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Rock And Hawk Here is a symbol in which Many high tragic thoughts Watch their own eyes. This gray rock, standing tall On the headland, where the seawind Lets no tree grow, Earthquake-proved, and signatured By ages of storms: on … Continue reading
What generated a sense of excitement in your childhood? Well, there was the belief in Bigfoot. You used to go on those excursions with your friend in the woods behind the neighborhood searching for the beast. There was also the belief in Santa Clause and the reindeer…the Tooth Fairy…the Easter bunny…the Great Pumpkin. Too bad these all turned out to be a bunch of lies. Why do parents need to make up lies and fairy tales? Is it because the reality and truth of human momentum is devoid of excitement? Is adulthood really that bad…forcing us to make-believe with our children? Perhaps…instead of lies…we could talk about some real significant humans and human achievement and celebrate that…or…there is an abundance of beauty and mystery to celebrate in the inhuman sphere.
There were lots of real adventures that got the heart pumping. Those secret missions at night, once the parents were asleep…sneaking out to egg and toilet paper neighborhood homes. Remember that time you and xxxxxxx poured gasoline on the neighbor’s firewood pile, set it aflame, and then proceeded to be firemen putting out the blaze? Remember how fast your heart was pumping when the cops rolled into your driveway? The approaching storms were invigorating. You would watch them approaching from the front porch…the lightening…the thunder…the swirling dark clouds…the tornado warnings. Remember when your brothers used to make you punch some random kid so they could watch a fight? How mean. But, it did get your adrenaline flowing,,,right?
Man, all the fun and enjoyment you had outdoors. Remember catching fire flies in your hands on a warm summer night? Remember building snowmen, snow forts, throwing snowballs at moving cars and running as fast as you could when they slammed on the brakes? All those games…kick the can…tag…war…bikes…big wheels…tackle football in the snow…playing for hours outside until dusk…when mom blew the whistle three times to let us know it was time for dinner. Remember the public swimming pool…when we would pick a corner in the deep end and as a group jump in with cannon ball form…blowing away all the would be swimmers…the corner would be ours. We called it…the Bermuda Triangle…lmao.
There were more memories of feeling excitement and being alive. Remember that trip to the Cayman Islands? You went skinny dipping with your brothers at night during a full moon. That beautiful water, light but dark…swimming in terror and excitement. Remember the horror movies, the haunted houses, the damn scary pirate mask that your brothers terrorized you with…the vivid nightmares? Remember that one night…when you thought about being dead forever…and you almost grasped what that meant? The fall…the leaves changing…jumping in piles of colorful leaves. And King, the family dog…a real dog…Norwegian elkhound…such a spirit…always finding ways to escape and roam free for days.
These are the broad memories of your childhood…the important ones…when you felt excitement…when you felt alive. I find it very interesting and telling…that the majority of this excitement was outside…not indoors. Indoors was the place to eat and sleep and get warm. Other than that…the indoors was simply a means to prepare to go outdoors…and live. There was also a little bit of trouble…mischievousness…freedom to roam…and some disappointment in the adults or culture…the lies…the fairy tales…the cover-up…the misdirected celebrations. But all in all, it was a good lively childhood…mainly spent outdoors…or so that is…all that I remember.
It is not nearly enough to just be awake. Your current awareness is analogous to a patient waking up in a hospital bed after a decade-long coma. No, you are being too hard on and critical of yourself. You gave the momentum a try – it just isn’t for you. Regardless, now that you are awake, it is time to begin to think about how you will progress forward to living, and then becoming Alive. Since the goal is to become Alive, you need to reflect on what that means. After you have an understanding of what it means to be Alive, then you can begin to chart out a plan to live in order to become Alive.
And you must set realistic expectations. The moments to be Alive are going to be less than the moments to live. The moments to be Alive, given the momentum, have to be earned through pain, patience, and the precious expense of energy. In order to define what it is to be Alive, for you, a reflection into the past is essential. And the past can be broken up into broad periods – childhood, teens, twenties, thirties, and now. In each of these periods, you need to think about when you felt truly Alive. When did you feel the intensity and lust of being? When did you feel the delicate…the sublime? When did you experience the dark…the light? It is the extremes we are looking for here, not the norm, not the grey area that we expense most of our waking moments and energy. What were the mountain peaks…the deep dark chasms? Of course, childhood may be somewhat innocent and devoid of dark chasms, but nevertheless, this is where you need to begin.
