The Comfort In Being Sad

It would seem odd to think that the negative aspects and or situations that life can sometimes bring to one's doorstep could be anything to boast about or to adore, however, as you read this, I would ask that you take such things to heart.

As a musician, this is a topic that comes up rather often. I listen to music, and write my own songs, and I ponder upon such thoughts.

Should we view the negative aspects of life as something to be avoided? Or are such times of sadness and despair needed?

I guess the real question is, why do we as humans find it to be so attractive? Sadness that is. We can all identify with it, yes, but is that why when we hear a terribly depressing song that it resonates with our soul in the measure that it does, sending chills through our body, or bringing about tears? Have you ever analyzed such feelings?

I personally have had my times of terrible sadness, and, as fate would have it, recently have come along something that has stolen away my ability to be truly sad ever again it would seem. Yet, even I, in all of my bliss, identify with such works of art in the very same measure as I did back in the day, when my feelings were the same as those that are being expressed. I find it to be attractive. There is this sort of, esoteric epicness, and from my perspective, a great deal of potential hope hidden behind it all, as though, one day something will come along and release that spring, and all of that positive energy will burst forth.

However, that is not my main point of this article. The point of this article is to point out to you that indeed, sad times come, and sad times go, but I want for you to focus on something.

Whenever you get knocked down by life, or brought to that point wherein you honestly feel as though you simply cannot take even one more step, I want you to realize that no matter if you feel "good enough" or whatever may be the case, that those times of despair, are there for one reason and one reason alone; and that is so that you can show yourself just how amazing you are.

The reason that such songs, movies, whatever form of art, touch us in the way that they do, is because honestly, on a subconscious level, we DO find it attractive. I know that sounds rather masochistic. I mean, pain is not something that one should seek after or desire. But you know what? It is something that is to be embraced. Have you ever noticed that any song of hope that you've ever heard has within it portions which speak of the writer's feelings of hopelessness? It has to be that way, and the reality is, that nobody ever succeeded at anything without first failing.

Someone somewhere once said, "I have not failed 1,000 times, I have discovered 1,000 ways that will not work".

The truth is, that this concept, permeates throughout the universe. Something new cannot be created without the old first being destroyed.

Any hardship that life throws at you will not get better by your complaining, in fact, the only thing that complaining is good for, is for you to tell yourself how unhappy you are with your less than gleeful situation, so that you can get it off of your chest, and move on...but that's not what we do most of the time now is it? We sit, and we weep, and we sit, and we weep, and before long, we have no idea what it is that we're actually sad about, we just enjoy the comfort that sadness brings.

One cannot be truly happy nor satisfied until they have been made to be truly unhappy and dissatisfied. It simply does not work that way. In fact, if you went and got as comfortable as you could possibly get, laying on your couch and watching television, your body would make you uncomfortable before it let you lie there for too long. You would die if you never moved from that position of comfort.

Have you ever noticed that pain or discomfort has never actually killed anyone. I'm talking of minor discomforts, or earth shattering emotional trauma even. These things are essentially harmless when it comes to life and death, and yet, in America, I find that we are nearly all so consumed with our own ideas of comfort and security, that we neglect the fact that when such things are threatened or taken away, that it is just like our body's refusing to let us stay comfortable in one position for too long.

Now, to me, this post feels scattered and not well written. My wrists hurt, this chair is not very comfortable, and I don't seem to be getting out what I intended to write in the first place, but, still within me is the desire to point such things out to you, and so, rather than deleting all of what I've written, I'm going to continue to type, and when I finish I will post it, because honestly, what I have to offer to this world does not depend upon my perception of it, nor of my comfort in doing it. The only thing that matters in the end, is that I can say that I at least tried. I had it all worked out in my head how I would write this, and tell you many great things about this subject, and now, I can't even seem to get anything of it out, but it doesn't matter, because I know that someone out there will read this, and it will be exactly what they needed to hear.

One cannot live by simply being self-serving all of the days of their life. I would encourage you to read through some of the other posts on this site, and search your soul, find out who you truly are, and realize that there IS something that you have to offer to this world, and see the infinite value of that, and then, stop complaining and procrastinating, and just go do it. What have you got to lose? You've got the world to gain....

I'm gonna go and play a song for the woman of my dreams. She's in the other room right now strumming away. She won't play for me, I'm not sure why, but it will all come out in the wash I suppose. The song that I'm going to play for her is one that she told me was her favorite out of all of the songs that I've written. It was written from a very dark place, full of doubt and despair. It was about her. You see, for quite some time I was in terrible pain, and she was the cause of it, and she knew what she was doing, but, from that period of darkness, I got this song, and not only is it her favorite, it's mine as well. Some of the best work that I've ever created in my opinion.

I think the thing I wanted to say in this post, was this....

"It seems to be at the moments of the least amount of hope, and of the most crushing despair, when we as human beings are pressed down on all sides, that out from within us proceeds the greatest and most awe inspiring works of art that the world has ever seen, powerful enough to inspire whole generations to search within themselves and find that same brilliant light. It is in our darkest hour that true human emotion is set free, and all is cleansed in that moment, and we see what we truly are..."   - Ethan Womack

Belief vs Reality - Part Two

Perhaps I was not clear? It may be stated that my last post was rather disorganized and scattered. It was not intended to be so, and yet, it was. The true question is, did you get the point? You see, in the battle between personal belief systems and reality lies within what said person "knows" and what said person "believes" to be true. To put it simply, think of it like this. I have heard many people throughout my life proclaim to me on a near daily basis that they "know" that the god of the bible is the "One True God" and subsequently, they also "know" that all of the words of their holy book is the infallible word of God, and that it should be viewed by all of humanity in the same context that they personally believe that it should be. I find a contradiction in such statements. You see, when I look out at the world, and all of it's "problems" I can very clearly see what the true dilemma is, and infact, I am not the first to see it, nor am I alone in my "beliefs" about such a reality. One of my favorite rappers (and various other artists of any form of art) has seen it, and describes the current situation in the world today rather well. He speaks of two things essentially, with a third seemingly hidden within his words. You see, words, as I (poorly) attempted to explain in my last post, are completely pointless. However, they can be quite useful in getting a point across. Instead of giving you my personal opinion of what Lil' Wayne has seen that I have seen, which other's also see, (quite clearly mind you) I'm simply going to quote the lyrics, and let you decide what it is that he's talking about. You be the judge as to whether or not it is relevant to this blog and my ramblings or not.

