The trap of philosophical identity

Life is complex and often confusing. We’re scared little animals with consciousnesses, stranded on a planet floating through empty space, with no means of escape. There seems to be no meaning, rhyme or reason to any of this, so we all try and  find our own meaning in the madness. We seek out the patterns, and try to fill our void of understanding with knowledge, philosophies or doctrines like religion. It goes without saying, knowledge is power, however within the hunt for knowledge there is a trap many of us fall into. I like to call this, the trap of philosophical identity.

Once we’ve accumulated an array of ideas that fit neatly together, we often like to group them together into a philosophy or belief system. Some notable examples would be stoicism, solopisism or even buddhism. This is fine for the most part, as it categorises different beliefs and gives us a reference point for various ideas. However, we fall into a trap when we identify ourselves with these philosophies.

People start calling themselves Buddhists, Christians and atheist, amongst other things, to give their beliefs and ideas a sense of identity. An identity, that by it’s very nature is an illusion created by the ego. A false perception of a so called ‘self’ that does not exist. We are nothing more than a collection of cells and brain chemical changes, how can a conditioned object possibly give itself an identity. If you want to gain true knowledge, and form your own truth, then identifying yourself with your beliefs is the biggest hindrance in all your intellectual pursuits.

When you identify yourself with your beliefs, then you narrow you thinking to that one specific belief. Anything that goes against this is dismissed, and you gain a sort of confirmation bias against anything that goes against your said belief. Atheists are terrible for this. They are against religion, yet by identifying themselves as an atheist, they have just traded one belief system for another, atheism. There’s no problem believing or disbelieving in a god, but saying your belief is fact and everyone else is stupid, is ludicrous. Identifying yourself with a certain belief system just hinders you from greater understanding, as you will never look at different perspectives and form your OWN opinion. Rather, just the opinions of a philosophy devised by others.

I suggest rather than following any sort of philosophy, we remain neutral and sceptical of all possibilities. Remain open to new opinions rather than staying stuck in you own stubborn beliefs. You will never learn anything if you form your ideology and leave it at that. New knowledge should be open to interpretation, and not just thrown away because it goes against your beliefs, you may be throwing away something valuable.

So, don’t just read the bible and call it day. Don’t read, a science encyclopaedia and leave it at that. Research every angle of every argument and remain open to change. Place ideas and opinions in different contexts, and accept that you are not your beliefs, rather an ever-changing state of being.

–THE LONELY WEST–

The holy cycle

The universe is strange place, and as science progresses, our understanding of how it works changes year by year. It seems like whenever we have a solid foundation of scientific knowledge about ur world, another theory or finding destroys what we thought we knew. For example, when I was in school, my psychics teacher would tell us that a ‘quark‘ was the smallest fundamental particle in the universe. However, for anyone with an interest in science and the confusing world of quantum physics, you’ll know that this this could very well not be the case. Thanks a lot string theory!

It’s a current belief that as we go smaller and smaller into the particles that make up this reality, we find that on a subatomic level, every piece of matter is made up of vibrational waves of energy. As physics clearly tells us, energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transferred. So if everything in the universe is made up of energy, then what does this tell us about the nature of our existence?

Well, if energy can’t be created or destroyed, then that means nothing in our observable universe can be created or destroyed, even ourselves. But how can that be possible? Nothing is eternal, humans die and physical objects eventually decay. When we die, we are gone, we longer exist, however the basic laws of physics go against this. With this in mind, I hypothesise that everything that exists within our universe, has always been here, and nothing new is ever added to it. Neither, is anything removed from it.

Think about it, all life is energy. When we die, our bodies decay and rot, we are eaten by other animals to keep them alive and reproducing. When them animals die, their bodies decay and the cycle goes on. Nothing ever ceases to exist, it is simply impossible. Rather, like physics tells us, everything that matter makes up, is just transferred into another form. Birth, growth and decay, it’s the cycle of life. This is the bigger picture we are all a part of, everything is one and connected, just in different, transferring and interchangeable forms.

This bigger picture, or cycle, is what I like to think most, if not all religions were getting at when they spoke of a ‘God.’ This ultimate truth of everything being one part of a larger picture, is God. The very essence of everything in our existence, not some almighty creator. I believe that many of the holy scriptures, such as bible, were using metaphors to describe this truth of oneness. However, humans misconstrued this stories and took them too literally, envisioning a creator or all seeing deity.

