-Ernest Becker

A rant on consumerism.

I have been observing you, and I have been doing so for a very long time. I see your nuisances, your happiness when you buy something, your utter excitement when you purchase something that you have been longing for such a long time. I know you quite well, my little loathed consumer. I see far beyond your façade, your exaggerated humbleness, your ignorance towards yourself and your world. Oh, how I see it all.  I can see your fears, my loathed consumer. I see them rather well. I see how you tremble inside when your credit card is declined, how your head spins when you get overcharged, how infuriated you become when you do not get your “fair share.” I can see how you find it difficult to find time for an education, without it having to cost something. May I dare even say, I can see right through you.  Oh, how you follow patterns. You are too predictable. Dangerously predictable. Why must you follow a pattern? I see how you work tirelessly for days and days, without hesitation, to have some extra income to consume some more, if only for a little bit more.  I see how you entertain yourselves by consuming–to get away from all the consumption, only to get constantly reminded that you must consume more hot dogs and beer. And you do so without question.  I see your lavish shopping sprees, using money that you do not have, on things that you do not need. I see how you want to impress people with your material wealth, even if you do not have much to show off.  How I loathe you, consumers of this planet.  There is so much evidence of you, living through your consumption, and only, through your consumption. You enjoy branding yourselves with logos and symbols, relating to institutions of consumption simply to fit in with your lousy little nationalism and be part of something greater than yourself (Or so you think, my loathed consumer). Oh, how uninteresting you are. But here I am, utterly fascinated by you. In fact, the sole reason for my seamless wonder of you is that you are so oblivious to the obvious. You are too important to be missed. Terribly important.

It is so difficult to see you consume, you tired consumer. I get so weary of seeing you everywhere I go, that avoiding you is anything but impossible. You do not go out and explore nature or understand it; you go out to nature with your massive RV’s and pollute nature.  You do not go out to consume intelligence or seek it; you go out to destroy understanding and wisdom. You go out when it is not necessary to consume. I only go out when I must, and there you are, consuming everything, so irresponsibly.  You are not even good at consuming the correct and necessary things in life; rather you shit your life away, literally. It is incredible what goes through your psyche when you see something shiny that you want to hold in your obese hands.  Your appetite for consumption is made evident by your enormous size.  You are massive piece of humanity with an even larger ego, and perhaps that is what clouds your mind. Sometimes it feels like I need more than two eyes to fully become aware of your gargantuan size, and many more brains to fully understand you. But, you are actually not that complex, that would be giving you too much credit. Just observing you is more than sufficient.  You see, you disgusting piece of consumption, your characteristics are all too common when a person (if you even are one) becomes hungry in both mental and physical form.  Your opposites, the very thin or the very fit, who believes he has a one-upmanship on you large individuals, is just as corrupt in consumption; his addiction to fitness is no different to your eating habits. You destroy each other. The patterns then add up all so easily.  Like a drug junkie who needs his fix, you hit the regular spots to get your next hit, and I know where you go to get yours. I take you very seriously, for I know who you are. Let me examine you much closer, since it is now necessary to face yourself, my loathed consumer.

Is it ever enough?

How much you enjoy focusing on the exterior sides of things! In fact, that is all you focus on! You consume so much exterior garbage, you lousy consumer. How do you do it? I see how you flood the mini-malls, the strip malls, the large malls, the enormous gallerias, how do you keep it all in your head without going mad? Surely your credit card is not big enough to spend it all in one place!? I enjoy seeing you fight for parking spots in your over sized SUV’s, your exasperated look in the checkout lines, the salesman selling you on grandeur with all the useless add-ons that you definitely do not need, but that you probably deserve, you ghastly consumer. How stores love to live off your sheer ignorance!  Buy those protection plans because shit fails! What?  You want customer service?  Come with us!  We are the greatest mother fuckers in the world!  Hahahahahaha! They laugh at your ignorance and inflated spending, but there you keep on lining up, marching to the concrete conglomerates, in there by the thousands. How you love to be enticed by sales. Your false hopes of deals are where they get you. Who cares if it is made by other, smaller time consumers from far and distant shores!  It is here for my liking, and it’s cheap! So what if these items are poorly made and will not last as long as the other, more expensive items, my culture accepts the throw away mentality, so therefore, I must have reason to accept this! How you love to err, you pompous consumer, it never ceases to baffle me. Your quest for finding the “best” deal at the “cheapest” prices is a reflection of your mindset: of a cheap intelligence. You seek power through price tags, giving material things and time a cost in dollars. Even worse, is that through this mindset, you think you are an authentic being. That this mindset is the only way to go in this culture! You are a manipulated person, a petty man. You are death in a shopping cart.

