Oprah and the End of the World

About Oprah: I’m not much of a fan, really. The way she never lets her guests finish what they’re saying always puzzles me, and her work, in my opinion, is simply not appealing. Nevertheless: congratulations for what you’ve accomplished, Ms Oprah. 

About the End of the World: even if humans would engage in a nuclear war (God forbid), would the globe end? 

I am not sure it would and, plus, making such assumptions would be bestowing too much power upon humans; a power they do not hold. 

God created the world, and everything in it, therefore it can be assumed that the intent behind creation is to have a stage where souls incarnate their characters and play their assigned roles. These can be translated into either constructive or destructive behaviour, however they do not hold the ultimate destructive capacity to obliterate the world at will. The world’s creation is a further expression of God’s Omnipotence and not a sheer expression of human lack of power. 

For something to end, there must be a beginning: true. Humans begin life at birth and end it at demise. The world began at creation and it would logically end at destruction. 

We instinctively acknowledge the rotating cycle of life by the use of the Present Tense (“humans begin and end life/life begins and ends...”) whereas when we speak of the world we instinctively acknowledge continuity (if not infinity) by referring to its creation in the Past Tense and its end in the Conditional (denoting, therefore, uncertainty or doubt).

Will the world ever come to an end? Some people say it will; others say it won’t...but the truth is: it is pointless to think about and debate the theme; it is a waste of energy to generate collective hysteria over it because only the Creator Knows. 

Until He decides what to do with our majestic stage, just breathe and live your life as you may. 

For a more apocalyptic vision, please visit the Blade: Here.

If you had 24 hours to live...

Tobias Healing the Blindness of His Father by Gioachino Assereto

This week a classical question will be addressed: 

“If you had 24 hours to live, what would you do?”

I

If someone would reveal that I only have one day left to live, I imagine my first reaction (even if for one second) would be to panic. 

My second response would probably be to think about all the things I didn’t do, didn’t say; all the things I didn’t have the opportunity to acquire; all the places I didn’t have the chance to visit etc. My third reaction would possibly be to ask myself whether I had accomplished all that I had been sent for (either conscious or unconsciously). 

Either way, the instinctive response (of a normal individual) would be to ask oneself complex questions, whose answers would take time to reproduce and the clock is ticking...

II

If a person would prophesy that I only have 1440 minutes left to breathe, I imagine that my first reaction (even if for one quick second) would be to panic. Then I would breath in and out three times (subtracting, thus, the minutes left to Be) and begin to think. My second response would probably be to recall all the things left undone, said and clarified; all the mistakes I didn’t have the opportunity to correct; all the butts I didn’t have time to kick; all the places I didn’t have the chance to visit etc. 

My third reaction would possibly be to consciously ask myself whether I had fulfilled my mission on earth. 

Either way, the instinctive response (of a complex being) would be to observe one's attitude during its entire existence; quietly judge and condemn oneself while waiting for Death to collect its Soul.

III

If a human being would vaticinate that I only have 86,400 seconds to live, I imagine that my first reaction would be to panic. 

My second response would be to quickly rewind all my life and remember all the things I didn’t do or say; the people I loved; the time I wasted; the things I didn’t buy and the places I didn’t go to, only to reach the conclusion that I lack time to regret whatsoever: there’s a lot to be done. 

In my quest to live to the utmost for the remaining seconds I begin shooting my own foot: I heartlessly tell the truth to people (after all who cares? I will die anyway); I set in motion little unreasonable vendette (while convincing myself that it is not revenge: it is only the result of action-reaction); I waste all my money on meaningless things (I earned it, so why take it to the grave?); I negatively surprise those who love me by being so ominous, so contemptuous, so dreadful. 

The clock ticks...the Scythe cuts me off, and my loved ones won’t remember all the good things about me, only the bad...

My three answers reflect the complexity behind many Humans Beings...but I am much more interested in what your answer to “If you had 24 hours to live, what would you do?” is.

To Isolate and Alienate

The Corpses of the De Witt Brothers by Jan de Baen

Isolation is a technique used to re-shape the mind, the thought and the deportment of a human being.

