Pause Café

I take a coffee break from work and head out.
In the café, I sit at a corner table and order a coffee.
The waiter brings it and sets it down.
If you believe what you are pretending, are you actually pretending?
People, under pressure from social forces, adopt false values and disown their innate freedom, and hence act inauthentically. They may pretend to themselves that they do not have the freedom to make choices but they cannot pretend to themselves that they are not themselves.
I drink my coffee and head back to work.

Who Are You?

Try Explaining That To A Doctor

'It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.' 

- Jiddu Krishnamurti

The Revolt of the Elites

Perhaps the next revolution won't be of the masses but of the elites, and it is already happening...

“The educated man pictures a horde of submen, wanting only a day's liberty to loot his house, burn his books, and set him to work minding a machine or sweeping out a lavatory. 'Anything,' he thinks, 'any injustice, sooner than let that mob loose.' He does not see that since there is no difference between the mass of rich and poor, there is no question of setting the mob loose. The mob is in fact loose now, and -in the shape of rich men- is using its power to set up enormous treadmills of boredom, such as 'smart' hotels.” - Orwell

And as Lasch wrote about in The Revolt of the Elites, those who pay the piper call the tune, control the narrative, and simply float above and away from the masses...

Controlled Distraction

‘Hey, Max?’

‘What, Max?’

‘Do you think that we are dominated by particular sectors of society that function primarily in their own interest?’

‘No.’

‘Do you think that we are fed spectator spectacles like mass media and sports as an opiate to keep us contented and docile?’

‘No.’

‘Do you think that we are offered elections which give the illusion of choice but really do nothing to change the social order?’

‘No.’

‘Do you think that as a result we have become pacified, complacent and aimless?’

‘No.’

‘OK, just asking.’

‘Can I go update my Facebook Timeline now?’

‘Sure.’

11% Said 'I Don't Know'

Conspicuous Waste

"To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness.”

- Bertrand Russell

The Right Of Way

The car honks. My right of way it says.

The bus honks. My right of way it says.

Then the car pulls ahead and brakes abruptly in front of the bus. It was my right of way it says.

It brakes abruptly in front of a bus full of people, wanting to make its point.

The bus brakes in turn and we -young, old, whatever- are all abruptly flung forward.

What the…?

I don’t know or care whose right of way it was but you don’t brake abruptly in front of a bus.

I don’t care how right or big or clever you are, if you brake abruptly in front of a bus then you are wrong and small and stupid.

Here’s an idea, if you want to show us how important it is that you have your right of way then why not try braking abruptly in front of a train? 

Why Is The Sea Salty?

'Hey Max, do you know why the sea is salty but a river isn't?'

'No, Max. Why are you asking me that?'

'Aren't you interested?'

'Well, I've got other things to focus on.'

'Like what?'

'You know, the daily stuff I need to do.'

'But don't you think it's a primary question?'

'My primary question at the moment is which price plan to choose for my mobile.' 

'Well, let me tell you: so over millions of years, the seas have been accumulating salt washed off the land by rain water as it finds its way via rivers, both above and below ground, back into the sea. So fresh water is actually salty too but the concentration of salt is too low for us to notice.'

'Do I need unlimited texts? I don't actually send that many...'

Fearing Empty Time

The Iraqi Communist Party

So I’m eating a falafel at the stand of the Iraqi Communist Party and I’m wondering how I came to be eating a falafel at the stand of the Iraqi Communist Party.

Well, the real reason is because I’m hungry.

The Portuguese Communist Party stand is selling some smelly fish and the Irish Communist Party stand only has beer.

I didn’t realise Iraq even had a Communist Party.

But a falafel is a falafel. It tastes okay, there are no tomatoes but I do note a Marxist-versus-theocratic-conflict spice.

The motto of the event, organized by the French left-wing paper L’Humanité, is Humans first.

Attendance is good due to the ongoing debt crisis and rising unemployment and growing inequality. Speaking of which, when is the new iPhone coming out?

Revolutionary Time

After the French Revolution, a decimal time system was put in place.
The day was divided into 10 hours, of 100 minutes each, of 100 seconds each.
So 1:23 wasn't 83 minutes long but 123 minutes.
The week was divided into ten days -but still only 1 day off- and the months were renamed.
The aim was to remove any royal and religious influence from the calendar.
The experiment didn't last long.
The decimal experiment that is, I think it's still too early to say on the Revolution experiment. (That's a Zhou Enlai gag...)