You shop to your death, by the thousands.

If you are not high off prescription drugs holding off your sickly consumption cycles, you are then just consuming more and more advertising campaigns which make you feel inferior to the world. And when you are ready to hit the malls and online shopping sites, off to round 2 of consumption! A double dose of insanity with drugs and limitless credit cards! Forever 21! Inferior your views on things! Why must they be this way? Don’t you see that you have so much splendor in you, all you have to do is search for it?  You continue to consume, you silly consumer. It goes beyond any logic and reason, since you seem incapable of having any.  “But the advertisements work on me” you say!  “Please, help me not listen to them!”  But I can’t, I say!  I cannot show you anything other than to try and face your own soul!  You always seek guidance, an exterior source of information to make up for your lack wisdom, so it is only natural for you to listen adamantly to the advertisements that appear in your eschewed visions of your world!  What an abysmal state of affairs you perceive, you little consumer!  It is of no wonder why you seek so much help by consuming things.  Why do they almost always have to be physical objects that you desire? What has property ever done for you when not used as tools?  What laughable ambition have they achieved? Consumer of this planet, what have you accomplished with all of this?  “But you need to consume things to stay alive!” Well of course! That is obvious. But it is not the consumption that I am speaking about. You have been living beyond your means, for a very long time now. You only consume what is less necessary to stay alive, my naïve consumer. Oh, but you blame society! How easy it is to point the finger to others! You blame your government! Corporations! Your neighbor! Your family! Secret societies! Your god!  Your religion! All those other maniacs out there! Everything but yourself, consumers of the world. How you love to preach and follow others who claim a new world for you! You follow guru’s and preachers describing a haven of consumption on nothingness! That heaven is here, right now, this very moment, but no! You refuse to see that! You want other people’s world of Disney and unicorns! You want new and better worlds of consumption! But your views of this world and other worlds are a sham. You do not want other worlds, you want mirrors.

Have the teachings of the Buddha or the Christ taught you anything? How about the Stoics or the Cynics? Have you learned about the indigenous people of the world and their views of the universe and self? Do you think the wisdom of a tree or Elephant need any of this? Have you found your center? “He’s crazy, off with his head!” You shout at me. How quick you turn to violence you little consumer! Yes, you have a murderous appetite for consumption. You don’t even balance anything out, since you either hoard or destroy. Ah, but is not only physical objects that you consume. Oh no, you do much more than that. Physical consumption is only one symptom. Your consumption of ignorance and inactivity is by far the largest and most severe case of you. Your inability to have the sufficient knowledge to criticize your own environment is the area where the consumption ends, since useful information is something that you do not consume. You consume nothing of value. I tell you to become a Buddha, and you tell me Budweiser. Nay, you may not even get as far as philosophy! You know more about video games and athletes than actual human history! But how you love going to institutions of knowledge! Big consumers send their little consumers to consume knowledge! So many graduate to a life perpetual ignorance, since who pays attention at school? Beer and sex are your learning experiences at universities.Sure, you gain learning, but you do not love learning. And when you do love learning, you become lawyers and politicians. You corrupt learning. Whenever some messenger of light talks to you on the profound, you sit in silence, waiting for a joke or a witty remark. You expect a joke, because you yourself are a joke. College football and stats are your serious talks.

But what do you say when you get out? “I just want a job, be married, have kids, get fat,  and have debt!” This is seen as the norm, only to be ready to consume some more when the little consumers come out! But what have they done? Other than to consume? What has all this knowledge done for the species other than to cause more separation and make more business to consume? You are taught efficiency in consuming!  You become a sick, prolific, professional consumer in areas where consuming has never been necessary! How I despise you, you consumer. When will you realize yourself? The knowledge that you acquire is not wisdom nor of your own.  You are a repeater, simply regurgitating what you have been told; you are not learning anything about yourself! You don’t even wish to be morally superior to yourself, no, you want a master above and a slave below. Freedom is the last thing on your mind.  You come out over educated in consumerism, and live the life of inactivity by going to ball games and not wanting to know more about your world! And when you do, you do it with tour guides and enormous buses! You are taught to think within the box, and never accept anything else. You are your own oppressor. It is so hard for you to see the problems of the world when you have been trained to follow a cookie-cutter system, and rely so feverishly to stay within the system. It is so problematic to see things when you are inside your own prison, is it not? Why would you question the ones teaching you? They seem to be great consumers, surely they think outside the box! It is they who do the thinking for me!

