Fashion

Fashion has been a difficult issue for me. I realized at a young age that fashion indicated social status. In fact, clothes was the #1 indicator of social status in grade school and middle school. In high school, things changed a bit as many became more socially aware and cared more about people as individuals than other factors. But it was still pretty brutal.

Understanding my resistance to fashion, I was very attracted to the grunge scene (even though we could afford better, and my parents would try to remind me to look nice). As I transferred to graduate school, my wardrobe also began to transfer to looking more "professional".

At first, I did it resistently. Then I began to like it more. Many teachers I spoke to talked about how you get more respect for dressing more professionally. And they're right to some degree.

My dad used to say "how you dress shows how serious you are" and that it shows how much you care. I think there's something to that. I've begun revamping my wardrobe to reflect that I care about how I look, and I feel like this is making me feel more confident and helping me look better. This isn't about impressing others, it is about doing something for myself.

Clothes are status symbols in our society, which is a shame, however there are always ways to find good clothes that aren't too expensive. It is just a matter of doing the best you can with your budget. Feeling good when you look in the mirror is just a reflection of how you feel about your place in life. I keep liking what see more and more and I feel that my life keeps on getting better. It certainly isn't a coincidence.

So, for better or worse, fashion is important. How you perceive yourself fashionably is a representation of how you project yourself in the world. It is no wonder that fashion has been so important in so many societies for so long.

I'm beginning to come to terms with it, and oddly enough I am starting to like it more and more. I used to hate going shopping, and wanted to be done as soon as possible. Now I carefully plan what I want and take my time to make sure I'm not wasting my money on something that isn't up to my standards. I feel that this represents a kind of maturity that I would have once viewed as sort of "selling out". But I still have standards. Now I avoid the biggest violators of human rights, and if I can afford it, look to buying from American-made companies or other small businesses world-wide. My approach to fashion is also my approach to the world economy.

So much can be said about clothes...

Intellectualism

Our society has a growing anti-intellectual movement. There has always been tension between intellectuals and the less educated going back to the founding of our country. Primarily, the real source of the distrust and anger comes from class issues. From the beginning, the wealthy class afforded access to knowledge that was shaped by the wealthy class with a whole different language than the lower classes had. In many ways, the intellectual class has always been full of frauds. How many philosophers, scientists, theologians, politicians, and so on have made claims that couldn't be made to make decisions that affected the lower class negatively?

The anti-intellectual movement has stepped up in recent years due to a growing religious movement. Knowledge that in any way disagrees with faith is discredited... by - what else but - faith-based reasoning. Government officials use this movement to pass agendas that are harmful to our society knowingly. But furthermore, the media had jumped onto the anti-intellectual movement. In 1988, Michael Dukakis was ridiculed by the media for his intellectual way of speaking, and being unlike the "everyman". Oddly enough, the "everyman" façade was adopted by the wealthy class. Those who have had everything handed to them through cronyism and family connections became "everyman" and people who deeply studied issues looking for solutions for the everyman became intellectuals because their soundbites weren't as easy to digest.

In 2000, the same thing occurred, but on a higher level. Al Gore lost to George W. Bush primarily due to his image of being a stiff intellectual. Rather than going for someone who was obviously more qualified for the job and who understood the issues better, people chose the "everyman" in Bush. Bush, the former alcoholic drug-addict multiple-failure in business who went to Yale as a legacy that worked for nothing in his life was the "everyman" because he was religious, and spoke to the American people like he would at a barbeque.

In 2004, John Kerry suffered the same anti-intellectual blitz from the media, and suffered the same defeat. But the defeat of Kerry means more now, because intellectualism is now becoming a bad word. Education is truly getting frowned upon by large parts of our society, and science is getting attacked on many fronts. Global warming (which is a contributing factor to the worse hurricane season ever in the recorded history of the United States), evolution, birth control and birth rights, and natural resource experts are among the many who are under fire by the anti-intellectual movement.

