By no means do I mean
to incline that people who reach the same conclusions about the universe as me
and in truth believe them, are more important than the people lost in the
confusion and noise of the dancefloor of existence. This is not the case. Sure,
there are a lot of people who are desperately yearning for guidance, for
someone or something to follow. This is why religion is still such a prevailing
force in contemporary society. Being a determinist I however look at religion
from an outside perspective, seeing its tremendous power to enslave people
under false pretenses and making them live their lives according to outdated
dogmas that may have enriched society thousands of years ago but today only
stand as a lone remnant of a previous time. Religion is not the only culprit in
this respect. Any institution that tries to dictate how people should live
their life, be it society, culture, tradition, etc., can in its worst cases
imprison people’s mind to the point where they no longer think for themselves
but rather just dance away to the beat of the music created by one of these
institutions, blinded by strobe lights and darkness so that they cannot see the
world for what it really is. This is what I call the dancefloor of existence and
it is where most people spend the majority of their lives. I have certainly
spent the majority of my life so far there. Thankfully, it is possible to
escape the dancefloor, alone or with help from others, which is essentially
what I am trying to do with this blog. This is because one of my greatest fears
is that the dancers aren’t dancers by choice but rather from lack of
transcendence, understanding, grasp of individual potential. As a result they
latch on to other levels and simultaneously support and make up the power base
of these aforementioned institutions. After all, what is a kingdom without
subjects, even if it is only a kingdom of the mind. Ideas are sometimes all it
takes to enslave people, and most people need some sense of purpose, to make
sense of their existence. As a Lithuanian friend of mine once said; "slaves
will be slaves", sharing a point with the Roman historian Sallust who said:
‘Only a few prefer liberty – the majority seek nothing more than fair masters’.
Slaves might be slaves,
but as another kindred spirit, a beautiful Tahitian dive instructor, once
pointed out to me, even though our two tribes might be different, “we need
these people”, without them our society could not function. Vice versa, without
leadership the masses would be utterly lost, creating the need for different
thinkers not just dancing away in the noise of the dancefloor in this nightclub
of existence. In that sense, transcenders are important given that they hold
the key for leading people in other directions but without people to guide, the
need for these thinkers would not exist. In conclusion, everyone has a part to
play and is thus equally important.
The distinction might
be more apt when thinking of transcenders as people who have found their way
out of the chaos of the dark, pulsating dancefloor into an area where they can
choose their own music and lighting. In a sense, they have escaped the
dancefloor although this shouldn’t be construed as a prison since most of the
dancers wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. Whether or not this is a result of
institutionalization or not shouldn’t matter, as long as they are content which
I truly hope they are. Like Cypher in The
Matrix, I believe that ignorance is sometimes bliss. Most people are
probably better off staying on the dancefloor or locked in to the Matrix. For
me it is different though since I have always been looking for an alternate
environment, if only on a subconscious level to start with. Essentially, it is
really impossible to describe the world away from the dancefloor to anyone who
hasn’t already found it by themselves (think about Plato’s cave, similar
problem), which is why my journey and that of many others I imagine, began as
an unconscious one, as a feeling of not belonging, a drive to pursue other
horizons. It is especially hard to talk about these distinctions without coming
across as a complete arrogant prick, but I am giving it a go anyway. Once you
see the distinction though, you will never experience the dancefloor in a
similar manner again. I experience this every time I go back home to Denmark.
It is like Flowers for Algernon, this
journey only goes in one direction. Although you might occasionally find
yourself on the dancefloor over time, it will never feel the same again.
That this is an
individual realization that everyone has to arrive at on their own makes people
part of the problem. By latching on to the ideas of others, you are
simultaneously hindering your own development. That is why I found that me-time
is sometimes essential to reach these conclusions. This is part of a more
general discussion about the necessity for many people to be around other
people for most of their life to be addressed in the following post.
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