"Gorillas in suits The holy war, the spiritual troops Fighting over the mythical truth Drowning in the political soup They shoot missiles and nukes Taking out such a pivotal group The body count is the physical proof And they thought drugs were killing the youth"  

Lil' Wayne -"President Carter"

You see, the problem in not just "America" but the entire world seems to lie within the fact that people are given positions of power, and, driven by their greed, they seem to get together in one massive attempt to blind the masses to their schemes in order to remain in power. Essentially, everything going on in the news today, that we ALL hear about and have grown quite accustomed to hearing, is explained in the first four lines...and the ones which follow after tell you just what they're all covering up, and how. For the "why" refer back to the first stanza. Now you see my friends, these words are not mine. I did not create this idea. I am not some radical conspiracy theorist. I am simply a person who seems to be completely immune to being blinded by people who simply think of me as one of the other mindless zombies who comply with their demands as to what I should and/or shouldn't believe. Do you know why? It is because I avidly attempt to push away my own personal beliefs and/or biases for the sole purpose of seeing things as they truly are. Not as I wish them to be. Not as I "think" they are, but rather, just as they are.

"It is what it is"

That's a statement that I can appreciate most of all, out of the millions of others that exist. You see friends, if you truly want to begin to understand what the "meaning of life" is, or find some purpose or reason for you being here upon this earth, then I would suggest that you stop attempting to find an outside source to tell you who you are and what you are here for. You will never find a purpose for anything if you continually focus upon what others attempt to persuade you to believe, and you need to realize that most of them want you to believe such things simply because they themselves believe the same way. No friend, you mustn't concern yourself with belief systems or personal opinion, but rather, you must view things from a metaphysical standpoint...That is...If you ever want to see things as they truly are.

Take advertising for example. From a metaphysical perspective, let me lay this example out for you in a hypothetical circumstance. You're watching television, and you're sitting in a chair in your living room which you've had for 10+ years. This commercial is an advertisement for a "special" chair. It's got twice the padding of yours, it comes in a variety of colors (one of which you personally enjoy much more than your current chair color) and it even has pockets on the side for you to stash your remotes, magazines, pack of crackers, etc... This commercial is attempting to draw you in of course; that's what advertisements are designed to do. It defeats the purpose of advertising for it to do anything else. Now, you watch this commercial, and as you do, you think to yourself of how you have been wanting a new chair, and you also like the chair on the television. At the end of said commercial, they tell you the price, and it just so happens to be $5,000 for this chair of your dreams. You also realize at this point that you have $5000 worth of "spare change" so to speak. (stay with me here, please)

Now, I want for you to imagine a hard, plain, wooden chair that you have seen at your local dollar store. It only costs $5.

Can you tell me the difference between the two chairs?

Besides the obvious, (Price, level of comfort, color) can you tell me why one is better than the other?

You see friend, the reality of the situation, not your opinion, but the reality, is that the ONLY purpose for a chair, is to sit in it, and whether you choose the cheap wooden one, or the expensive plush colorful one with pockets, at the end of the day, all that you can do with either of them is sit in them (Or stack stuff in it, but that's beside the point) and if you want to be real about it, a stump in the woods somewhere will serve the same purpose.

Do you see my point? You were sitting in a chair, and because someone told you about another chair, and convinced you that said chair was a "better performing" chair than the one you currently have, or the $5 one from the dollar store, your belief causes you to desire to have said chair. Congratulations, you have successfully been deterred from being able to understand the purpose of a chair, and thus, you are no longer thinking of having a place to sit, but rather, you are thinking of having a "wonder chair" which will allow for you to "sit better"!?¿

Let's get real. This what has happened to your life. This is why this blog was created, and this is why people seem to continually question their purpose! What is the meaning of life? Why am I here? Who am I?

You see, these are not questions that someone can answer for you. Yes, it is possible for someone to introduce you to a mirror, so that you can see for yourself, but it is obscene for anyone to tell another human being who they are and what their purpose is in this life. This is what has happened people. You have walked through your life, and been told of gods and of devils and of angels and demons and UFO's and morality and of good and of evil, and thus, you have lost your sense of purpose. You're just someone who's watching infomercials on chairs, sitting on your bare floor, though you have a chair that has served you well in the past, all because you are convinced that if you watch that screen for long enough, someone will tell you exactly what chair you need. .... And with that mentality... well, you must admit... you friend are acting as if you have some sort of psychological problem or mental illness. It's simply not logical.

This is exactly what this blog is about. Not to tell you who you are and what the meaning of life is, but rather, to show you the way towards a mirror, so that you can for the (possibly) first time, see yourself AS YOU ARE, free from any distortions of others who want to tell you what you look like rather than letting you see who you are.

So, if you want to continue arguing with yourself about chairs, and being blinded by the rhetoric surrounding such advertisements about who you are and what makes you the best you that you can be, then go ahead...perhaps that's your purpose?

We all need examples of what not to do and what not to be, after all if we didn't, just as if we didn't have shadows, we'd be blinded anyways, like deer in a headlight.