Tag: #Meaning

The reason why zombies are everywhere

September 24th, 2023

Just watched another zombie movie last night, Zombieland. Not an extremely serious movie as most of them are not.

I’ve seen some genuinely good zombie stories and shows, played for camp or otherwise – Last of Us, 28 Days Later, Sean of the Dead, Return of the Living Dead.

But mostly Zombie movies were just silly fun for me. Night of the Living Dead cracked me up, not sure if intentionally. “They’re coming for you Barbara!”

Philosopher and cognitive scientist John Vervaeke has taught me to look at zombies in a more serious light. The fact that they’ve been so prevalent tells us that Western culture is undergoing a meaning crisis.

Zombies in Western Culture A Twenty-First Century Crisis, by John Vervaeke, Christopher Mastropietro and Filip Miscevic laid out the case pretty well.

The zombie is a mythical creature that represents meaninglessness. They don’t make sense, but it doesn’t matter you have to escape them. They shouldn’t exist and yet they do. They’re mindless. The wander about without purpose or agency.

And what do zombies eat? Brains. Interesting symbology. They have no minds of their own, but consume and destroy the minds of others. Pointless. Like trying to learn by eating a book.

They’re also a perversion of the Resurrection, which seems to signal a loss of belief that Christianity can explain the world. They rise from the grave, but they’re still dead. It’s an apocalypse where the world ends, but nothing is revealed.

I think it’s a good diagnosis for what’s wrong with the world. So many incompatible world views, arguments over definitions, unable to agree on what’s right or wrong, good or bad.

It might be a prescription for how to fix it. I’ve discovered several people on YouTube who seem to be working on the problem, reverse engineering Western Culture to find useful wisdom paths, from the likes of Socrates that may have been lost.

They’ve been having discussions they call Dialectic into Dialogos to tease out deeper levels of truth from one another. They’re fascinating to watch. Kind of like something we all used to do called have conversations, but collaborative.

This is an example of how Dialectic Into Dialogos works. I’m not sure what will come out of what they do, but I respect them for trying. At the very least, I find their discussions enlightening and inspiring.
Rapture of the screen

September 22nd, 2023

It’s been one hell of a coke binge so far hasn’t it? Smart phones, social media wars, Silicon Valley tyrants rearranging our lives as they try to squeeze out every last second of our attention. When will it end?

I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m feeling rather strung out at the moment.

There’s a phenomenon scuba divers have to watch out for called nitrogen narcosis. Below certain depths, the nitrogen in your body becomes an intoxicant.

Rapture of the Deep, they call it. You can get so out of it, you’ll try to offer your regulator to a fish, swim down, when you need to swim up, etc.

Not that I ever went scuba diving, but I think it’s comparable to what we’re all doing here on land. Doomscroll Narcosis. Rapture of the Screen. You’re in too deep, but you just keep diving deeper and forget to come up for air.

I’m as guilty as anyone. I tear myself away from the phone, take icons off the home screen, set alarms and rules, try to instill a little self-discipline then I find myself doing it again. From content to content, switching between Facebook, YouTube, Mastodon and back again.

By the time I snap out of it, half the day is gone and I can’t string words into a coherent sentence.

“This is your brain on technology… Any questions?”

I am seeing some signs that we might overcome this mess. I’m seeing some really substantive YouTube channels that seem to be growing, slowly.

All this dopamine seeking behavior isn’t giving any of us the meaning we seek.

I have a hope that enough people have enough of the mindlessness and go looking for the real deal. The stuff that helps us figure out who and what we are, that make a hard life worth putting up with.

People like John Vervaeke with his Awakening from the Meaning Crisis series on the development of Western philosophy, Damien Walter with his thoughtful critiques of science fiction storytelling.

I think they’re onto something. It takes effort to explore their work, but it’s worth it. There’s spiritual food to be had online from people not obsessed with overnight success. Eventually people will quit binging on internet candy and go looking for it.
Do they make a laxative for the mind?

