Category: Philosophy

  • The virtual reality of life

    There is no line between virtuality and reality. Any line that you thought existed was simply a deception of your own mind. Online platforms give us the ability to escape our real lives under the guise of anonymity to the point where we identify ourselves as a url and assume that that is sufficient to justify our deceptive nature.

    Living a lie, be it online or in real life, is still living a lie. At no point is it acceptable to live by differing standards of morality because doing so lays the foundation of insincerity that will contaminate the flesh and blood relationships that you have. It feeds the same morbid self-indulgence that drives us to deceive those we’ve allowed into our personal space. If your online profile is vastly different from your real life behaviour, you’re fooling someone, and in all likelihood, that someone may very well be yourself included.

    People that are trusting are dismissed as gullible, while people that are insincere are accepted as normal. This is truly a case of us focusing so closely on the form that we miss the essence of what we’re doing. Escapism is entirely possible without misleading others. It’s easy to cry victim when we’ve been misled, but almost impossible to see our own deception for what it is simply because we’re looking to defend our actions and explain the context rather than appreciating that hiding behind masks is as detrimental online as it is in real life. 

    If you still believe that it is justifiable to hide behind masks online, then be clear about one simple truth that seems to elude many. Sincerity dictates that you are always clear about what is fictional about you and what is real. Whether this is online or not. Sincerity doesn’t come with qualifiers or disclaimers, nor does honesty. Any actions that I have recently defended or objected to online I will do so again, despite growing evidence that I may have been wrong. 

    In a world of spin doctors and politicians, and masses that despise them but aspire to operate like them, I choose to be the naive idiot that sits with egg on his face because others were more adept at seeing the reality of deception rather than trusting others the way they yearn to be trusted. For every single time that I assume the worst or treat with unfounded suspicion the actions of others, I warrant, justify, and invite the same for myself. 

    I may be cynically jaded about life, and entirely sceptical about people, but I will never use my life’s struggles to justify the blatant manipulation of others under the context of “they should’ve known better cos everyone else does it as well.” Regardless of how accurate or inaccurate my observations may be of others, who I am relative to how I live will always remain a constant, either on equal footing that leads to wholesomeness of purpose, or on unequal footing that will lead to chaos in my soul. 

  • There are times when the cowardly vagueness of some really threatens to unsettle me, but I quickly restrain myself with the knowledge that those that play for an audience will rarely engage in private. I believe that the true measure of our character is not determined by how we engage with others, but rather what thoughts and actions we entertain when we find ourselves alone, without an audience to appease. Everything else is a show, or an act, or both. Sometimes deliberately, but most times not. When we’re surrounded by others, no matter how intimately they may know us, there is always a barrier between who we are, and who we want them to believe we are. This is simply the innate nature of the human spirit that seeks to protect itself before it expresses itself. Accepting this truth allows me to master that which deludes others, while denying it allows me to delude myself whilst others achieve mastery over me.

  • Ignoring a fool is not indifference, it’s wisdom.

    Zaid Ismail

  • Man has never created anything. We’ve only manipulated what we have in order to arrive at new configurations of what already exists, regardless of how complex the manipulation may be, it will always be nothing more than that. A manipulation of what exists.

    Excerpt from a previous post on Destiny

    Serves as a good reminder for me whenever I feel pompous about my achievements in life.

  • The best of kings are at the doors of scholars, and the worst of scholars are at the doors of kings.

  • I am an anomaly

    I am anomalous by design

    But fragile by nature

    Harsh to the touch

    But soft to the embrace

    Gentle to the meek

    But arrogant to the fake

    I am disdainfully naive

    But endearingly innocent

    Absent when wanting

    But ever present when needed

    I am anomalous

    I am me

  • Fate and Free Will

    I often see posts of people questioning why the Almighty does not answer their prayers. Then there are atheists that believe that if God existed, we would not have so much evil and cruelty in this world because a benevolent god would never allow that to happen. All that this proves is that we have a power of choice and reason that we are able to apply in our lives to inform our choices, because it is this same power of choice and reason informed by our intellect that confirms that we are free thinking beings. By extension, this confirms the indisputable fact that we have a limited free will. Limited because anyone that has lived a single day of conscious being knows that we cannot control everything around us, hence our need to determine the difference between that which we can change, and that which we can’t. So we pursue the acquisition of wisdom that would help us identify the difference. At least that’s what we should be doing if we’re self-aware.

    Bearing the above in mind, why then would it be reasonable to expect the Almighty’s intervention in every unsavoury experience of our lives where we may lack the courage or resources to set aright that which is wrong? Are not the bad choices of some the test of character of others? Or do we believe that everyone should be good and wholesome and no one should slight anyone else, because then we’ll finally have peace on earth and all will be right with the world? But then, again, I ask you, what would be the purpose of our existence? 

    If not to exercise our power of reason and choice towards acquiring good in our lives, then what? If there was no bad, what would we need to strive for? Something that I’ve been more aware of recently is that anything bad requires no restraint at all. If you want to damage, destroy or eliminate something, it’s not restraint that is needed, but in fact a healthy dose of indulgence. But anything good that we wish to achieve or acquire requires restraint in ways that we rarely imagine when committing to a noble goal. 

    So it seems that sitting back and feeling like a victim waiting for the world to treat you right is a fool’s endeavour that will never come to pass. We need to be conscious in our efforts to oppress the oppressors. If not, if we cower in the face of a challenge and believe that we’re not worthy, we lose any right to claim fulfilment in a life fraught with suffering and challenges. Evil is not an incarnation of its own. It simply manifests itself in the absence of good. Therefore, it’s not evil that exists, but rather good that ceases to. And given that effort is required to uphold good, there can be no overcoming of evil unless we apply ourselves to a course that is destined to realise that which we seek in our own lives. 

  • Man has never created anything. We’ve only manipulated what we have in order to arrive at new configurations of what already exists, regardless of how complex the manipulation may be, it will always be nothing more than that. A manipulation of what exists.

    Destiny