While I sat on my floor in a loose meditation, I came to the conclusion that it is important to document your life. Why, you may ask? Well the answer is fairly simple; memories are fallible and each breath of each day is so precious, so wonderful, that it would be a shame to let it pass without the slenderest recognition. Too often I have taken-for-granted that life will continue on tomorrow as it did today. This belief is so ingrained in myself and our modern world that when things are different, we are thrown totally out of kilter. For some, even just a small change in their typical routine catches them off guard. I find this amusingly sad because it shows that we have no awareness off the most fundamental, inexhaustible fact of life—that everything is constantly changing. Life is change. So why do we ignore it, fear it, worry about it. In fact we are so adverse to change that we tend to more or less do the same things we did yesterday--today, tomorrow, and the next day. How many times have you eaten the same lunch, bought the same brand of clothes, listened to the same song, and so on and so forth. It is as if by doing the same thing over and over we will somehow stop the process of change.
What we all must realize is that this comfortable routine which we call life is really only part of the picture. This gift of predictability and stability which modern society has afforded us has made us blind to the true essence of life. It has allowed us to turn off our minds and sleepwalk through each day without truly being aware of the world around us. The simple fact is that most of us, most of the time behave and act like machines. We go through each day fulfilling out basic drives and biological needs. I can even say that even the most autonomous of people remain in many respects an object—dependent, contingent, pushed around by circumstances. Only rarely do people exercise the power of self-awareness and maximize their abilities as human beings. Only rarely do we become everything we are capable of becoming and determine the path of our life. Hence I titled my blog Thoughtless Minds as a critique of the mindless existence in the 21st century and a gesture for people to think for themselves, exercise their creativity, and wake up to their higher potential.What I think this blog is about at this point in time (subject to change):
I don't want or expect this to be a self-righteous, didactic rant about how the world needs to be saved. In fact it is more likely to be a self-depreciating composition of my own observations, thoughts, and feelings. Honestly I don't mind if I am the only one who ever reads this. Maybe such personal pontification does not fit the supposed purpose of a blog. Well, who cares. My goal is to use this space a multimedia-journal that will remain protected in the internet cloud in case my other writings get lost in say, a house fire. So as much as a computer and Georgia font size 12 allow me to open my heart, I invite you to join me on a journey of spiritual enlightenment, self-actualization, happiness, eudimonia, personal growth, or simply whatever you are missing in life. Let the journey begin...
Jeff
