by Anthony Crognale on January 15, 2010
I’m not socially versed. I spend hours upon hours studying, but for what? I’m not happy in life, and my emotions can only be expressed through writing on paper what scene I’m relating to. My current mental location lies in a glacial planet as you may have assumed from my previous posts about life. I feel isolated from everyone else. It is cold where it is warm for others. I’ve been hurt too much to allow anyone in just yet.
As much as I study and research, can I ever be content if I’m not happy? I could land my dream schools, residencies, fellowships, and jobs, but what will I gain from success if I’m not happy with myself? Depression isn’t something I enjoy.
Life goes on though, and each day, I should (in theory) grow mentally, eventually to the point where I’ll be over all my troubles and be focused on what really matters in life as well as having the ability to let someone get incredibly close without purposefully screwing it all over. I can’t do that anymore.
As I look around, I see other glacial formations; mountains of crystals and the ever falling of snow, with unimaginable temperatures that are cold. The sky is clear and the sun shine brights, but there’s no protection from the environment. Constantly shifting, constantly morphing. Some parts of it melt and fade away, while new parts begin to build.
Nothing else to add to this post right now. I’ll probably write more out later. Who knows.
by Anthony Crognale on January 13, 2010
Democratic – δημοκρατία – (dēmokratía) “the power to the people”. Power? What power do we have? How can America honestly function under the Democratic mindset anymore? Representative democracy defeats the purpose of democracy. America’s doomed, especially with Obama. I don’t care about the people who say he’s socialist or not, he just hasn’t done anything “right” so far it seems. Where’s all of these empty promises he made? Why the hell did he receive a Nobel Peace Prize for doing nothing at all. Nobel Peace Prize has sadly become a joke.
If the people of America wanted to change the government, they wouldn’t be able to. Why? Because our government is run by arrogant politicians who think they can actually run a country well. I look around, and do I see a well run government? No. The politicians who have “worked so hard” to get their damn seat in a house would not vote to completely change the hierarchy of our nation. OUR NATION. Not the governments.
And please, for the love of whatever deity you’d like, please stop with the “Change.” BS. It’s nauseating quite frankly.
by Anthony Crognale on January 11, 2010
I sit here alone pondering the mysteries of life, only to be stirred be the glacial morning. The crystals of ice stab my soul and crush my hope for a warm day.
I want to cry for the year that ended yesterday, a long path of mistakes that has shaped me into who I am today.
As cryptic as this seems, ignorance is bliss for I would rather not have gone through it all looking back on it. I do not regret anything that has happened though and simply look at it with a glacial mind, an ice cold one.
Everything happens for a reason, and nothing else could of been so great to happen.
by Anthony Crognale on December 23, 2009
Recently, I heard about two paramedics who watched a woman die while they were on their break. Why didn’t they save her? They said they were on their break and off duty. How can one not help a dying person? How can paramedics, trained professionals sit and eat while a woman dies.
Could this be the reason why the world is the way it is? Could this be why so many nations are at war? Is a lack of this empathy the cause for corruption on a global scale? As I sit here pondering this topic tonight, I think of all these questions. Emotion fills me with hurt. I’m faced with individuals every day who have such a lack of empathy that I cry. How can humanity go on if they just don’t care about each other?
The key is selflessness. Going above and beyond your day to day routine to enhance the life of another. Why can’t we all be like that? There’s a great deal that western society needs to learn from Buddhism, and I’m not even an adherent of Buddhism. I just believe in the values. A culture that meditates on all aspects of life in order to understand. While you read this, think about you’re lack of empathy and how you might possibly improve it. By growing empathy, you’ll grow your ability to interact with other humans more in a way that you can develop relationships that define your life.
- Meditate on your own emotions. Think thoroughly about the issues you face with your current emotions and how you can mend the rendered problems.
- Be considerate of others emotions. Realize that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. This law of physics can be applied to psychology in the sense that when you effect a human in society whether it be verbal, physical, or implied, they receive an emotion from your action.