In an early Christian scripture, it was said that ‘Jesus’ quoted this, as an explanation of where God is…

“I am the light which is over all things”

“I am all”

“From me came forth, and to me all attained”

“Split a piece of wood, I am there”

“Lift up the stone, and I am there”

If one was to take this quote literally, you would bring forth the assumption that our creator ‘God,’ is everywhere at once. However, I feel that the word God itself has grown shallow and meaningless throughout time. As stated, if you dismiss all preconceptions of the word God, and take it as this cycle, or bigger picture I’m speaking of, the quote resonates with this theory. It tells us of an overall essence of all life and things, that is everything and everywhere at once. Not a concious being, rather a unity of everything.

It’s worth saying now, that thinking for yourself is one of the most valuable skills you can have. You can take what you’ve read here however you want, but please don;t form your opinions based on a single book, belief system or blog post. Look at every side of the coin from every perspective, and form your own truth. Because most of the time, you’ll find a deeper truth, hidden within what you once thought was the ultimate truth.

–THE LONELY WEST–

Here’s a thought…

What if our entire lives are a computer simulation. I know this idea has been thrown around a lot, but hear me out. Say the current reality we find ourselves in, is in fact, just a simulation of human life. We are unaware of this truth, and go about our seemingly real lives without this knowledge. Now say the human race within this simulation progresses to the point were we can simulate our reality and the human experience. The problem is, we are already in a simulation of reality, so we would actually just be creating a simulation of an already simulated simulation.

What if in fact, the ‘humans’ that are initially simulating our existence are too, unaware that they are living in a simulated reality. So in creating our reality, they are just creating a simulation of a simulation that eventually creates a simulation of there own simulated simulation. With all this in mind, who’s to say that we’re not just a simulation in a long chain of simulated simulations that are simulating themselves without the knowledge that they are already in a simulation.

Before dismissing this theory and writing it off as something obviously wrote by someone who’s taken too much acid, just bear with me for a few more paragraphs. Of the wall theories like this, are often dismissed by most people and remain in the realms of science fiction. However, I ask you, is there anyway of disproving this theory?

No. There is not. Don’t try to tell me otherwise, because as it stands, there is no way of proving that we are not living within a simulation. I am not saying it is true or that I believe it, I am simply saying that it is plausible, and should not simply be thrown out because it goes against our normal beliefs. Normally, the truth is something far stranger than what we thought at the time. I mean back in day, one would be burnt as a witch for assuming that the earth revolves around the sun. All I’m saying is that if a theory is plausible, then it is something that should still be considered, and not simply looked down upon because of our pre-conceptions associated with it.

Some final thoughts before I end my ramblings. As we’ve established, there is no way of disproving that we are not living in a simulation. If we can’t know for a fact that our lives are real, then how can be so sure of ANYTHING else. You can sit there all day and argue the fact that you definitely have legs, because you can see them. However, if we do live in a simulation, then you don’t have legs, your nothing more than a piece of code. If we cannot rule out the idea that we could be nothing more than a computer simulation then how can we be so sure about something as simple as having legs. The fact of the matter is, we can never be 100% certain of anything until we can rule out theories like this.

It’s cool to think about stuff like this, or you can just ignore it at the risk of realising maybe all of your life dreams and ambitious are completely and utterly pointless. Just maybe all these social constructs and emotions we hold so solidly are nothing more than a figment of our imaginations. But hey, whatever helps you enter sleep simulation better at night.

–THE LONELY WEST–

Free will and the butterfly effect

Do we have free will? This is a question that has plagued philosophers for generations. Ask the average person this, and they will normally tell you that, yes, we do have free will. A human being has the capacity to make a variety of choices in what they do, based on the actions that they themselves decide to act upon at there own will. When arguing this fact, many would then go on to act out something similar to this…

*holding their arm out*

“I currently have the choice to move my arm in any direction that I want to.”

*moves arm upwards*

“I decided myself to move my arm upwards, therefore I have free will.”

This is a valid argument, and who can blame anyone for thinking like this? After all, the thought of not having a say in the choices we make is scary and quite absurd. However, humans never got anywhere without questioning our natural ways of perceiving and thinking about the world, so I’m here to offer a different perspective to this problem.

