Maidanez

Ne-am obișnuit să dăm vina orbește pe tot ce ne înconjoară. Ba e vina maidanezilor pentru că moare un copil, ba e vina autorităților pentru că nu găsesc soluții la "problema câinilor maidanezi". Nu e vina noastră niciodată. Nu vorbesc de vina părinților copilului sau a presupușilor stăpâni ai câinilor implicați. Hai să fim serioși și să vedem toată imaginea, atât la nivel de indivizi, cât și la un nivel al societății.

Mereu vedem lucrurile prin "cazuri" de care suntem cumva legați. Aceste cazuri sunt în număr mereu mai mic decât totalul real de cazuri, care nu sunt legate de noi oricum și nu ne interesează. Ori că vedem la televizor, ori că ni se întâmplă să ne latre chiar pe noi niște maidanezi, ori că auzim de la alții. Suntem legați în mod direct sau indirect de aceste cazuri și ne lăsăm înșelați că aceasta este realitatea în care trăim.

Încă de când eram mic, am avut mereu o senzație de agitație și concentrare puternică atunci când trec pe lângă un maidanez. Adrenalina, care produce senzația aceasta, mi-a fost eliberată prima oară în corp atunci când am sărit mai multe garduri de la grădina blocului pe unde mă jucam, fugind de vreo trei maidanezi care lătrau și mă urmăreau. Un instinct aparent natural, care părea să mă facă să acționez aproape armonios atunci când urcam gardurile sau apoi când aterizam, mi-a surprins viața și a fost imprimat în memorie într-atât încât pare să se reactiveze mereu când am parte de un nou "caz" cu vreun maidanez.

Pe de altă parte, câinii ăia sunt și ei niște ființe și asta uităm de fiecare dată. Cum spune legenda reîncarnării, să ne imaginăm că am fi reîncarnați în maidanezi. Pentru noi în formă de câini, oamenii sunt niște ființe misterioase. Dar spre deosebire de restul ființelor, oamenii pot deveni agresivi fără să-și trădeze intențiile. Nu pot să zic că aș fi surprins să aflu că există mai mulți oameni care ar da într-un câine decât oameni care să fugă de el. Așa că noi, ca maidanezi, ne-am afla într-o situație similară cu cea pe care am descris-o mai devreme. La nivel chimic vom fi pompați cu adrenalină și vom deveni și noi agitați atunci când vom fi în preajma unui om. Și aici depinde de fiecare în parte modul în care reacționează la această situație, om sau câine.

Avem o problemă cu câinii maidanezi. Noi nu suntem destul de inteligenți sau capabili să o rezolvăm, pentru că mereu găsim motive care să ne lase să ne afundăm în iluzia că "nu se poate". Ne așteptăm să rezolve mereu altcineva problema, în loc să ne dăm seama că facem parte din ea. Așa sunt părinții noștri, așa suntem noi și așa vor fi și copiii noștri. Nu există UN vinovat, doar victime.

Episode Two: Shopping Cart

Sure, it might seem to you like the young men depicted in this clip are doing nothing more than just trying to have some fun while filming it in order to entertain themselves and others afterwards. It might also seem like they are not doing it in an organised and carefully planned manner.

But whatever your thoughts are, they're completely wrong and you understood nothing.

So, what's really going on in this video? you ask.

On the surface, there is a metaphor to be observed in what happens to the 'riders' and that is the return to nature. Each of the participants is placed into the shopping cart, hastily pushed over what looks like an asphalt track and tossed into the green hands of nature, some bushes. There is some heavy symbolism involved in here, from the immediately recognizable shopping cart, which is a powerful icon of the consumer-based society that we live in nowadays, to the action of pushing the participants from the seemingly safe path represented by the asphalt track - civilized human settlements - and into the bushes from around the track - the Great Mother Nature.

There are visible signs, though, that this occurrence is more than just a metaphor. For instance, the third attempt clearly shows that Nature has embraced the rider. And I don't need to tell you how significant the number 3 is in any culture or tradition. The next three attempts will only show that Nature only chooses a rider once and that the riders must move on to the second stage of the ritual. And this is clearly made visible by the fact that they're only hurting themselves in their innocent attempts to further please the Great Mother.

The second stage of the ritual is a symbolical attempt to re-introduce the chosen rider back into the concrete and gravel world that society has accustomed itself to. His failed attempt to land on it is evidence enough that his fate is now only tied to Nature and its doings further on.

