Life The Road Not Taken

LIFE, THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

Every road before you means there is one behind….. It is fear and regret that keep us rooted to one spot and we miss much of life standing there watching the world pass by.

The passage above i excerpted from a mediocre  freebie coming of age fantasy enovel which should remain nameless. It is perhaps the only gem in the 170 or so pages. I bring this all up because of a conversation Mungo and i had with a young man who is the most recent intern at my old art coop. We were in town the other day to collect our mail and drop things off to our storage unit and get things. (see Floating Empire the Sequel) Anyhow…. As we were describing our adventures and lives to date intern X made a statement that went like this:  "Maybe i should just skip the career segment….."

Although skipping the career segment of your life would not in the past been a path i would advocate i currently see some glimmer of wisdom in doing so.

We (human society) appear to have a blind date with greed and her big brother environmental disaster. I am not the first person to recognize our infatuation with the dance of death that comes to us robed in the back tie elegance of unrestrained corporate, capitalist greed.

Stepping off the edge of the cliff - like the Fool of the major arcana - takes a great  deal of courage; courage that we in this society to not recognize or approve of. Our culture starts our conditioning at a very early age. We are taught to not take chances (at least where it is important) …taught to conform, taught to want the 3000 square foot McMansion and all of its inherent cultural goodies and obligations. We are taught to upgrade to the next, newest, best and brightest car, phone, TV, and a myriad of other semi-disposable consumer goods. And what do we get? Debt, spread out between a variety of international, offshore financial institutions. We voluntarily enslave ourselves through the medium of financial instruments. We spend years servicing a debt load that appears to have no end in sight. Every time we hold out that credit card, sign on the dotted line  we sell a little more of our souls. Most of us start this cycle with our education debt. We become the property of our corporate masters. We are not living well.

The Fool is not unaware as he steps off the cliff. He is not taking a blind leap of faith. At least not always. The Fool starting out on his journey with only what he can carry easily, accompanied by his faithful companion is starting a new journey, making up a new lifestyle, learning as he goes how to live. Learning how to live well without all the trappings he's been led to believe he needs and wants. Live simply, live well. Well maybe intern X should skip the….

More later,

Morgainne