This is the final background piece before I begin posting journal-like entries. Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe is another poet, artist, or may I say universal man, that had a great influence on me. This poem, written a few years before his death, may be directed towards the young about ready to enter life and I find this piece to be quite poignant and wise. This piece is a potential remedy or a solution to overcome my utopian day dreams, excuses, and aggravation with the general human momentum. It is my intention and desire that my journal-like writings lead to more consciousness and action in the spirit of this eternal piece of wisdom.
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No living atom comes at last to naught!
Active in each is still the eternal Thought:
Hold fast to Being if thou wouldst be blest.
Being is without end; for changeless laws
Bind that from which the All its glory draws
Of living treasures endlessly possessed.
Unto the wise of old this truth was known,
Such wisdom knit their noble souls in one;
Then hold thou still the lore of ancient days!
To that high power thou ow’st it, son of man,
By whose decree the earth its circuit ran
And all the planets went their various ways.
Then inward turn at once thy searching eyes;
Thence shalt thou see the central truth arise
From which no lofty soul goes e’er astray;
There shalt thou miss no needful guiding sign-
For conscience lives, and still its light divine
Shall be the sun of all thy moral day.
Next shalt thou trust thy senses’ evidence,
And fear from them no treacherous offence
While the mind’s watchful eye thy road commands:
With lively pleasure contemplate the scene
And roam securely, teachable, serene,
At will throughout a world of fruitful lands.
Enjoy in moderation all life gives:
Where it rejoices in each thing that lives
Let reason be thy guide and make thee see.
Then shall the distant past be present still,
The future, ere it comes, thy vision fill-
Each single moment touch eternity.
Then at the last shalt thou achieve thy quest,
And in one final, firm conviction rest:
What bears for thee true fruit alone is true.
Prove all things, watch the movement of the world
As down the various ways its tribes are whirled;
Take thou thy stand among the chosen few.
Thus hath it been of old; in solitude
The artist shaped what thing to him seemed good,
The wise man hearkened to his own soul’s voice.
Thus also shalt thou find thy greatest bliss;
To lead where the elect shall follow-this
And this alone is worth a hero’s choice.
Whoever cannot seek
the unforeseen sees nothing,
for the known way
is an impasse
The river
where you set
your foot just now
is gone –
those waters giving way to this,
now this
The soul is undiscovered,
though explored forever
to a depth beyond report
Applicants for wisdom
do what I have done:
inquire within
Just as the river where I step
is not the same, and is,
so I am as I am not
The harmony past knowing sounds
more deeply than the known.
Heraclitus — Fragments
Forged from the dust of death-star fire into this ephemeral form
treading on the surface of an eternal bottomless ocean above and below
death perpetually circulating from all directions
You succumb to the myth that Gold is land, security, power, wealth
bow to the pirates and board their ship
to become a slave or yourself a pirate
You expend your death-star fire to swab the deck and man the oar
or lash the whip to bleed others into submission
You drink bottles and bottles of rum to numb the pain
of being whipped or doing the whipping
that you burn your precious death-star fire to make your masters rich
or man a ship with no direction other than to steal Gold from others
Mutiny will not alter the course as you are still on the same ship
different masters and slaves
seeking the same Gold for fools
Summon the courage from the depths
as the storm approaches and the sea boils with offended anger
return to where you began before you boarded the run away ship
Burn your precious death-star fire and pay homage to eternity
Swim man swim
or drown with a smile
My grandfather told me when I was a young boy to be humble. He said, if I ever began to get full of myself to go outside on a clear night when the moon was absent and look up at the stars to gain perspective.
When I was born, my family didn’t have much money. My dad worked for a trucking company where he started as a management trainee on the dock. My dad’s father (the man who told me to look at the stars) was a high school science teacher and football coach and didn’t make much money. But, my grandfather told me he decided to teach as opposed to going into business, because he felt he could make a difference in people’s lives. My parents seemed to look down on that decision to some extent. They thought he chose that profession because he experienced the Great Depression and teaching was a more secure path. After all, why would one chose to make less money if one could make more in business?