What your forefathers built.

There is a system in place for you when you leave your institution, you see. How convenient!  “I don’t see why I should question it, it has been successful for so long.” Successful to who, I say? The system that your fathers built? That same romanticized fable of perfect democracy? Is not the one that is now showing its age and tearing the world apart? The gravy train is ending, your worthless consumer! Coming straight out of the schooling that has trained previous generations with the same formula, do you actually think there is anything left for you in this current sphere of things?  Why do you want to be like—them?  Use that schooling against them! Come up with a new set of doing things my lunatic friend!  But no, you live in a fantasy of rabid consumerism. You still want that damn car, don’t you? Fools, I say, and woe unto you! Look at what the system has made you: a barely recognizable human that only consumes material fodder into your system! How unfortunate, you little consumer, you had so much potential. So much schooling, but nothing for the betterment of yourself, and thus the world. “But who are you to tell me all of this! Who the hell do you think you are!?” You say to me, perturbed. Calm down, my loathed consumer! I was once like you! How else would I know all of your sickly symptoms!? You refuse to be anything greater than what is allowed to be!  You have so much comfort in that “everyman” mentality. You consume so much cotton in that marvelous brain of yours, why do you continue in such a quest? You refuse to consume the arts, the metaphysics, the sciences, the universe—anything truly useful to your being is washed away. But maybe you do follow these principles, you loathed consumer! Maybe you are staunch intellectual that does not still, know how to live life, for there are many in this world, I can assure you!  You rely on these little consumers to fulfill your higher intellect, and come out utterly disappointed. Not to despair! You two are one of the same! Each one has something that is lacking, maybe you can learn from one another. But again, no you say! I much rather see a therapist! I much rather praise the authors who correlate with my thoughts! But don’t you see that the teacher is not what is important? But the teaching? You do not even consume each other! Rather you consume each others death! But there you are my little intellect, still consuming the nonsense of those consumers. What? Are you afraid of being alone? Oh, you have so much to learn.

Your infrastructure is collapsing all around you. This little planet sure is finite, isn’t it?  “Not a problem!” you say unwisely. “I will create this thing called money to give me the illusion that growth and wealth can be attained, regardless of available resources.” You poor soul. You have consumed it all. So much so, that you have reached the ultimate quagmire, where you are running out of resources and are in debt towards yourself, made possible by all those years of schooling. “But I will genetically grow food and raise animals!” you say in a rabid tone. “Science will lead us to a better tomorrow!” Yes, science can lead us to great places, but you don’t want real science. You want the science of money, where your calculations are in the interest of murder. You have consumed your own demise. You have believed those lousy politicians and business leaders for far too long, and trusted those friendly bankers with all your made up currency. You invested with those Wall Street chumps and had a great time making money, off of money. You believed in terms such as GDP, CD’s, hedge funds, spending, assets, bonds, derivatives, growth, booms, bull runs, loans, Ronald Reagan, 401k, Mickey Mouse, and capitalism. Oh, how you believed that this planet only caters for you! You rash consumer, you believe to be so large and be masters of your own destiny!  Sure, you know it’s only a game, but you decide to listen to the system in place, and again not yourself.  When will you realize that it is all made up? We have single handedly destroyed our planet and its resources by following this consuming mindset!  Keep on wearing those Bluetooth headsets and drive those BMW’s while you cut a “deal” and wear too much cologne.  How the hell are you going to enjoy your yacht when the waters are polluted and the fishes are gone? Your demise will go out with a malignant smell!  Oh, but how much respect you get when you are on the top of your game, and are a maverick of sorts when it comes to finances! But don’t you see that those are only smaller consumers making you look big? What do they know? Do you think they have any idea that you are doing lap dances around them and stealing all of their made up wealth? You may be sharper, but it is they, the little consumer, who ultimately control you. If only they knew. Wake up, my loathed consumer.

You overwork yourself for nothing.

