By: James Slider
To be a sentient being is to be subject to endless causes and conditions that shape your life, an infinitely complex entanglement that we call reality. The reality we experience is shaped by our interaction with things and other beings, phenomena that we observe and act upon. Being a part of this entanglement means two things: First, it means that we subjectively create the world we experience by acting as an observer of reality. Second, it means that we ourselves are objects of other's observation and in that way we are created by the same entanglement that we help to construct. In short, we are both the shaper and the shaped of reality.
Human beings are the inherent subject of a multitude of states and events including birth, death, suffering, and change. To observe and interact with an object (sentient or not) is to submit yourself to suffering, because inevitably that thing will leave, change, or die. The alternative to this cycle being a total detachment from reality, which would invariably lead to more suffering than the first option.
However, this suffering can be alleviated through our interactions, encounters facilitated by the same entanglement that subjects us to suffering in the first place. The sick can be healed, hatred fades away, the process of death is supplemented by life, and a number of other examples. Despite the many causes and conditions associated with suffering, there are just as many remedies to this state, if only human beings are willing to act as the agents who choose to apply these remedies.
The assertion i wish to make here is that to be a participant in reality is to commit yourself to the alleviation of suffering. To make an effort to stop the pain that others feel, that you feel, that you would inflict on others by acting carelessly. Mindfulness is of extreme importance in this case, because freedom from suffering comes not from some escape to an otherworldly paradise, but from accepting current circumstances, and choosing to live compassionately and with hope. Choosing not to act is to live complacently with suffering, to perpetuate the same things that plague all of mankind.
Any truth worthy of articulation is too important to betray. - Jay Garfield
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Confessions of a Hipster
By: Kris Harrison
I am a hipster. I said it, and it may make me more of a hipster for admitting it. I've kicked and screamed trying to run around the fact. It sickens me to see such fashionable and trendy folks with the same values and tastes as I do. I've searched for some subgroup of people who share the same passions as I do and then bitch when I find it. We're all looking for something real while trying to hold on to some "working-class" credibility. We see behind all of the shit sold to us, the images, lifestyles, and expectations placed on us. Made to feel guilty for not reaching some standard we never agreed to. A large number of people like me reached the same conclusions, adopted the same values, and dealt with theses issues in the same way. We value frugality, desperately seek authenticity, want to rebel, are angry, educated, and seeking individualism. However, much like anything else in an industrialized society, individuality becomes mass produced. Just like punk, new wave, emo, metal, and whatever other counterculture/music genre becomes attached with a fashion, lifestyle and set of values. Since this tendency towards trends has become a trend itself, Hipsterdom has evolved into a rejection of such. We seek out new way of expressing ourselves while falling into the same trends as before. A lot it has to do with big business getting a hold of the fashion and publicizing it, thus destroying it. American Eagle and Urban Outfitters have both taken the fashion and values of Hipsters and sold it back to them as higher prices. You can buy "vintage" clothing and furniture at upscale prices and find the items in high class malls and shopping centers. Like Grunge and Punk, once the mainstream gets a hold of counterculture, it becomes itself unhip and destroys any authenticity left.
This is also in part due to the large number of people drawn into the trend. What was once an inside joke or shared interest with your group of friends (such as strange catch phrases and grandpa sweaters) later becomes adopted by a number of onlookers hoping to capture the creativity and originality of your creation, often making the irony of their appreciation twice as ironic and thus making it lame. This is later picked up by large marketing firms and the fashion industry, tweaked, placed on better looking people and sold all around the world. What was once your way of standing out turns out to be your greatest insecurity. You find a number of shallow, small minded fucks wearing your cloths and speaking your lingo, making you a poser in their eyes and resulting in insurmountable amounts of anger. The key to the problem here is not the fashion, nor the ideals behind them, but the scale on which they're acquired and means of marketing. What was authentic is made to be superficial, leaving the true individuals and creators seeking another way of expressing themselves.
Such phenomena occurs in any trend. Punk started as a way to stick it to the man, with strong, practical ideas, firm individualism, and fantastic music. Later it was commodified and sold as cheap, spiky haired pussy shit making the real originators look "uncool" or outdated. The same happened with Grunge (the Melvins probably look old and worn out to Nirvana and Alice in Chains fans) and will continue to happen. There becomes so much irony, so much hipness that all that was good and pure is wiped away in the name of profit margins and trendiness. That hot girl and asshole guy in Math class become trendy fucks, sporting Black Flag t-shirts and $50 would-be-thrift-shop-jeans. You, the guy or girl that hated them with all your might, must now change your style or face the horror of looking like these fake motherfuckers. Sure, you can stand strong and hold on to your sense of identity, fashion, and attitudes. Though, you will face much criticism during and after the trend. Trends kill authenticity and those who strive towards it.
