The quiet stillness of Saturday morning is all around me as I sit here and ponder on who we are, where we are and what we are.
You know, if you really think about it, our ideal human condition, especially for females, could be that of being young, sweet and beautiful.
And additionally, of course, to remain in such a wonderful state of excellence for time without end.
To be a beautiful, young, physical object of sexual desire surely appears to be the role pre-programed for women in our world. It’s in all the glossy magazines.
Cosmetics, fashion and physical appearance is everything, they say. Movies and pop culture repeat this message over and over.
But, and there’s always a but, the reverse and opposite of young, sweet and beautiful would have to be: old, mean and ugly!
Well, hello there, dear reader. Here I am again to bring you some more wacky thoughts, ideas and opinions.
I’m writing to you from the world of old, mean and ugly (O M U). And it appears to become even more so each day. To observe this, just look at politics, media and current world events.
We have upcoming elections, economic decline, hatred, division with expanding warfare and suffering - ugly, ugly!
But you don’t need to be old to have the other two accompanying negatives, although they usually follow along like faithful shadows.
Maybe this is our way of dealing with the ups and downs, the challenges and struggles of life here in our physical plain.
After our innocent childhood dreams of bringing beauty and light into this exciting new world, slaying all the dragons, rescuing the princess and making everything right; what do we find?
Sadly, we find it’s a hard, cold and cruel universe consisting of force, violence and pain.
And right there at that point is where we get pulled into the trap. We decide to mirror and adapt to the operating forces of our new environment.
We lock horns in mortal combat with the monster while using its same low level physical force just so as to continue to survive.
You could say of this first encounter and the following conflicts that the ideal young, beautiful and free spirit is stained, tainted and gradually reduced to the lower physical condition of this material world.
So, young, sweet and beautiful versus old, mean and ugly is so similar to light versus the darkness.
Sometimes I joke about this with my friends. While seeing a bright, radiant and innocent child I suggest that if he or she were to be flash froze and placed in a glass display case then our child could remain young, sweet and beautiful forever.
But of course, this would be just the appearance of such a state for us to observe and admire in its physical manifestation.
And the true condition which is so admirable and desirable to us is our original condition of being.
We, you and I, are beings of light.
We’ve been stuck for so long in this dark fog and have come to accept it, which makes it so difficult to fathom this fact.
But sometimes we see ourselves reflected in the pure grace and a simple smile in the eyes of a child. And a brief thought or spark of realization may flash back on us of who we really are and who we may become again.
To be forever young is of course an impossible dream and desire programed into our consciousness from our society.
Being old perhaps could be looked at as regretting our loss of time. And where do you think our time has gone? Has it gone off down that lonesome road with my youth and beauty? Or is it circling around to return another day?
Is time merely a mirage as you might glimpse on a desert highway? And aren’t we always riding the crest of the wave that is our eternal now?
So, longevity, being old and having survived so long in this rough and tumble unforgiving universe of pain and loss should not be described by the degrading labels of mean and ugly.
So, say I as I’m about to enter my second childhood.
Dan is at danhughoconnor@gmail.com