Just some ramblings

There are some things that I have heard and thought about so many times that they become so deeply ingrained in my conception of my self that I cannot envision my existence without a knowledge of them. My philosophical teachings, I pray, get stashed in this section on my brain to be sorted and saved. I find them to be such a source of inspiration, thought provoking reflection, and just general beneficial knowledge. Among these ideas arises a VERY common idea in times of self-reflection; the notion of the herd.

I know I've written about the herd somewhere before, but tonight we had a discussion where thoughts about this general state began popping up in my mind. Rather than let them flee into the night, I shall trap them in the little black writing box that is my laptop. So what is this herd? The herd is the very thing you DON'T want to exist within. It discourages free thought, originality, creativity and intelligence in place of conformity, mindlessness, consumerism and a general lack of awareness. Your image of an animalistic herd probably isn't too far off of what the human equivalent amounts to. Everyone looks the same, shares the same interests, runs together and is directed by a more influential presence. Unfortunately, in our society, these presences care more about our money than they do anything else. This isn't so much a "bad herders" rant as it is a "what gives?" rant.

Either you're one who is in the herd, is aware of the herd, and attempts as best you can, on as many occasions possible to break free of this herd. Or you're unaware of the existence of the herd (or, i presume, aware of it, but content to exist within it). Lets say for our sake you're in group A, such as myself. Yes, we could be scolded and reprimanded for doing what our bad-intentions society says to do, but as I say, not in this particular post. Rather, think to yourself, "what gives?"

Tonight I had a presentation by a professor on the nature of education. His argument was pretty brilliant, (ask if you're interested, be forewarned of its length) but he arrived at a fairly lofty conclusion. We need to fix this position we're stuck in, as all of our conventional systems and institutions are causing more harm than good. We need change; we need a REVOLUTION! But yet, is it a realistic goal that is likely to be achieved? No. What will it take for real changes; not motivated by finances or personal gain, to occur? If we all are in group A, and continuously pulling people out of the herd, what will it take for us to realize our conventional ways of living will also need massive overhauls in tangible, revolutionary ways? For a planet that spends billions exploring the rest of space, you'd think we'd concern ourselves a little bit more with the problems on our own turf. The last thing a herd like this needs is more land to tread on.

What would it take for our conventional systems to transform? For our emphasis to shift from major corporations and institutions towards the individuals? The only hope one can cling to is that people will become aware of the flaws of our old paradigms and attempt to free themselves from this old way of thinking. Beyond that, it seems nothing will ever be done to change the status quo in all its areas. It's a shame that we may all arrive at the same intellectual conclusions and yet concede that it is beyond our influence to do anything about these problems. Thus, not only shall I say "down with the man", but down with all who support this same man. We should have put a woman in charge.