- Consider a Buddhist tea ceremony where the random reflections in the tea cup are used to support a togetherness of the community. Be a part of the community. Help others when help is needed. Do not let someone die because you are on break.
- Learn to love. Love is elegant, love is murderous. Empathy is increased through loving another individual, caring for them. Love with all your heart and soul. Be prepared to get hurt, as it’s inevitable. While you’re hurting though, individuals who are empathetic will see you hurting and come to your aid, forming a new bond.
- Begin to meditate. I’m going to be expanding on this subject over the next month in great detail as it has captured my scientific mind through reading scientific journals.
Generalizations can be made from these points such as, they all require self discipline. You must have the ability to push yourself physically and mentally in order to reach your goal, the apex of your dream. When you reach the top, you can’t go back downhill. You have to stay on top by constantly refining your practice in to an art, something that is so beautiful you won’t want to take your eyes off of it as the glory is unmatched by anything else you could think of.
A lot of these topics I’ll be expanding on in the coming days, over the holidays in particular when I believe caring is the key. I realize that I pose more questions than answers in this post, but I will address them respectively in due time. In the mean time, read this article entitled Empathy: Spiritual Darwinism / Scientific Buddhism.
by Anthony Crognale on December 22, 2009
As radical as the title of this post sounds, it is realistic. I would never recommend using fear to control anyone or anything, however, I’m writing this post to outline the reality of the practice.
Imagine a town, surrounded by walls, loud speakers constantly on reciting doctrines of the dictator, orderly chaos among the people. A radical group known as Xarijama who believes in a modified version of communism has taken over the city and has begun to capture the rest of the nation at an exponential rate. The quality of life deteriorates everyday, with death a common occurrence whether it be from natural course or execution. Everyday, someone new is executed in the town square, sending hope of the citizens away at an astounding speed. How did they do it?
The above group, Xarijama, is a fictitious name used for the purpose of this post. This event has not taken place to my knowledge.
The drove fear into the heart and souls of all the citizens. They began by committing mass murder of the weak, non-lethal biological torture of all, and sending threats of disastrous measures to government officials. It was well planned and the leaders were brilliant.
They drove fear into everyone. When subjected to fear, it will consume you, take you whole, and remold you into a dominated person who will comply with foolish demands due to fear of injury on any level.
The sad part? This could happen anywhere. It’s called terrorism. It just takes brilliant minds and immense amounts of energy to pull off a large scale project, but a small project, such as bullying one person into subjugating themselves to you takes one person with minimal effort. Fear creates order in some cases such as allowing a government to come in and take control of a country while shove the citizens propaganda with promises to rid them of the problem. By shoving propaganda at the citizens, the citizens cooperate with authorities making the governments job a lot less hardous.
How can you get anything you want with fear? Simple. You apply the principles I talked about earlier. You drive fear into the heart of someone or something and then demand something of it. Scary how easy this is, right?
by Anthony Crognale on December 22, 2009
In the course of time, humanity changes. Where will it lead? Will it get to the point that it can lead somewhere else then it is currently headed? There are various philosophies such as Transhumanism that give a rather firm system of values to begin adhering to. A problem with many of these newer philosophies is the fact that they aren’t compatible with religion which makes general acceptance a significantly harder goal to obtain.
Incompatibilities between Transhumanism and monotheistic religions:
- Sacrificing the status that the human body is divine and holy.
- When we refer to sacrificing the divinity of the human body, we subject ourselves to the denial that the human race is made to be superior.
- Tampering with the pure genetic code.
- Granted that medical conditions do not always make the genetic code “pure” but still rather an object of the system that humans produce. By tampering with genetics, you are in essence “playing with God.”
- Modifying the reproductive system goes against Roman Catholic teachings.
- Transhumanism would require altering the embryo of an unborn child which the Church does not condone.