Every event that happens in your current present reality, and everything that happens in the future for that matter, happened due to a previous event. Let me reiterate, everything that happens, is reliant on something happening before it. Cause and effect in other words. So with this perspective, lets look at our previous argument, for why we do have free will.

“I decided myself to move my arm upwards, therefore I have free will.”

People have a habit of focusing too much on the argument, and not the bigger picture. Lets dig deeper than the premises that brought us to this initial conclusion.

The reason you moved your arm in the first place, was to prove to someone that you do have free will. You are trying to prove that you have free will because I brought the topic forward. If I hadn’t of brought the topic forward, then you never would have moved your arm. I brought the topic forward in the past, and you cannot change the past, therefore you had no say at all in moving your arm, as the very act of moving your arm was predetermined by past events. And as we all know, past events cannot be altered in the present. Yes, one could go on to argue that it was my choice to bring up the topic of free will. However, I may have only brought up the topic because I read an article the previous week on the subject. An article that I read because because someone emailed it to me. They emailed it to me because we had a converstion the previous month about our interests in philosophy…

This could go on forever, but the fact of the matter is, every event leading up to you moving your arm, was reliant on a previous event. We have no control over the past, so we can hypothesise that we have no free will. This idea of cause and causation is called the butterfly effect, the idea that an event no matter how small causes a chain of concurrent events, which can cause significant changes in the future. Therefore, if this is the case we can work backwards from every single event that has ever happened. Everything, from the neurons that fire in your brain to your decision to eat pizza tonight, can be traced back to an endless chain of previous events which caused this current event to happen.

Of cause, all of this begs the question of what was the first ever event in our existence which set of this chain. Well theoretical science would tell us, that this would be the big bang. Is it possible that since the beginning of existence, our lives have been set out by a chain of irreversible events that predetermine our future?

Like many complex philosophical ideas, there is no way of proving this way of thinking is true, mainly due to the restraints of our current science and technology. Nor, am I suggesting this idea is true, I am simply presenting a different way of looking at things. I have presented you with an argument, however as Hilary Putman put it (no pun intended), a philosophical argument is disappointing, and to some extent worthless, without a vision. So lets take this philosophy of having no free will, and our futures being pre-determined and give it a vision. Here is how I propose we should live our lives based on the argument I have presented…

If all that happens is going to happen regardless of what we try to do in order to change it, there is no need in feeling sad and disheartened when life doesn’t work the way you want it to. Everything is pre-determined by previous events which we cannot change. Therefore, we have no choice in what happens in the present or the future. The obstacles and disappointments that life throws at us are not something we should dwell on or feel depressed about. We should accept what is, as that is all there ever will be. Enjoy happiness while it last because misery is always round the corner. Although, nothing lasts forever because will always be another link in the chain of events that alters our reality, wether it be from a utopia to a dystopia.

I would love to hear peoples thoughts on this subject.

–THE LONELY WEST–

The information generation

I grew up in a society were I’ve lived to see the computer become as common a household item as a telephone. When you’ve had access to the web from such a young age, It is a strange, and often unnerving concept to think that once upon a time, we lived in a world without the wonders of the world wide web.

Back in the day, information was channelled primarily through newspapers, televisions and books. The library was of cause our internet, before it evolved into he digital realms. The problem is, it’s neon impossible to keep books up to date on a daily basis, so up to date information was left in the hands of television producers and news corporations.

The masses, even now, have grown quite passive of this fact, and often don’t stop to think about who controls the flow of information, and the power this responsibility encompasses. The media (controllers of information) have a huge impact on how the population of a country thinks and holds it’s values. The way to control a nation perceptions, is to control the information in which they consume.

Now this is a very dangerous game we are playing. Especially when you consider that every person has there own belief systems and ideologies. These grouped with the responsibility of controlling what the masses are exposed to, often breed agendas. These agendas are especially questionable when you take into consideration that the ones controlling the information, are high up in society with an innate drive to maintain wealth and stature. Therefore, with our only mainstream sources of understanding the world around us having questionable intentions, another generation was doomed to idly perceive the world, the way that the powers that be want them to.

In comes the internet.

Now we have a wealth of endless information from a range of varied sources at out fingertips. No longer are we bound by the pre-conceptualized opinions of the mainstream media. It’s un-regulated and uncensored, anyone from a fascist to a patriot can publish there spin on the happenings of society to the entire world. This is a beautiful era we live in, were the people control the information in which they consume.

