September 17, 2005

Opium

I went to a bar.

I know, I'm as shocked as you are. The bar scene is not my scene, to say the least. I never grew fond of such places, and generally don't enjoy going there. That still holds true. I can think of quite a number of things that I would rather do than sit in a bar. It's boring.

Boringness, of course, is in the eye of the beholder. I am completely sure that many of the things I like to do are high on the "Boredom" list of others. But I'm ok with that.

So anywho, back to the bar.

Marx said that religion is the opiate of the masses. It keeps us from reaching our true species being. I disagree, though going to the bar gave me a better understanding of what an "opiate" such as what Marx was discussing would be.

Everything that happens in a bar is designed to distract us from real reality. Loud music that no one likes but everyone listens too. Lot's of beer and liquor. Lot's of dancing. It's all about forgetting our day to day lives and "living for the moment" as my cousin informed me. I also learned that it would only take one more drink for me to actually be living for the moment. Silly me, I had thought I was doing just fine!

I completely understand the need to get-away from things that bog us down. However, I think that part of being human is learning how to live in reality, and not to become hyper-focused on the unreality that comes from all these opiates. Television... music... drink... pursuit of material success... They all distract us from real interpersonal connection. And since humans are inherently social beings, that can only hurt.

Well, that was fun. You can find this soapbox adventure and more in my upcoming book, "The Answer to Everything That's Wrong With the World" (a working title).

3 comments:

Shannon Skafte said...

The title seems ok - I like it in fact...

if you never get the bbook finished, when ever I get mine done wanna write the forward to mine?

Love ya Ev'y

Ciao

Anonymous said...

You went to a bar?!?!? LOL! Okay now that I'm past the initial shock, I concur with the opiate thing, although before you explained it I had no idea what it was. Two and a half years of university and look what it's done for me. I like the name of the book title, it makes the book sound interesting... Not that it wouldn't be lol. Love you and miss you!

Shannon Skafte said...

YOU"RE GONE
and I Miss you so VERY VERY VERY much.

tell me how the trip went - how is life? how often will you get the internet??

i love you!