Writer's Block (It's Not Good To Be Alone)

I think this is the second time that I've written a blog with nothing in particular on my mind. Due to the nature of this blog, I don't find this to be a particularly bad thing though.

Maybe a bit boring for some people though.


I find myself to be a bit overwhelmed with a number of huge thought projects right now. During these times, I often refresh my mind by just looking around and making some observations of the world around me. This is one of them.

Do you know that whenever you see people sitting alone, they're doing something with a phone?

I talked with a few friends about this and I posted a status of it on Facebook, just curious as to why they thought this happens. A number of people said that people do not like to be alone, so that is why they often busy themselves with their phone. They're probably right, but as a person who is some-of-the-time extremely introverted, I found myself a bit perplexed with their response. I very much enjoy being alone some-of-the-time. 


Though, when I think about it, if there were no one who loved me, I think I would be very miserable. I love spending time by myself some-of-the-time, but I've begun to realize that I am not alone in these times. Outside of my cave of silence and solitude I know that I am cared for and loved, and I care for and love others when I  am by myself. 


I think people have their phone's out a lot of the time because they need to constantly be in communication to feel this. I wonder if that is because these loves are not secure for them.

I find that some of the best times I have had with people were when I was just lying or sitting with them, saying either nothing of importance or nothing at all, and just mutually grinning. People have a presence about them that is more than what they say or what they do. At least I think they do.

I think you've found a good friend when you don't need to talk to them to know you are loved. You talk because you love them instead of because you want them to love you. When you are secure enough in your relationships that you can sit alone and not be texting.

But this is just an observation, and I can easily be wrong. After all, I do text my friends, but I hope it is because I want to enjoy them more instead of because I want them to keep me from feeling lonely. I hope it's because I just like them.

*Side Note: Due to the amount of work I now have, I will be updating this bi-weekly instead of weekly.

Asking Shadows What They Want

“Reality is harsh to the feet of shadows.” – The Great Divorce

“Did you ask her what she wanted? It is the wisest thing to ask the dead.” – American Gods

“Till that word can be dug out of us, why should they hear the babble that we think we mean? How can they meet us face to face till we have faces?” – Till We Have Faces

The thought I’ve been directed to for these past two weeks (sorry about not posting a blog last week) has been about becoming more than what we are now. Not in the way that self-help books talk about, and not in the way that spirituals talk about finding our inner god. They weren’t about becoming something greater than a human, but becoming fully human.

We are shadows, unable to tread on what is true.
We are not dead, but we are not fully alive either.
We are unable to speak to the gods unless we know what we are truly saying.

So often I notice myself doing something and forget the reason why I am doing it. I don’t mean something like Alzheimer’s when you just cannot remember what you are doing. It’s more like when you are going to work, but forget why you wanted that job in the first place. You forget the reason why you first found someone attractive. You are doing something, but you’ve left out the substance.

It’s the difference between having sex and making love.

Plato says that there are four cardinal virtues: wisdom, justice, restraint, and courage. These are known as the cardinal virtues because they are the virtues on which all other virtues can be built. There can be a danger in pursuing virtues if you don’t even have the basics down, just as good things can become bad if done at a wrong time. Think of it like giving man dying of thirst water. If he drinks it too quickly, we will get sick, yet if you wait too long, he will die. Obviously, one is worse than the other, but understanding both can help avoid any bad situations.

Introspection can be a very valuable tool if you have the training to use it well.

Before one can become fully human, one must know what and where ones is. I doubt anyone has reached a level of perfection by accident, and I doubt even further that it can be done alone and by one’s own power. But still, how can we have any chance of it if we do not even begin to try and understand who we are? How can we enjoy reality if we don’t know that we are shadows? How can we live if we don’t know what our passions are? How can we talk to the Divine if we do not even know what we are saying? These are rhetorical questions though, and they don’t need answers. But it is about looking into your core, your soul, your heart of heart.

I might not be explaining this well. It is hard to find the right words, and harder still to speak in a way that can be universally understood. But I am convinced that the following question is important and deserves some time, maybe even a few decades, to answer.

What do you want?

"The Simplest Things are Often Truest"

I saw Cars 2 a few days ago. I liked it, and felt like a freak for doing so. Granted, the Cars saga is not my favorite of the PIXAR films (I have too much of a soft-spot for Up and WALL-E), but this film and its sequel have been getting its fair-share of being knocked around. It is called a film for young boys, but not for most else. It has an immature and boring plot to anyone with sense (at least, that's what I think is meant by it). I, however, found the movie to have a very simple plot, simple morals, but never boring. Simplistic yes, boring no.

Doing nothing is different from relaxing. Static is different from turning the television off. White noise is different from no sound. Simplistic is different from boring. When something is simple, that means that it is not complex, not that it is not interesting. Complicated things can be boring, in the same way that music can be made white noise, or television can be used like static, or when you can be inattentive while you are doing something.

Surprisingly, many things can be said about simplicity. But, in the spirit of this topic, I will try and simply say what I love about it.

I find simple things enjoyable, because they are able to be enjoyed for what they are.

Simplicity is more comforting to me than complexity. When someone is a loyal friend to me because of some quality or some circumstance, I know it can change if the circumstance changes. If someone is loyal because they love loyalty and because they love me, then I can be comforted.

Simplicity does not mean that something is not deep, special, and meaningful; it means that you can easily see why something is deep, special, and meaningful. And you can spend a lifetime of learning how to appreciate the simple things well.

I loved Cars 2 because it was a simple story about friendship. Isn't that a reason to praise a film, not avoid it?