philosophy

Dreams in the Mirror: Part 3

See this is the train time rhyme
Taking this subway trip to cloud nine
A passion to find and explore
That life’s not just a grind when you’re looking for more
See what I’m looking for
Is to answer these questions I can’t ignore
No longer concerned about the score
But a focus on the game
Of living life to the fullest
And attempting to live it sane
See what I’m looking for is that frame of mind
That perspective and mentality to let my soul shine
In this universe of people
So that I can find a way to inspire
A motivation to reach higher
Cause we all know life’s on a timer
Counting down from that unknown number
Telling how much time we got till our final slumber
And it fills me with this hunger
This unimaginable desire
To give this life another trial
where giving up is no longer part of my vocabulary
My inner thoughts become a personal form of a sanctuary
So that when the day is done and they put my name in the obituary
This message will live on
That love is all we need

Love for the self
Love for the other
Love for the child
Love for the mother

Next: Part 4 – 8/1/2014

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Dreams in the Mirror: Part 2

Take this inner conflict
See it as a sign that you shouldn’t miss
For in life there is only time with emptiness
It’s in your hands now to create this bliss
Your soul is frustrated
To grow, it cries out

Finite creatures living in an infinite world
Contingent possibilities make knowing the future absurd
But we can make our choices today
We can be the hands that mold this clay
This malleable sense of personal identity
Discover the truth in what it means to be free
Embrace the peak of humanity’s decree
To let me be me
Become the person that I want to be

I’m not where I am by working alone
Only with the help of the other has my life flown
In the direction that I want it to
Look in the mirror and choose you
This is your cue
To break through your inner feud
Using your pain as your strongest fuel
To propel you forward
Even when you’re not sure
That you can face your inner monster
Cause if you sit and let it stir
It’ll grow faster and faster
And the second you slip up
Mistakes resurface into personal disaster

Yet the struggle is shared more than you know
In everybody’s hearts exist the capacity to grow
But pain becomes the norm and then becomes dulled
Before you know it your dreams are in the past
And you’ve grown too old
So NOW is the time to live and be bold
Become the fire that pushes back the cold

Next: Part 3 – 7/30/2014

 

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Dreams in the Mirror is a 10 part series. It began as a short bit I wrote while venting about self-directed frustrations. During my recent Spring semester, I had gotten lazy with my studies and personal projects. Feeling extremely dissatisfied, I processed my feelings through writing what is now Part 1. Several months later, after the semester had ended, I now find myself commuting to my dream job. During my work-bound train-rides I have downtime to think and to write. I came across Part 1 and began writing responses. The subsequent 9 parts are all focused on answering the frustrations of my past and building hope for the future. This piece has been fundamental in my recent mindset toward life and I’m very happy that I have the ability to share it with the world.

Dreams in the Mirror: Part 1 – 7/26/2014
Dreams in the Mirror: Part 2 – 7/28/2014
Dreams in the Mirror: Part 3 – 7/30/2014
Dreams in the Mirror: Part 4 – 8/1/2014
Dreams in the Mirror: Part 5 – 8/3/2014
Dreams in the Mirror: Part 6 – 8/5/2014
Dreams in the Mirror: Part 7 – 8/7/2014
Dreams in the Mirror: Part 8 – 8/9/2014
Dreams in the Mirror: Part 9 – 8/11/2014
Dreams in the Mirror: Part 10 – 8/13/2014

Fractions of an Instant

Walking to the park
As if it’s a part of me
A living thing
A thing I need
Like a breath of oxygen
Just here for this moment
But once more gone again
A silence eager for action when
Life and death are included in the fractions
Of every passing moment
A series of choices make up how we spend it
And we can waste it
Letting hearts grow cold
Night after night
Regretting growing old
With nothing to show
For time given
Yet only thrown
Into mindless distractions
Choosing avoidance
Through ignoring personal dissatisfactions
Unaware that life is just one internal conversation
Between the future past and present
All represent the current equation
Of a mindset in this moment
Temporarily existant
Embracing the truth
That everything only lasts for an instant