There are more incompatibilities that you might take a look at in this article entitled, An Epistle on H+ to the Italian Catholics. Despite these incompatibilities, I believe that it is required to look over these minor inconveniences to Transhumanism in order to insure the further development of the human race.
What if we’re already too far down the wrong path? What if humanity has already raced down a deserted road that past civilizations have successfully avoided while we fall victim? There is so much suffering, corruption, injustices, etc in the world that make me think heavily we may be past the point of change. Our current society would have to take heavy steps to change their current ways into a methodology that can be applicative to Transhumanism.
Transhumanism would create surprise, fear, and shock. The religious communities would be in an uproar. Can we as humans handle that?
by Anthony Crognale on December 21, 2009
A dear friend of mine, Niko Seichi, recently wrote an article about his opposition to Proverbs 3: 5-6 which says,
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.
Niko constructed an alternate version to the biblical verse that opposed leaning on the Lord’s understanding and morely so suggested leaning on the individuals own understanding.
I believe that Niko has a point in his belief as I agree with Buddhist views that, “The mind is everything. What you think you become.” as Gautama Siddharta had stated. My opposition lies in the Christian view, which Niko opposes. I believe that from a Christian viewpoint, the key to faith, understanding, and life is to follow Jesus and He alone will show you the path to Heaven and eternal salvation. Bible.ca makes the interpretation that this message is directed towards the youth of Christianity who are unaware of the turmoil that you will eventually experience in life.
I do not however believe that we have interpreted the scripture in the proper mannerism. As Bible.ca states, “‘Lean not on your own understanding’. Do not be arrogant for the Lord knows best. Listen to your mother and your father – the voice of experience. (Proverbs 1:8) You are not wise enough to be your own guide.” This interpretation would be more so set to the tone of life experiences rather then academic knowledge. When they say turn to the Lord, you have to have the mindset that the Lord would also encompass the scripture, not solely resting your decisions on God but rather through the course of decision making based on Christian values as well as through prayer.
by Anthony Crognale on December 21, 2009
As I gaze into the vast body of stars we call our universe tonight, I feel an overwhelming sense of being alone. With more than 1021 stars and more than 125 billion galaxies, how can I not? The fact that I have little actual social activity do to my varied interests on Earth doesn’t help. I listen to music to ease the pain, but does it go away? No. I study to take my mind off of it, but after I study and lay down again, I stare up at the ceiling and realize that ultimately, I feel alone.
Physically, I may not be alone, but emotionally, I am. 1 John 4:18 from the Bible says, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear … “. Has love caused this fear? I think it is a great possiblty. I was committed, so focused on her, and then everything that seemed perfect went away. I’m left with this feeling of alone.
Despite I try and try again, my fear cannot be settled; my loneliness cannot not be content. I must seek out new ways to find fulfillment in life. On the other hand, I can dive back into love and love even more than I did before, to give another the feeling I have for love.
It is the choices in life that make it so difficult to not feel alone.
by Anthony Crognale on December 20, 2009
As I sit here drinking a glass of tea, I look to my left, out a window and in to the eye of winter. Snow begins to consume my mind, taking my soul to a plateau of thought. On this plateau, I see an ice sculpture representing the mind. The mind begins to melt.
Why is the mind melting? Of all visual representations we could observe, why do I see a mind melting? I believe that the which is melting, is showing the degrading processes of life that are common place in society now.
I focus on the mind and think of war, destruction, and death. The mind begins to melt
faster. I change my thoughts to that of a serene mountain top, with nothing but a robe and a cup of tea. The mind begins to regrow.
The snow now moves my soul to that mountain top and I sit there, drinking my tea.
A melting mind represents the loss of intellect to a society in trouble. The regrowth of the mind is represented by the thoughts that provoke an environment in which intellect grows. Why the top of a mountain for increased intellect? The mountain is isolated. The mountain is pure and untainted by thoughts of corruption going on thousands of feet below. Any isolated environment works, though.
The point of this message is, intellect can not grow from a nation ridden with such trouble. An isolated, clean, environment is needed.
