Delta W Over Delta T

Mondays are like the paparazzi if you're famous. You know they're there and you know they are coming, but you would never guess they would come so fast, so effectively, and so ruthlessly.

And yet there is nothing to be done about it. Well that's not entirely accurate. Every problem has a solution and if your enemy is time (or in this case dates) then just destroy the clock (or in this case calendar). Let get out of the world of time. Stop working and stop living by dates. Then mondays become sunny days which are ultimately much better. How much of their lives has the past three generations thrown away cooped up in their offices? Too much I don't doubt it. So much time lost exploring the outdoors or spending time with their families and loved ones. In the name of what exactly? Money. It's more than that though. It's power. Marx was wrong when he said religion was the opiate of the masses. It's power or the illusion thereof. Religion is just one road to it. It's power over death, over the unknown. Capitalism gives power through monetary means. Power over fellow men. Both systems give the potential for power too. Meaning in both religion and capitalism, power is promised to the people. It is achievable if only they follow a set of rules. Whether its attaining atonement or climbing the corporate latter.

Prove or disprove that point. Power is the opiate of the masses and all societal institutions are designed for the consolidation or dispersion of power. By that I mean, if people aren't in a position to wield power they are cowed by the promise of it one day (or I suppose to be more Machievellian cowed by the fear of the power). At worst this is a new way of stating some old ideas. At best its a new way of thinking about the world (at least its new to me). I mean the assertion is obvious, people crave power. My question is does motivation explain broad scale behavior at a nation-state and institutional level?


Back to small scale applications
Clearly, I'm not happy with the way I'm going about achieving power. Fueled by greed, I can't be bothered to take the long way (long working hours) of achieving power. I also can't think of any thing that would short circuit the system and propel me straight to the top. One option (and I want to say only other option left) is to redefine my worldview in such a way so that the power I have is more meaningful. Ie say fuck it leave this boring job and go do something cool and support myself through whatever means. The power that would bring is freedom, power of action. I guess it is not so much of a redefining as it is a summoning of courage to burst from the mold I've been forced into. The fear that keeps me rooted to my seat even now is the fear of failure or in these terms the fear of becoming powerless. O what a to-do.

On a final note, I just looked up the scientific definition of power because I was curious. Change in work over change in time. Meaning, scientifically, to be powerful you have to do more work over less time whereas all I want to do is less work over more time. Interesting.

and once again I am beaten to the punch. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_(philosophy)
One day I will have a thought and it will be truly original

I can do anything that I want cauz look

So like undergrads everywhere, graduation scares the hell out of me. I don't know where this sentiment came from but I feel like I've heard it expressed in different places. The one that comes to mind is fight club.

You are not snowflakes.

Not everyone is an astronaut when they grow up.

I keep trying to write this post and keep thinking to myself, "Fuck, Fuck fuck fuck fuck".
Really, this is coming down to the existentialist point of what is the point? Which is a very good question.

I mean you keep coming back to the same question of why why why why why?

So there i sit in an office, unhappy and for what? For what exactly? Well the short end answer is money. I need money to do cool things. I never understood people who traded away their happiness for money. All the grad students who have no free time and get no personal enjoyment out of anything. Sure some people enjoy being a lawyer or a doctor or find their studies compelling, but I feel like the large majority don't. My question is why doesn't it bother them but it bothers me. The constant work, the feeling of being a drone. i mean what exactly is the point of all of this. "Life is what you make it make it good."

The best part is many people would love to have jobs right now. If i had the choice between work and starvation or work and housing would that make it better. Would i enjoy work then and be grateful for the opportunity. Maybe it's because I still hold out the hope that there is something worth doing that I will enjoy doing. I don't know. (no one ever does)

I find interesting parallels to this situation I'm in (ie Routinely depressed to get up and go to work in the morning) and The Matrix. Free your mind, being the main point of that movie (well the first one anyway), is an excellent mantra. Once you free your mind you can do anything. The mind must be truly freed though. The mind be liberated from restriction, law, society, and morality. It must be subject to know will but its own. And then the mind can accomplish anything.

I say this because if my mind were free. Free from parents, free from money, I would be in Boston right now having a great time.

Neo is symbolic of this freedom too (well obviously). I mean it in the sense that he is only one. He is only one because so few people can accept the consequences of freedom. The abandonment of family and friends (though he has none which makes it easier). The merciless pursuit of the enforcers of the minds incarceration (agents). I mean if I tried to free myself from the American system I would face many problems. Food would be chief among them. How do u feed yourself with no job? ....Steal. Stealing is generally frowned upon thus a problem.

The opposition towards mental liberation is strong. Furthermore, most restriction to freedom enforces some kind of routine. Routine is the enemy of creativity the only weapon with which to free the mind. Basically when things go downhill they go downhill in a hurry.

The most annoying part about this whole debate is I cannot figure out if this is a legitmate concern or just something I need to get over. I seriously hope its not the latter.