers” or hate people of other religions. We justify hate and make excuses for not loving. It is absolutely disgusting. The girl informed me that the hate is okay, because Jesus died for our sins. That is ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY NOT THE CASE. (the hate part, not the Jesus part…)
OKAY, so as Christians we say that Christ died for our sins, allowing us to sin. That doesn’t mean that Christ wants us to sin or that our sins are “okay.” We are taking that forgiveness and using it as a primary shield against eternal damnation instead of a safety net, as it should be. As Christians, as religious folk, as human beings, we should strive for perfection though we know it is unattainable. We cannot accept our sin and not try to change it because Christians aren’t perfect; trying to change that hate—that sin—is what separates the men from the boys. God understands that we make mistakes, but he sure as fire expects for us to try to resolve those mistakes and those bad habits we have. We cannot use Christ’s sacrifice as an excuse for our own sins—that’s not the point.
Like many would say in this region, we cannot justify “killing them queers” or lynching those who do not follow Christianity with our own religion. God wouldn’t want that. Pick up the mother fucking Bible and read it yourself. Yeah, yeah, I know about Leviticus, that’s the one that also said not to crop in cycles, wear polyester cotton mixes, or breed mules. What the hell did Christ say? To love thy neighbor? I guess He only meant the Christian neighbor. Or the white neighbor. Or the male neighbor. Certainly not the “queer” neighbor or the non-Christian neighbor, that’s ridiculous! God forbid we start loving other people and treating them correctly. It’s a shame that as Christians we are such disgusting people.
That’s all. See you next time.
You know what grinds my gears? Have a blessed day!
I answered the phone because my doctor’s office called, and at the end they said “have a blessed day.” I walked into starbucks today and was told to “have a blessed day.” Why might this bother a religious person, you may ask? I’LL TELL YOU WHY.
These companies–whether it be starbucks or my doctor’s office–use “have a blessed day” to make us tip them. To make us think to ourselves ‘Why looky there! There’s a nice person, she even told me to have a blessed day’ or ‘man, I should donate ALL MY MONEY to this person.’
IT SHOULDN’T BE LIKE THAT. Human beings shouldn’t use religion as an excuse to get money. They shouldn’t use their religion to get ahead in this world. However, tell any politician that, tell any church that, tell any human being that. We use everything to get more money, whether it be our children or our religion.
Why the hell are we so focused on this money? How do we justify bringing our own religion into something to get a little more of it?
Where the hell is the line? Where will we say “oh, wait a minute, that isn’t cool” to someone telling us to have a blessed day, or that the Lord will bless and keep us? AND, finally, WHEN THE FUCK WILL MONEY NOT MATTER SO MUCH IN MODERN SOCIETY? (go socialists go go go!)
Anyway, have a blessed day.