13Sep
a few years ago on the recommendation of a friend i picked up tom wolfe’s “the electric koolaid acid test” a fantastic/trippy account of ken kesey and the merry pranksters and their fantastic journey across 1964 America in a ‘39 day-glo painted international harvester bus. their use of hallucinogenic drugs, crazy attire, bizarre street theatre, and musical stylings inspired much of the hippie aesthetic that exploded in the late 60’s. kesey’s ultimate goal was to break through conformist thought and forge a reconfiguration of American society.
though their story did not inspire me to go out and injest any hallucinogens, it did start me down the path toward forging my own “on the bus” philosophy. to embrace my individuality, make a conscious decision to live happy, and work in my own way to reconfigure society.
some days being “on the bus” is a lot easier than others.
still, in the pursuit of an “on the bus” lifestyle i’ve learned a lot about who i am, who i want to become, and how i want to interact with people. i’ve discovered that we tend to rely on circumstances to generate our happiness. relationships, jobs, finances, etc. the problem is that all of these things are more out of our control than we’ll ever admit. that lack of control, and our desire for control, creates stress, robs us of our joy, and gives our circumstances power over our us. i’ve found that refocusing the energy i spent trying to control those external things inward on my own feelings allows me to hang on to my happiness. though i can’t control my circumstances, i can control how i react to those circumstances. when my joy springs first-and-foremost from inside of me, that joy cannot be stolen!
so i’m getting on the bus and going on a crazy adventure… there’s plenty of room for you to join me and we’ll take turns driving… make the conscious decision to live happy!
click for more info on kesey and the merry pranksters.
Tags: bus, drew laplante, joy, ken kesey, live happy, musing, on the bus, philosophy
07Sep
it’s interesting how you carry certain aspects of your childhood into adulthood. i’m a bit of a geek(i’m currently teaching myself to write basic php and javascript)–i used to be even more of one: i don’t think i wore a pair of jeans until high school. slacks, vests, button-down shirts, clip-on ties, glasses, braces, hair parted down the middle (i should find some pictures!); honors classes, academic decathlon, post-secondary option, phi beta kappa: that was me. though for some reason i never fell fully into the geek clique. i guess that partially had to do with the fact that i wasn’t a total introvert and that i still participated in sports. but probably more to do with the realization even then that cliques were just plain stupid. i ate lunch with the geeks, the burners, the popular girls, etc, and then the three or four other kids like me who never fit squarely into a stereotype.
last night was a bit of an eye-opener for me. i realized how much i still despise cliques as it became unfortunately clear how clique-y the cincinnati scene is. i went out with a couple of the “cool girls” and they totally rocked. great conversation, good energy, lots of laughs. still, the undercurrent of drama saturated the upscale bar and was with our crew the whole time. trivial text messages become major crises. abusive relationships tolerated in the name of “love”. stories of spite and revenge. and i’m thinking: you’re beautiful! you’re smart! you’re economically viable! transcend this clique-mindset and base drama and do something really amazing! interact with people on a deeper level! find a soul mate and not someone that enjoys pissing you off! you have the world at your fingertips and you’re worried about a text message?!
we need to be the next evolutionary step–a step forward–a step toward greater respect and civility. we need to get to know ourselves and be ourselves, and drop the facade and posturing and the fear and insecurity behind it. we need to open up to a more honest and consistent discourse on what it means to be a sentient being and part of a family, a community, a country, a belief system, humanity. we need to pursue wisdom, peace, and contentment rather than stuff, power, and status. we need to connect to all of humanity rather than just the narrow slice we see daily. we need to work to raise humanity up as a whole so that everyone has an opportunity to contribute.
it starts easy enough: make a consistent effort to be good to one another…
Tags: civility, cliques, drew laplante, geek, humanity, musing
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