Intellectualism is important for our society because intellectuals are the ones who come up with solutions to our biggest problems, innovations to make life and society function better, philosophical responses to help us live better and make sense of our purposes in life. Intellectualism helps change automatic living into focused living. It helps make everything more coherent and show connections between things that are often hard to find. Intellectualism helps critical thinking and can give life more color. Intellectualism changes literal interpretations into metaphors and symbolic thinking - it opens doors everywhere.

Until intellectualism is re-embraced as a source of good, expect a further decline of that which was once good in our society. We need to look to our intellectuals because there are a lot of things that need answers. We need to look past the appearance of what we've learned to hate about intellectuals, and evaluate what intellectuals say on their own merits as thinkers. Until then, the void will continue to grow, and we can only imagine were unreasoned faith-based thinking will take us next.

Identity, Masks, and Mirrors

Who you are comes from many things. Sartre describes process of living "existence before essense" - that is, we exist before having any sort of identity.

Then we begin to learn what we like, and what we don't like. It is simple. But then socialization hits us hard.

For many, identity is a process of wearing masks. In certain social situations, one mask is appropriate, and in others another mask is needed. The adaptability of people is so strong that we change ourselves for others. This is necessary to survive socially.

However, beyond our masks, what is left? The most important and complex piece of our identity, is exceedingly simple in concept. We are, at our core, who we are when we just be. For some reason, just being is hard for many people. I think a lot of it is related to insecurity - when life is defined by situations, what is left when you're alone and without a situation?

Solitude and loneliness are important states of being for the development of identity. Without solitude, we are unable to contemplate our masks and determine what is left when there is no mask. Without loneliness, we are unable to feel the gravity of our existence and understand the fundamental truth of the grand responsibility we have for our lives and the relationship between self and others.

I am what I am.

I am not what I am not.

Mirrors. Mirrors are as important as masks for shaping identity. Humans constantly look for feedback. Without feedback we are unable to determine what is a misstep and what is acceptable. In fact, many people choose to do that which is unacceptable because it has predictable results.

Oddly enough, the power of mirrors in many is stronger than the self-presence that determines who the individual is. While I can say what I am for myself, what others say or reflect onto me has the potential of having more weight than my own opinion of myself. - How am I to judge?

The strangeness of this system is that people are so self-centered by and far, that they are unable to truly look at others and accurately describe them. In fact, people are so worried about how they appear in the mirrors they see around them, what they tend to reflect is what they think they should reflect. In many ways, this is a predictable and boring system.


Oh, what I would give to be rid of masks and mirrors and to just be with the rest of my people...

Sports as art

What separates good and great athletes from everyone else is their approach to their sport.

I've been realizing that sport is a creative outlet that is on the same level as writing, music, painting, etc. When I get on the field to play, it takes a great level of creativity to find ways to help my team and react to a constantly changing dynamic situation.

And, exactly like all other forms of art, sport takes a lot of work to get good at. This is why I can't fathom why people would play a sport and not put their all into it. Your body is the outlet of expression, and your skills are the tools for displaying this expression - what does it say about yourself if you don't play with the mental and physical intensity to improve?

I have players on my team that don't run, don't work on basic skills when given the chance, that don't play defense, that don't pass well and don't work on passing, that don't pay attention to where their teammates are, etc. It totally boggles my mind - now, of course, there is a learning curve, but when you don't run or work on the basics then I wonder why they're playing at all.

Today I ran more than everyone on my team to try to show them what it looks like to play well. To play in the right place, with the right intensity, with focus... But that is something that comes from within - I can only provide training and opportunity, they have to find a way to make it mean something.

I'm lead to believe that the biggest crisis that is facing our society is that there is a huge lack of artistry.

