Wake up…
“Consciousness has degrees. We can be wide awake or sound asleep. We can be anesthetized. He is not fully conscious who can speak lightly of such things as basic appreciations and general insights into the knowledge of a discipline. He wanders in the twilight sleep of knowing where insubstantial words, hazy and disembodied, have fled utterly from things and ideas. His is an attractive world, dreamy and undemanding, a Lotus-land of dozing addicts. They blow a little smoke our way. It smells good. Suddenly and happily we realize that our creative capacities and self-understanding yearn after basic appreciations and general insights. We nod, we drowse, we fall asleep.
I am trying to stay awake.”
-Richard Mitchell
“I am trying to stay awake” has become somewhat of a personal mantra for me. For years I have had this quote in its entirety typed on a piece of paper and taped on the wall above my thermostat so that I would see it at least twice every day.
As it turns out, it’s a good time to be awake, because there’s a lot going on here in this Universe we’ve found ourselves in. I will admit that there are a lot more questions than answers, but we know more now than we knew then, and hopefully I will know more tomorrow than I know today. That is, if tomorrow is even something within our reach….
You see, compared to the struggle of our species for survival at this incomparably monumental and most uncertain moment in our history, my own rambling journey towards an unseen truth pales in comparison. One person wanting to do the right thing is simply not enough.
But this blog is not just about me. This blog is also, and far more importantly, for YOU.
You see, I’m not just trying to stay awake. I want you to wake up too.
In that spirit I humbly dedicate this blog to each and every one of my future readers, whomever and however few you may be. Here I will share ideas, pose difficult questions, and discuss possible solutions with anyone who cares to join in on the conversation. Comments and feedback are devoutly encouraged and greatly appreciated, whether they be to commend, offend, or correct. When the solutions seem impossible or the answers hopelessly lost, I will do my best to interject a bit of humor–the only fit substitute for Salvation that I have ever been able to find.
So as I said before, there really is a lot going on here, and I really do think you’ll want to be awake for this. At least I hope so, because the entire world needs your help. I concede, however, that the Search for Truth, however immensely rewarding and life-altering it may be, can also be rather…exhausting.
I am trying to stay awake.
Thank you so much for your time and attention. And if you do happen to doze off from time to time, rest assured that I will be vigilant, and I will not hesitate to nudge you out of your peaceful slumber.
Sincerely yours,
~Chris
Chris the Humanist 
Well, it appears that the “reluctant messiah” has landed his fleet right here on the Internet!!! Te-he-he. My son, whom you may know, always struggled with these same issues as you have mentioned already in your blog. He relentlessly pondered and experienced great anxiety over such perplexing questions….because he was a great thinker. He asked me several times, “Why am I here? For what purpose am I born….and all of us? What is the purpose of life? Is there a God? What does he want from me?” I answered, “Whether or not you believe in “God,” OUR purpose in life is to be the best we can be for ourselves, our family, and our world.” I don’t think that eased his pain when he was younger. Perhaps as he has grown older, he may recall our conversations. I hope so.
I understand your feelings of absurdity seeing how some Christians misinterpret their own “good book” and the religious manual for living to which they refer and forget the words of their God. Regarding your first blog on “wake up,” the Bible states in the very first chapter of Genesis that God placed the ENTIRE EARTH under the care and dominion of mankind. It says that …..right there in the first chapter. Now jumping forward to the New Testament, Jesus didn’t ask God for permission to do anything. He just went about healing, feeding, carpentering, teaching and being the best example for living a purposeful life. Sometimes religion gets in the way of living and being true to one’s core.
We do, indeed, need to reflect on a global scale how we are going to manage the future existence of our planet with all it’s issues. As the Human race, we have allowed some pretty dangerous and irresponsible patterns and beliefs to infiltrate our psyche…thus promoting more habitual counter-productive behaviors toward ourselves, our families, our communities and the world.
SDR
Annabel, thank you for your thoughtful comments and for reading. I don’t subscribe to the Bible or any religious text as a worthy source of truth, cosmology, history or morality….but more on that in a future blog post…I promise.
the only Bible source I will even consider are the unadulterated Dead Sea scrolls written in the origingal language of Christ’s day and time……
The King James etc. translations have been so adulterated by the thinking and the grasping of their day that I do not feel they are honest or true translations ….. have you ever played the game where somone whispers something in your ear, and you then pass it on to the ear of another and on down the line that when the message is repeated by the last person it is so distored of its original content that it is laughable? If you want a truer version go to the original and make sure you can trust the translater if you cannot read it yourself.
I hope that no one thinks that without a Bible there is no truth.
I Love the Christ … I love the Buddha …. I love the truth, whatever that may be ,,,,,,, and who knows what form that will take ???
Well said, ILois. I like how you compared the translations of the ancient texts to the game “Telephone” (that’s what we called it in MY first grade class anyway). Very excellent points.
I truly look forward to waking up in the morning, sitting on the crapper, and reading your blog. From the time I met you I’ve always found you to be very insightful and sincere. Maybe the pupil has begun his final journey to mastery, go with DOG.
PEACE ON YOU BROTHER
Thank you so much for the support, brotha.
It is not my first time to pay a quick visit this site, i am visiting
this website dailly and obtain nice facts from here every day.