Definition Normal

Definition: Normal
"Conforming to a standard; usual, typical, or expected. "

It is my own personal belief, that too much "Normal" is not a good thing, because it indicates a lack of change. The world evolves constantly in all aspects imaginable, both subtle and gross. Without change people tend to become disconnected as their world get smaller and less diversified. I am very lucky, because inherently I am a rebel, but do not rely on the act of rebellion as being my normal-state, because becoming overly reliant on anything limits the opportunity for growth. So I have a life composed of bits of normal combined with everything else. It is this mixture of things which keeps me engaged in growing. Like never before in history, people can choose to be exposed to so many different things. Literally, access to new ideas is only a search engine away.

So why do I see so many people out in public with blank expressions, who appear totally not engaged with the world around them? I do not have an answer… I sometimes get off the local public transit feeling a little shellshocked. Depending on the time of day, everyone appears to where darker colours, has a headset on and is aimlessly surfing on their smart phone. Judging by the numbers, I would say this is the current state of normal.

What is your experience, and how can we redefine "normal" so that it is a growth factor and not something just apathetic, for lack of a better word?

One foot inside the Matrix

In the movie The Matrix the story and plot revolve around the idea that people live in the dream world created by machines. This solution has a purpose, to keep individuals and entire populations distracted and self-involved. This stops humanity from rebelling and facing the all the truth that humanity only exists as if energy source to power the machines. Indeed, when one of the secondary characters is freed from the dream they ultimately make a deal with the machines to once again enter the dream world, despite knowing the truth about why humans are kept alive. The movie was a smash hit.

In the last few years I have begun to wonder just how close we are in reality to the matrix concept and what rights, freedoms, and responsibilities societies as a whole might be unwittingly giving up in exchange for evermore intoxicating technology, which on the surface seems to make one's life easier, but in so doing also forms and alters our  behaviour. In doing so our perceptions of what is acceptable, and normal are altered . Are we as a society becoming more apathetic and easier to manage? The question may not be as outlandish as it first seems. I recently saw a documentary on Dr. Martin Luther King which vividly recounted the early civil rights struggle and specifically the year-long boycott, by the Afro-American community, of riding public buses. This was a nonviolent response to the accepted norm of having segregated public transit. What was amazing was, not only were thousands of people in revolt, but the community kept up the pressure for a continuous year before the issue was resolved. This was not the end of people struggle for basic human rights, just one of many chapters, in a struggle which continues to this day in a variety of ways across many communities. But have societies in large lost the ability to have such long term focus and foresight? The rapid feedback we all expect from everyone and everything in the modern world seems to on the surface have shortened our attention span and sense of what a long struggle is. If the civil rights movement started today with it gather and sustain such momentum, or would people get distracted after a few weeks? Allowing the issue to become lost. Which stagnates change and the growth of people.

I have seen quite a few things in the last years, which would make my personal answer "Yes.", And hence the title of this blog entry "One foot inside the Matrix". Before we can extract our foot. We must first clearly understand the subtle ways in which people are subtly (and sometimes not) encouraged to join this this Matrix Of Behavior.

That is what this ongoing blog entry will be about. Comments are always welcome.