At a very young age, prior to third grade, I lived in a nice little house in a nice little neighborhood in Ohio. Kids played outside and there was a small forest behind the homes. Our house was decorated modestly and filled with family photos and things that symbolized something about our life. Everything seemed to make sense.
Time moved on and my dad progressed rapidly up the ranks. When I hit second grade we moved to California due to my dad’s promotion. He was promoted to the second in command for a large Fortune 500 company. Eventually he got the top spot and we moved to a really nice house. This was the house that was backed up against a beautiful nature preserve that I discussed in my previous post “Enigma”.
Along with my dad’s success came noticeable changes in my parents and what decorated the house. The family photos and meaningful things were replaced by modern art-work and decorations that matched the paint, carpet, or furniture. The meaningful things were stored away or hung downstairs in dark hallways or the laundry room or bathrooms. My parents began to travel often, go to events, and wear nicer clothes. I could see that they began to act and think like they had arrived. I used to talk to my grandfather about how strange they are behaving and how I didn’t like the feel of the house. I told him it felt more like a cold museum than a home. He agreed.
Eventually I went off to college that wasn’t too far from my parents. I could visit them on a weekend or during breaks. While I was in college, my dad was let go by the board of directors. Apparently, his decision to buy a large corporation took too long to integrate and turnaround the financial performance.
During my visits after this major event occurred, I saw my dad spending hours slumped in a chair watching TV. Here was a powerful strong man who had lots of money, yet there he sat, utterly deflated, depressed, lifeless, surrounded by meaningless decorative art and things. He spent decades of his energy, passion, and time in an entity that one day decided he was no longer needed.
I asked myself why doesn’t he go enjoy the fruits of his labor and travel, write, read, or whatever he may find of interest. He has no economic barriers to pursue something that he may be passionate about. But there he sat, in that same chair, slumped over watching TV.
And it was at this point that I realized his dad might have never told him to go outside on a clear night when the moon was absent and look up at the stars to gain perspective. And if he did, perhaps my dad simply ignored his advice.
A short post on an important topic — the likely chance life exists elsewhere other than Earth. Scientists recently discovered that there might be billions of planets in our galaxy that are in the habitable zone for life relative to their life-giving suns. Almost 80% of the stars in our galaxy are “Red Dwarfs” which are fainter and cooler than our sun, and based on a sample they have a large number of “rocky” planets orbiting habitable zones. But you can read all the details via the link I post at the end of this short piece. There hasn’t been a lot of media coverage on the discovery, but it has appeared here and there on the major networks to serve as a short break from all the other micro focused stories on our civilization.
If there are billions of potential planets in our galaxy that have the potential to hold water or are located at a habitable distance from their respective suns, then one can extrapolate what that means when considering there are billions of observable galaxies in our “known universe”. It is only a matter of time before we discover that we aren’t the only show in town. So many questions arise when contemplating this reality and what it means relative to our own progress or lack thereof here on planet Earth. And this idea that we are not alone is one of my primary and naive child-like challenges that I pose to people here on Earth. Combine this idea with the other idea that the universe and planet Earth is a very chaotic and violent environment that creates and destroys and creates and destroys regardless of the fact we exist — one must contemplate the value of our daily concerns and to what long-term end they serve.
Given the above realities, what are we doing here on planet Earth? Do our daily or generational or religious or philosophical occupations take these broad realities into account? Or, do we simply go about our business with our heads buried in the sand? Unfortunately, I believe we adhere to the later rather than the former. We are so far astray from an enlightened and directional race or species relative to our potential that one cannot help but classify the human experiment at this point in time as a complete and utter failure. What new information or discoveries are required to awake the consciousness of the human species? What events or catastrophes must occur for us to define more significant and intelligent directions? The boundaries are truly undefined. The only borders are those that we have imposed and continue to impose on ourselves. We must deconstruct our current direction, beliefs, institutions, thoughts, religions, philosophies, economies, within the context of these two broad truths and undiscovered truths, in order to re-set our broad and fungible directions. Otherwise, we will end up like the vast majority of other species on this lonely planet — merely a flash of existence and insignificant within the context of eternity and borderless space and possibilities.