Professional sports is often reduced to a big play highlight reel. The slam dunk, the touchdown run, the big hit on defense, the home run, and in soccer - the flamboyant goal. Always the spectacular. Its just as with music - trumpets playing louder and ever higher, but in tune? Or playing notes faster and faster instead of finding a way to really make an instrument sing. And rockstars that look pretty, and wear the right clothes, but can barely play an instrument (and write terrible lyrics).

The difference between an artist and a hack is the attention to detail, the ability to feel the moment and express one's self honestly (rather than to impress), and working hard to improve in all aspects of the field of artistry.

I'm finally understanding that music and soccer are nearly the same thing to me, just different forms of self-expression - as an artist.

Structure

It is evident that people cannot exist without structure.

Social contract theorists often held the belief that without social contracts, people would steal, kill, maim, rape, pillage, etc with impudence. I've always thought of this Hobbesian world in which no social contract exists as being a lot like the world of Mad Max and Road Warrior.

However, there is really no place in the world that exists entirely without social order based on agreements (at the least, implicit agreements). The world has never seen an every man for himself free-for-all. Instead, people form groups. Even in Somalia and the Sudan we see this. Warlords help organize people and protect and feed them in exchange for helping their cause.

But that often isn't enough to create meaning or place in the world. Political religions go to the next step of sanctioning activity, and which actions are ok or not ok and what the penalty is for those actions. Governments do the same things with laws.

The trouble with any of these systems, is that these agreements are rarely something we create. Often, in fact, we are simply born into a place where these agreements have already been made and it is then explained to us as we grow up that it is our duty to follow, obey, and enforce these agreements.

The trouble is that we don't have that personal connection with the rules that govern our lives. And understand, that many of these rules are implicit, but are very much active and enforced.

Why shouldn't I go 10 miles over the speed limit? I can do it safely, my car gets better gas mileage then, and I get to where I'm going sooner.

Why shouldn't I go on someone's private property if they aren't there to take a hike to see some interesting places I've never been before? I'm not hurting the land, I'm not taking anything, what's the harm?

In addition to these police enforced laws, there are social rules that are even more arbitrary.

Why do I need to dress up to go to that stupid dinner party? I don't even like anyone there.

Why do I have to shave to look professional?

And so on, and so on...

In this way, life gives us choices: to obey the rules, or to be punished somehow.

But these leaves a lot of open room for each of us in the rest of our lives. Our jobs, our personal lives, our sex lives, our friendships, and so on are ours... but how do we make choices in regards to these things. The open-endedness of these choices can make life seem impossible.

However, it is precisely these things that give life its value. Most people don't make laws, but we decide each for ourselves what kinds of relationships we want, how we want to treat others, what job careers we try to go for, etc. This is where we are most free to express our individuality and humanity.

Unfortunately, the world we live in now makes the act of choosing for ourselves these important things more difficult than it needs to be. Television and other media are saturating us with examples of how to live that have become prototypical models of living. Most of these models are nearly impossible for most people to attain, or are simply bad models that really shouldn't be followed. Do we want our kids acting like Paris Hilton? Do we want our kids acting like people on the Real World or Laguna Beach? And what of ourselves?

Again, it is incumbent on us to find values for ourselves, and one of the best tactics for this is to create a structure for us to live our lives within. The other day I was talking with someone who's life is being suffocated because she never really made any active choices surrounding what her values where and how she wanted to live. Some solutions that I came up with were:


1) Map out your day, each day, hour to hour. Determine how you spend this time, evaluate what is good and bad, and then make choices that reflect what you've learned from this exercise.

2) Write down what you most care about in the world, what most bothers you, how you spend your time and what you think about the most... evaluate why these things are what they are and then judge if they should be that way, and follow that up with determining if you are doing what you should to reflect these values.

3) Make lists of short-term and long-term goals that you have for yourself. With those lists, try to come up with as much detail as possible as to what you are doing, need to do, can do, and can't do to achieve those goals.

4) Budget your time: give yourself time each day to reflect, and to do things that are just for you. Whether its exercise, writing, music, or whatever else - find ways to give yourself something each day that is your own and just for yourself. The more you have that is just for yourself, the more the rest of your life can blossom.


