Many of my fellow bloggers likely encounter tempting pyramid schemes and success pitches aimed at our desire to propel our sites to popularity and ourselves to great riches. I’ve investigated a few of them, but they’re not a good fit for bluejayblog nor myself. Even though I sometimes touch on a public figure or phenomenon, this place is not about targeted marketing nor mass, popular culture. There are already thousands of sites for people who are searching for conventional success.
I appreciate the people who bother to stop by bluejayblog on Sundays. Many times on Sunday, the mood is reflective and introspective. The blog motto includes the word “understanding” as well as the term “observations”. Much of the time, I bring you my observations about the various topics and categories that mean something to me. It’s rewarding to practice my writing while sharing something interesting to ponder.
This place is more about my past and present encounters with life and the universe. It gives me time to sometimes ponder the future. It also is a place to ponder whether or not I have an agenda to share with others. If there is an agenda, I hope that it’s a constructive one and one that gets you to think about more than just the mainstream, popular topics that bombard us each day.
While meditating outdoors early this morning, I heard the sounds of insects, a distant truck or two, the neighbor’s air conditioning unit, and a far-off jet airplane’s very slight rumble. It made me wonder where I fit into the overall scheme of things. Why do I strive to live out the various aspects of life?
Why do we strive? There may be some explanations posited by psychologists and anthropologists. But do these explanations touch the core of why we seem to feel an inate desire to strive?
Isn’t the act of striving, the effort we make to change “what is” into something else? At some level, we try to make who we are into someone we aren’t. Isn’t there some sort of unacceptance present in the act of striving? We seem to be constantly escaping what is. The deliberate transformation of “what is” into something different is marketed to us each day. We’re also being told that we must transform or convince other people that they must be more like us. Because we are convinced that others should uphold similar “values” that we do.
My copy of Webster’s Dictionary defines strive these ways: “to exert oneself vigorously; to make strenuous effort towards a goal; to contend in opposition or conflict; to struggle vigorously in opposition or resistance; to rival or vie.”
The type of striving, I have observed is largely psychological. We might have developed social structures and institutions to focus or channel our mental striving. However, as long as mental discord and darkness are present, those institutions and structures are ineffective. Oftentimes these institutions, mainly religious or governmental, have become collective tools for those who strive towards some nefarious goal or another.
Striving signals non-acceptance. When we strive, we’re dissatisfied in some way. Striving might be constructive at times, but striving is largely destructive because it springs from the desire to change “what is”.
Satisfaction and contentment do not arise from the chatter of the mind. We constantly seek and strive to “improve” things. We look to find peace of mind, we strive to maintain control of our lives and those of others. Striving obliterates inate understanding of “what is”. Through comparison, dogma, and conflict, we attempt to make “what is” conform to our personal opinions of what “should be”. The perception of satisfaction we seek is sterile, artificial, and a temporary escape from reality.
Is it necessary to escape from reality? Is it necessary for us to feel contentment and follow the proscriptions of politics, religion, and social pressure to conform?
If we’re awake, we notice there are millions of impoverished people. There is social strife and constant warfare. There are people with hoards of wealth and immense power. We can see, from history, that particular and new forms of economic theory, political structures or revolutions, dissent and warfare have only shifted the appearances of how we strive.
What if we simply put an hiatus on striving? How about a simple analysis of “what is”? What about an experiment in accepting “what is”. Could this cause the problems and misunderstandings between humans to diminish? Why haven’t we tried to curb striving for awhile?
Ciao
The Blue Jay of Happiness thinks we should still work towards solving the problems of hunger, disease and greed. Acceptance of “what is” will likely help us understand the solutions.
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