Your workplace is one of your many reformatories. That is to say that it can also be your home. The dizzying amount of protocol and hierarchy consumes you to the point of mental and physical exhaustion. But you get to consume when you get out!  You help others consume, so now it is my turn! There are so many of your type in these retched places, all trying to buy a nickel’s worth of the pie that is the work place. You work for purchasing power. For this is the only power you seek. How small you look, you crooked consumer! You are nothing, nothing at all. Look at how they treat you at the work place! With far more coercion and abrasive language than I do! But this you consume, because you must,  for one day you want to be doing the controlling. How unintelligent of you. You are a corporate tool who has been crying and bleeding for thousands of years, when will your little consumer heart have the tenacity to speak up?  “But they have idea boxes at work, where you can put your thoughts on things.” My simple little man, that is like putting a complaint for harsh treatment from a Gestapo agent. “I get medical, dental, and a 401k when I become full time!” Ever wonder why you get medical and dental plans? You will be and have always been very sick. Especially working the hours that you do. You perpetuate the consumption of the world through think tanks, massive advertisement campaigns, lobbying government, and polluting the planet with your chemicals of consumption. Can I say, it is even worse when you have some sort of authority in the workplace?  Your pettiness and inane managing skills make you look ridiculously insignificant towards everyone. You are an even larger tool than that smaller employee, who is only is a little consumer.  They only get smaller as you go up the ranks, for you are only one of those little consumers disguised and playing make believe. How do you live with yourself? How much more can you take? All your quotas and managing will consume you to your demise. But, wait, I think you are almost there! Look how unhappy you are! Working long hours to take four weeks of vacation a year! Don’t you see that your culture is against you!? Why do you think vacation and being with nature feels wonderful? Your toxic cities and consumer habits are not natural towards anything found in nature.

But, you enjoy being a slave. You take great pleasure in making quotas. You see this as a challenge, to be the better man in your home and workplace through the yield of consumption. Your extreme addiction to being busy gives you a sense of aliveness, only to always know that you are dead inside. You see yourself as the new man, one of technology on his side and democracy, yet your are only a new player in a very old game. You count your blessings through dollar signs and low pay. You brown nose your way up to have the smell of decay when you reach the top. Your luxury is your poverty. And you do this with a big grin of self-satisfaction on your face, as others laugh at you, you join in with the laughter. Oh consumers of this world, what have you done? Your mental gulag of culture and power has more prisoners than the modern prison complexes that you society has created! Are you familiar with Goethe? “None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.“ Take in yourself you lunatics!

With your consumption, you will create financial bubbles and wars. You will choose sides. You will choose your gods. And when you don’t find your gods, you will only create others to replace them. You know that whatever your ace in the hole is, whatever you think you know, and whatever keeps you screaming in sheer horror at this very moment, is a lie. You know this very well. Your nihilism may be even worse than your consumption. But as long as you have your beer, drugs, amusement parks and your silly ball games you don’t care, do you? And good heavens are you wasteful!  Why do you cut the tree that gives you shade? How good you are that!  Both in time and material, you are so irresponsible with everything that you touch and fathom to think! Can’t you see that everything you consume comes from this planet?  EVERYTHING!  Consumer, is it of any consequence that your downfall is nigh? Leave your youth and grow! You continue to believe in this ultimate luxury in your life, this definitive comfort zone that you want to cling on to so desperately. Life is a constant flux!  Always emergent, why do you think it is any different? Adjust! Adjust! How lovely it is when you do!  It does not mean to cater to others, but to yourself!  Experience yourself, tiny consumer!  Stop being such a coward!  Why are you afraid of your light??? Monumental things are in store for you, far larger than we can all imagine! Your lifetime of consumption is not your fault, nor is it mine, but it becomes our fault once we continually perpetuate the same ideas!  Our mentality is the outcome of many generations of stagnant progress in the human species, and I am not talking about technology.  The consciousness of the human psyche has been manipulated by the use of talismanic words, idioms, symbols and cultural values of generations past, and quickly become doctrine thereof. They have not allowed you to think, you see. If you believe that this is only exclusive to the westerner, it is not. This is a global phenomenon, and has been since the dawn of man. Consumption is the root cause of most of our human problems when it comes to us operating efficiently with one another.  It causes wars, relationship issues with your spouse, with friends and family, and the separation of the most important being: yourself. I share this planet with you, and I would love to see you grow as a person. Your smallness is your greatness, and your potential is limitless; just stop consuming the unnecessary, my loathed consumer. I still see a spark in you, even after all of this. If you think one person cannot change anything, try sleeping alone in a room with a mosquito.

