Wednesday 20 July 2011

Your Passion Feeds Your Soul


Your passion feeds your soul. Do not hide it, do not ignore it... feed it, and it will feed you. Without passion your flame is nothing but an ember fading slowly away. 

I subdued my passion once, silenced it.
There I was, quiet and still:
                                             No-one.

                                              Like a metronome gone out of time I sat alone.
Flicking through the newspapers, seeing pictures of people shouting,
Screaming for a cause.
And I became overcome with a fear,
What if I shout and no one listens?
What if I shout and no one hears?

And I became overcome with a greater fear                        right then... 
                                             What if I do not shout?


Ride your horses, sing your songs. Whether you stand on the top of a mountain or behind the counter in a charity shop, make it your passion that you follow. And if you say that your passion is money and making it, think back to before you knew what money was and find out what your penchant really is.





Because there lies the truest of happiness.

Sunday 10 July 2011

Equality Through Conformity? PART TWO

Today I feel hushed. It's one of those days which leaves you feeling quiet. I sit here at my computer screen wondering who my words will touch, and wondering whether I should deviate too far from the 'plan'.
The 'plan' was to offer up some healthy questions regarding last Saturday to help illustrate the importance of thought and questioning when it comes to our actions and dogma. I suppose I will get round to it. Yes, I will. I'm just distracted today, that's all. I'll address that in the future; I'll address this now.

Equality Through Conformity?

I want to talk about the meaning of the word ‘truth’, and what and why we believe. This is a topic I’ve been discussing a lot recently, because I believe that it’s wrong to go out onto the streets and shout about something you don’t fully believe in, or worse, don’t fully understand. It was for that reason that outside Marks and Spencer on the 2nd of July I wasn’t joining in with the ‘free Palestine’ chants. I am not at all in any way an authority on any of the facts regarding the reasons for the chant and, more simply, I don’t fully understand the problems that Palestine face.

If you don’t understand something, why shout about it? Why pretend that you do? Does it stem from a desire to fit in, or just because you presume that people around you who agree with you on other things must be saying something you agree with about everything else?

So of course the answer is simple: research. Look it up, read about it, make your own mind up. That’s what I need to do before I have the right to shout anything in the street, or even suppose it in my own mind. That’s my project; I need to learn about it for myself. From multiple sources. Perhaps someone can explain their angle on Palestine for me. We’ll do a trade - I’m quite good on British Wildlife if anyone wants to swap some info. My topics also include horses, tree climbing and writing poetry.

I think the most important question is the following. It is the question from which all other questions are implied.

Why do you believe what you believe?

There I said it. I needn't explain the implications and connotations of that question. I'm just going to leave it at that.

The Conformity Bit

Everyone's been commenting on Charlie Veitch's odd behaviour recently, and just as many people have been commenting on the comments.

The genius of Stanley Milgram (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment) and Solomon Asch (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asch_conformity_experiments) spring instantly to mind for me when I think of people's comments on Charlie.

And it worries me rather that people are ready to hold onto their beliefs to the extent that they will direct hatred at other people. I might be way off - hell I'm just a kid - but I thought that the groups focusing on causes such as 9-11 or the abolishment of war would be loving, caring people who aimed to spread peace, not hatred and certainly not threats.

So this must mean that the people are angry and disappointed with him. I do understand the implications of his 'u-turn' but, vitally, I respect his right to an opinion no matter how he came to it or what it is, or what his previous words and actions are. If no one had the right or ability to change their minds, then what would be the point of the truth movement at all?

Where did the anger and disappointment come from then? Why are these supposedly lovely peaceful people acting so out of character? One of the possibilities is that a lot of these people needed a leader and saw Mr. Veitch as fit to be just that. Many people are addicted to the security that comes hand in hand with someone else being responsible. And when their responsible, replicable leader strayed from the cause, these people were left alone. Scary, eh?

It all just highlights how, although it's lovely to be a part of something, it's vital to a great extent that we must all be our own leaders. Of course it's frightening that if this was the case our actions would solely be our own responsibility - no one there to blame or hate if we realise we were wrong. It would mean that we would have to truly, deeply believe our own convictions and use our own creativity in order to communicate this to others. But I think that would make a better world; a world full of analytical, pensive, meditative people who believed what they believed because they saw it with their own eyes, or saw the appropriate evidence for it.

So stop hating Charlie Veitch. I agree that his change of mind was suspicious and yes I certainly do question it. But I will NEVER have the right to abuse him for it. After all, isn't this whole thing about freedom?

(Although I do think this video is very silly)

Thursday 7 July 2011

Equality Through Conformity? PART ONE

At the weekend, after much preparation and planning, phone calls and scribbled out ideas, the two of us jumped on the train to Manchester Piccadilly and set of for what we thought would simply be a day of protest - nothing more, nothing less. We expected to be shouting about the cause we set off to shout about - nothing more nothing less. Maybe a few chaps with placards, maybe a bit of light public disturbance - nothing more nothing less.

How wrong we were.

The helium balloons on which our chosen message was printed were handed out at such speed to crowds of men, women and children who clamored and begged for them like we'd never have expected. Not for the message on the balloon, admittedly. Turns out people like balloons, who knew? But the important thing was that our balloons and therefore our message was all over Piccadilly Square and was dispersing around the city as people took them away with them. So that was the first half hour of our 'protest' done. And we had nothing left apart from little slips of paper with the message on, which were given out all day.

The real stuff started to happen when the various groups who had come to the square to share their message all got together and started to move as one. If anyone has ever experienced a come-up, it felt like that...
The feeling that something very, very good is about to happen.

And it did.

I needn't go too deep into the details of the day and what exactly happened; there's Youtube for that (just look for We Are Change Manchester 2/7/11).
But I can barely convey the immense feelings of love and joy and the colourful, vibrant expressions of freedom as the peaceful vibrations echoed around the city. It wasn't just the hugs or the sharing or the equality and value of each individual which struck me. Something went much deeper, something in my core which whispered reassuringly that this was right and this was good. As the Topshop barriers came rolling down to protect the store from a large congregation of people who would never dream of hurting or stealing from anyone, it was palpable that this had evolved from a protest (nothing more, nothing less) to an incredible demonstration of the fact that we are humans and we are free - nothing more, nothing less. It was an announcement of our presence - a movement of thinking, feeling, loving entities sharing their humanity with each other. It was beautiful. Disillusioned ex-soldiers rubbed shoulders with passionate questioners and religious speakers in the greatest display of mutual respect that I have ever seen. If you had something to say, you grabbed a megaphone and you said it.

Certain aspects of the day raised questions in my mind about our actions and our beliefs. These are questions regarding reality and truth or rather - imagination and dogma. I hope to tackle this in the second installment of my post. I will, in the style of a Mr. Danny Shine, present these questions to you and allow you to look deep into yourself to find the answers. Because it's healthy to question. Questions make life worth living, nothing more, nothing less.