Tomorrows wonders today .......

There are many ancient beliefs and superstitions that ancient civilizations had we consider comical today. These beliefs have been “revealed” to be natural or scientific phenomenon, but many years ago their exact cause was misunderstood. One such belief was that most maritime disasters today are caused by navigation errors or weather phenomena. In early times, most maritime disasters involving lost ships and crew were the result of sea monster attacks. Ancient mariners believed that if you wandered too far away from the shore your ship could run afoul of large creatures, which would consume it and your crew mates. Another common one involves people today who are left-handed. Today, we know that your left or right-handedness is not a comment on your personality. In some Christian societies people who wrote with their left hand instead of the right hand were possessed by the devil. In Puritan New England parents would often strap their children’s left hand across their chest to prevent them from using their “bad hand” if they exhibited tendencies. Because being possessed was such a dangerous thing in the New England colonies, many people would even whip their children to prevent them from using their left hand.  Another superstition from back in history involves the weather. Today we know that natural disasters are caused by weather and tectonic factors causing natural disasters. In ancient times the commonly held belief was that natural disasters, such as famine, earthquakes or hurricanes were the gods showing their displeasure over people’s behaviors. Many civilizations across the world shared this belief and incorporated it into their religion, such as the Greeks, Native Americans, and Ancient African cultures.   

Today, we have a couple of beliefs that will probably sound ridiculous in 100 years time. One might be the belief that there are inherent differences between people of different tribes or races.  We're already losing this one to some degree.  Another might be that homosexuality is in some way evil or immoral.  I suppose it is possible that one day people will also think we were silly for thinking that men and women are inherently different in terms of mental capacity or emotional natures.  If history is any indicator, understanding of medicine and science should advance to a point to where our technology and treatments would seem extremely elementary.  We are unable to cure or effectively treat a multitude of diseases, and if those can be cured in the future I am certain our methods would seem childish. . Ideas of nations barely existed 400 years ago and there is every chance that people will wonder why we felt so strongly about a nation that some people were willing to die for it.

Looking back is a good model for trying to figure the things in our current culture which will be looked at in the same way by future generations. Figure out what once seemed reasonable but now seems rather outlandish and for predicting. What do I think will sound silly in years to come…….

1. That television and iPhones could have been so addictive that people spent the better part of their days mesmerized by them.
2. That we allowed the oil industry to control the world's financial structure.
3. That sports figures became the dominant "heroes" of society (except Arsenal Football Club heroes whose names will stand the test of time).

4.      That entertainment was considered as a passive activity that people sat and had done to them. Reality television and the idea that we can be entertained by artificial competitions in a variety of increasingly outrageous settings and challenges is going to make us look foolish and puerile.

5.      That one gender is somehow inferior to the other.

6.      That people could totally neglect the health of their bodies and then expects others, known as doctors, to fix all they damage they had done to themselves with that neglect.

7.      That what was reported to them through the news media was taken for truth

8.      That entertainment was glorified as of paramount importance and fame was worshiped.

9.      That beauty was mistaken for goodness

That's a short list, am sure you got a couple of genius ideas you'd throw in..... feel free to.

Spin, Run and Choose

“This is why we shouldn't be afraid There are two possibilities: One is that there's more to life than the physical life, that our souls "will find an even higher place to dwell" when this life is over. If that's true, there's no reason to fear failure or death. The other possibility is that this life is all there is. And if that's true, then we have to really live it - we have to take it for everything it has and "die enormous" instead of "living dormant," as I said way

back on "Can I Live." Either way, fear is a waste of time.”

― Jay-Z, Decoded

I guess he was right in a way, but on the flip side, how broad are our choices? We are thrown choices where we are not in a position to choose right with certainty and the risks spread to the extremes of our fears. Whatever the consequence of our choice will be, if the opposite turns true, we are most definitely screwed as the punishment falls either on living a completely stale and boring life wasted on patiently waiting on an unknown bliss or an eternity of unprecedented agony albeit in the afterlife. And it gets worse, we live in a community who tend to judge us depending on the choices that we make, a society with absolute truths, a society that does not understand why our truths vary from theirs but they expect us to understand their truth.....PAUSE....

When I was growing up, I knew of a few truths, absolutes if you may which reigned supreme regardless of how wrong they would turn out to be. That was before they opened the gates of Hades, dragged my soul away, and told me I shouldn’t walk this way.Take music for instance, and the difference in association today and a couple of years ago. Rock for instance was considered Satanic, still is in some quarters, hip hop as a messenger for all that's wrong (probably because it's provocative) until we found out it's us who were listening to the music wrong. We were listening to music the same way we read books, or perceive art, the way society deems right. We've been molded to take a particular path and designing ourselves, creating our identity which in my opinion should be our goal on life is hindered. Identity is an absolute truth. It is sometimes conflicted, bigoted, stereotyping but all in all, it's probably the only absolute truth. We may try to run from it, remould it to suit the circumstances that be, but it's core values, it's needs, it's principals remain. With this in mind, re-examining our truths. We think the way society expects us to and crazy ain't too far a dogma if your path is considered against the grain. We don't pause, what if the societal truth is wrong?

.....PRESS PLAY. With truth relative, what are we supposed to run with? My truth is fire excites me. I sometimes, for no apparent reason strike a match and watch the flame glow, grow, steady and slowly die. It tells the story of my life, our lives, but I don't know much about yours, thus this might be or might not be your truth. My truth is I want to spin, and then run.

I want to spin because I want to see the world distorted, listen to the music broken, an alternate world where nothing is as it seems. I want to see God the unconventional way, see power as a different tool, women as beautiful, nature as Gods' creation. I want to experience the peace in belief. I want to trust easy and love slow. I want a better view of the world, delusional or not.

I want to run. I want to run and experience everything good in the world. I try to live right, I try to make choices that add value to my life and although going with the flow gives you a softer landing, the rewards fall on average. Although every man believes that his decisions and resolutions involve the most multifarious factors, in reality they are mere oscillation between flight and longing. The end result of your life here on earth will always be the sum total of the choices you made while you were here.

And then the big question, having a devil on one shoulder and

an angel on the other, how to live my life, where to live my hell, how to walk facing forward with nary a crick in my neck from looking back at the crossroads, and most importantly, how to live without been afraid........