Utopia is a loaded concept and likely unattainable much like perfect knowledge or enlightenment, but an ideal concept does have the power to potentially move people in a more promising direction. Of course, that ideal needs to be based on some logic and realistic expectations, otherwise naïve faith could lead people to a very disappointing outcome. Imagine living your one life as a saint for the primary purpose of receiving access to the pearly gates only to find no such gates exist. Or, imagine deciding to blow yourself and hundreds of innocent people to bits in exchange for twenty beautiful virgins only to discover all that you achieved was a heinous act and eternal darkness. If the saint performed saintly acts without expecting access to the pearly gates then there would be no sense of disappointment when time expires – the saintly acts in and of themselves contain both the gift and the reward, nothing more, nothing less.
Denmark, a nation of 5.5 million people, has consistently ranked number one on the “happiness” or contentment index from various surveys Happiness Survey Example. The people who are born and raised in this culture and society appear to be more content than citizens of any other nation on the planet. Why? Before I go into some broad strokes that make Denmark unique, I wanted to post these YouTube videos from two young Danes who casually try to answer the question for us. Why go into a bunch of facts and broad statements when two young people from the country can attempt to explain this mystery in their own words and mannerisms.
Aren’t those two videos interesting? I hope you took the time to watch at least one of them. One tends to focus on the peace of mind that comes with a socialistic welfare state and the other narrows in on setting lower expectations that mitigate anxiety and enable one to be more content with their lot in life. Of course these are just two points of view from over 5 million people who live in Denmark day in and day out. It is impossible to do this subject justice on a blog post or two. My real purpose is to do some high level comparisons between the top five “happiest” nations and perhaps juxtapose these high-level findings relative to the United States (what many often call “the greatest country on earth”). But I think Denmark deserves a post all to itself since it consistently claims the top spot on the “happiness” index.
I am going to use this paragraph to simply outline with broad short strokes what is unique about Denmark. Denmark has the highest level of income equality in the developed world and the highest minimum wage – a dishwasher can make $25 dollars per hour. The tax rates are the highest of any developed country and that includes a Value Added Tax (on most goods purchased including food) at 25%. The progressive effective tax rate can start at 40+ percent and reach 70 percent, depending on your income level. But, these high taxes enable free tuition through college and the government actually pays college students a small amount of money to go to school – they enjoy a 98% literacy rate. Healthcare is covered by the state. If you lose your job the government will pay you 90% of your past salary for up to four years. Maternity leave is paid for from six months to a year. Child care is partly paid for by the government. If you have worked in Denmark for 40 years you will get a pension upon retirement. The state helps with elder care. Some other interesting facts are that Denmark is environmentally progressive and one-third of the citizens use a bicycle as the primary mode of transportation. Tax on an automobile purchase is almost 200%! Now you know why bicycles are popular. The country ranks number two on the corruption index and people therefore trust each other and their government. Violent crime is very rare. Unemployment is very low.
Although Denmark is socialist, that doesn’t mean they are communists. In fact, Denmark is considered one of the most competitive economies in the world (according to World Economic Forum, IMF, and the Economist) and enjoys the 7th highest income per capita. Denmark has one of the freest financial and product markets in Europe. So what we have here is a very competitive, productive, and free market economy that is capitalistic, but a socialist model that tends to eliminate wide variances in citizen income and uses this re-distribution to educate the young, care for the sick, and enable the elderly to enjoy a relatively secure retirement.
The word socialists, as the young lady in the YouTube video alluded to, conjures up images of drab communists walking around like zombies in rags. Apparently, that doesn’t seem to be the case when that socialistic model is funded willingly (I am sure many Danes may find another word to replace “willingly”) through high taxes from citizens that are highly educated, literate, competitive, and relatively happy with less stress and anxiety. In fact, they must be very productive if they come in third in terms of the least amount of hours worked! It seems that Denmark might counter the often pure capitalistic argument that higher taxes on the wealthy will lower innovation, productivity, and motivation. It also helps that the government appears to be somewhat competent with the tax revenues (I am sure some Danes would disagree) as the country’s debt to GDP is just 39.5%.