HVOB, the latest sounds to captivate the music scene and dance floors of Europe, has the indie flare and sounds of structure that make-up a group on the rise. With melodic electro rhythm and soothing vocals, HVOB musical style rises to occasion that transports the listener to higher heights in sound escapism. Their debut album, the self titled “HVOB,” takes us on a journey through the soft vocal of Anna Müller, on top of the music created by Paul Wallner. Tracks such as “Dogs” and “Hold Your Horses” really captivate their musical essence on their album, making for easy listening while driving alone at night. Turn up the volume, for HVOB is among us.

BSQ MAGAZINE: Who is HVOB?
Paul Wallner: We started the project at the beginning of 2012; Anna brought her many years of song writing experience to the table, I am an experienced producer. In April 2012 we uploaded a few snippets to Soundcloud, and just a few weeks later we had signed with “Stil vor Talent”. It all happened very quickly.
Anna Müller: Not only do we produce all of our own music ourselves, we also make all of the decisions. We now have a team of professionals supporting HVOB – the artwork, videos and visuals are always produced by the same people, including Vienna VJs “lichterloh”, which is hugely important to us. Because for HVOB, the music and visuals are inextricably linked.

BSQ MAGAZINE: What does your name stand for?
Paul: “Her Voice Over Boys” defines the idea behind the project. On the electronic music scene it’s still unusual for females to produce – most DJs hire guest female singers for individual tracks. We do things differently, we write everything together.
BSQ MAGAZINE: What is your creative process in writing your lyrics?
Anna: I pre-produced the songs at home. I also recorded the vocals for the album in my bedroom. The final tracks were finished in Paul’s studio. We’ve done everything ourselves: it was a conscious decision not to work with an external producer. The lyrics come always at last – the music inspires the lyrics.

BSQ MAGAZINE: Why electronic  music? What about it pulled you in?
Anna: We just wanted to make musik we love, and we can dance to. There’s no special reason why it became electronic music.

BSQ MAGAZINE: You have big name remixers remixing your songs. How did that idea of remixing come to be?
Paul: It’s the classical way in Europe to release an EP with Remixes of the songs. And it’s always exciting how others interpret your songs.

BSQ MAGAZINE: The tempo is really relaxed to your songs. What type of personal philosophy goes behind making it so?
Anna: There is no special philosophy, making music is always a very spontanous, creative act. We think it’s positive that you can listen to our album at home and in the club.

BSQ MAGAZINE: Conceptually, your music videos are a joy to watch. Can you tell us more about them?
Paul: We now have a team of professionals supporting HVOB – the artwork, videos and visuals are always produced by the same people, including Vienna VJs “lichterloh”, which is hugely important to us.

BSQ MAGAZINE: What is the idea behind the song “Dogs” and it’s choice of lyrics?
Anna: “Dogs” was the very first song of our actual debut album, and the song we formed our sound with. After that song, we found our style, and the rest of the album happened very quickly – in about a couple of months. The lyrics just came to my mind when I was producing it, I liked the sentence “Let sleeping dogs lie,” and so I formed the lyrics around it.

BSQ Magazine:  Anything new in the works?
Paul: We just released our debut album “HVOB,”  and our next EP “Always like this” will be released soon, with remixes by Oliver Koletzki and Andhim, two very big names here in Europe. We will also play a lot of concerts and festivals this summer, hopefully we will visit the USA soon!

HVOB

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Photography by: Simon Brugner. www.theyshootmusic.com

― Douglas Coupland

The following is a photographic journey through my particular thought process on loneliness.

Walking the sandy shore, contemplating and observing yourself and those around you, all while enjoying the soothing sounds of the crashing waves and the cold Pacific Ocean hit your feet, makes for a bittersweet loneliness. Even when surrounded by the laughter and joy of others, which provides a healing power to the woes of life, the uneasiness which our human family continually permeates remains unchanged. Western culture, fully engulfed in the life of perpetuated consumerism and money-making, stranded in the belief of blue skies and rainbows of a democratic/capitalistic haven, there is little to be unhappy or worried about. With the burden of the cost of simply living in a world where things are handed to you prefabricated, and expecting you to consume the items without question, the safety-net of normality ensues. This is precisely what creates a state of severe depression and anxiety; the ability to have everything necessary in a capitalistic system creates boredom. There is no reward in doing nothing, thus the human becomes anxious in the role of creation, in other words, our inability to create something makes turn to destruction, for the sake of doing something. This destruction leads to a reality of constant competition for being the most creative, the most successful, the most liked, and the most rewarded. The mentality so apparent in western culture of competition is a fabrication from the innate need to create something far above oneself, the need for eternal life by the mind of collective experience.

