The Human Nature To Rebel…

Before continuing to read the article (and just to get you in the mood): Please take a few moments to watch this video entitled: "Cool Hand Luke - What We've Got Here Is Failure To Communicate."

For those of you who don't know what this video means or why it's up here, I would like to explain to you that this little piece of work is from a 1967 American prison drama film directed by Stuart Rosenberg and staring Paul Newman.

I chose to put this part as an introduction to what is coming up next because it is also the intro for a Guns N' Roses song called Civil War (which is also the song I've been listening to through out the whole time I'm writing this article. That being said, here we go:

     Most people go through their lives following the rules, abiding by them, not even questioning why they’re there, or what’s the logic behind them. Some people, however, chose not to follow the rules. They go about their lives asking why they should follow a system that are just there to restrain their freedom. The same system that supposedly offers freedom, equality and a good living but in reality fights against what it all means.

     History is filled with people that “want to resist control or authority.” Mainly because they’re simply fed up with what this authoritarian world has to offer. They feel controlled or trapped in an ever-lasting and repetitive circle that binds them with certain restrictions. “It is human nature to instinctively rebel at obscurity or ordinariness.” - Taylor Caldwell

     These restrictions in return force people to walk different routes in their lives than the ones they originally planned for themselves. Routes and decisions that they don’t want but are more forced to take, obliging them to go about their lives doing something they don’t want to do, hence being slaves to a world that they didn’t create. A compulsory system created by previous generations. Isn’t that a kind of slavery?

     Those people that wish for freedom that they can’t get, wanting to break through the rotten system that is forced upon them are labeled as rebels. The pure definition of a rebel is someone who refuses allegiance to and oppose by force an established government or ruling authority. “What is a rebel? A man who says no.” - Albert Camus

     But I ask you this, isn’t it pure human nature to negatively react to something they feel is being forced down their throats, to fight against it?

People rebel because they feel like the system is simply incorrect. A way of showing that they don’t agree with what the system has done to the world. How it limits their lives into something they never wanted.

     From the day we are born we are controlled. Taught the monetary values of things around us. How in order to live well you need to have pieces of paper called “money,” paper that soon you find yourself being a slave too. “So you think that money is the root of all evil. Have you ever asked what is the root of all money?” - Ayn Rand

     Generation after generation, people fight against that, but always fail as the majority of society just sits back and watches the view from afar, simply abiding by the rules.

     You start off as a child, with dreams to become a pilot, or an astronaut, or even a simple writer. And as you grow older you start losing sight of that dream, simply because you don’t have the capabilities to do so. You grow older and through out most of your life people around you are always giving you the same advice. “Well you got to love what you work until you work in what you love.”

     You know what happens eventually? Sure you can go do anything else aside from what you really wish for. And you start forcing yourself to love what you do. Time goes by, years pass, and you’re still doing the same thing.

     Until one day, you forget about all your dreams, what you originally used to love. And what you were forced to do years ago (and forced to love) ends up the only thing you remember doing. You keep convincing (or fooling) yourself that you love what you’re forced to do.

     Sooner or later you’ll end up doing what you think you’ve always loved, all for nothing but monetary reasons. “Money has never made man happy, nor will it, there is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The more of it one has the more one wants.” - Benjamin Franklin.

     It’s simply a never-ending cycle. Generations after generations go by doing the same thing, teaching younger ones that it’s normal, it’s what everyone has to do simply because they got stuck doing the same thing so why shouldn’t everyone else go through the same crap.

     It’s like the little child who used to get bullied a lot in school by the senior and older students. He builds up frustration and anger that eventually explodes. And when it does, when he’s old enough and is now a senior, it becomes his turn to bully the younger generation. Taking his turn in the cycle.

     I’ve come to realize that this system is too engraved in our society, and changing it is simply not possible. It’s like a wrecked car that my parents completely destroyed in a huge car accident then later gave it to me as a present saying “here you go son, it’s your turn to drive now.”

     It seems that the only way out of this ever-lasting cycle of doom that we’ve all shared in creating is to simply just try to find something you really and truly love to do and just stick by it. To keep believing in your dream, keep fighting for what you want to do, and to not get forced into something you don’t want to do simply because there are no other options around you.

     And don't think you're breaking free from the new kind of slavery, the monetary slavery I call it. Never forget that to live, you need to come up with a mean to generate money from doing what you love. Why? Simply because the world won’t let you live without becoming a slave to that little piece of paper.

“Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver.” - Ayn Rand

Hypocrisy: Why Can’t We Take Our Own Advice?

Warning: This article is pure random thoughts, some of them might not link, some of them might not make sense to you, and you might even disagree with most of it. Just read through it, reflect on yourself and know that in the end, that everyone is entitled to his/her own ideas, thoughts and beliefs.

