1. A name of a female (or male - depending on origins), or
2. An ancient civilization known to have inhabited parts of Central America four thousand or so years ago, or
3. Illusion by another name.
Take your pick but what I am thoughtfully vegetating over is the notion that we as a society have no clue about what we are doing right now and what we ought or ought not to do. Many a theorist, captialist, socialist and politician alike have marketed their messages of how they know it and you don't, to their scores of believers and the sheep are merely doing their part in following the goatherd.
The genre of the self-help, or for Dummies category exemplifies this thesis.
The whole business of preaching is frankly overrated. Its Maya. Perhaps 'Illusion' is the best meaning. Perhaps SMOKE - whether from a Camel, Rothmans, Dunhill; from an old truck or a finely crafted Bentley; whether black or white from Dharavi to the Vatican - its just smoke and mirrors you fools.
You have popes on pulpits, degreed financial planners offering instant analysis on what your asset allocation model should look like to palmists reading your next eight street turns (better than a GPS) to El Presidente announcing h/she can revert their economies to a growth oriented, leader in the next term if they only elect him. Its as reliable as the fortune in your next post prandial chinese cookie! Lucky numbers 8, 14, 69, 78 .. seek and you shall find or some such mumbo.
Everybody has someone to sell. That includes me.. someone o someone read this blog and make it a one time hit so I can get Fortun(ate) brands to advertise here and I can retire.
Then I will stop blowing it - Smoke that is.
I attempted to read this book by author Chuck Klosterman backward to forward but it started hurting my brain so I decided to stop and do it like any other publication in the English language. Start from page 1 and move to the right. Witty, caustic and thought provoking this is a book you want to read if you believe that the status quo might, just might be wrong. At times bordering on being contrarian about most things around us it tries to zero in on the notion of what makes anything believable and certain in our minds. The fact that there is a fact itself is ironic. Something analogous to the idea that you can never predict the future because there is no future. Many books and movies have tried to play on this concept - best that I recollect (I think I am) was 'The Truman Show'. This book by Klosterman attempts to provoke the reader to at least contemplate that what they think they know may be wrong. He uses examples like concept of gravity, and how it ...
Maybe you should slip in some brand names as proxy advertising too...like while I was shaving with my xxx razor today, or while I sprayed copious quantities of xxx after shave/deo,...that way, you will reach your financial goals faster..>How's that for a prescription?
ReplyDeleteActually while sipping the last of my XXX Old Monk I saw the light!
ReplyDelete