Trivial Pursuit

The World Is My Idea

Just thinking out loud...
Perception creates reality.
What we see is what we believe.
But the reality we see is produced, man-made, according to the dominant ideology, so it is artificial. Fake.
The societies we live in are as real as reality TV.
If I was watching this on television, I would switch off.
Is that the time? I should analyse this further but the reality is that I have to rush out to buy my Team GB Olympics souvenir scarf.

Give Me A Sign

So I'm between jobs -again- and I'm taking my head for a walk.
I'm looking for thoughts, for ideas, for inspirations.
Then I see some graffiti.
Fuck everything and become a pirate
I stop and re-read it.
Fuck everything and become a pirate
And there it is.
Steve Jobs once said, "Why join the navy if you can be a pirate?"
The signs are there if you look for them.
How you act on them is something else...

Lost Time

Before the factory gate
the worker suddenly stops
the good weather has tugged him by the coat
and as he turns round
and looks at the sun
all red all round
smiling in its burning sky
he winks his eye
familiarly
Say my friend Sun
don't you find
it's rather stupid
to give such a day
to a boss?

                                 -Jacques Prevert

The Message Is The Medium

McLuhan said that 'The medium is the message', in other words that the message is influenced by the medium used to transmit it.
He said it was actually the medium itself that shaped the message.
In the past, messages had limited media for distribution.
Today, we have a plethora of media which are not just shaping the messages but these are now being created just to make use of the media. 
We are making messages to make use of the media.
Messages of no note.
Like blog posts.
Oh.

Sightseeing Monks Or Freedom From Desire Isn't Part Of The Tour

I saw some sightseeing monks the other day.
They were Buddhist monks with shaved heads and saffron robes. They were near the Eiffel Tower. They had cameras around their necks. 
Now call me unenlightened and banish me from Nirvana, but isn't one of the basic tenets of Buddhism that much of the suffering in life comes from desire? Once necessities are covered -shelter, food, soft toilet paper- then isn't it the relentless chasing after superfluous crap that makes us miserable especially when we can't afford it?
I could be wrong, of course. Maybe the goal of freedom from desire doesn't include the desire to take your Nikon D3200 with telephoto zoom on a jumbo and fly across the globe to take photos of the Eiffel Tower.
Actually, I hope I'm wrong, because otherwise I feel some bad karma coming my way...

New Information For Immediate Consumption

*New message*
Quick, here’s some new information from someone doing something somewhere.
Wow, it’s so much more interesting than the thing I am doing here and now.
Especially as I am not paying attention to what I am doing here and now as I'm reading about the something someone is doing somewhere.
I bet if I was doing the something someone is doing somewhere I would be enthralled and not be distracted reading about another something that another someone is doing another somewhere.
Focusing on the here and now is so boring especially since I'm not focusing on it.
I can’t wait for the next new message.
Hurry up, this message is so yesterday.

Blind

‘Hey, Max, you look pensive, what’s up?’
‘Well, Max, I helped a blind lady in the street the other day.’
‘Wow, what do you want, a medal? And so?’
‘So, I was crap. I walked her the way I walked, you know, against red lights, jumping puddles, slaloming other pedestrians... I was pulling her all over the place.’
‘I hope she hit you with her stick.’
‘I realised that I walked like everything else was an obstacle to me.‘
‘I sense some profound nonsense coming up...’
‘I realised that, although she was blind, I was the one who couldn’t see.’
‘Oh, Jeezus...’
‘Because she just walked like everything else simply was.’
‘I hope you realise that we wouldn’t be having this conversation if she had a dog...’

A Funny Thought Provoking Quote

I wanted to post a quote by a writer who was thought provoking and funny.
But Voltaire said, 'A witty saying proves nothing.'
So I decided not to.
Oh.

In Praise of Idleness

"The road to happiness and prosperity lies in an organized diminution of work." - Bertrand Russell

Russell was arguing that a decrease in work time would lead to an increase in leisure time, further resulting in an increase in involvement in cultural pursuits, promoting increased knowledge and a more contemplative habit of mind. He thought that what was needed in our very complex modern society is calm consideration with readiness to call dogmas in question and freedom of mind to do justice to the most diverse points of view.

Indeed, you could see why many wouldn't like that. Better to keep people busy.

Speaking of which, must dash…

Mundane Comment About My Day

A shitty thing happened to me.
Then I remembered the following quote by Epictetus: Men are disturbed not by the things that happen, but by their opinions of the things that happen.
Then I thought, the thing happened, it wasn't shitty, it's just my view that it was shitty.
Then I thought, nah, it was a shitty thing.

