I think the sad truth of things lies in simplicity.
Most people don’t like to focus on things more than a few seconds because they might accidently see their reflection.

Maybe written into almost everyone’s subconcious mind,
is to choose the path that doesn’t focus on who they are.
Then again, some people do focus on themselves and we just call them arogant. However arogant is spelled, it doesn’t matter!

Palm trees and pina coladas!

The one thing that our society never ceases to exploit is this feeling of emptiness you discussed. Whether its organized religion, “luxury” cars, or mega malls, our society is ready to sell you a bottled solution to your problems. Television is filled with images intended to make us feel bad about ourselves and purchase products that will make us feel “better.” In the recent years it has even become easy to replace real experiences with extremely controlled experiences (Disneyland) or worse yet
”reality” TV. And if you aren’t ready to substitute your real life for a television life yet, you can flip to “You Got to See this TV” and Dateline and to learn the latest reasons why you should fear and avoid new experiences (that don’t involve a couch) and the world around you. If you go outside you will be shot or robbed. If you go into the wood you will probably be attacked by an animal… if you ride a bike you will probably suffer a horrible accident. The world around us should be celebrated not feared.

I think that organized religion has put arbitrary boundaries between groups of good people. It has given people a crutch to lean on. We are taught to worship a god and forget about everything else. Religion has lost sight of the underlying teachings, living a good life. Rather than teaching service and selflessness, many religions focus on joining the club, singing some songs, and going to heaven. Should people of all races and religions chase after a promise of a heaven or an afterlife, or simply live a better life for the sake of there brethren.

To me a good life is not having the possession we are taught to want and need, not going to church on Sunday, or being a virgin until you are married, but to serve and to work to improve the community and world around us. Many professions can serve this function in some capacity… teaching, medicine, environmental work, agriculture… etc. The underlying feature of a good life is the pursuit of service rather than finance.

Thanks. No, I think you understood completely what was exploding out of me.

Sometimes I wish I was still a little christian girl still… and had everything laid out in front of me… and that I’d never ever read anything written by Focault ever.