Kage
05-16-2008, 02:13 AM
...with his current Peace, Consciousness and Creativity campaign (http://www.davidlynchfoundation.org).
My Argument:
Premise 1: Western schools currently mire students in self-doubt and negativity, and often ignore the necessity of mental health.
Premise 2: Consciousness-based education can lead to more positive life outlook and promotes innovation
Conclusion: the promotion of consciousness-based education will improve our society, and possibly our world.
__________________________________________
My experience in regards to the argument:
Unfortunately, anything perceived as slightly “mystical” or left-of-center is immediately and violently cast off by our society (Western—ie, the Americas and Europe) without remorse. I’m reminded of a quote that says, "If you trick people into believing you made them think, they'll love you for it. But if you actually do make them think, they'll hate you for it." I remember a mere year ago I myself said, “oh, I love Lynch as a filmmaker, but all his meditation stuff…it’s just nonsense.” I reckoned myself an open-minded person. But, no, “weirdo” director David Lynch is just a 60-year old hippie peddling something that society hasn’t trained everyone to believe is right, and is therefore rejected.
Anyway, my point is not to stand on a soapbox here. I will relate raw experience in this report and nothing less. All connections have been drawn by myself. I have not been brainwashed by anything; I take in knowledge from all angles and then evaluate it from there. I’m talking about a shift in my life, an absolute change in mindset, and 100% for the better. I have recently experienced what David Lynch describes as “pure consciousness” and “swum” through it in much the same way as what Lynch often expresses in his lectures.
Now, Lynch achieves this through meditation, and, while there are plenty of other methods for this type of consciousness exploration, going into detail about methodology will only open a whole whirlwind of futile political debates that are completely irrelevant to the topic at hand (straw-men people love to grab at). Now, forget about what you may or may not know about meditation; forget about the alleged corruption in the “Transcendental Meditation” hierarchy; forget about David Lynch as a filmmaker or cultural icon, and really think about the message.
Lynch’s theory is that through attaining and utilizing a state of “pure consciousness,” a more peaceful state of life can be reached. He’s right. He maintains that a person who partakes in this type of self-discovery will often be lifted out of depression and be able to maintain a positive mindset about life. He says people will become more spiritual. A person will be energized and desire to learn, grow, and experience new things. He says people’s eating habits will change.
That latest one is the most tangible one on the list, and it’s the one that truly made this all click in my mind. It happened without me thinking about it. An ex-fast food junkie, I am now, after experiencing “pure consciousness,” subconsciously drawn to fruits and vegetables (mind you, I still eat meat, but keep it light). I exercise daily—nay I yearn for exercise daily. I am in better physical shape than I have been in my entire life. My eating habits are unbelievably healthy. No Atkins diet, just an organic mindset. I began to really see and reject the active poisons in my life, whether it be the greasy foods that clogged my arteries or the self-doubt in my mindset. All it took was a spiritual cleansing; physical and mental come along with it.
I have spent the last few months of my life witnessing all the self-doubt, all the anxiety, all the mental anguish instilled into my very being by my Western society, melt away. I am able to, for perhaps the first time in my entire life, approach life with optimism and excitement rather than obligation and unending grind. As a writer/artist, ideas have begun flooding in like a waterfall. I have an increased interest in connecting to the world around me, its history, its people. I realize now I had spent the last years of my life believing I was happy, believing I thought for myself, but I now know I was wrong. I was just as close-minded as everyone else.
As Lynch says, I’ve come to several spiritual revelations. No religions, no organizations, just personal discovery (although my interest in learning about Eastern religion/art/mythology/cultures has also increased tenfold—I want to experience whatever is out there). I am instilled with miraculous self-confidence I never knew I had. I have the confidence now pursue what feels right in my life. I find myself desiring to be positive, and to try to help the people I care about remain positive as well, whereas I used to dwell in negativity. I am no longer bothered by the day-to-day annoyances of life as I used to be. I am accepting of people, and enjoy finding out about who people are. I am no longer bothered if I disagree with someone—in fact, I thrive on the differences.
The thing is, I first read about all this stuff over a year ago, and at the time rejected it. I was not ready to shift my perspective, no matter how open-minded I thought I was.
Unfortunately, the majority of people simply do not want their very notion of reality to be shifted. We grow up with a certain set of ideals and most people will never truly look at life from a totally different perspective. Most people simply don’t realize how awful and full of useless negativity our society is—and ultimately how closed off to the experiences of the world it really is. They’re used to it, so they don’t wanna change. Everything is what is, so that’s that. Even looking on this message board, most people here buy into the way our society is structured. The Career is everything, and success is always defined by monetary standards. The sad fact is, no one really thinks for himself; life is a set way because society says it is and so few people ever question that at its most basic core.
I fully believe that the promotion of consciousness-based education will improve our society, and possibly our world. In fact, I think it might be the only way. Schools mire students in self-doubt and rage; why don’t we base schools around teaching students to be more open-minded, to be CONFIDENT, to desire to learn and innovate, to be EXCITED about life rather than DREADING all its useless obligations? Because it’s “odd” and “out there?” Westerners are obligated to worry—and yet, as Baz Luhrmann would say, the true problems in our life are things we could have never foreseen to worry about in the first place! We’re taught “real life” can only exist on the streets and that any mystical revelation we come to is new age bullshit that never earned anyone a dime. Well, **** a dime, god damn it!
Now, it’s not about denying the problems in the world—quite the contrary. The world is a dark place no doubt, and it’s not about not acknowledging all aspects of the world, it’s about finding a way to channel everything into positivity, as much as possible.