In essence, the capitalistic socialistic model in Denmark is built for the young, the sick (even if sickness temporary), the elderly, and the middle class. In general, the majority of the young have equal opportunity to pursue higher education and their future occupation regardless of what family they are born into. Of course, equal opportunity doesn’t mean everyone’s outcome should be equal. A very talented individual can still make relatively good money. A citizen that earns $1 million in a year may have a 70% tax burden, but he/she would still net $300,000 in a year. In contrast, a citizen that earns just $50,000 in a year and faces a 43% tax burden only brings home $28,500 bucks. There still exists salary or wage inequality, but the variances between those that have much and those that have less aren’t as extreme as in pure capitalistic societies with lower tax rates and loop holes. And, I am sure the middle class in Denmark have learned to make their disposable income go a long way through self-control by limiting their needs and wants for nice cars, big houses, and lots of things. Although they hit the high rank on the happiness or contentment index, that doesn’t mean they have easy lives filled with anything their hearts desire. They must simply have the discipline needed to enjoy what they have. Many of these people bike miles in the rain and snow to get to work as opposed to driving in a warm Mercedes-Benz with heated seats that they are leasing through debt or credit.
But Denmark isn’t immune from current or future cracks in the socialistic capitalistic framework. For example, the country is currently experiencing a skilled labor shortage High income tax worsens a labor shortage . Why? Apparently many of the young are jumping ship to work abroad to avoid the high tax burden. In short, they get all the benefits of growing up and getting educated “for free” and then take advantage of the system by working abroad. I have a solution to this “free-rider” problem, but I doubt the Danish people would agree with me as they appear to be a very free-spirited people. My solution would be that those working abroad would get slapped with a nice bill for all the tax revenue used to raise and educate them in the country before they jumped shipped to earn their windfall gains. Other potential problems are that Denmark relies on exporting services and products to the global economy. The current problems in the global economy adversely impact their export income which puts strain on their ability to keep funding their expensive citizen care. They have, however, fared pretty well during the current meltdowns in the United States and Europe, but who is to say the global economy isn’t going to head further south?
There is much more to discuss about Danish culture and there are many more sources to explore. In fact there is a blog that I am trying to get access to in order to learn more. Truth be told, one really needs to live in Denmark for an extended period of time to really gain some insight. I would love to observe the Danes in public going about their business, watch their news and favorite TV shows, hang out in cafes and bars and talk to the people including students, observe the landscapes and the architecture, and visit other locations besides just Copenhagen. For now, all I can offer is this short post and some articles below that were sources for some of this content. Regardless of this short post and material, I feel like they are on to something important in their mix of capitalism and socialism. But, applying such a system to other large countries that don’t have the culture or momentum of this hybrid model would be like trying to reverse the course of a tsunami. The potential learning points, however, can be viewed as beacons to a long-term course or strategy. Could the Danes socialistic capitalistic model be a distant beacon to humanity? Could such a system, if rolled out carefully over time, in fact become even more sustainable and practical if the world at large adopted the philosophy?
Some source articles:
I have often been coined a “Utopian” per several participants on this blog. Although I despise the stereo type, I realize that my child-like and naive rants indeed warrant the sentence. I have posted arguments against the hyper focus on profits and capitalism, against human created instruments like money, debt, credit, and investments, against over-population (7 billion people), against environmental destruction, and against the overall lack of meaningful direction or directions of mankind that prevent the human species from striving to its full potential relative to the rest of the known animate creatures on Earth. But, there are a few civilizations and periods of time that I admire in the past given my western focus (Greece, Rome, the Renaissance) and certain individuals after those eras that inspire me. Yet, there are a few examples in the here and now which I can highlight as beacons for humankind.
There exists several countries on Earth that I and others believe serve as role models or potential solutions to the short-term human mis-direction that exists with the majority of the 7 billion human beings in existence. I resort to an article as a simple source to this argument Top Ten Modern Utopias. I will of course review this article and the assumptions with a critical eye, but on the first few reviews I believe it offers a very good foundation. It is important to note that the United States and other large power-houses didn’t make the cut!
My next several posts will go into more depth on perhaps the top five and discuss the attributes, structure, culture, and environment that enables these civilizations or countries to reach greater levels of “happiness” or “fulfillment” than the rest of human population. My desire is to merge my naive and child-like Utopia visions with practical and real life examples to offer solutions for the future direction or directions of mankind. The top five countries that I will focus on per the article above are:
1. Denmark
2. Canada
3. Norway
4. Australia
5. Netherlands
