Human.

Sometimes do you ever wonder why it is that you're so sad?  It may hit you in waves; these listless moments when you feel as though all the happiness is ripped through the skin and you don't know what the trigger was. You just know it happens. We're a paradoxical generation. We have so much at our feet and yet, we are haunted by demons in our heads. We fight for what we want, we make our voices heard, and we do incredulous things once we set our minds to them. At the end of the day, we retreat to our private shells. Only there's no sound of the ocean or beckoning of home. There's the sound of emptiness that resonates and reminds us that we are so alone. A world plagued by networking yet there has never been a more hollowed out mass before.  So what makes you so fucking empty inside sometimes?  What makes the sadness creep in?

Sometimes I wonder if it's the authenticity of  relationships.  Maybe we don't try half as hard as we should. We care but sometimes it's painful as far as relationships go. Family and friends are people just like you; trying to get by in this haphazard world.  It's not their fault that they stumble or fall short in aspects of their lives.  Give the people a break.

It hurts when you invest in the wrong people. The time and energy in that isn't worth the return. It hurts  when you don't invest in the right people. You'll have lost out on good net worth.

People say they want to understand you.

They act as though they really wish they could.  Only tell them one of the deepest thoughts in the recesses of your subdued mind and they go running.  No one wants to hear your problems. Everyone's got their own. Truth is, everyone is equally fucked up in the head. Just no one admits it.

Maybe that's why we're all so sad. We're all chasing away demons that we figure we alone have.


Yet, society is a mirrored image of these looming Beings.

-Charlie

"What is it all about? It's like asking: 'What's the pit in the middle of an onion?' And, you take off all the skin, and so on, and so on, and so on… And suddenly you find you've got a litter of skins and no pit. There wasn't anything in it. You might say: 'Well, that's a hoax. Life is a deception; a tale told by an idiot.' And yet, what you had missed, in looking for the pit, were the beautiful skins. See, that's the edible part of the onion." ~Alan Watts in audio "Zen and the West - Early Chinese Zen"

Revelations

Revelations happen at night

In the darkest hour; 

From Contemplation, pours forth light.  

Wish you may and wish you might 

Things that were occluded are  now within sight. 

So what is it about quiet reflection 

That makes sense of a thought? 

It is in the lonely  moment 

That an idea is brought forth. 

You wrapped up in your own essence,

Nothing to dilute the thought process, 

A naked canvas of intellectual stimuli, 

All draw from the power of 'I'. 

For the answers  were always deep within,.

Layered far below more than just skin. 

Buried in the chamber pots of the heart and soul,  

All it took was Darkness to unfold. 

~Charlie 

Age is just a number

They say my age is just a number,

Rather than a measure

Of who I am.

But what if I told you

That the significance of such

Is filtered by the webs of a spiderling.

That my age isn’t just a number,

It speaks the Truth.

 

~Charlie :)

Mr. Little Jeans - Rescue Song (RAC Remix)

Such an enchanting gem of a song <3 ...Enjoy XOXO



Charlie :)

Alison Wonderland - Lies

I love the androgynous and artsy vibe, coupled with the electronic beats <3

Alison Wonderland has some pretty serious drops in her music and her videos are all creative.

Make sure to check out her other songs and their remixes. Her album 'Run' is out now

Spirituality: Empowerment of the Mind

Whilst there are many definitions to this word, I opt for the neurobehavioral definition-

“Spirituality is any experience that is thought to bring the experience into contact with the divine (in other words, not just any experience that feels meaningful).”

This definition doesn’t surrender to only religious experiences but to one of mysticism as well. Mysticism (easily misconstrued by many) bears the definition of, “the pursuit of an altered state of consciousness that enables the mystic to become aware of cosmic realities that cannot be grasped during normal states of consciousness.”

An even clearer definition that speaks to me defines spirituality as a state of consciousness that reflects engagement the deep and often urgent need to understand, a "need to know."

Given this basic definition, there is indeed a wanting so to speak as it seems as though, through the vast complexities of definitions, what then sets the premise for this discussion?

I being a simple person, choose ‘a need to know’ as such a premise; being as it is easily the most common string of words escaping whispered lips.

 ‘I need to know if there is more to life’.

‘I need to know my purpose’.

‘I need to know if a purpose even exists’.

‘I need to know what’s next’.

‘I need to know now’.

So many questions plague our minds every day; lingering at best and intrusive at their worst.

When will the taunts of these burdensome questions ever stop?  -Never at all

For as long as Man has been around, there is always an internal pursuit for something greater than Himself…

This then begs the question as to the origins of religion; a God or Gods who reward and punish in the Afterlife…Beings who wait on the transcendence of the soul to do about its Deity-like duties.

This yearning of an afterlife in Heaven may have seemed like a much bearable answer to the question of what becomes of us after we die. I can go on to metaphysical debates about the Truth of a God or not, but I sincerely tire of it. Millenniums have passed yet this fruitless discussion persists…

What is the point of it really?

In a world today with advances in Science and technology, (certainly magic to our ancestors), we have journeyed farther into space and broadened our knowledge of the Universe.

We have a wealth of knowledge and a much better understanding of our Origins- where we’ve come from and how we may evolve. Yet, despite the great strides in advancement of Science, there are many gaping holes to our Story.