You may at this point be thinking "Kris, it's only fashion, true originality is in the mind!" I wholeheartedly agree. This is what should matter most. Fashion is only an outward representation of one's beliefs, and often falls short of expressing what one really feels. They are, of course, mass produced items and are bound to end up on someone else somewhere. True individuality is in the mind. However, this is dull at time. We have to wear something, why not have fun with it, right? There is no harm in this, until it is copied and made a joke of. Then it is no longer fun and one becomes defensive. "I really DO like Judas Priest! This guy is wearing the shirt to make a joke of a very talented group of musicians, and the passion they have!" This is where it starts, and the anger only grows. It is stupid, I admit it. It should be shrugged off, but goddammit you have to believe in something! You can't just fold every time someone steps on your shoes! If you are of the creative persuasion, you know how hard it is NOT to express yourself. NOT to write things down, print them on some blog and let the world have at it. The same goes with fashion and lifestyle. It's an expression of your life.
It hurts most when your situation and lot in life is made a joke of. Hipsters are mostly, like myself, from a well off background, well educated (that is, go to college), appreciate an array of music, are liberally slanted, and creative in some way. This is just how we turned out, a whole lot of us. So many people sneer, and deny, and get furious over who or what they are. Who cares!? So you're ironic, great! Irony is hilarious. Well off in life? Fantastic! You have more power to make changes. Appreciate fine art, jazz, indie music, strange pop culture, cult movies, cheap clothing and beer, and enjoying life? What is so bad about this? Hipsterdom is a fight against pompousness, but becomes pompous by its own efforts. We don't want the ivory towers, the slick look, nice car, and fine wine. We're cheap, reckless and fucking witty. We're lost, angry and searching for something to ground us-just like everyone else.
I've hated on hipsterdom for so long and I'm tired of ignoring the blunt truth. I am a hipster, I am just like the other pissed off, lost youth of my generation. We don't share the same values as our parents, we don't know what's real and what's a joke. I don't know who to believe, what to believe in, or who to trust. It's a post-post modern world of ironic irony of irony. Of ads trying to sell us products by not trying to sell them. It's a world where revolution and rebellion are dead, and the machine has become too big to fight other than making everything an ironic joke. We're sold rebellion, manufactured rebellion, to make us feel like we're making a difference. The best efforts we had, to live cheap, be frugal, and try alternatives has become a trendy joke of itself. It's still real, and still an option, folks.
We have everything mankind has to offer and still feel empty and pissed off. We have a million problems on our hands and can't seem to find a solid solution for one. We can't even try to save our species without looking like a bunch of crazy liberals. We're trying to hang on to some middle class fairy tale, making our humility noble, while hiding our true emotions and ideas. Instead of taking hold of our new found identity, we shun it, trying to become proletariat supermen. Our heroes failed us, parents failed us (divorce, materialism, false hopes, existential crisis- you name it), and now we're expected to run shit.
I wrote this as a confession, spilling my guts all over the floor. If you think I'm lame, fuck you. Chances are if I'm friends with you, you're a hipster too and I have you in mind. It's time to move on, to find something new. We're rocketing through our youth denying it, getting lost in contradictions and confusion. So fuck it. Time to start over.
I am a hipster. I said it, and it may make me more of a hipster for admitting it. I've kicked and screamed trying to run around the fact. It sickens me to see such fashionable and trendy folks with the same values and tastes as I do. I've searched for some subgroup of people who share the same passions as I do and then bitch when I find it. We're all looking for something real while trying to hold on to some "working-class" credibility. We see behind all of the shit sold to us, the images, lifestyles, and expectations placed on us. Made to feel guilty for not reaching some standard we never agreed to. A large number of people like me reached the same conclusions, adopted the same values, and dealt with theses issues in the same way. We value frugality, desperately seek authenticity, want to rebel, are angry, educated, and seeking individualism. However, much like anything else in an industrialized society, individuality becomes mass produced. Just like punk, new wave, emo, metal, and whatever other counterculture/music genre becomes attached with a fashion, lifestyle and set of values. Since this tendency towards trends has become a trend itself, Hipsterdom has evolved into a rejection of such. We seek out new way of expressing ourselves while falling into the same trends as before. A lot it has to do with big business getting a hold of the fashion and publicizing it, thus destroying it. American Eagle and Urban Outfitters have both taken the fashion and values of Hipsters and sold it back to them as higher prices. You can buy "vintage" clothing and furniture at upscale prices and find the items in high class malls and shopping centers. Like Grunge and Punk, once the mainstream gets a hold of counterculture, it becomes itself unhip and destroys any authenticity left.
