Note: This is a pretty raw version of a ‘manifesto’ I wrote this past week. There’s a lot of talk out there about manifestos…and I think the meaning and purpose can possibly be misconstrued. Because of that, I wanted to write this brief forward before posting my manifesto.
This is really more of a short essay. It comes from a raw and unedited place within. When I wrote it, it wasn’t really about over-thinking things. I just wanted to write down my thoughts about life and things that I’ve been contemplating for a long, long time. As with anything, a manifesto doesn’t have to be set in stone – it can evolve, and this may evolve as I evolve. Having said that, there are some underlying core values that I have that are expressed in this essay. Among them are: freedom, peace, happiness and empathy.
With that, here is is…….
So often life is lived in a box. A box of fear, worries, stress, anxiety and doubts. It’s the result of a false sense of self that’s been built up for years and years. This false sense of self prevents us from living the life we are truly meant to live. We’re conditioned by society and the outside world to do certain things and be a certain person. In school we are rewarded in a merit based system of grades. If we get bad grades or aren’t a success in school an emphasis is placed on fixing things. It’s from that point that we develop this delusion that something is wrong with us. That something needs to be fixed.
Some get by and their natural strengths shine through and are nurtured, but for the large majority of people, this is not the case, myself included. For the masses, focus is placed on outward success as defined by society. Get good grades, go to college, study courses that will allow you to get a good paying job and then get that job. It’s not about anything being wrong with school….that’s far from the case. It’s about people not learning how to look within and not just nurture natural strengths and gifts, but also learn to just be….to just appreciate the wonderful gift of life that we have. To learn how to smell the roses not only figuratively, but quite literally. There’s always a rush to get to the next place, finish the next goal, climb the next mountain. We’re led to believe that at some point we’ll reach this mountain top where we shout ‘yes! this is what I was waiting for…NOW I’m happy!’ The thing is, deep down in the recesses of our being, in our soul, we know this is not how life works – I KNOW this is not how life works. On my deathbed, I’m not going to be the thinking about any of the businesses I started, the money I made, the deals I closed or the material luxuries I acquired.
It’s going to be the moments.
And in order to appreciate the moments we have to learn to live in the moment because that’s where life happens. It’s the beautiful sunset I see while sitting on my deck that jolts me awake and makes me feel alive. It’s the loving care I receive from my wife when I’m sick. It’s the stopping of what I’m doing in order to help someone who I see needs help. It’s the salty smell of the ocean on a misty morning or that indescribable beauty and silence of a gentle snow fall on a cold, winter day. It’s having a cup of coffee and good conversation with a friend or enjoying a wonderful meal with my family. It’s seeing that human-like smile and unconditional love from my dog as I walk through the door. This is what life is about. It’s in the moments.
Although it seems quite simple, it’s not. We’re so often pre-occupied with what’s going on in our mind that we can’t truly appreciate the life we have. There’s a focus on constant improvement and fixing ourselves. We think that by manipulating the outside world and outside events we will gain peace of mind. The truth is we already have peace of mind. We were never without it. We’re already perfect as we are, right here, right now. How could we be anything else? The fact that we don’t believe this is the ultimate delusion that leads to much of the suffering and constant struggle and striving we see in our culture.
Can you imagine what the world would be like if we all realized this and made the necessary orthogonal shift in perspective and view to see the world in this way? A world where instead of scarcity and competition dominating, abundance would rule. A world where political parties and boundaries cease to exist. A world where peace and empathy rule instead of fear, closed-minded thinking and an ‘us against them’ mentality. Some may think this is some strange Utopian view, but it isn’t. The reality of living in a world with this starts right here, right now with you…with me..with us. If not us, if not right now then who and when?
It starts with beginning to live more mindfully. This means waking up to our life as so many of us are sleepwalking through it. A greater emphasis needs to be placed on teaching others how to focus within. We tend to our homes, careers, family, physical body, but do we know how to tend to our mind? Do we know how to just stop and be? Once we learn this way of being…once we see the truth of our innate wholeness and goodness we can live it in our everyday lives. In the way we talk to people, in the way we work, in the way we see the world, our family, our friends and our environment. From that point we truly can change the world. From that point we are unstoppable. That’s what I want to see. That’s how I want to live. That’s my manifesto.