June 17th, 2023

The Who – I Can’t Explain

It’s true that I’ve been dealing with joint and muscle pains that make it hard to write, but that’s not the real reason I haven’t posted much over the last few weeks.

Truth is, I’ve been constipated. Mentally constipated.

I’ve been trying to express some complicated thoughts that are just not coming together. As a matter of fact I have been writing. I just haven’t been finishing. I get two thirds of the way through a post and realize I’m stuck.

There is a general theme: What to keep, what to discard? I come from the country. I had a connection to the land once. I shared the religion and politics of the people in rural Texas and the broader South. Today, I very much do not.

I’m educated, progressive, “cultured.” I live in the city. I thought I had left it all behind. But something in me doesn’t let me forget. I think of old songs and get a lump in my throat. I dream of the hills, the wildlife, the cattle. The stories I was told. I remember Trivial Pursuit with my favorite preacher. I remember the old farmers and their wives’ casseroles.

How to explain to the people I identify with most today why I still care about those people? People whose politics threaten their very existence? Those who are being targeted by reactionary politics have every right to be angry.

I just can’t help thinking it would be a mistake to let it all go. That culture made me who I am. There has to be something of value. Some wisdom that can be extracted.

I’m still mildly constipated, but deep down I’m still working on the problem. Those thoughts want out. It’ll happen sooner or later.
Fame’s glittery trap

March 22nd, 2023

I bet many famous people would agree with that statement. You’re surrounded by masses of people who “love” you.

At the same time, you’re isolated from them. It must feel like a curse at times.

David Bowie – Fame

If a fickle public turns on you, it will try to wreck your confidence and your life. Enemies new and old. Die-hard fans defending you in all the wrong ways. Stalkers who want to do a John Lennon on you.

You couldn’t pay me enough.

Internet famous looks even more horrifying, because it can happen so fast. I don’t envy it and I feel sympathy for those it happens to, even the “bad” ones. If you seek it and it happens, you’re the dog that caught the car. Like old school famous with extra death threats.

Being young on today’s Internet would’ve broken my brain. Being “known in town” was hard enough.

First and hopefully last paparazzi photo.

Creators at any age who handle viral fame with grace and integrity impress the hell out of me.

How hard it must be, competitors hoping to take you down at any moment, getting imprisoned by your own fan club who will punish you if you slip up or change.

It’s why I both admire and feel bad for today’s youth. They are so adaptable – I can barely stay on my surfboard anymore. But the anxiety must be crushing.

My wish for the young is that they receive what they’re really looking for, to find meaningful connections and be understood.
Sing while you may

March 21st, 2023

The Legendary Pink Dots – Zero Zero.

We’re all like the people in that song if we’re honest. Human beings have been searching for answers for as long as we’ve been on earth. Sad, but beautiful.

That’s why I love The Legendary Pink Dots’ motto, “Sing While You May.” However ugly life may seem, there’s always something beautiful in it. Usually the part that’s most human.

My wife, finding her joy at the karaoke bar.

I’ve concluded that, conscious or not, existential dread is at the heart of all extremism. In fact, maybe it’s the basis for all human behavior. Adult behavior at any rate.

No one knows what it all means or what comes next, whatever they may tell you. If they seem very certain, they’re probably trying to convince themselves.

Arguments usually amount to, “I am important, you are worthless” and “I know you are, but what am I?”

No one has the answer to “what am I?” We breeze right past it. But it’s always there in the background.

Scrape the paint off a violent extremist and you will find a person who feels worthless to the core.

Someone who can think of no other way to stave off fear of the void than to push that feeling onto others.

What could give you meaning, when the tools you’ve been offered turned out to be worthless or forever out of reach?

What do you have left? You’re alive.

So sing. Whatever that means to you. Sing while you may.

Me, doing Pink Floyd at Karaoke. No idea who the girl was, but she had a lot of fun.

Earth Wind and Fire – Sing a Song