Sadly… It’s clear that the powers that be are growing increasingly nervous, as they lose there steely grips on the control of information. We are seeing more and more desperate efforts to infiltrate the unregulated nature of the web, with the likes of NET NEUTRALITY and other methods of blatant censorship.

Of cause… we could have seen this coming, after all history repeats itself. Any movement that breeds a generation of free-thinkers, is often stamped out. Look at the counter-culture of the 60’s. Thousands of citizens take this strange new hallucinogenic drug and decide they don’t want a war in Vietnam. Instead, they want love and peace. It’s the same now, except our mind-altering substance is the internet rather than LSD, and the war were fighting? The information war. The final  decision of who controls our perceptions. The people, or the government.

The problem with past counter-cultures, is that they remained as the ‘counter’ of cultures. The media controlled the way we saw these groups people. The internet on the other hand, regulates itself, by the entire worlds varied perceptions of society. With the decentralized nature of the network, we stand a very good chance of winning this battle, and with groups like anonymous popping up it is clear that the people can have the power.

Of cause, it’s not all good times, like with any great power there is responsibilities, and negative consequences if we do not fulfil these responsibilities.

Like anything, there’s a dark side.

With society and technology getting more and more fast paced, the demand for more condensed and precise information is growing. Were starting to live in a world of instant gratification. High speed porn, encyclopaedia of encyclopaedia of information, flying at us at an unfathomable amount of terabyte’s a second. Again and again were beginning to skip straight to the reward.

The way motivation works is that a human being is rewarded for his hard work by feel good chemicals blasting around the rewards centre of the brain. With the the way the internet’s heading, we are increasingly bypassing straight to the reward as a society. The need for hard work is unnecessary.

Yes, consuming more information at once can be good, but it’s easy to get overwhelmed and as humans we will eventually grow comfortable with skipping straight to the gratification. This could land us in an even bigger trap of never progressing, and having our attention cnsumed by companies with agenda’s such as Facebook. Thus making the internet, nothing more than a method of advertisement consumption. We need to be very careful how we approach this new influx of information, or we might find our selves in an even more darker system of perception control, flawed by it’s own design.

–THE LONELY WEST–

Avengers: Age of Ultron – A prime example of everything wrong with the film industry

With everyone on the planet seemingly becoming a marvel fan following an impulsive influx of superhero films, it was clear that at some point I would be exposed to this film. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing inherently wrong with superhero movies, but with the current state of cinema, is it really necessary? I mean, it feels like a sickeningly large majority of Hollywood films in past few years have been sequels, remakes or a slight variation on an overdone selection of superhero related action. The avengers series is yet another boring and dull spectacle type film, bred by lazy writers who don’t care because they know you’ll buy it anyway. It’s time to stop vigorously masturbating over the trailer for next spider man film and listen, because this reproduction of done and done again films has to stop.

So, what’s wrong with Avengers: Age of Ultron? Well nothing particularly, I mean as far as films go it’s got a beginning, a middle and an end. It’s not a ‘bad’ film, it’s just basic. If one was to watch this with the volume down, it would not matter as the plot-line is excruciatingly boring, and the prime source of entertainment is the visuals. To be fair in terms of spectacle, it is pretty fantastic visually, but you just end up zoning out at the relentless and seemingly pointless action. It’s predictable and every scene just seemed to be leading up to another cringe-worthy one liner by characters that have the emotional capacity of a tomato that’s been left out in the sun too long. So yeah, in terms of a movie, it’s just boring and doesn’t leave much to the imagination. There’s this guy called Ultron that wants to destroy the world, and all these people in strangely erotic costumes stop him from doing it. That’s about it. What I did find amusing, is that Ultron decided to destroy earth after having one look at the internet. Maybe he saw the trailer for Avengers 3.

I guess I don’t hold a grudge against this specific film itself, more the way in which the industry pumps out this repetitive trash. All I see on social media is people is people in euphoric states over the next superhero film. Why? In my opinion, there all pretty much the same deal. The public continues to consume these products because it’s easy watching and the companies have a huge budget for marketing. Hollywood just produces what makes money. I mean, you don’t HAVE to go see these films, but if we continue to buy into these overdone genres, nothing new will ever come of it. We progress in any creative outlet by experimenting. The mainstream, isn’t necessarily what’s good, it’s just what makes money. So if you want to continue filling the pockets of boring writers and watch repetitive dumb films, then be my guest. However, all this does is put huge budgets on sequels and uncreative feature films. Do you wan’t something new? Or will be doomed to watch computer generated explosions and Megan Fox’s tits juggling about in slow motion for the hundredth time this millennium. It’s your choice.

