Common Sense

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society" - Krishnamurti

There is a guy who, for as long as I’ve been here, just sits outside his house. 7am he’s there. 2pm he’s there. 7pm he’s there. He sits there with his cigarette and waves to those who pass by.

He pets dogs that come up to say hello. His daughter brings him a sandwich now and then. He’s always there. He’s wonderful. He’s happy. But most of the world does not understand him. Here’s why;

There is this little voice in our heads saying, “You are not doing enough.”

Get that next degree. Increase the bank balance. Spend more time with your kids. Move to a better neighborhood, in a better house. Run quicker, get stronger. “You are not doing enough.”

The myth of progress does not just apply to the macro level. It is embedded in our culture, the personal beliefs which drive our actions every day. It is the belief that we are here on earth to work, to conquer, to tame it and make it our own. To get a lot, every damn thing.

We are here on earth “to make it”, whatever that nonsense means. And to do so, we must get up each morning and keep busy, doing, getting, building, consuming, winning, achieving - doing enough.

It’s the protestant work ethic consumed by modern, western, consumer culture. You are here to win, to make money, to do more, to be bigger, better, stronger, higher, farther, faster …

And I’m here to tell you - it’s all a den of lies. The lie of heaven, one day if you work hard, you’ll get there. The lie of “if I work hard, one day, I’ll be able to relax, enjoy.” So you finally get to that day and find out - your life has taught you who you are. You can’t relax, enjoy, your whole life had just been that thought, that earworm and you’ll never get it out of your head. It’s too late. “I’m not doing enough.”

I repeat. I’m here to tell you - it’s a den of lies.

I’m not saying all the self-help B.S. of just chill, drop out, find yourself yadda yadda … is of no import. No. I’m just saying don’t follow that little voice in your head. Redefine “enough” and that will be enough. Follow that logic.

Get that voice out of your head. Forgive yourself and then throw it away for good. There is nothing you truly have to achieve to be worthy, to be alive, to be “of life”.

I repeat. Get that voice out of your head. You are doing enough. You are here.

“To live beyond the pale, to work for the pleasure of working, to grow old gracefully while retaining one’s faculties, one’s enthusiasms, one’s self respect, one has to establish other values than those endorsed by the mob. It takes an artist to make this breach in the wall. An artist is primarily one who has faith in himself. He does not respond to the normal stimuli: he is neither a drudge nor a parasite. He lives to express himself and in so doing enriches the world.”

“When man becomes fully conscious of his powers, his role, his destiny, he is an artist and he ceases his struggle with reality. He becomes a traitor to the human race... he has become permanently out of step with the rest of humanity…he transmutes his real experience of life into spiritual equations.” - Henry Miller