 

It is general knowledge that the environment surrounding an individual affects his mindset, it moulds the way he thinks and it influences his conduct; therefore the best way to alter what was perceived as his original settings is to isolate him from his loved ones, friends and acquaintances; subject him to certain conditions (usually unpleasant ones); watch him change his behaviour bit by bit; monitor him as he slowly loses his mind (or appear to do so, at least) and then right before he yields to lunacy, the controller (or any appointed authority figure) will place him in a sieve where the flour of his being will be sifted and result into a refined product (separated from any coarse particles). 

This is true in prisons – when an inmate misbehaves he is retrieved from the general public and thrown into the solitary in order to change his demeanour.

This is also real in military recruitment – soldiers are placed in bases (outside their normal environment) and subjected to harsh conditions to be moulded at the image of the military. 

Another example of isolation is the Secret Services Recruitment Process – once they target a subject, recruit him and invest time & resources on him, isolation is not only a method used to re-shape the element’s mind, thought process and behaviour, but also a stress test to see at what point the subject breaks (if he breaks at all). 

A more common example is rehab centres – addicts must be isolated from their natural environment in order to get clean and gain new habits (at least in theory). 

Alienation is said to follow isolation. The subject withdraws himself from himself, from his behavioural patterns and becomes indifferent.

This indifference means not apathy. It rather signifies a metamorphosis: the individual optimises his mental capabilities to the point of becoming water. 

What once seemed to be, no longer is. What once seemed to be important, no longer does. Being water was the ultimate goal, being water is the current element. 

“Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless–like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash! Be water, my friend.” (Bruce Lee)

To Isolate & Alienate is a very interesting morphing method; however the challenge is to know exactly when to stop applying it on a given individual (specially when he defies the norm; becoming, thus a challenge to keep on pushing); to acknowledge that some individuals do not have a breaking-point and to fetch ways of how to use someone with such characteristics.

Isolation can be applied to several fields, but there is no certainty that the outcome will be translated into a positive metamorphosis (i.e. becoming water) in all of them. 

Forgiving 70x7

Puerta del Perdón (Door of Forgiveness, in Colegiate de San Isidoro, León)

Forgiveness is a virtue. However, if we follow Jesus’ advice and forgive others 70x7...how long must we keep on forgiving before we lose our sense of dignity, our pride and mind? 

Example A

A husband is cheated by his wife and he forgives her. She, then, cheats again...and again he forgives her. Let’s say that she cheats on him 70x7; I doubt it that this understanding and patient man will forgive his spouse 70x7, for his pride will have been pierced by the first time she does it, his trust on her will never be restored by the second time she transgresses, his dignity will be forever wounded and humiliation will breach the walls of his being as she cheats her relationship away. 

Example B

A child is rude and his parents forgive him. Then the child begins to slap his mother; once again he is forgiven. The kid, now, starts to viciously kill birds and cats...parents overlook it for after all it is only a phase. The adolescent harms kids around the neighbourhood for fun; parents don’t question themselves because their child is not a hooligan. Their son is caught by the police and his parents forgive him once again because Christ says they are to forgive 70x7. 

Could forgiving 70x7 be some sort of denial or fear of confronting the stark reality?

Example C

A woman has a best friend who keeps misleading and failing on her. This woman always finds a plausible explanation for her friend’s behaviour and forgives him 70x7 for each backstabbing. Time goes by and forgiving 70x7 doesn’t seem so intelligent, so ethical, so patient and virtuous any longer: in fact, doing so begins to seem a sign of weakness, a sign of fear to confront the truth, a sign of dread of dismissing a familiar behavioural pattern.

So, what is the point of understanding and forgiving 70x7? What will be the end result of understanding, accepting and pardoning 70x7? 

Knowing people: bitterness, resentment, madness and drastic measures.

Forgiving is good, in fact, it is admirable; but forgiving 70x7 is to be comfortable in the uncomfortable, it is annulling oneself, it is numbing its own nature, it is avoiding to face the music and it is dodging real change.