     You have to think positively. Stop judging yourself. Be patient. Happier. Healthier More content.

Be at peace with yourself. Don’t eat too much junk food it’s not good for you. You shouldn’t smoke. Focus on your career and goals. Aim high… These are all examples of our now every day hypocritical life.

     You don’t believe me? Go ahead, look it up. “Hypocrisy, n: the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform; pretense.” I just have one simple question. Why did we become so good at giving out advice that we ourselves cannot take?

     I guess the reason would simply be: it’s easy isn’t it? As humans, we became really good (top notch pros if you may) at understanding the idea of giving out good advice. But how many of us actually take that advice and use it to make our own life better, simpler, happier.

     It’s just flat out easy to tell someone to “do the right thing.” But it’s not as easy for the other person to follow up on that advice, to actually what pretty much everyone is screaming in his face to go ahead and do. The reason, we’re just too damn stubborn to take advice. “Wise men don't need advice. Fools won't take it.” - Benjamin Franklin

     Usually, the idea of “doing the right thing” tends to coexist with the idea of doing what best serves our lustful desire (due to lack of self-control I guess). How many times do we fully understand that our actions are morally wrong, but still go ahead and do them anyway, simply because it feels good or is more convenient?

     

     “Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands.” - Anne Frank

     People that tend to do hypocritical acts usually follow up with a form of self-justified excuse of their actions. These rationalizations are usually followed up with sentences such as “I couldn’t help it,” “I couldn’t control myself,” or even “you just don’t understand how it feels.”

     Maybe it’s just easier to give out advice than taking it because of how hard it is to self-reflect, tap into our own wisdom. Maybe we see ourselves in others. Maybe by giving out advice to others we are essentially trying to help ourselves. Or maybe some of us are just too stubborn to help ourselves. I think it’s just in our nature; we just can’t be humble enough to achieve wise behavior.

     “We give advice, but we cannot give the wisdom to profit by it.” 

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Space Tourism… How Close Are We From Achieving My Dream?

   

 “I believe that space travel will one day become as common as airline travel is today.” – Buzz Aldrin (American astronaut, and the second person to walk on the Moon)

     Space tourism (aka space travel for the average Joe) is a concept that our society has been dreaming of, and in recent years working on it and actually achieving it. It’s been one of my dreams ever since I was a child and realized that there’s a whole world out there that I still didn’t discover.

     Seeing that I’ve been reminded recently of my childhood dreams, I’ve decided to go ahead and do some research on the matter (you know, to see how close we are from making my dream a reality). I went around looking for ways to accomplish my goal of saying: “look ma, I’m a space man!” Here’s what I found out:

     There are several companies that offer space travel for the common man. For starters, back in 2012, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had offered a large sum of money to Boeing, Space Exploration Technologies and the Sierra Nevada Corporation in order to develop safe vehicles for space travel.

     Most private companies are building new spaceships to conquer space. And they are all looking forward to an action-packed year in 2013; planning/conducting new flight-tests, launches, wind tunnel tests and rocket technology trials.

     Not to mention Sir Richard Branson (founder of Virgin Megastores) who is selling $ 200,000 tickets for spots on his ‘SpaceShipTwo,’ which he (as well as several others) hopes will launch in 2014. Speaking of which, did you know that there are several of celebrities that are really into the idea of being launched into space.

     Ashton Kutcher, for example, has signed up to head to the stars aboard Virgin Galactic. And apparently, he’s not the only one. According to Time Magazine: “Celebrities including Katy Perry, Tom Hanks, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie and physicist Stephen Hawking have all reportedly signed up for a space flight.”

     Space is definitely going to be the next big thing to do, the next exotic destination. Estimate revenues in the first ten years of commercial space travel operations range from $600 million to $1.6 billion. So it’s really only a matter of time before passengers line up at the doctor’s office to get medical clearance for extraterrestrial travel.

     Which brings me to my next question. One that definitely should be answered before we all get ahead of ourselves here is: How safe would space travel for the average man be?

     Groups such as the FAA and Aerospace Medical Association Commercial Spaceflight Working Group are now proposing medical recommendations for space flight. Not only that but they are starting to draft proposals for regulating commercial travel. However the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation has not made specific medical necessities or disqualifications for space tourists.

     “There is definitely a trend toward more work being done in [space medicine] as the medical field catches up with what’s going on in commercial space transportation,” says Marlene Grenon (assistant professor of vascular and endovascular surgery at University of California, San Francisco) who is researching the effect of microgravity on the heart and on cells that line blood vessels (Woah... deep)

     In conclusion on my research on the availability of space travel for the common society, I’ve come to realize that there might be a few things that one should keep in mind…

     We are not even close! It’s still so damn expensive! Well technically it’s doable but clearly not for your average Joe. I mean it costs a fortune just to make sure that you’re medically clear to travel. And it doesn’t look like it’s going to get any cheaper any time soon either. So it doesn’t look like I can take my girl cruising in outer space any time soon. Sorry baby girl, one day...