My Argument:
Premise 1: Western schools currently mire students in self-doubt and negativity, and often ignore the necessity of mental health.
Premise 2: Consciousness-based education can lead to more positive life outlook and promotes innovation
Conclusion: the promotion of consciousness-based education will improve our society, and possibly our world.
__________________________________________
My experience in regards to the argument:
Unfortunately, anything perceived as slightly “mystical” or left-of-center is immediately and violently cast off by our society (Western—ie, the Americas and Europe) without remorse. I’m reminded of a quote that says, "If you trick people into believing you made them think, they'll love you for it. But if you actually do make them think, they'll hate you for it." I remember a mere year ago I myself said, “oh, I love Lynch as a filmmaker, but all his meditation stuff…it’s just nonsense.” I reckoned myself an open-minded person. But, no, “weirdo” director David Lynch is just a 60-year old hippie peddling something that society hasn’t trained everyone to believe is right, and is therefore rejected.
Anyway, my point is not to stand on a soapbox here. I will relate raw experience in this report and nothing less. All connections have been drawn by myself. I have not been brainwashed by anything; I take in knowledge from all angles and then evaluate it from there. I’m talking about a shift in my life, an absolute change in mindset, and 100% for the better. I have recently experienced what David Lynch describes as “pure consciousness” and “swum” through it in much the same way as what Lynch often expresses in his lectures.
Now, Lynch achieves this through meditation, and, while there are plenty of other methods for this type of consciousness exploration, going into detail about methodology will only open a whole whirlwind of futile political debates that are completely irrelevant to the topic at hand (straw-men people love to grab at). Now, forget about what you may or may not know about meditation; forget about the alleged corruption in the “Transcendental Meditation” hierarchy; forget about David Lynch as a filmmaker or cultural icon, and really think about the message.
Lynch’s theory is that through attaining and utilizing a state of “pure consciousness,” a more peaceful state of life can be reached. He’s right. He maintains that a person who partakes in this type of self-discovery will often be lifted out of depression and be able to maintain a positive mindset about life. He says people will become more spiritual. A person will be energized and desire to learn, grow, and experience new things. He says people’s eating habits will change.
That latest one is the most tangible one on the list, and it’s the one that truly made this all click in my mind. It happened without me thinking about it. An ex-fast food junkie, I am now, after experiencing “pure consciousness,” subconsciously drawn to fruits and vegetables (mind you, I still eat meat, but keep it light). I exercise daily—nay I yearn for exercise daily. I am in better physical shape than I have been in my entire life. My eating habits are unbelievably healthy. No Atkins diet, just an organic mindset. I began to really see and reject the active poisons in my life, whether it be the greasy foods that clogged my arteries or the self-doubt in my mindset. All it took was a spiritual cleansing; physical and mental come along with it.
I have spent the last few months of my life witnessing all the self-doubt, all the anxiety, all the mental anguish instilled into my very being by my Western society, melt away. I am able to, for perhaps the first time in my entire life, approach life with optimism and excitement rather than obligation and unending grind. As a writer/artist, ideas have begun flooding in like a waterfall. I have an increased interest in connecting to the world around me, its history, its people. I realize now I had spent the last years of my life believing I was happy, believing I thought for myself, but I now know I was wrong. I was just as close-minded as everyone else.
As Lynch says, I’ve come to several spiritual revelations. No religions, no organizations, just personal discovery (although my interest in learning about Eastern religion/art/mythology/cultures has also increased tenfold—I want to experience whatever is out there). I am instilled with miraculous self-confidence I never knew I had. I have the confidence now pursue what feels right in my life. I find myself desiring to be positive, and to try to help the people I care about remain positive as well, whereas I used to dwell in negativity. I am no longer bothered by the day-to-day annoyances of life as I used to be. I am accepting of people, and enjoy finding out about who people are. I am no longer bothered if I disagree with someone—in fact, I thrive on the differences.
The thing is, I first read about all this stuff over a year ago, and at the time rejected it. I was not ready to shift my perspective, no matter how open-minded I thought I was.
Unfortunately, the majority of people simply do not want their very notion of reality to be shifted. We grow up with a certain set of ideals and most people will never truly look at life from a totally different perspective. Most people simply don’t realize how awful and full of useless negativity our society is—and ultimately how closed off to the experiences of the world it really is. They’re used to it, so they don’t wanna change. Everything is what is, so that’s that. Even looking on this message board, most people here buy into the way our society is structured. The Career is everything, and success is always defined by monetary standards. The sad fact is, no one really thinks for himself; life is a set way because society says it is and so few people ever question that at its most basic core.
I fully believe that the promotion of consciousness-based education will improve our society, and possibly our world. In fact, I think it might be the only way. Schools mire students in self-doubt and rage; why don’t we base schools around teaching students to be more open-minded, to be CONFIDENT, to desire to learn and innovate, to be EXCITED about life rather than DREADING all its useless obligations? Because it’s “odd” and “out there?” Westerners are obligated to worry—and yet, as Baz Luhrmann would say, the true problems in our life are things we could have never foreseen to worry about in the first place! We’re taught “real life” can only exist on the streets and that any mystical revelation we come to is new age bullshit that never earned anyone a dime. Well, **** a dime, god damn it!
Now, it’s not about denying the problems in the world—quite the contrary. The world is a dark place no doubt, and it’s not about not acknowledging all aspects of the world, it’s about finding a way to channel everything into positivity, as much as possible.