–THE LONELY WEST–

Altered states

I recently quit drugs. As someone who’s experimented from a very young age, memories of the outside world were somewhat foggy. From age thirteen my life became a hazy and obsessive infatuation with unnaturally altering my neuro-chemistry, in strange and interesting new ways. Like many ‘recovering’ drug users, I struggled integrating back into the normal flow of life, so I began trying to engage in ‘normal’ activities that ‘normal’ people do. At first it was painfully boring, but as the mental fog rose above the damage blatant stimulant abuse had caused, I began seeing clearer. Amidst the fuzzy brain-numbing morning television shows and awkward sober meals, I saw the even awkwarder truth. Sober life is no different.

“Needs more LSD”

There’s a lot of self-righteous people out there that like to pride themselves as being ‘t-total.’ The completely sober and high on life types, who shift away and give you stern looks as you light up a cigarette. ‘Oh, I don’t need alcohol to make my boring personality more interesting.’ In other words, judgemental assholes. However the problem is, on a basic level absolutely nobody is sober.

People seem to forget that every activity we engage in alters our neurochemistry in some way. Other methods ‘healthier’ than some, but all in all the human experience seems to be a constant pursuit for feel good chemicals. That’s all life is. Altering our current state of conciousness.

Junk food, the internet, television, gambling, sex the list goes on of ways you can alter your brain chemistry, and make yourself feel good. Why do we dismiss chemicals, and see them as bad? Well we see alcohol as okay, but lets not get into the madness and Hypocrisy of drug prohibition.

All I’m saying is, everything we pursue in life is a way of altering our baseline state. Everything IS an altered state, and will eventually end, drugs just give us some time to move around in that state. If used in the right setting with good intentions, many substances can facilitate personal growth as we can take away quality’s we like from this altered state, and try to apply them to our baseline state. However, like everything, it is a double edged sword and spending too much time in an altered state can bring on crippling addictions and make normal life less fulfilling. An occasional escape from reality or a change in perception however, is what everyone needs. Without this we remain stuck in the same ideals and forget how to think outside of the box.

So next time your ‘off your nut’ in front of a stack of speakers, jaw swinging and sweat pouring down your face, maybe take a step back for a moment. Realise that it is not the drug doing this to you, it is your mind and you can think like this any time you want. Think ‘what can I learn from this experience’ rather than ‘Shit I’m going to comedown soon’ and you’ll bring a little bit more love an prosperity with you everywhere you go, even when your too old to handle a strong coffee, let alone anything else.

–THE LONELY WEST–

Life and the search for purpose

As humans we like to think of ourselves as different from other species. After all, we can build cities, make beautiful art and then wage a war that can plummet a century’s worth of our own creation into a pile of dust. The truth is though, we as a singular person, are nothing more than an animal. A fleshy vessel controlled by a brain and made up of microscopic cells that conveniently and fit within this universe by complete chance. The only thing that sets us apart from other beings is a curse that’s plagued our race for generations. Self-awareness.

I call this a curse, because it is. The clock is constantly ticking and so is our morality. Life has no real purpose and eventually we will cease to exist. Nobody likes to mention or acknowledge this, but it’s right in our faces, and we get so caught up in our meaningless lives that we ignore it. Due to this,we’ve spent centuries coming up with methods to distract ourselves from the uneasy truths our own existence. From televisions to smart-phones we are always running away from ourselves. Being alone brings boredom, so we find other meaningless beings to spend time with. We can collectively lie to ourselves that what we are doing matters, within this constant cosmic joke we call life.

Really it doesn’t matter. When we are thrown into this world, we know nothing. All we know is that we are this thing called a human, in a three-dimensional plane surrounded by other things. When were young we’re forced into educational institutions, so we can work towards getting a job. We assume that when we turn into an adults everything will make sense, and spend our whole lives searching for purpose within the boundaries of societal institutions. We go on to become doctors, lawyers or what ever else, in the desperate hope that these external things will give our life meaning.

