2004-02-02 - 11:14 p.m.
"Show me the heart unfettered by foolish dreams and I'll show you a happy man."
I consider that since we have the freedom to dream, whether foolish or otherwise, we can choose to be free from bondage wherever we may be, until the moment we pass from this earth. In fact, this freedom may be the antithesis to the two prevailing philosophical ideals of our world, the ideas that either life is suffering from the beginning, or that it is best enjoyed when in full competition with others, driven by greed for yielding the most profit and satisfaction. One may choose to dream, unrestricted by ideals, necessity, desire or vanity. What, you may subsequently ask, is there to dream about if these things do not play a role in such a life? The answer is surprisingly difficult to envision, because one who asks this question must then free themselves from all of the above-mentioned vices to truly understand their own question. It is exactly the freedom encompassed in envisioning such a life, that bears the fruit of dreaming such dreams. It is almost laughable that in the attempt to envision a life free of such vices, one is also beginning the practice of dreaming the dreams mentioned in the beginning. It is what John Lennon sang about. It is what Jesus Christ set down in his philosophy before he was misquoted. The Gospel of Thomas. The Kingdom of God is within you. As simple as that, an idea transforms the burdensome life lived by many now into the plans envisioned by God for the meaning of our lives. Lives free from competition, hate, sorrow, greed and anger, and yet fulfilled and fulfilling the intent for the mind of man for use and expansion. Not such that it is used to create material items for their interests to be wrought, but the collective expression of mental collaboration for envisioning progress, dreaming free dreams, and the combined effort and understanding that only by the free dream, only by the wayside disposal of the contention and competition, can the free dream be dreamt, and God's will be done. It is the meaning of life. It is the reason for being. And yet, a critic would say this is anathema, the idea of a devil, or the sinister complement of satan put into words. I say, think about yourself and how comfortable you are with your being, with your God, with your apologetics, and with the sieve which your mind may be, never filtering the challenging, never analyzing the countrpoint, perhaps because you are afraid, perhaps because you are prude. Either way, it is in the understanding that the free dream, the freedom from everything, including your interpretation of God, is what God intended in the first place, as the ultimate goal of human consciousness and the gift of dreams, the gift of intelligence. It was meant to be USED, not further hindered by the fear, by the evolutionary development of competition and detention of the mind, the corruption of love, the subjugation of life to money and debauchery. Yet the free dreamer is castigated for her "irresponsibility", her "wastefulness of time and life", her "immorality". We have intelligence, we have foresight, we have memory, we have deduction, and we have dreams. Together, for the free thiking human being, the final answer arrived at with the use of these tools, is not self-promotion to the point of having control over other human beings, which in turn leads to sorrow and an ill-possessed soul. It is the discovery of the love intended as the ultimate point of cnscious achievement. It is the discovery of God. It is the attainment of the highest ideal. It is to become one with God. Through no other means can this be achieved. It cannot be done unless the mind is freed from all burdens, and the free dream is dreamt. Any other attempt, any other path will only blemish the dream. The Kingdom of God cannot be arrived at via a masked road. It cannot be understood without understanding the love that is God. Texts and teachings that say God is or approves of anything but absolute love are wrong. It is as simple as that, and yet SO incredibly complex to understand that no one has yet arrived at it. No one has been able to dream freely. No one has understood what it means to be truly happy.
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And now a few somethings from DPS - Dead Poets' Society - the former of which is the script from a scene from the movie, and the latter, one of the poems.
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McAllister: You take a big risk by encouraging them to become artists, John. When they realize they're not Rembrandts, Shakespeares, or Mozarts, they'll hate you for it.
Keating: We're not talking artists, George. We're talking free thinkers.
McAllister: Free thinkers at seventeen?
Keating: Funny, I never pegged you as a cynic.
McAllister: Not a cynic, a realist. Show me the heart unfettered by foolish dreams and I'll show you a happy man.
Keating: But only in their dreams can men be truly free. T'was always thus and always thus will be.
McAllister: Tennyson?
Keating: No, Keating.
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"To the Virgins,Make Much of Time"
Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old time is still a-flying,
And this same flower that smiles today,
To-morrow will be dying.
The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,
The higher he's a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
And nearer he's to setting.
That age is best which is the first,
When youth and blood are warmer;
But being spent, the worse and worst
Times still succeed the former.
Then be not coy, but use your time,
and while ye may, go marry;
For having lost just once your prime,
You may for ever tarry.
-ROBERT HERRICK
1591-1674
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And what kind of precedent would I be setting if I did not include my own poems and some more qutoes?!!
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Bereft of mind,
The tattered king,
Afoot traversed the dale,
Reviled the past,
And loathed the din,
To which his fate adhered,
Free me now!
He cursed himself,
Why not but let me be?!
Curse my fate,
Devour me!
Excise the life from me!
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and yet another...
The play has another Act,
The poem, another Verse,
The painting has another Facet,
The life another Curse,
And life goes on without a sound,
The heart, without a caste,
The meaning escapes the meted man,
A Canvas much too vast,
Prefer the borders,
Desire the bounds,
Live life on a weathered path,
But life shall pass,
Act Two will come,
Realized when you breathe the last.
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"I don't believe; not one single word of it. Ah! sacrifice and renunciation are recommended to me; I must take heed to everything I do; I must cudgel my brains over good and evil, over the just and the unjust, over the fas and the nefas. Why? Because I shall have to render an account of my actions. When? After death. What a fine dream! After my death it will be a very clever person who can catch me. Have a handful of dust seized by a shadow-hand, if you can. Let us tell the truth, we who are initiated, and who have raised the veil of Isis: there is no such thing as either good or evil; there is vegetation. Let us seek the real. Let us get to the bottom of it. Let us go into it thoroughly. What the deuce! let us go to the bottom of it! We must scent out the truth; dig in the earth for it, and seize it. Then it gives you exquisite joys. Then you grow strong, and you laugh. I am square on the bottom, I am. Immortality, Bishop, is a chance, a waiting for dead men's shoes. Ah! what a charming promise! trust to it, if you like! What a fine lot Adam has! We are souls, and we shall be angels, with blue wings on our shoulder-blades. Do come to my assistance: is it not Tertullian who says that the blessed shall travel from star to star? Very well. We shall be the grasshoppers of the stars. And then, besides, we shall see God. Ta, ta, ta! What twaddle all these paradises are! God is a nonsensical monster. I would not say that in the Moniteur, egad! but I may whisper it among friends. Inter pocula. To sacrifice the world to paradise is to let slip the prey for the shadow. Be the dupe of the infinite! I'm not such a fool. I am a nought. I call myself Monsieur le Comte Nought, senator. Did I exist before my birth? No. Shall I exist after death? No. What am I? A little dust collected in an organism. What am I to do on this earth? The choice rests with me: suffer or enjoy. Whither will suffering lead me? To nothingness; but I shall have suffered. Whither will enjoyment lead me? To nothingness; but I shall have enjoyed myself. My choice is made. One must eat or be eaten. I shall eat. It is better to be the tooth than the grass. Such is my wisdom. After which, go whither I push thee, the grave-digger is there; the Pantheon for some of us: all falls into the great hole. End. Finis."
"Let us never fear robbers nor murderers. Those are dangers from without, petty dangers. Let us fear ourselves. Prejudices are the real robbers; vices are the real murderers. The great dangers lie within ourselves. What matters it what threatens our head or our purse! Let us think only of that which threatens our soul."
--Victor Hugo, Les Miserables
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