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Note: As of 7/24/2014, I will be posting every other day at 8:00 AM EST. Stay tuned 🙂

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Image Attribution (Creative Commons): Waiting time – Philip Edmondson

Ambiguities

Handrail Reflection
What’s a reflection
When perspectives are bending
Light and reality
Hiding what we see
And turns it into what we believe
This is what it means
For dreams to breathe
In time and space
Ideas and thoughts
Are given a face
But whose face is it really
When a mind’s always reeling
Afraid of losing
Pre-felt feelings
Stuck in the past
With a moment
Never meant to last
Just trying to grasp
The idea
That we are free
Only when aware
Of the ability to breathe
Able to help
Souls in need
Creating new foundations
And constructing philosophies
While building internal crutches
To answer life’s ambiguities

Shifting Perspectives

With this propensity
Proclivity to write constantly
When I put things in a rhyme
they just make more sense to me
So I’m constantly repeating
what I’m trying to make myself believe in
Tired of crying needlessly
when it’s the perspective
that needs shifting
Not just sifting through
the pieces of the puzzle but
Altogether viewing it differently
cause nothing’s really meant to be
Coincidence mistaken for fate frequently
This universe can’t be plotted
Until you see this you wont be free
Still free to disagree
with this philosophy
regardless of the cognitive ease you
experience when every sentence
feels a part of some flow
as if I meant this
wording arrangement
to show you that greatness
Is simply meaning created
of dreamt up words
strung into a smoothly consumed statement

Stability

The universe isn’t out to get me
Its there waiting for a bit more understanding
To know we can’t understand it
And how we often take for granted
The laws of physics in a continuous
Chain reaction of amibiguous
Call to action
Imagine happiness, try to max it
Find a bliss and hope it lasts this
Last time cause I cant go back
To hanging on a single vine
Like a life line holding back
A catapult
Cause once I say its all my fault
I shoot off into a one man cult
Where im trapped inside my painful thoughts
That make it harder for me to open up
Repressin a desire to express whats up
But im free now
cause I see how
I dont need doubt
If I let it out
I have friends proud
So I say it loud
I have found now
Solid ground
Got my feet down

A Shooting Star

Love is the answer
Yet fear is a cancer
That takes over all it holds
Growing deeper into different modes
Believe through it.
See the love for how you use it
All it takes is the choice
To stand up and move, you got a voice
Cause this world is affected by you
In the smallest but biggest way
You are here, you breathe this day
So mold your being, time is your clay
How will you shape it?
What will you say?
When its your turn to talk
Does it matter if others just baulk?
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We are Stars

I needed a new way to see my soul. To see your soul. A new way to feel human. A new way to feel united. This is an imaginative rationality for our existence. So here we go:

[Prefaced by Art is the Answer, and My Most Important Question]

I’ll open with one of my favorite short tales of wisdom:

An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy.

“It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.” He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”

The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”.

I’ve rationalized much of my problems in life as a result of letting my evil wolf take the reigns of my soul. In that, I was comfortable with an understanding of my mind which split itself into multiple entities in order to put blame on one. In order to relieve my current consciousness from the matter. Blame is relieving. But how many times have I handed the reigns to my life over to the darker wolf? How is it that both sides always survive? How come at my best, I can feel the capacity for the worst? And during even my darkest times, there still existed a light to draw me away from falling inward into infinite solitude. What are we?

We are Stars

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My Most Important Question

In my last post, Art is the Answer, I promised to answer these questions:

  • Why do I exist?
  • Who am I?
  • What should I do?

Though these are important questions and ones that I would LOVE to know, they weren’t the most pressing thing on my mind. They failed to truly make me get worked up over. Easily silenced by a shrug of the shoulder. But there was one question I couldn’t give up on:

  • Why should I care?

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