One final stage of the ritual is truly lacking in meaning, in your ignorant eyes due to the fact that you are just a  robotized and sleeping shade of what your ancestors used to be. You are wrong again, you poor lost sheep. The two riders push each other down some stairs in order to settle one more final time that only the one chosen by Nature can ever walk safely on the path to understanding the secrets of Life and Meaning.

Now look at the video again and tell me you see it with the same eyes as before:

Episode One: Bomberos

We take now into consideration the case of the patient code-named 'Sunglasses'.

His imagination has become intertwined with the reality he perceives around him, driving him to a constant state of paranoia and delusion. The main pillar of illusion he created for himself is the imaginary character that he refers to as 'Bomberos'.

As he describes him from what we gathered during his rare moments of serenity, the Bomberos is a half-naked firefighter man who swoops in from nowhere and uses his fire extinguisher to prevent Sunglasses from lighting a cigarette. The patient has turned his phobia of smoking and all the possible diseases that are associated with it into a story in which he firmly believes and is supporting his delusion.

Let us analyze a series of occurrences that we managed to capture on video showing Sunglasses trying to overcome his disability and eventually succumbing to it lamentably. Even though he is the only one who sees the Bomberos character, the way he acts makes it clear that he imagines being attacked and stopped when attempting to light up a cigarette:

Further on, Sunglasses is showing promise when approaching a woman to ask her for a light, leading us to believe that he is finally going to let go of his phobia. He even looks towards the film crew and waves at them with a happy smirk on his face, probably thinking that everything will be alright. But then, he snaps and loses it again, once more having been attacked by the imaginary Bomberos man:

At this point, it is imperative to explain with a little bit more detail the scenario which unfolds in Sunglasses' mind when he claims is being attacked by the nefarious Bomberos, using his very own words: 

"So, like, I try to get a light, right? And people, most people, they're crazy, MAN! Once that motherfucker Bomberos shows up, people just look at me and stay back. What the fuck is that? A man gets attacked by a fuckin' MANIAC in broad day light and they look at me like I'M the crazy one. I SWEAR! I can't take it no more, man! There's so much extinguisher dust in my ears and everywhere else I get hit, but no one believes me. And NO! No, I'm not afraid of smoking, so fuck you with your 'expert psychological diagnosis'! The BOMBEROS IS REAL!".

Disturbing and almost believable. We can't help but feel sorry for Sunglasses and his rare condition. We know of cases like his that have been reported in other parts of the world, but he seems to be the most far gone. Also, he is the first one to be documented and even recorded. Thus, we have named this condition after his imaginary character: the Bomberos disorder.

Here are two more instances of his failed attempts to get rid of the phobia of smoking:

Sunglasses is now locked into the 'Bomberos Disorder Insitution', where he is kept under strong medication and close supervision by a team of three dozen guardians and doctors. No signs of recovery have been seen up until the present moment.

End of report.

Second thoughts

Learn to live the way of Your life, to live the life of the Way. 

You know what the Way is, but there are always opportunities in life when you choose to follow your second thoughts or to react according to what you know from before and even imagine is going to Be. You know it because sometimes you don't feel like you're following anything, but just :

Go With The Flow  

The Way is freedom from the mind's paranoid and overreacting thoughts, the second thoughts. They always get distorted by either something from your past or some possible future that you imagine. You would also be freed from most reactions that are not natural, coming from some kind of panic and frustration which derived from the ancient survival instinct of the early man.

You must agree that this panic and this frustration are in fact illusions of the mind, because the early man would only be considered as man when he would start to show signs of having intelligence, a mind. And that mind would be something new, with no experience and knowledge. You would see lightning in the sky and project your early mind's thoughts upon it, to find that you are weak and by far unable to resist its strength. This would be the result of panic. Then you would see it again another time, flashing and roaring immediately after, and imagine that some kind of unseen power, something greater than man, is wielding it. This would be the result of frustration.

The Way is learning that nothing is in any way under control in life. This way, illusions and random thoughts that you usually take for granted are revealed to be just what happened to cross your mind at one point. It was merely the way your mind dealt with the situation it was facing or processed that would happen sometime later. Then you don't get stuck on them. For example, you don't think about it when you are in love with someone and you say the words, because they're not real if you do. This feeling doesn't come from thinking and most of the times you don't listen to your mind when you have it and do stupid things or sacrifices for it. On the other hand, if you hate someone, then you definitely have some thoughts on the matter and they're pissing you off, frustrating you. You also hate them because they've somehow made you feel insecure or even frightened you, making you panic.

The Way is also just a word, a concept of the mind. And when you think about it, you're doing it wrong!