Unrelented Despotism

     Have you ever just wanted to be alone? To vanish from the world and rest quietly, peacefully, and hidden?

     Conversely, have you ever been completely by yourself and had no greater desire than to join the masses of humanity in a joyous celebration of existence?

     Welcome to my world - where loneliness is detested for its absences and company is despised for its contents. Never content, always wishing that you were in the opposite of your current state.

     The more necessitates my state, either solitude or companionship, the more my spirit wishes to rebel from its confinements and constrictions. I have no answers to these questions. How to be satisfied in the moment without seeking pleasure merely to comfort? How to be content with my state and cease worrying, to forget the future, to stop criticizing but inspire the present. How does one avoid nostalgia and reminisce the glories of the faded, vanished, irretrievable past?

     Most people even moderately well acquainted with Biblical teaching will avow the common phrase by Paul, “with whatsoever state I am in, therewith to be content.” The process is simple: follow God’s will, and you’ll be happy with where you are in life. You’ve “put aside childish things” and embraced the calling you were created for (Philippians 4:11).

     How uninspiringly unhelpful that quote is when one has neither faith in that god nor desire to do according with “His” wishes. That book also says that “He” was “scored and rejected by men.” Were not other men hated by their fellows?

     Am I to reach surrender to this teaching or embrace the multiplicity of others – current or ancient – and gamble away a suspected spirit, a supposed soul on eternity of the flesh, eternity as a spirit, reincarnation, or decomposition to nothingness?

     I seek only contentment “in whatsoever state I am.” If this inclines me to the Christian God, I may curse my culture, my parentage, my religious influences, but that is what I choose. If I surrender the controls of my life to a higher power, just as police in the high speed chase of life rely on their helicopter to report the movements of their goal which remains far out of their eyes’ sight, that empowered deity may yet steer me as necessary. I still retain the ability to redirect my course, take an early exit, switch lanes, back track, or simply use my brakes.

     However, I seek only contentment. If I relinquish control, may I find refuge?

    __    
Agatha Tyche

Influence of Books

     Sadly, many Westerners spend excessively copious amounts of time in front of screens. The type or function of the screen is unimportant since a philology of screens includes television, computers, phones, and projectors. The flashes of interactive, glowing rapidity daze our eyes and dull our senses. These are very recent adoptions of entertainment. Steadfast throughout history are stories shared vocally with a gathered audience captivated by worry for the protagonist of the tale. Writing allowed those tales to be more widely shared, and the coupling of the printing press and a widely educated public furthered the ability of the written word to spread.

     Books possess power. Power to alter the reader’s outlook on life, society, theology, or any of the myriad of concepts our minds are capable of processing. Reading itself strengthens the processing and reasoning ability of the mind. Reading a book indefinitely impacts the reader whether consciously pondered or not. The literate absorb written words as easily, if not more influentially, than oration.

     How has reading impacted you? It is a monologue conversation with the writer, a written orator. Inspiration, sorrow, courage, sympathy all come from sympathies with the author. The allure of series is this accumulated sympathy as the reader befriends the characters. Picture movies are a simplified, shortened forms of this interaction; extremes are used extensively to quicken viewer relation. A book easily reveals the uncovered length of tale by the amount of pages left unread.

     The Jungle, an early twentieth century novel, inspired innovation of American meat processing. The Wealth of Nations, founded on many of John Locke’s Enlightenment assumptions, encouraged the foundations of the free market capitalist system, overthrowing the outdated mercantilist philosophy. Religious texts are especially noted for their exceptional influence on all readers, more so to the regular and devoted followers. Amongst these works are those as well known as the Quran, Bible, and Sanskrit. No one alive will disagree the influence these book have had on humanity.

     Life lessons, the consequences of and warning against common mistakes, energy to encourage and inspire, and deep, eternal love are all accessible with only your hands and time. Why let life pass, regretting poor decisions, when those that have lived before can aid you through daily struggles, shattering tragedies, and uplifting hopes? With such a large selection presently available, what have you to lose? Take a chance.

     Read a book.

    __    
Agatha Tyche