These things are all examples of creating structure in your life - personal structure. I rarely see anything in the media that discusses this, in fact, structure is often referred to as something that is external. For instance, the army and bootcamp are good because they give you structure. Well, these are just a few ways that you can give yourself structure without signing your life away.

The Arbitrariness of Simulacra

Understanding that reality has become devoid of Truth, how do we make decisions?

Until we find some truths for ourselves, it will appear as though there is no way to decide which decision is better than another. With no value anchors, all decisions have the same value. Then, all that is left is literally worrying about negative consequences. The only reason not to do something is if you will somehow be punished for it - not by God, but by someone or some group somehow.

This is enough (now) to maintain order in society because people are mostly afraid to break laws. If there are now laws, then they just have to worry about how others will treat them. It is a system totally maintained by consequences - which are reactions.

In this sense, our society is growing docile and weak. There are no longer affirmations of value in life. In fact, all that matters is the elusive concept of freedom - which is reduced to a farce also because we care more about being able to do whatever we want for ourselves, not about real freedom. Real freedom to exist as you are, to proclaim that there is something worth living for that is somehow transcendent of the arbitrary fields of nothingness we are sifting through today.

The first key, then is an affirmation of those things in the world that cannot be murkied up in simulacra. The few things I've found that fit this category is: 1) caring for your children, which leads to 2) caring for your family, and all other people because they, too, come from families, 3) the continued pursuit of expanding human consciousness, and 4) finding ways to make your own individual existence your own.

All of these values can be painful to reach toward because existence creates barriers to all of these things. Family members have problems. Children can't do everything perfectly the way you want and there's no way to protect your children from everything. People all over the world are suffering from disease, starvation, oppression, etc. The more people know about existence, the harder it is to be at ease in life because existence is absurd by nature. Making existence your own means that you have to take risks, and live consciously which opens you up to feeling pain.

All difficult pursuits, but the beginning of finding some value after digging through the dark waters of the simulacra of existence.

Many problems will continue to remain as each generation grows up to witness new hyperrealities becoming normal. The extremities of today become the humdrum of tomorrow. I don't know how we'll turn that ship around, but that will be important for simple quality of life issues that are important because we don't want our children growing up in an increasingly weird and messed up world.

The Context of our Lives

What is the context of our lives?

I can sit in front of a television, or I can avoid the television like the plague... it wouldn't change much. Things continue to get stranger and stranger.

Reality is based in anchors. Before television, what were our anchors? Our community, our family, and newspapers. Now we are overloaded with things that are extra-reality - yet these things shape reality. Advertisements and television are filled with things more and more spectacular to engage us more deeply and affect us strongly to make an impression.

The impression is lasting.

Collectively, social norms are changing at an accelerated pace. Change is normal, but usually happens after being hashed out as each generation confronts it collectively. Instead, now, change is being force fed to us. We're losing personal investment in the shape of our reality. Anchors are drifting from what is directly around us to what is viewed before us. As our focus continues to push outward we lose more and more of our inward world.

History will look at this period of time as The Lost Age. The Age where people lost everything that naturally grounded them into their lives.


What will bring us collectively back to what should anchor us? Individually, it takes revolt. Collectively, then, it will take a sort of revolution. This revolution will be caused by one of two things: 1) an organized movement of people fed up with how things are taking shape, or 2) a massive breakdown of the fabric that holds our society together.

I see no reason to believe that we are heading toward anything but a massive breakdown.

I don't know what to think really. There are two things worth focusing on: 1) how to work towards collective change, and 2) how to work towards grounding myself individually. Working towards individual ends is easy... my desires for society will take a lot more mental work before I will come up with any answers. I know, however, that I have to keep thinking about it. We all should.

We can't afford to let our collective reality to continue to decay into extremity. It is something we should be worried about...