The need to create eternal life has ultimately led to destruction.

The question remains whether this way of doing things has led anywhere truly positive for the human family. A consumerist mindset on a finite planet will lead to an inevitable doom. The excess created, as stated previously, leads to anxiety of always accumulating more. Where the psyche leads to is an anomaly uniquely human; a hoarding of the mind and things.  It offers no clear evolutionary advantage to hoard things in the human species, other than to show off status and power in a structure based on pompous nothingness. The value system of culture raises the level on the deemed norms to a state of decay. This creates boredom, and most severely, a state of loneliness. It is incredible to suppose this reaction while one has all the material wealth and success regarded as a high-esteemed level of living. The need to create has led to an overabundance of lowly material possessions which has overturned the order of the soul. This is turn creates another area: the need to always be doing something.

In a culture of little authentic emotion, one must feel the wind.

In the absent of all that is sacred to a authentic human, one of emotion and self-awareness to its full potential, the modern western culture anxiety in the name of creation, must have in his possession an act of doing. God forbid if one nowadays is inactive in life. This inactivity would certainly spell out death. While true, we now have a hyperactive culture on never stopping, never taking a break, even from the most mundane of experiences. “I’m bored” is a war cry to do something, a cry for attention and affection, the need for activity. Out of all this, the saddest aspect of human existence manifests itself: loneliness. It is fascinating to see that in a planet of about 7 billion inhabitants, one can find oneself alone with everybody.

A new age of loneliness is upon us.

Given the current economic times that this country and culture faces, it is now that the highly respected idea of having a job that is under attack. With the flurry of new technology, it is the worker that suffers in job security and pensions.  It leads the worker with less and less opportunities to have higher paying wages and standard of living. This in turn leads to a depressive state with one who has been fired or let go from a job, often making one feel ashamed or embarrassed of the lack of purchasing power and comfortable living.  It is shunned upon in this culture to be unemployed, homeless, or lazy. The cultural values so evidently strong are the same ideals that lead to the depressive state and suicidal tendencies. A report recently published shows the rise sharp of suicides in this country, surpassing automobile accidents, due to the economic downturn, most notably to career professionals of the baby boomer generation. Beyond the need for creation, the culture instilled today is the need to create capital, and large amounts of it if possible. The hoarding of the mind of making and accumulating wealth is one the many human abstractions that lead to the destructive state of psychological stimuli. It is of no wonder that our culture instills a inherent loneliness to the way things are agreed upon and allowed to function.

Looking out to the world often finds you alone.

When we allow ourselves absorbed by this culture and mindset, the inevitable outcome is a pathology bent on never being alone, which does not heed introspective thinking and transference. German psychoanalyst Arno Gruen states in his important work The Betrayal of the Self, the role of those associated and disassociated with one’s culture:

Being “maladjusted” the societal norms is many ways much more unfavorable than being well adjusted to the culture in which one happens to be a part of. Going against the “norms” of a culture often leaves one in a more severe case of loneliness and acceptance. Rebelling against these norms are left to those freethinkers which are almost always deemed as undesirable by the majority. Martin Luther King Jr. said it brilliantly in his 1963 speech of being maladjusted. The neurotic and often schizophrenic behavior patterns of western culture shows its ugly face every time one becomes maladjusted to it. The core principal to all human interaction and language patterns is one of abstraction, which leads to the way we act within our culture.

The culture of nature leaves none maladjusted.

The abstract nature of thought leads to the conquests that lead to power, neurotic behavior, and ideas of grandeur. This is all to prevalent in this culture, and are not seen as bad, but one to strive for. Our cultural icons of film, television, books, music, and most media shows the war on power achievement. It becomes instilled into our collective psyche as a norm, and one of constant struggle. Competitiveness and natural selection are seen as paramount in the job field and overall power mongering. This of course, is severe poverty of the basics of human understanding and field of thought found in the human species. It would be a great insult to the rational person to think this as normal. In the abstraction, the greatest fear to escape the culture is that of autonomy, or responsibility of one’s own actions. We are always willfully able to entrust upon on others for our wisdom and understanding, and do it without question.

In his sensational and extraordinary book, Listen, Little Man!, the often ridiculed and misunderstood psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich most emphatically writes in his lengthy rant on the little mind of a little man–the common man:

The “little man” was once a great man.

