Spill The Oil Lamp And Escape The Life That Someone Else Designed For You
The herd mentality that we have evolved to have was there probably to protect us from unknown dangers. Now it’s just something large companies exploit to keep you mentally and financially chained up.
We wear certain clothes because we want to belong and because we want to be more associated with the finer dressing folk than the homeless guy on the street. The person wearing Goth must be insane in the head… that’s not expressing individuality!… they must be a high school dropout.
We live in nicer neighborhoods because it gives us status. We buy nice furniture because Ikea stuff is for poor people. We refuse to have our mattress on the floor even though today’s mattresses are so goddamn thick that they don’t even need a bed frame. Yes there are safer neighborhood within biking distance to work but that one time on the news that one lady with the big boobs said there was a shooting …. so, yeah, I’m not living there.
We buy a car because everyone has one. What if an emergency happens and we need the car to get away? We don’t ride a bike because it’s dangerous riding a bike… I mean sitting in a car and getting stressed out behind the wheel going 75 mph is much safer than taking a scenic ride into work on a multi-use path. I mean thinking back to my life there have been so many emergencies that if I didn’t have a car I would have died… okay maybe not died but I would have been financially devastated…. okay maybe not that either but the Autoclub of America says it’s important to have a car.
We get a house with multiple bedrooms because that’s what other people around us do. I mean there is no way for 2-4 people of the same family to live in a studio or even a 1-bedroom. It just can’t be done. Well yea maybe they do that shit in India or Vietnam but look at them … what have Indians done with themselves? Sure they are doctors and engineers but… they live 4-to-a-room! Go ‘Merica!!
We get a life insurance policy, disability insurance, home owner’s insurance, flood insurance, comprehensive auto insurance and just for safe measure an umbrella policy. Because that’s what responsible adults do. Shit, if I didn’t have auto insurance I could have never afforded paying cash to replace a bumper… no way, not possible.
We push our kids to achieve more in school, learn more sports and speak more languages because we want our kids to be special. Or maybe we just want them to be set apart from the kids growing up in the ghetto’s. Yes, we would love to spend more quality time with them but there is no time, maybe later when they get older, right now they have to learn more because that is what makes a better human, learning more shit.
And all the while we are trying to express our individuality aren’t we? Fuck, that mo-fo bought the same car as me on that block – damn it. That biatch got the same dress as me. That person wrote the same article as I did. Oh great, I got this beautiful laptop and now everyone has it. Maybe we’ll start customizing our shit to stand out a little. Sure, I live in a townhouse but I bet you don’t have this kind of counter-top in your kitchen! Sucka’!
How unique and individualized are you when you are stuck in the same fucking 9-5 as the dude next to you? How special are you rolling down the 405 freeway in your Lambo going 5.8 mph burning 30 mph just idling at 1,500 rpm. How special are you when you take the same commute to the same community where all the rich people live? How unique are you when you retire at the same age as everyone else?
I am looking out of my window and for about 1.5 miles I can see the freeway. I walked into my place at 4:30pm after biking home from a meeting. I saw lines of cars stretching from where the freeway disappears into the horizon and it’s still going strong at 5:51pm. Everyone honking at everyone else because they think what they are doing is more correct than what the other person is doing. They are wasting away a beautiful life staring at the ugly bumper of some other poor bastard in front of them.
What does it take to escape this special and unique life that you’ve created for yourself? You need to spill the oil of this lamp… as a beautiful poet wrote:
Spill the oil lamp! Set this dry, boring place on fire! If you have ever Made wanton love with God, Then you have ignited that brilliant Light inside That every person needs. So -- Spill the oil! -Muhammad Hafiz (1320-1389)