But when we get to the end we find nothing. Nobody has a clue what’s going on, and no amount of money or power in the world is going to change that. Life. is. Pointless. Many find this out sooner and go on to become drug addicts, suicide statistics and unemployed watchers of game-shows. It’s the truth, and it’s hard to swallow.

So, if life is completely pointless why don’t we just give up and kill ourselves now? After all, everything we achieve means nothing because we will eventually die. Well there lies the problem. If life ends then it cannot be without meaning. If life was to never end, then we could be everything and anything we wanted to because we have all the time in the world. Immortality in truth, would be a truly pointless existence.

The fact that life has a beginning and an end, already gives it’s meaning. You only have a certain amount of time to make choices and be who you want to be in this world so you have to make it count in the short time you have. Why spend your life in a 9-5 job you hate, when you could be out there experiencing every feeling and emotion this life has to offer?

At the end of the day life is about experiences, and you won’t find experiences within the cold walls of an office cubical. Neither will it be found constantly dwelling on the ideal that life is pointless. So what if it’s pointless? You can’t change what is. As you read this, your biological clock is ticking. Yes, you WILL die at some point, so why not make the journey there as thrilling as possible. We’ll never now what happens at the end, neither will we know what happens next. It could all end tomorrow, but if when we get to the end and it’s nothing more than an endless void, then you’ll surely regret doing nothing while your within a reality that you have concious control over.

–THE LONELY WEST–

Lost in the sesh

If there’s anything I’ve ever been good at, it’s getting fucked up. It’s sounds crude, but sadly it’s true. If I’m being honest with myself, 14 years-old and onwards was just an extended binge of every pleasurable and damaging thing life has to offer. Chain-smoking, excessive drinking and just downright irresponsible drug abuse bordering on the lines of insanity. Some of the best and most magical times of my life have been brought on through impulsive decisions and hedonism, but things can easily get out of hand, as you find your life crashing down around you. If you find your weekends blurring into weekday’s and your morning coffee blurring into a can of strongbow and a line of amphetamine, maybe you’ve made the mistake me and many others made. Maybe you got lost in the sesh.

Don’t get me wrong partying is good. in fact, no. Partying is the best. I can’t think of a better feeling than flailing about on a dance floor completely immersed in music and artificial love. It’s the sort of moments that just make you think, “Hey, life’s not so bad, maybe everything is going to be alright.” These moments we need. With the ever-growing stress of the real world stacking up as we age, we need our vices. We need an escape from reality to be well within our reach or we become the walking misery that is a 9-5 worker, saving up for a future that they won’t have because their at work all the time. It’s only logical we have mind-alterings to alter our brain chemistry just so we can experience something a little different than the morbid white walls of our offices and homes.

The problem arises when the partying becomes the only way of living. Shining euphoria and crippling comedowns find there way into the real world and nothing makes sense without it. I am a proffesional partier and have gotten sucked into this cycle countless times before (Hence why my blog is looking pretty bare lately.) However, what I’m coming to realise is that the sesh can only go so far. After a while nothing ‘normal’ is as stimulating and the real world starts becoming bleak and boring as you develop this sort of nihilism. I mean why spend time trying do well at something so you can feel good, when the misery of sober life can be halted and endless pleasure can be activated with the click of a lighter or the swallowing of a pill.

It may sound like I am discouraging drug-use and partying. I am not. To be honest I recommend it. In small doses. However, the truth is you don’t just have to be partying to get lost in the sesh. People get lost in everything pleasurable. Video-games, the internet, gambling amongst other things. When we use these things in excess to create our world, we have nothing else to compare it to, so it becomes the new norm. We no longer have it as a quick release from reality, rather it is our reality. It becomes a necessity like food or water. What I can say is… Drugs. Are. Good. They feel good. They are good. I’d just recommend you keep your usage in check otherwise you’ll end up like me. A shitty blog with huge gaps in it.

To be fair. I don’t regret the sleepless nights spent talking about nonsense. I don’t look back in anguish at nights spent clinging onto a speaker blasting music, with enough bass to destroy Rome. No. There all experiences and wrong or right, they make us the people who we are. I’m in a pretty decent place right now and I have a feeling that I going to be graced with a long period of happiness before the misery comes in and steals the stage again. However, this time I won’t resort chemicals to keep my happiness going. I believe even in tough times the best thing you can do is keep moving forward. Even if you’ve lost everything else, you can still move forward, momentum can only be stopped by ones self.

–THE LONELY WEST–