Being IS Meaning

"People say that what we're all seeking is a meaning for life... I think that what we're really seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonance within our innermost being and reality, so that we can actually feel the rapture of being alive." - Joseph Campbell

An atheist recently told me that he believed that Joseph Campbell was full of shit. That "the whole Hero of a Thousand Faces" thing was just coincidental, because we all enjoy a good storey, and a good storey requires a protagonist - a hero.

As for the Hero's storey, it is universal, but always "winning" is not (the happy ending is a recent thing, traditionally most tales did not end this way). The only "thing" that makes such coincidences "meaningless" is the person making the judgement - same for what makes anything meaningful. For myself, this whole conversation is a "meaningful coincidence". I could tell you that is a fact but I'd be full of shit. It is my opinion. I consciously choose to assume there is meaning, and then I find it! I could care less if somebody else feels they can convince me I am wrong. Such a person thinks life is meaningless so who gives a f@&k what they think since it's all pointless anyways. Arguing the meaning of life with someone who thinks it is meaningless is worse than pointless.

Bliss is God's kiss. It is not procrasturbation. It is the knowledge that all of creation IS praise worthy. To offer praise is to respectfully defer to and offer profound love and reverence. To be an atheist is to be unable to praise yourself. You really cannot praise anything else until you can. The beautiful miracle that is this reality we are experiencing is not all around you, it is you!

This is the manner in which I manipulate my perceptions, my beliefs. Which is preferable to having my perceptions manipulate me. I believe that I would like to live a meaningful, useful, productive and happy life. I do my utmost to root out any beliefs that aren't conducive to that. My time is precious. I don't believe in an after-life and believe reincarnation is irrelevant. I go on the assumption that this will be the only chance to exist I will ever have. I refuse to believe it's pointless. What would be the point of such a belief? Even if you are "right" you still have wasted your life. If you are unable to distinguish the dfference between you and your opinions (beliefs) then you feel driven to convince evreryone that YOU are not wrong, instead of just accepting that others can have different beliefs. Most people are unable to do this. Being able to weed out our beliefs is even harder and more rare. Most of us seem believe we don't believe much and believe we "know" lots.

That is what I choose to believe (at this time) and it works pretty good for me. I am very much happy and grateful to be alive. I have little interest in learning how to be angry, depressed or cynical. I am always glad to hear how others not only make it through life, but how others make life enjoyable.

"Life is without meaning. You bring the meaning to it. The meaning of life is whatever you ascribe it to be. Being alive is the meaning." - Joseph Campbell

Graveyards

My first shift on my new schedule is nearly over. While I am just a little tired (it's 7:30am and I've been here since 8pm) I think I made the right call going for the switch. I caught up on a weeks worth of correspondence, got to organize my Youtube account, and even got this little post in. I believe this is going to work out at least as well as I hoped.

My natural cycle has always been that of a night owl. Now that I am embracing it instead of fighting it I feel I will be able to make a much more productive use of my time. And finally get in some decent writing here instead of these rather useless and irrelevant status updates that I've been doing lately. For now it's all about the process. Twelve hours with a connected Imac and not television with very little duties that require me to leave the office and I really do see allot getting done.

For now though, I can't wait to get home to bed!!

More Time

I am once again relearning how to best make use of my time. I have changed my work schedule. I will now be working weekend graveyards. I have come to accept that I am a night owl. So I finally decided to make the most of this. Working evening just wasn't the best schedule for me. I would sleep and work for 4 days a week and not get allot done. I'd get a bit of time at work for writing, but mostly on the Mash Pit. I would end up doing allot at work. Now though I will actually be able to write quite a bit more since the night shift has very little to do. Only working 3 days will also help. My days off will now be put to much better use.

I plan to join another Wing Chun club - a YKS club located a few blocks from home in China Town. This wasn't really possible on my old schedule. I am really looking forward to this. I have been suffering a lack of good training partners for awhile now. This will put an end to that minor prob. The gym will also be easier to squeeze into my daily/weekly routine as well.

Overall, I expect that my winter will be much more productive than my fall - which imho was already quite productive.

Time Flies

Hard to believe I haven't posted here in two weeks. I just keep getting further drawn into the Mash Pit and the world of Mashup - and loving it!. It doesn't help that I am currently "off-the-grid" outside of work. My phone is toast and my laptop is currently MIA. Which makes it challenging to continue operating three blogs! So I am likely dropped WebYes Prefferred, especially if I do not get another webOS device. More will be revealed. I will be posting here more regularly again real soon.