The General Demolition Of My Opinions

I was watching the French presidential elections and it got me thinking why was there something instead of nothing in the universe. I mean, we wouldn't have to sit through all the sound and fury of life if there was nothing. Things would be so much simpler as there would be, um, no things. No matter, no energy, no space, no time. Imagine, with so little to do in a quantum void we could all have a lie in on a Saturday morning. I admit that absolute nothing as a state is hard to conceive. It puts things in perspective, although you can't actually put things in perspective in a nothing as there aren't any planes of reference... ho, ho. The thing with something is that you can compare it to something, but you can't compare nothing to nothing. Nothing is hard to grab. And, furthermore, nothing is unstable. If we go back to the beginning, the Big Bang theory states that something came out of nothing because this latter was unstable. So we exist in a something because it is more stable, which, looking around, certainly doesn't seem the case. Some will say, 'what about God in all this?' For me, an equally pressing question is if the universe -our something- is so vast and ever expanding then how come the constant lack of leg room? As far as a something goes, it's not a great something. However, if I had to vote between nothing and something, I guess I would vote something. Which brings me neatly back to the French presidential elections. 

The Sleep Of Reason Produces Monsters

'El sueño de la razón produce monstruos' is an etching by Goya.

The sleep of reason does produce monsters, monsters of ignorance and folly.

When we don't think then reason is in danger.

Without critical reflection on what we are being told and what is going on around us then we are in danger.

We are in danger of becoming a society in thrall to spectacle and base emotions.
Oh.

Vivere Militare Est

To live is to fight. Not fight as in kill people. Fight as in struggle. A constant struggle. And even when you win then you lose. But nothing feels worthwhile without struggle. Endeavour confers intensity. When it feels easy, it feels wanting. Everything worthwhile is difficult. Vivere militare est. But not as in kill people.

Dead Dog

I saw a dead dog the other day.

It had been hit by a car.

Its owner was screaming.

The dog was lying in a pool of blood.

Paris swirled on around it.

Its owner screamed.

Waiting For A Bus

I'm waiting for a bus and I'm thinking about nothing.

You can't actually think about nothing so what I'm thinking about is nothing in particular.

Thinking about nothing in particular means that I'm thinking about several things.

So I'm waiting for a bus and I'm thinking about several things.

But I'm not really thinking about several things, several things are going through my head but I'm not reflecting on them.

So I'm waiting for a bus and I'm not thinking about several things.

Not thinking about several things means that I'm not thinking.

And if I'm not thinking then I must be dead.

So why am I waiting for a bus if I'm dead?

The Five Martyrs of the Lycée Buffon

I had a meeting the other day in the Place des Cinq Martyrs du Lycée Buffon.
It refers to five schoolboys from the local Lycée Buffon who starting in 1940, aged between 15 and 18, committed acts of resistance against the occupying Nazi forces. These developped from minor acts of sabotage to actual armed attacks. In 1943, they were captured, executed by firing squad, and their bodies thrown in a communal pit.
The meeting went well.

What Other People Think

They say you shouldn't worry what other people think.
I think this is wrong.
Because you don't know what other people think, so what you're actually doing is thinking what other people think.
To say you shouldn't worry about what other people think is actually to say you shouldn't worry about your own thinking.
And this is something you should worry about.
Although I think you probably think differently.

Freedom Of Thought

"Hey Max."

"Hey Max."

"What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to understand."

"Undestand what?"

"Me. People. Everything."

"How's that going?"

"Not very well."

"So why bother?"

"Good question."

"So what are you doing now?"

"I'm trying to understand why I shouldn't."

Who Watches The Watchmen?

There was a road race on.
People stopped walking in the street and watched other people run by in the street.
They watched people running by.
Because watching people running by is fascinating.
I didn't get it.
I shook my head.
I stopped and watched the people watching the people running by.
Because watching people watching people running by is that much more interesting.

Hedonic Adaptation

So I get off a plane that has just flown me across the Atlantic while I watched movies and I check e-mails on my phone and then I eat sushi while I shop on the internet and my parents video call me from abroad and I take a hot bath whilst listening to jazz and crawl into bed but I forgot to switch off the main light and don't want to get back up so now I'm pissed off.

Am I A Lion Or Am I A Tellin' The Truth?

Wittgenstein made the comment that "If a lion could talk, we could not understand him."

