I know some of you are silently gasping out there at my flippant use of the loaded “j” word. Just hold on to your Hanes and Fruits o’ Loom…get over the not so subtle brainwashing job the media has obviously pulled on you.
Honestly, according to every online dictionary I’ve checked so far has associated jihad with a holy struggle of Muslims against infidels (in so many words). Frankly, I’m sorry if I offend most of the world (not that I am implying that a majority, or even large portion of humanity is reading this shit) …but I want a Jihad too!
This is the point at which you’ve either stopped reading; now overwhelmed and offended or are just bored of reading crazy ranting but if you bear with me, I have a coherent, non-violent point.
What is it that defines individual existence? Isn’t that what we’re all supposed to be fervently uprooting, living each waking moment as if it is the One which will uncover some shrouded truth that gives us our purpose? Well, I don’t know about you, but I sure as hell haven’t found mine and hope to Christ (accept my apologies for my continued irreverence or stop reading) that it has nothing to do with the make of car I have when I’m forty-whatever.
In this sense I envy those with their jihads laid out before them like a well-groomed A.T. They’ve got a jump on all of us, already taking action while we fumble around looking for purpose in our designer handbags and Kelty packs.
Do not misunderstand; I see no courage in self-detonation. Jihad, as its true term is a sticky one. I do not desire a destiny of detonation; only the great passion (be it disillusioned, naïve or otherwise unrealistically idealistic) which compels a select few to ascend the passive stupor which permeates every aspect of being one unremarkable among billions. I wait because as a great man once said…”let me say, at the risk of seeming ridiculous, that the true revolution is guided by great feelings of love.” Because momma always said: you can’t hurry love.
~xate
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6 comments:
Xate,
I completely agree. Wouldn't it be nice if we had some purpose! I envy those with Jihad, those who know what they want, and try to get it.
I suppose the only thing we need to be wary of is when my Jihad conflicts with yours. If I think wholeheartedly that abortion is murder, then I would need to fight to make it forbidden, right? But, at the same time, you think that we absolutely must have the right to an abortion. So how can we fight for what we think is right without imposing on what others think is right?
Maybe these days we're too understanding and too informed and that's why we don't struggle for anything. We understand all too well that people's opinions vary, and so it becomes harder to believe that your way is the best one.
-Penamé
There has to be a middle ground between jihad (absolutism) or the relativism (my truth is truth for me) that we drown in over here, forming little one-person religions unto ourselves culled from Fallout Boy lyrics and yogi tea tags. It seems that "jihad" or absolute truth is something that we as Westerners have "evolved" away from, i.e. everyone is allowed to have their own beliefs, which is conceivably great. This is why "liberals" have such a great time hating "conservative Christians": They're so primitive! They believe in stuff! Haha!! Like monkeys!
So what's the middle ground? Is there a choice between 1) a law that you're born under and bound to and 2) a free-floating existence that you can't even justify to yourself? The richness of a purpose laid out for you or the freedom to find your own way?
I don't know about you, but I personally am too "brainwashed" by the concept of "freedom," the knowledge that I can do whatever the hell I want to with my (meaningless) existence to ever want to trade that in for a pre-made purpose.
And turning up my white liberal college-educated north-eastern-nose at those toothless, god-fearing conservatives in the fly-over states gives me all the purpose I need.
There is always the philosophy "live and let live". Like you and I talked about, Pename, maybe things just are; there is no good, no bad. Things just are, no matter how perverted and seemingly unjust. So even with decay and abuse all around, the best you can do is to tread lightly as you live your life.
P.S. I don't believe that the essence of life in blind existence, so this is irrelevant to my personal moral condition. Go with what grabs you. ~xate
xate, you are a jihadist of awesomeness.
I will have to get on posting my first publication and maybe I'll put it up unfinished because it's quite relevant. Do we think for ourselves to the point of exhaustion? Sometimes I think we do, and in the process exhaust the people around us, which then can lead to complete disregard for the thought in the first place.
I really believe that struggling to understand and comprehend has taken over much thought that could elaborate on the thoughts we know, and mean a lot already. There really is no way to go for what you need/want/believe/etc without stepping on someones toes. And if there is, please let me in on that secret, it could come in handy.
-soma
life is a tragedy for those who feel and a comedy for those who think.
-fortune cookie
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