     “[Space travel] will come, but only when there is a high enough demand so that you can have a ‘public highway’ system. To support today's air traffic network, you've got to have a million passengers constantly on the move. The same will be true in space: It's not really a technology problem, it's more a sort of chicken-and-egg economic problem.” – Freeman Dyson (British American theoretical physicist and mathematician)

The True Meaning Of Happiness

   

 We keep going on in our lives searching for happiness. Wasting day after day simply searching for a feeling. Most people even believe they cannot simply be happy unless they’re doing a certain thing or are with a certain someone. I’ve come to realize however, that what makes one happy as a child is different than what makes him/her happy as a teenager, an adolescent or even as a full grown-up.

     Everyone wants to be happy, we can surely know whether we feel it or not. But can we actually define happiness? Before digging deeper into this, lets look at the simplest definition for happiness. And who better to ask for simplicity than the average Joe of all websites. Yes, I’m talking about Wikipedia.

     According to all mighty, all knowing Wikipedia: “Happiness is a mental or emotional state of well-being characterized by positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy.” Big words for an average Joe (Thanks for being so simple and easy to understand man… really…pretentious piece of…)

     To keep it simpler, I’m going to try to come up with my own definition of true happiness. I guess it’s just that feeling when you get when you feel like you’ve accomplished something you never thought you could do. Or maybe it’s that feeling when you get when you eat something really good after long hours of starvation. Maybe it’s that feeling you get when you know you’ve made a loved one smile.

     You know what? Happiness is the result - the end of a process if you may – of one’s pride when accomplishing something. “Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.” - Dalai Lama XIV

     A more complex way of look at it would be like Psychologist Ed Diener (author of Happiness: Unlocking the Mysteries of Psychological Wealth) said: a “combination of life satisfaction and having more positive emotions than negative emotions.”

     And you know what, I think he’s right (seeing that I understood his definition a lot easier than Wikipedia’s). “People are just as happy as they make up their minds to be.” - Abraham Lincoln

     That being said, maybe happiness is more of a state of mind rather than a feeling. Maybe for one to be truly happy, s/he has to first be in acceptance of one’s self. When one’s concept of a self-portrayed image is confirmed, or becomes real, it seems like we feel more secure, more alive, like we’ve proved our existence.

     In the end I realized that it’s all just a waste of time. People should not keep trying to look for happiness but instead look for someone to share it with. Honestly I can’t think of a better example than when everyone’s experiences with cabs. How many times have you walked around the streets not needing a cab and having them pass by the dozens? And how much time have you spent waiting on a single cab to pass by when you really needed it? It’s pretty much the same deal with happiness.

     “You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.” - Albert Camus

The Power Of…

If you want to know what it means
you can copy it from here: 物好き

     Today we’ll be talking about something that is essential to our existence. If it wasn’t for “it” we wouldn’t have lived through most of our lives. We’ll be talking about something that every living being has the capability of doing. Something that is pretty much there from the very start; since you were born and all the way through adulthood.

     However, it is not really an instinct, rather a simple emotion that can be expressed in various ways. It is also part of the reason why you’re still reading through this article (or like most impatient people have already skimmed through and know what I’m talking about).

     Did I grab you’re attention? Good! Have no worries, you have it too. I’m talking of course about a simple phenomenon known best as ‘Curiosity’ (no, not the rover that NASA sent to the Mars).

     Curiosity is arguably one of the most important reasons we keep going through life. Who am I? Why am I here? What will become of me? How am I going to live my life? Who will I share it with? These are all questions that are simply asked by one’s own curious mind.

     If it wasn’t for curiosity, I don’t believe humanity would’ve survived that far. After all, most of our intellects and inventors, such as Thomas Edison, Leonardo da Vinci and Albert Einstein, were all curious characters. “Curiosity is one of the most permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect.” - Samuel Johnson

     We all know the proverb used to warn us from the dangers of unnecessary investigation or experimentation. I’m talking of course about “curiosity killed the cat,” which (and after a long time researching it’s origin), came from Shakespeare (who would’ve thought right?)

     Apparently the first time it was written was back in his 1598 play ‘Every Man in His Humor’ where he wrote “...Helter skelter, hang sorrow, care will kill a cat, up-tails all, and a pox on the hangman.” Anyway going back to my point. Did you know: a less frequently used proverb that follows "curiosity killed the cat" is “but satisfaction brought it back.”

     A 2007 survey of more than 10,000 people from 48 countries and published in Perspectives on Psychological Sciences: “Happiness was viewed as more important than success, intelligence, knowledge, maturity, wisdom, relationships, wealth and meaning in life.”

