What people don't realize is that it is always war. Those who disagree, aren't paying attention.
I was stuck on an airplane for 5+ hours earlier today. (Yesterday in the timezone I currently inhabit, today in the timezone I write in.) I finished reading The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien this weekend. Really it's that book (and my recent viewing of Apocalypse Now REDUX) that has spawned this war obsession. And retrospecting on family histories.
Most of the time, I'm disinterested in war, because I don't like fighting, combat or killing people. But I've come to realize, that my entire life I have practiced being a warrior. I've had my years of aikido and weapons training. Of hunting and stalking people, animals and places. I pick up any skill or tactic in my adventures and put it in my toolbox to be a better warrior. I don't attack or kill - is not my style. My preference is not to fight with other people. My war is much larger and I fight it each and every day.
I fight for awareness. For evolution. For the freedom to think, to be - "all that you can be". To drag your stubby legs out of the ooze that is called mainstream media conditioning, "this is the way you should live" and be a happy consumer, human battery.
My war is one I fight every day, with myself mostly and sometimes others. It's a hard war, because even when I win it - a moment maybe - it means practically nothing. Because the world is inhabited by mostly unaware individuals and even in my aware moments, I am often surrounded by the unaware.
But I dream. Imagine a world where everyone is aware! Paying attention. That's where I want to live. That's the world I want to create. That's what motivates me wake up in the morning and be optimistic and fight the good war.
Evolution. Not just the evolution of an individual (ahem, called enlightenment) but the radical transformation of an entire race. I know it's possible. It's just a matter of timing.
And well on your way to Enlightenment, it seems! Good for you.
Posted by: Mike | September 25, 2006 at 05:21 PM