His point was that language was rendered intelligible by the by social situation in which it evolved. Its meaning was formed by the culture and society in which it was used.

It's an interesting observation. Just because you understand a language does not mean you understand what is being said.

Living here is proving that.

But, then again, I also felt that way back in the UK.

Maybe I'm a lion.

Short Story Idea: The Metamorphoseb

The story opens on our hero, Sebathius Samsa, waking up one day to find that he has been transformed into words on a screen. Initially shocked by the change, our hero -lapsing into his Protestant work ethic conditioning- soon begins to worry that he will be late for the office. While he struggles to get out of bed, the words on the screen ironically detail the dysfunctional functioning of the corporate world and the stress disorders this creates. Our hero, unfamiliar with his new text body, fights to regain anonymity and uniformity so that he can catch a crowded train and rush to a job which he tells himself makes a difference despite it being so far removed from any difference he can observe. The words on the screen poke fun at the conflict and highlight the denial but really do nothing about it to bring about change. His boss calls to inquire why his employee is not at his desk as he is late for a conference call outlining some exciting new strategies for growth. Sebathius responds that he is slightly ill but will soon be on his way, he makes enthusiastic comments while the words on the screen make derogatory comments about knowing he will agree to stupid decisions so that he can keep his job executing the stupid decisions. Finally he manages to leave his flat but his blog-like appearance startles passers-by especially as people are now more used to Tweets. He tries to reason with them but they stop paying attention after 140 characters. Retreating back to his flat, his finds his reflection is now nothing but a flashing cursor. Words appear in midair, they wonder how the means became the end, and then he disappears into a full stop.
Notes: Add a speedboat chase? Write story without using the letter 'e'? Too lighthearted, make more downbeat/dark?

Does Truth Exist?

It’s a Sunday morning and we are sitting in the café for the philosophical discussion.
Does truth exist?
Here, we have conversations that we cannot have elsewhere.
Truth gives meaning, if it doesn’t exist, how can we know anything?
Here, we can ask questions about life we can’t ask anywhere else.
In the absence of any universal truth, can’t we rely on personal truth?
Here, we seek understanding about ourselves and the world around us.
But if truth is relative, different for each, then surely that means it doesn’t exist?
Here, we talk about things that people avoid talking about by whatever means.
Truth gives meaning, and isn’t the truth that there is no meaning?
For me, the truth exists here.

The End Of The Line

And then he told a story about the one that got away, about how one day he woke up and it had all changed, about how extraordinary days start with ordinary mornings.
I listened and wanted to say something but didn't know what so I didn't.
He smiled grimly and said it was funny.
It didn't sound so funny.
He said it was funny how he still wanted to hear from her. He said it was like wanting to become ill again.
I imagined his phone ringing right at that moment. I imagined her voice at the end of the line.
I imagined him being happy and ill and it was funny and sad but I didn't say anything and he didn't say anymore.

Is History Written By The Victors?

The young me is dead.
The me now has flashing memories of who me was.
The who me was is not necessarily the who me really was.
I have created a personal mythology about me to sustain a continuity, to keep a fragile link between yesterday and today, to pretend to myself that I'm the same person.
In reality, the who me was is dead. My personal mythology is just that, myth, and now I just believe my own propaganda.
Historical revisionism is all too easy as you progress in age. There's something seductive about it, pretending to be something you weren't, something you wish you had been.
As witnesses disappear, my version of events goes unchallenged, my version of events grows warped, my version of events becomes the only version.
My history is written by me, not so much a victor as a survivor, but you can trust me to tell it like it was because me was there...

I Beg Your Pardon

'Look, another beggar.'
'That's not a beggar.'
'Sorry?'
'Well, he's not begging, so technically he's not a beggar.'
'What is he then?'
'Well, maybe he's broken away. Maybe he wants nothing from us. Maybe he prefers to live outside the social comedy that the rest of us follow. Maybe he has decided that the system we live in, far from being free, is actually a cage. Maybe he has decided to find happiness via creative contemplation instead of believing he needs to find it via material goods.'
'Look, he has a little cup...'
'You're right, the bloody freeloader. And he smells.'

For Everything to Stay The Same Everything Must Change

Change is the only constant.
If you want everything to stay the same, you have to change with it.
So if you want to change, maybe you shouldn't.

How To Make Your Blog More Popular

Apparently, one way of making a blog more popular is to give the reader something, to make him/her feel like he is learning something by reading it.
One way of doing that is to write 'How to...' posts in which useful information is imparted.
This is my first one. Hope you found it useful.