     And guess what? Curiosity is one of the most dependable and ignored keys to happiness, simply because it opens a window to the unfamiliar. It give you room to discover, find opportunities, have experiences that will eventually form the person that you are now.

     Curiosity is something that can definitely be cultivated and taken care of. With various means of practice, one can certainly exploit the power of curiosity, transforming everyday tasks into exciting and pleasant experiences. It all starts with the need to learn more about life or even about a loved one. “Getting to know someone else involves curiosity about where they have come from, who they are.” - Penelope Lively.

     When we get curious, we see things differently; we use our powers of observation to their utmost extent. We feel alive and engaged. More importantly, we feel able to embrace new opportunities, making connections, and experiencing moments filled with insight. All of which gives us the groundwork for a rich, informed and, most importantly, a satisfying life experience.

A New Adventure Begins: The Beauty Of Learning A New Language

     In a way, learning a new language is kind of like discovering a completely different culture than the one you’re from. Although it could sometimes difficult and complex, in the end it feels like you’ve discovered whole new world. Up till now I’ve discovered two languages to their utmost potential. And it was time to commence a new adventure into a diverse world.

     “Language is the road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going.” - Rita Mae Brown.

     There are two main reasons why anyone would want to learn a new language. The first and most obvious is that we want to enhance our life experience, get a chance to discover something new (you liar, you’re only doing it cause it would look good on your resume).

     The second reason would be that you’re flat out bored and you have a lot of free time so you might as well do something useful – like yours truly.

     When first starting the process of learning something new, one tends to feel as if s/he is taking their first steps as a child. It’s pretty much the same learning experience in everything new we do.

     When it comes to new languages, first you scrabble through words and sentence structures. You mash your words together, you hesitate, you stutter through even your most simplest of sentences. Trying to put together a logical sentence just seems too overwhelming of a thought that it sometimes seems too damn impossible.

     In the end though it is the love of learning something new, the thrill that you get when you accomplish something, that makes us persevere and endure till the end. Maybe it’s the native tongue of a loved one, or the language’s literature, or simply the way it sounds.

     In any case it is definitely the love of going on an adventure that pushes us through many frustrating hours of the learning process. “One language sets you in a corridor for life. Two languages open every door along the way.” - Frank Smith.

     So don’t be afraid to learn new languages other than your mother tongue. Any language!  Trust me, you’ll find a pleasure when finally you can express yourself in various means. But don’t forget to practice your new learned skill or else it won’t honestly last that long (I’m only saying this through past experiences).

     We are entering a whole new world of communication. Meaning everyone on this planet is pretty much connected with each other. Of course it would be easier if we all speak one language. But if you really want the true experience, there’s simpler no better way of communicating with one’s native language.

     “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart.” - Nelson Mandela.

It’s Just A Dream

     Have you ever “fallen in love” with someone in your dream? Waking up wishing you were still back in your dream. That person could be someone you know, or even someone you’ve never met in your entire life. Some of us even have a dream after another, all of the same person. Some people have even lucidly fallen in love.

     Besides it being one of the best experiences we might go through (at least in my opinion), there are times when waking up is plainly a nightmare, as if you got kicked out of paradise.

     Based on experience, I can confidently say that there are two possible situations of falling in love in dreams. The first would be having a dream about someone you’ve never met in your entire life. That imaginary person will most probably be perfect. After all s/he is of your own creation (and if they’re not good to you then you really need to start living yourself a bit more)

     The second option would be falling in love with a person that actually exists in reality. Now as much as this particular dream might make you feel like you’re on top of the world, it could also result in serious depression. That person might not be available to begin with, or they might even not like you in real life. Besides you’ve fallen in love with the character in your dreams, not the real deal.

     Regarding dreams, Dr. Allan Hobson of Harvard Medical School said: “They are ambiguous stimuli which can be interpreted in any way a therapist is predisposed to. But their meaning is in the eye of the beholder—not in the dream itself.”

     That means not everyone would interoperate the same dream in the same way. Which also means that you should not put a lot of effort trying to figure out what they mean. “It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.” - J.K. Rowling.

     Dreams about love are often very personal; it’s part of your own consciousness coming to form. In my case, about 75% of my dreams I can find a connection to in real life. As for the other 25%, well they’re just crazy dreams with no actual meaning to them what so ever (like for example dreaming that you’re chilling with some friends under water ever so casually).

     Research on the matter has shown that dreams (even the recurring ones) keep our brains healthy, and are mostly stimulated by experiences we go through in our daily lives. We don't have much control over what appears in our dreams or how it appears.

     A dream about being in love suggests intense feelings carried over from a waking relationship. It implies happiness and contentment with what you have and where you are in life. On the other hand, if you’re not in a love relationship in real life, this dream might mean that you are not getting enough affection in your daily life. Hug someone!