This is also in part due to the large number of people drawn into the trend. What was once an inside joke or shared interest with your group of friends (such as strange catch phrases and grandpa sweaters) later becomes adopted by a number of onlookers hoping to capture the creativity and originality of your creation, often making the irony of their appreciation twice as ironic and thus making it lame. This is later picked up by large marketing firms and the fashion industry, tweaked, placed on better looking people and sold all around the world. What was once your way of standing out turns out to be your greatest insecurity. You find a number of shallow, small minded fucks wearing your cloths and speaking your lingo, making you a poser in their eyes and resulting in insurmountable amounts of anger. The key to the problem here is not the fashion, nor the ideals behind them, but the scale on which they're acquired and means of marketing. What was authentic is made to be superficial, leaving the true individuals and creators seeking another way of expressing themselves.
Such phenomena occurs in any trend. Punk started as a way to stick it to the man, with strong, practical ideas, firm individualism, and fantastic music. Later it was commodified and sold as cheap, spiky haired pussy shit making the real originators look "uncool" or outdated. The same happened with Grunge (the Melvins probably look old and worn out to Nirvana and Alice in Chains fans) and will continue to happen. There becomes so much irony, so much hipness that all that was good and pure is wiped away in the name of profit margins and trendiness. That hot girl and asshole guy in Math class become trendy fucks, sporting Black Flag t-shirts and $50 would-be-thrift-shop-jeans. You, the guy or girl that hated them with all your might, must now change your style or face the horror of looking like these fake motherfuckers. Sure, you can stand strong and hold on to your sense of identity, fashion, and attitudes. Though, you will face much criticism during and after the trend. Trends kill authenticity and those who strive towards it.
You may at this point be thinking "Kris, it's only fashion, true originality is in the mind!" I wholeheartedly agree. This is what should matter most. Fashion is only an outward representation of one's beliefs, and often falls short of expressing what one really feels. They are, of course, mass produced items and are bound to end up on someone else somewhere. True individuality is in the mind. However, this is dull at time. We have to wear something, why not have fun with it, right? There is no harm in this, until it is copied and made a joke of. Then it is no longer fun and one becomes defensive. "I really DO like Judas Priest! This guy is wearing the shirt to make a joke of a very talented group of musicians, and the passion they have!" This is where it starts, and the anger only grows. It is stupid, I admit it. It should be shrugged off, but goddammit you have to believe in something! You can't just fold every time someone steps on your shoes! If you are of the creative persuasion, you know how hard it is NOT to express yourself. NOT to write things down, print them on some blog and let the world have at it. The same goes with fashion and lifestyle. It's an expression of your life.
It hurts most when your situation and lot in life is made a joke of. Hipsters are mostly, like myself, from a well off background, well educated (that is, go to college), appreciate an array of music, are liberally slanted, and creative in some way. This is just how we turned out, a whole lot of us. So many people sneer, and deny, and get furious over who or what they are. Who cares!? So you're ironic, great! Irony is hilarious. Well off in life? Fantastic! You have more power to make changes. Appreciate fine art, jazz, indie music, strange pop culture, cult movies, cheap clothing and beer, and enjoying life? What is so bad about this? Hipsterdom is a fight against pompousness, but becomes pompous by its own efforts. We don't want the ivory towers, the slick look, nice car, and fine wine. We're cheap, reckless and fucking witty. We're lost, angry and searching for something to ground us-just like everyone else.
I've hated on hipsterdom for so long and I'm tired of ignoring the blunt truth. I am a hipster, I am just like the other pissed off, lost youth of my generation. We don't share the same values as our parents, we don't know what's real and what's a joke. I don't know who to believe, what to believe in, or who to trust. It's a post-post modern world of ironic irony of irony. Of ads trying to sell us products by not trying to sell them. It's a world where revolution and rebellion are dead, and the machine has become too big to fight other than making everything an ironic joke. We're sold rebellion, manufactured rebellion, to make us feel like we're making a difference. The best efforts we had, to live cheap, be frugal, and try alternatives has become a trendy joke of itself. It's still real, and still an option, folks.
We have everything mankind has to offer and still feel empty and pissed off. We have a million problems on our hands and can't seem to find a solid solution for one. We can't even try to save our species without looking like a bunch of crazy liberals. We're trying to hang on to some middle class fairy tale, making our humility noble, while hiding our true emotions and ideas. Instead of taking hold of our new found identity, we shun it, trying to become proletariat supermen. Our heroes failed us, parents failed us (divorce, materialism, false hopes, existential crisis- you name it), and now we're expected to run shit.
I wrote this as a confession, spilling my guts all over the floor. If you think I'm lame, fuck you. Chances are if I'm friends with you, you're a hipster too and I have you in mind. It's time to move on, to find something new. We're rocketing through our youth denying it, getting lost in contradictions and confusion. So fuck it. Time to start over.
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