Lest we Forget

We get together and remember

our tragedies and our losses.

communites large or small

sharing its grief or disbelief

and we say,

it is good to remember

lest we forget

and we remember

our wars, holocausts and genocides

and we maybe hope

that by remembering

we will prevent these

horrifying acts

from ever happening again

but,

how do we remember,

and

what exactly are we remembering?

I ask these questions

because I think we can insulate ourselves

from the realities of

what humanity has proven itself to be

by remembering

with a sense of disbelief

we can keep ourselves separate

from the vile evil-doers

as if they were born of hell

and we were born of heaven

we can remember

in a way that helps us

keep a mythology

about human progress

intact, and unedited

this kind of remembering

keeps ourselves

lost in a little mist of innocence

where we stay

baffled and bemused

by the acts of others

and we would far rather

stay that way

than find out

that all those

perpetrators and victims

were ordinary people

like you and me

that fell either side

of that all too fine line

that any one of us

could find ourselves

on the wrong side of

but, isn't that is too close for comfort?

so lets forget

lest we remember

Fixing the Leaks

I think that we oftentimes convince ourselves that avoiding things is easy, as if to avoid the difficult and the challenging, were to embrace the stress-free life. Some have become so used to avoiding things, that they call themselves lazy, as if this behaviour has become a part of their identity. We may even come up with clever meaningful stories about why we don't do particular things. We can avoid things for all sorts of reasons. It can be from lack of self-belief, fear of failure, or addiction to established comfort zones, or any number of self-created, superstitious, narcissistic narratives. However, it is erroneous to think that the avoidance is easy, and energy-saving.

Avoiding things is an action. It has a hidden intentionality behind it. It is a repackaged resistance. It drains energy in hidden ways, that will leave us lethargic and apathetic. It steals the energy that we could otherwise be putting into addressing our fears, and steals the opportunity of finding a truly personal fulfillment. Personal fulfillment, can only come through challenging our fears, and expending energy in that general direction. Our fears communicate to us what matters to us. Fear is the field in which our treasure is buried. We can leave it there and never find it if we so wish.

Avoidance is resistance. Resistance expends energy, but it is a use of energy that is like a leak in the system. It drains away under the surface, and you lose the energy you need for things that might be important, significant or meaningful to you.

If we are not putting ourselves to things, if we are not challenging ourselves in some way or other, or if we are avoiding the things we fear, we will end up with lives that feel stagnant, repetitive, mediocre, empty, boring, meaningless and without worth.

We can not expect to have lives that feel meaningful and significant, if we do not channel our energies into tasks, if we do not challenge ourselves, if we do not take some risks.

Things...what are those things...those things we avoid? A broken relationship? A risky vocational venture? Being truly ourselves with others? The better life?

Fix the leaks, divert your limited energies, direct them toward living the fullest life you can muster, in this blip of time we call life. Not because we must, not because we are obliged to, not because of what others might think, and not because it matters; just because you might feel alive again, and we all know, even if only from distant memory, that that feels good.

A Pleasurable Resolution

Keep your vices

Keep your guilty pleasures

Let your new resolution be

to get rid of the guilt,

not the pleasure

isn't life difficult enough

and short enough

so why would we want to deprive ourselves of pleasure?

Yet,

guilt drives so many of us

and we will get caught up

in purging ourselves

of our

unacceptable behaviour

less controlled behaviour

childlike behaviour

human behaviour

purge ourselves for our failings,

we the priest, we the sinner

handing out our own penance.

Do not steal away from your life

instead,

add to your life

bring more and more richness to your life

let it be textured

let it be pleasurable

find as many things as you can to find pleasure in

these may be new activities

and fresh experiences

you have never before explored

make it your goal to free yourself

from guilt

from shame

make it a year for finding ways

to live more fully

to live more freely

of course,

we may not even have that many pleasures in our lives

as we currently exist

or the things that were once pleasurable

have lost their enjoyment

so adding pleasure to our lives

may require us to breach our defences

may require us to jump the fences

may require us to say

FUCK IT

to our own retinue of

self-created and borrowed

legalities and principles

that help us to justify avoiding

risk and change

and when it comes down to this

down to the nitty-gritty

it becomes a decision

over an exchange

of pleasures

the pleasure,

of the status quo

the comfort and convenience

of doing what we have always done

even if this no longer brings anything

that we might honour with the name pleasure

and

the possible pleasures

that we might discover

as we test and try

and experiment

with things we have never done before

or re-encountering things

that used to bring us

pleasure

imagine we resolved to enjoy our lives as much as possible

without feeling guilty for it

imagine that for the rest of your life

you increased the amount of pleasure in your life

without worrying about what anyone else thought

increasing your potential for pleasure

opening up opportunities for pleasure

dropping your resistances to unknown pleasures

day by day, year by year

would you ever regret that?