I’m Nate, a writer, mindfulness practitioner and student of the inner workings of the mind.
This is a great draft, Nate! It touches so many points I find myself thinking about these days, and I’m really happy to see other people caring about this!
Let’s just think of this whole micropreneur and personal development world: There is nothing wrong with building a business and improving yourself, but sometimes, I get the impression that it is being taken to infinity, without never reaching a situation that the people are happy about. What’s the point of making more and more money, or of improving yourself, if there’s no self-contained goal to it? One day you will die, and you still won’t have made all the money in the world or have transformed to a godlike person…
One thing I found myself wondering about was your delcaration that there was nothing wrong with school. While I agree that there’s nothing wrong with learning and having an educational system of some sort, I think there is indeed something wrong with the schools we have, as they never seem to touch these issues. Would you disagree?
Fabian | The Friendly Anarchist´s last [type] ..The UnProductive Night Owl- An Experiment
Fabian – good to hear from you! I’ve been a bit quiet lately. Not necessarily on the blog…but more on other blogs.
So, yeah, the school thing. I didn’t want to go into a tangent but what I mean is this:
School at a broad, super high-level view is a place and a platform for learning and growth. So, in that sense, there’s nothing inherently wrong with school…and here I’m really equating school with learning. The problem is what I just touch the surface on in the above essay. It’s the merit based system. It’s the focus on some subjects rather than others…but at the lowest level, especially for youngsters starting school it’s really the merit based system. So you get this whole grade based system. That may not even necessarily be bad…but what I don’t like is that there’s a focus on certain subjects and that when a child is bad in a subject there’s an emphasis on fixing it. The answer could be more that they are not naturally gifted at that. So, instead, why not focus on individual strengths? Why not focus on nurturing what kids are naturally gifted at and letting them explore those subjects. I think there may be some very progressive schools that do this….but as far as mass public education goes, it’s not the case. Also, there’s the whole conformity subject, but I’ll leave that out for another time
You’re right of course, it’s a complicated and multifaceted subject. In Germany, Waldorf schools (without marks) are (kind of) popular, but when it comes to getting your degree to enter university, you still have to do all the exams and get your marks… Not easy to solve this on a policy level, either.
I think what would help a lot is giving pupils moreoptions for choice, and also teaching them what it means to make decisions…
Fabian | The Friendly Anarchist´s last [type] ..The UnProductive Night Owl- An Experiment
Hey buddy…
I think – or maybe it’s just hope – that this manifesto, and others like it from around the web, are the 1st signs of weakness in that wall that stands between here and there. Between where we are and what we can imagine. I have this tendency to go from truly motivated and passionate about living that life you describe, to what I guess you’d call despair. Disbelieving that we can ever get to that ideal, evolve to that place.
But as we write our individual manifestos, maybe they’re unwittingly creating the momentum necessary to break that wall down, helping us move ever so slowly – almost imperceptibly – to the other side.
Hi Jeb – very good to hear from you!
I was at a meditation retreat this past weekend and someone brought up the question of all the turmoil in the world..suffering, anger, arguing, fear, etc. and how we’re supposed to relate to that. I think the key is to really start with ourselves. In the way we act. In the way we help others. In the way that we stay mindful and present. Doing that slowly opens up compassion and wisdom within. However, I think too often we push that aside. You know, someone else will do it, so I don’t have to worry about that. Or we get in this ‘ignorance is bliss’ kind of state and just sort of passively go through our lives. So, yeah, it definitely needs to start right here with us.
The process of writing this essay…or manifesto…for me, at least, was to get some of these thoughts down on paper. To really verbalize how I feel and to remind myself of how I want to live my life.
I hope you’re doing well!
I can really relate to the desire to live more fully in the present moment and to experience each moment mindfully and with each of our senses.
This week I’ve been trying to change the way I shower each morning. I’ve been experimenting with using this time be fully present and to really experience the shower. I want to work on training my mind in this way instead of letting it go off on its own tangent all the time.