Somehow, I don’t fear that we may never know the answers to these questions that we ask. As the years go by and we become more advanced as a civilization (of Humans), there will truly be an understanding of not just the world or this solar system, but of the multiplex of Universes out there. Knowledge, I believe is key to honing our spirituality. Without this knowledge, we don’t know the right questions to ask or to decipher A from B et cetera…

I can lightly joke here and compare this to the apple in the Garden of Eden, as it signified Knowledge. As Adam and Eve ate from it, their hearts were riddled with questions…they were no longer content with the way that they were. They discovered feelings of shame and consequently, covered up their naked bodies. The possibility of questions they may have asked, we may never know…It seems to tell a story though, that the acquisition of Knowledge brings forth a wanting of who you are.

There is no doubt that we are knowledgeable beings and as such, our minds wander into the future, much different from lower IQ animals. We understand the concept of Death, and so, we live our lives quite differently, suiting it to this expectation of an Afterlife.

What I can affirm is that we are here on this planet; products of Evolution and with complex-thinking minds. We are here with obligations to duty to thyself, to family, to our Earth. Whilst the questions may linger, there is no doubt that fulfillment of duties bring forth a sense of purpose to us. We can all debate about the After’s and the Before’s; the Truth remains the same, however.

So I propose that in the meantime, we live our lives as best as we can, paving the way with our intrinsic morality (what you think is best for self and community). We all awake each morning with our questions.

Having read this, I hope that when we awake each morning, instead, we have our goals in mind and an attitude to achieve them. Spirituality is key to an ambitious soul; it determines drive and purpose. It fuels that inner energy that gets us going and helps us to achieve and conquer.

No man who succeeded in his endeavours can ever say that he did it without ever seeing that end goal that is essentially meaningful ….that is essentially, Spirituality.

~ Charlie 

Heart-shaped box

Chet Faker - Solo Sunrise

Music that's truly amazing. Having a bad evening like I am? Listen to this sweet goodness that is Chet Faker

The Road Less Travelled

This feeling whilst asleep, whilst awake,

You're beginning to wonder just how much you can take.

Disillusioned, broken down,

Heading down that path with the possibility of not turning around.

‘At least’, you say,’ It’s finally coming into the light’

What was once lurking in the shadows is now in plain sight.

So now that’s it clear

You ask, ‘Where do I go from here?’

‘The possibilities are infinite dear...…absolutely anywhere’

~Charlie 

     

"Medicine is my lawful wife and literature is my mistress" - Anton Chekhov

The 8 qualities of cultured people (according to Anton Chekhov)

They respect human personality, and therefore they are always kind, gentle, polite, and ready to give in to others. They do not make a row because of a hammer or a lost piece of india-rubber; if they live with anyone they do not regard it as a favour and, going away, they do not say “nobody can live with you.” They forgive noise and cold and dried-up meat and witticisms and the presence of strangers in their homes.

They have sympathy not for beggars and cats alone. Their heart aches for what the eye does not see…. They sit up at night in order to help P…., to pay for brothers at the University, and to buy clothes for their mother.

They respect the property of others, and therefor pay their debts.

They are sincere, and dread lying like fire. They don’t lie even in small things. A lie is insulting to the listener and puts him in a lower position in the eyes of the speaker. They do not pose, they behave in the street as they do at home, they do not show off before their humbler comrades. They are not given to babbling and forcing their uninvited confidences on others. Out of respect for other people’s ears they more often keep silent than talk.

They do not disparage themselves to rouse compassion. They do not play on the strings of other people’s hearts so that they may sigh and make much of them. They do not say “I am misunderstood,” or “I have become second-rate,” because all this is striving after cheap effect, is vulgar, stale, false….

They have no shallow vanity. They do not care for such false diamonds as knowing celebrities, shaking hands with the drunken P.,  listening to the raptures of a stray spectator in a picture show, being renowned in the taverns…. If they do a pennyworth they do not strut about as though they had done a hundred roubles’ worth, and do not brag of having the entry where others are not admitted…. The truly talented always keep in obscurity among the crowd, as far as possible from advertisement…. Even Krylov has said that an empty barrel echoes more loudly than a full one.

If they have a talent they respect it. They sacrifice to it rest, women, wine, vanity…. They are proud of their talent…. Besides, they are fastidious.

They develop the aesthetic feeling in themselves. They cannot go to sleep in their clothes, see cracks full of bugs on the walls, breathe bad air, walk on a floor that has been spat upon, cook their meals over an oil stove. They seek as far as possible to restrain and ennoble the sexual instinct…. What they want in a woman is not a bed-fellow … They do not ask for the cleverness which shows itself in continual lying. They want especially, if they are artists, freshness, elegance, humanity, the capacity for motherhood…. They do not swill vodka at all hours of the day and night, do not sniff at cupboards, for they are not pigs and know they are not. They drink only when they are free, on occasion…. For they wantmens sana in corpore sano [a healthy mind in a healthy body].

The Invisible Fortress

It’s a simple pleasure missed,

Something only the lucky few ever obtain;

Spiritual bliss.

To find this, ironically can be maddening,

Yet, not seeking it would cause a most violent affair.

An internal struggle between the duality of mind and soul,

‘What is my purpose? Is it to be daring and bold?’

Searching amongst the stars for an answer, yet limited by the perception of mind.

Oh what it would be like,

To be a traveler of both space and time.

Spiritual bliss,

The Universe in you, and you in it,

Drunk off its galactic wine.

The portals opened ever expanding,

Waiting ever so patiently for you to dine.

The answers to some may ever be so clear,

But upon musings, clarity of such just brings tumultuous fear.

Can one ever really drink the Universe and its ale

And still think that what of they know to be real?

My mind is ever fuller of questions than answers,

That of which I am content.

For I feel that if I knew the answers (if ever there were),

I’d feel as though my existence would be blurred.

So I sit and I ponder and rhyme,

Whilst the Universe

Beckons

“I’m waiting for you to dine.’’

Charlie :)