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United States13896 Posts
Recently I've spent a lot of time trying to focus on how I can center myself when I start to feel things getting a little hectic. This is something I would rarely concern myself with in years past. I'd recognize things not being where I want them so-to-speak, but on the most basic level I rarely considered the things I did to be a form of personal meditation. Hobbies, skills, activities, etc. all were just things I did, not necessarily things I did that held some higher purpose. Yet, at the crux of almost everything I engage in I must be doing them all to achieve relaxation or stability of some sort.
Growing up in an American education system that stressed math and having a math teacher for a mother, I feel like I was trained to think of the term "point of origin" as primarily one of Cartesian origins. The intersection of x and y axes, we are taught, is the point of origin when plotting any mathematical model. I'm sure this definition holds great significance for the algebraically-inclined among us, but for me it now seems secondary, if not at the bottom of my personal relationship with the word.
Instead I think what most readily comes hurtling at me when I ponder its meaning is now a more human definition. I'd rather think of it as reaching a point of complete emotional calm than try to mathematically derive a function that momentarily meets (0,0). This new order of concepts is a bit odd to me right now, in the year 2012, but odd feels like home at least for the moment.
Perhaps it is appropriate then that this line of thought pervades my mind just after Thanksgiving. Yes, that feast which is most readily thought of as one of gratuity, gluttony, and gargantuan fowl. It amuses me to think of what the outside world makes of it, and only by considering it in such an alien fashion do I make this connection. Families and friends converge, for better or for worse. Relationships, even if dysfunctional drawing us in with magnetic precision. Why do we do it? Often there is strain and pain involved in all these human connections, but for one day we attempt to transcend. We overindulge and attempt to reach a state of bliss, an oasis within a desert of everyday life.
Once we leave again we are ships sailing at the mercy of the wind. We attempt to steer our way through life, and often succeed, but to be human is of course to never achieve total control. For long times I’ve felt the storms, fierce nor’easters , typhoons, and hurricanes. In this line of thought I think Hemingway may have found a follower in me. Every day I read, I play, I talk, etc. but through it all the only focus is to reach that oasis within my personal waterworld. Not that I imagine myself as some Kevin Costner wannabe, but just figuratively everything is an attempt to reach level ground. Most things I do regularly help to some extent but usually the effect is limited.
So when the trade winds begin to blow, the question becomes, what is the most efficient method to harness the chaos? In the turbulence of their career the Beatles turned to Maharishi and experimented in transcendental meditation. I don’t think that’s my style. Many in the world find a peace in the consumption of additional alien compounds like Tetrahydrocannabinol. Having tried, and still being open to smoking, it definitely has some sort of effect. Still though I don’t think it was for me. Alcohol, a regular companion of the mariner in all of us, of course has an effect. Countless other variables I’ve thought could calm the seas inside me, and I’m still unsure of the best method.
This Thanks-hangover day though, I find myself writing in this blog. Things feel steady and optimistic, but I’m still not convinced. So I turn to you guys and gals – how do you navigate life?
  
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I fear that the way I approach life may be unhealthily hedonistic.
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I roll with it. For better or for worse, I don't worry about the next "chapter" in my life, or even think of it in such a fashion. For me, everything's always just another page in the story of my life.
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I opened this thread up expecting something about belly buttons as a "point of origin". I was disappointed. : (
On topic, I too grew up focused on mathematics with a math teacher as a mother, but I've always had time for philosophy when I want to indulge myself in it. This Thanksgiving was especially painful for me, because I went to work for Black Friday at 11 PM and my dog had to be put down minutes after I got home from work. It wasn't a surprise, but my ship is navigating stormy waters by the stony shore, and things are a little nuts.
But chaos? Chaos I can thrive in. There is nothing that makes the insanity of day to day life plus tragedy unbearable unless you let it overwhelm you. At no point does a substance (like pot) have the power to overcome what you are capable of as an individual. Your boat can be rocked by waves, but it will never sink so long as you strive to bail it out and keep your prow facing in the right direction.
My eyes are still dry and stinging as I write this, but I will survive. Because while I am certainly not immortal or unkillable, I can fight with all of my heart to achieve what I want.
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You only have one life so why waste it? You're going to die later anyway, so why not try to live it up and try to do as many crazy things as you can and have fun? Most likely one will never find the meaning of life so why ponder on useless things that, even if found out, might not even make you live a happier life than roll with whatever you got and live just to live. Life is good.
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I think it comes down to personal philosophy. In my opinion, the kind of hedonism that Allen West laments in his writings has become too prevalent in modern society. Clearly we should enjoy what life has to offer, and boy does it have a lot of fun in it.
But there's something to be said for pondering on the meaning of life despite knowing that one may not ever really understand it. Maybe the meaning of life for you is to enjoy life to the fullest, and that's fine. Maybe someone else's life is defined by that kind of endless search for said meaning in their life, and along the way they do end up enjoying it with all its ups and downs.
Now the problem with philosophy is that it can classify and almost everything, including what I say, into some school or schools of thought, and be very deconstructionist with people's opinions--in fact, deconstructivism is itself a method of literary analysis (when I say deconstructionist, I mean something slightly different, more along the lines of being able to analyze and objectivize anything...if that makes sense).
In any event, I'm not too sure where I was going with this, other than to throw in my thoughts about this kind of topic, so I'll leave it at that.
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Your missing out, being a Kevin Costner Wannabe is the most fulfilling part of my life.
20 minutes a day I imagine the world flooded and I am chilling on my boat. Ahhhh... the life.
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I navigate by hoping for happiness and trusting in grace. I navigate by ameliorating fear with my will power, and by seeking truth and beauty to improve my soul. Oh yuck, how abstract. Hemingway would call it bullshit. Maybe it is but it means something to me somehow.
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United States13896 Posts
On November 24 2012 12:17 CapnAmerica wrote:
I opened this thread up expecting something about belly buttons as a "point of origin". I was disappointed. : (
On topic, I too grew up focused on mathematics with a math teacher as a mother, but I've always had time for philosophy when I want to indulge myself in it. This Thanksgiving was especially painful for me, because I went to work for Black Friday at 11 PM and my dog had to be put down minutes after I got home from work. It wasn't a surprise, but my ship is navigating stormy waters by the stony shore, and things are a little nuts.
But chaos? Chaos I can thrive in. There is nothing that makes the insanity of day to day life plus tragedy unbearable unless you let it overwhelm you. At no point does a substance (like pot) have the power to overcome what you are capable of as an individual. Your boat can be rocked by waves, but it will never sink so long as you strive to bail it out and keep your prow facing in the right direction.
My eyes are still dry and stinging as I write this, but I will survive. Because while I am certainly not immortal or unkillable, I can fight with all of my heart to achieve what I want.
About the title, navel at its most basic meaning is "a central point to a place." Thus the etymology of the term relating to our belly buttons. Warfare rhyming with welfare, the combination felt like an appropriate pun considering the subject matter.
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hmm, I tend to navigate my life of lively to live to life of full life thx to shield battery.
+ Show Spoiler +Similar to No0n I am an existentalist.
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United States13896 Posts
On November 26 2012 13:02 ThunderGod wrote:hmm, I tend to navigate my life of lively to live to life of full life thx to shield battery. + Show Spoiler +Similar to No0n I am an existentalist.
hahaha ok mission accomplished my head is pounding after reading this.
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EPT