Thanks for sharing this, it’s given me some great material to ponder futher
Mirella´s last [type] ..Is Your Life Your Own
Mirella – that is an awesome exercise and one that I was actually going to write about (actually, I may have mentioned that in another post already…I forget
. So, yeah, that’s great! While I think meditation and sitting is extremely important, it’s not about shutting out the outside world. Doing that actually helps us better relate and open up to the world. It helps us learn to be more present in everyday situations, such as when we’re taking a shower and we’re thinking about work, or whatever the heck it is, we can notice that and just return to the pleasant feeling of the water, the smell of the soap, etc.
[...] Over the last year to year and a half I have been doing a lot of work on this, one of the results being this blog. Writing here has been a way for me to better organize and really explore what it is I’m interested in and think I can help people with. Two major themes have crystallized in much of the writing I have done: work and mindfulness. Much of this came through in the recent manifesto I wrote here. [...]
“… that indescribable beauty and silence of a gentle snow fall on a cold, winter day.” I’ve only experienced that once in my life Nate, when I was around 5 years old, and I’ve always longed to experience it again. I’m nearly 70 now and your beautiful description was a gift – conjuring that magical moment in my childhood 65 years ago, as if it was just yesterday. Thank you!
On the subject of school, although ‘education’ may have begun with altruistic intentions, it has certainly morphed into something sinister; a prison (school is compulsory, and truancy is punishable)that indoctrinates its inmates to conform to its abstract, arbitrary beliefs and values, and awarding or punishing inmates depending on their ability to ingest and regurgitate the force-fed dogma, to be spat out with or without “qualifications” that lead to “success” or “failure” in the “real” world of the “public sphere workforce”; such “success” or “failure” translating into superior personal worth and self-esteem, or personal worthlessness and inferiority. Whereas the reason why we are alive in the first place is so that we can act, suffer the consequences of our actions, and sooner or later learn to make right decisions – decisions that enable us to become wiser (in other words, evolve our perceptions)and so survive. One insidious consequence of the indoctrination system is that we are conditioned to conform ourselves, so as to fit that rational system, so as to ‘belong’ (a basic human need and right), so as to be a part of our society. The Inner Critic is the voice of our own conditioned conformity. Its “oh, buts” “musts”, “have-tos”and “what ifs?” (etc) rationalize against our intuitive voice, the non-verbal voice of our unique divine inner self, the source of our originality and genius. This is what “school” robs us of. There is one value in this world, and that is the precious gift of life itself, a gift shared by all living beings, not just humans. A gift that is now being turned into “units of production” to feed the insatiable “economy”. The only beneficiaries of the “economy’s” annual $trillions is the corporate entities whose bottom lines have become the new social omphalos, assuring these monstrous arbitrary abstractions their viability (life). How ironic that human beings have now been reduced to abstract status by their own abstract creations.
How insane that we, as conscious thinking beings have allowed this to happen, and stand by as our human society, and the web of all life on planet Earth, is being torn asunder with each passing moment, all in the name of material “progress”. We appear to have lost our instinct for survival; because “instinct” is a dirty sensory word to the rational non-sense mind and has been repressed along with all of our other ‘feeling’ dimensions (because “Reason must rule feeling”). Besides, there is no instinct to counter the rational mind’s predation; although our intuition is equipped to do just that..
This is the nature of our “sleepwalking”, and we’d better wake up pretty soon or we’ll sleepwalk ourselves off the precipice.
… Crikey – that was a purge! :] You must have pressed a button there Nate!
Thanks again for the precious memory of the magic of life, witnessed in a snowfall so long ago.
Hey Honour – thanks for stopping by! I totally get you on your comments about school. So, school itself isn’t inherently bad. I guess I’m equating school with learning, which might not be the best comparison given all the connotations associated with our traditional education system. I would personally love to see a much less rigid school system. I think that a general, broad education is ok, but it should become apparent pretty quick what individuals are naturally gifted at and more importantly drawn to. A focus should then be placed on nurturing those gifts and educating further on the subjects where one excels at. Above and beyond that, the whole ideology has to change….there needs to be an orthogonal shift in thinking. One in where we are motivated intrinsically rather than extrinsically and a society that promotes that. Currently the VAST majority of people are extrinsically motivated, comparing ourselves to others…creating goals based around the norms of the group/society/culture we live in.
I’m glad I could spark such a wonderful memory that you had as a child!