The innate need for guides and redeemers, be it with a partner, bosses, politicians, teachers, gurus, or “experts” in the journey of life is one to take with caution. It is of this author’s opinion to tread lightly in the acceptance of information, including this piece. We have been in many ways traumatized by simply interacting with others, and nothing is more terrifying than not being able to do so. Our interaction with the world and others leads us to a field unknown to our subjective emotions to the self; one which is in constant interacting with the inner juices of your innermost thoughts. When we let someone in, trusting whoever it may be with our most cherished thoughts, an immediate change from self to collective ensues, making the thought no longer yours, and shared to as a group. This can be a tricky proposition, especially when the first inclination of a discovery is to share it with the world. The question then arises, what are we to do about it? Is it a good or bad thing?

When presented with such questions, the natural response would be to seek help. This is not a bad, for communication ads to the questioning process, what is the negative outcome is if one continually seeks help for the sake of not thinking and questioning for oneself. This is where one can be manipulated and set to think in only one way. and is most noticeably evident in schooling, parenting, politics, religion, and to many extents, the sciences. Art is not immune either. Once we become attached to a certain way of thinking, the outcome is a case of becoming a repeater. The language that we speak is not our invention, but a learned tool created long ago. Our way of thinking thus becomes an outcome of culture, leading to the norms accepted by such. This is the danger located in the need for guides and redeemers, that it leads us to a way of non-thinking, all for the sake of not having the responsibility for not thinking for oneself.

Where do we find our answers to life?

Certainly, there are the needs for teachers of all kinds to help you out on the quest for finding the truth to the cosmos. A great teacher though, will not give you answers directly nor will he know all the answers. He will frustrate you to no end, and challenge your questions with more questions. He will make you think for yourself. Zen masters are notorious for this, and know that all wisdom lies from within, in conjunction with the microcosm and macrocosm. For that which is above, is also below. It is often comical seeing the student frustrated and angered towards his teacher on the lack of answers, but the teacher knows that the teacher is not what is important, but the teaching. It then becomes apparent that the student has had the answers all along, yet it was within himself that they lie.

It is when we detach ourselves from the subjective experience of oneself, that the loneliness and disarray ensues. When we attach to someone else or an idea completely, do we find that the loss of autonomy is dangerous, and the destructive path commences. Not that one needs to alone at all times, for communication is essential for human survival, but coming to one’s own conclusion on the subject of the self must be crucial to autonomy. As much as one can be as extroverted and enjoy nothing but the presence of others, the outcome of culture has issued a competitiveness approach on how we deal with others. Instead of opting for a collaboration instead of a competition, we further alienate ourselves to a existence of loneliness.   A culture built on this breeds schizophrenia, a condition built on extreme alienation and ridicule of the social norms. This is the most detached person, an inauthentic self. Very simply, it means that culture has won. When one gives into the absurdity of inauthentic existence, that of living on the impressions of others and culture, is bound to live in sorrow for the sole reason of existing for others, and not oneself.

Trapped within a culture, alienation can create schizophrenia at an alarming rate.

On the notions of love, and the permutations one permits in a relationship,  we are often found in a rut on who is being authentic and real with one another. In the plight of persona and appearances, with the male wanting to be a strong figure without fear and a woman all too willingly to abide by perpetuating this act by the male counterpart, the instilled fear and insecurities of the male are further developed to the point of accepted cultural distinctions. Gruen further elaborates:

Being keenly aware of the self and others is the safest way to overcome the perils of culture. By being the most autonomous possible, without fear or ridicule, a sense of zest and peace arises within the character of your true self. Being one’s own teacher to the extent of realizing one self to the inner microcosm, and familiarizing oneself to the chakras in all of us, is the way of defeating loneliness and boredom, the masks of our civilization. This is where true wisdom lies, in the foundation of self. It would be a call to authenticity, so pure in form that it cannot be unmoved by anyone. The question then becomes how well you can cope with it.

Reaching the coast and hearing the everlasting peace of ocean waves and the oncoming onshore flow, it is nature, our true teacher, and being alone with it, that can show us the way to eternity, to that which lies in all of us– the human potential to know oneself.

Once realized, all things become secondary.

“He dwells in us, not in the nether world, not is starry heavens. The spirit living within us fashions all this.”

-Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim

Photography by Federico Mata

Model: Jett Kelly

Location: Oxnard, CA