Do you ever get that feeling that you're behind? Everyone is better dressed than you, knows more about technology or art or whatever. Everyone has already heard the joke or the news bit before you.
Well, if you feel this way maybe you're just as insecure as I am. Or maybe I'm not insecure. Maybe the reason why I don't have the newest cell phone or the coolest ipod is because I don't feel like I NEED those things with the urgency that others do (or it could be because I just don't have the cash to blow). I often wonder just how much people genuinely want the things they buy or accomplish in and of themselves verses wanting them merely to show having them, to flaunt them. Folks sure get a lot of satisfaction out of flaunting, and that's not entirely bad.
For example, I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to look good and have others notice. That is a primordial desire. We exist to reproduce, so why not aim to compete to attract attention, hence a mate, or money and success which is really just about sex anyway? Or power. Power and sex. People want them both. In great supply.
However, looking good is one thing. Donning a purse that proves first your ability to drop five grand on a bit of leather and hardware and second your impeccable taste is not just about sex. It is a little bit about sex, but it is more about status. Again here we come back to power. It really does seem that sex and power are the common denominators of our existence. And to think some folks feel so insulted by evolution because it places them too closely to mere animals.
Indeed I could sit here and cluck my tongue at all the outrageous foolishness in the world around me. However, I'm not so stupid that I don't realize I'm part of it, and it is the way things are. I suppose that's why religion has such a great appeal for some (that is, when it's not being used to wield power or prey on little boys or grab good ol' cash like in the old days). I'm talking about the truly devout here. The genuine saints, monks, nuns, the yogis, or just the truly good, spiritual people out there that have rare, not-so-corrupted ways of thinking. You know who I'm talking about. That is a direction that leads away from obsession with sex and power. It's heartening to think that there are folks out there that want to be led away from those things. It almost makes you want to go to church, or to an ashram (though that's way too trendy, IMO).
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