Static

Sometimes we become static, and the thing about static is that seems to be moving, but it’s reality is stationary: all those lines on the TV ARE moving, but they’re moving no farther than the screen will allow them; all those sounds are moving around, but they’re confined to the space the headphones will allow them; all those feelings between people exist only so long as they’re allowed to exist. The essential irony of static is that it seems to be something much more than it is. It pretends to take up all this time and space, but it’s pulling a French Drop and you’re missing the whole point.
Life can get very caught up with the static is involved in, and this causes the person who is in the unfortunate position of dealing with the static the sense that they’re dealing with something truly important; however, when it becomes possible to step back, the affected person sees clearly that what they were dealing with was bullshit.
I suppose that what I’m talking about here is the liberation that comes from turning off the TV, putting down the headphones, and letting those feelings go. It turns out that the scope of complication to which we subject ourselves is precisely our own doing.
Ancient practitioners of the phrase “first, take care of the self,” would practice three things in the attempt to develop the self and understand how much of our mental anguish is brought on us by ourselves.
First, they would test themselves. These tests would take the form of deprivation and exercise in poverty. For example, one documented test of the self was to develop a hunger through doing sport, present oneself with a table full of delicious and savory foods, then turn away and be content (if not happy) having the same food as the slaves. Granted, the people giving themselves this test were usually well-off men of some station in society, but could you imagine the aristocracy or the upper sector of the bourgeoisie in America practicing poverty in this way? The question would come up: why should I? The answer would come back: “We shall be rich with all the more comfort, if we once lean how far poverty is from being a burden.”
Second, they would interrogate themselves. Interrogate has a lot of negative connotations, but what it means in this context is more like cross-examination—although that particular word seems to be AS loaded with negative connotations as the other. Essentially, it means that when you wake up, you ask yourself what you plan to get accomplished that day in terms of the development of the soul—not just a list of chores that need tending to. How will you expand your understanding of truth? How will you find your way to that which is consistently good? How will you move gently correct your brother who has gone astray? Once you have prepared yourself for the day, go through your day with these goals in mind, and before you go to bed, review. What did I do today to help develop my soul? What did I do today to expand my understanding of truth? What bad habit have I cured today? What fault have I resisted? In what respect am I better? The facts of human reality are that we are the only creature capable of developing itself into something better. Birds do not try to be better birds. Dogs, left to their own devices, will only seek out food and the occasional hump. Humans are in the unique position to become better humans through the development of their character.
Finally, they would focus on the labor of thought with itself as goal. This is related to the fact that man is the only animal that is capable of thinking about thinking. In other words, if you take the unique structure of human consciousness, it allows for this metacommentary of thought. It is the consistent check-up on the representations we have in our minds. When we see something, it represents something else to our minds, and is that secondary image appropriate, unbiased, tuned to the development of the good? The best example is money. In the time before money was as standardized as it is and there were variations in coinage—the nascent stages of money—a vendor would spend a long time verifying that a coin was what it was claiming to be. They would bite it, they would throw it in a metal bowl and listen to the sound, and they would take as much time as necessary to ensure that what they were getting was the genuine article and not something derivative. The same care ought to be taken with the thoughts that course through us. Is this something wholesome? Is it derivative information? Where does the image that I’m forming actually come from? Am I simply repeating a formulaic seeming-truth given to me from outside, or am can its veracity be determined through my combination of theory and experience.
These practices were taken very seriously by those who chose get involved with them. After all, if you’re going to be a great runner, then you should probably take care of your feet and exercise often. If you’re going to be a great wrestler, then you should practice frequently and take care of the body. If you’re going to be a great man, then you should develop the soul daily, and take care of the mind.
It is precisely at this point that static comes back into play: we live in a society of spectacles, distractions from a reality that is possible to develop. What happens when we choose to focus on the spectacle nature of society is that we delve balls deep into the static, we leave the TV static running at a very loud volume, we turn up the headphones, and we take our gaze away from the development of the self.
I don’t know why, but I feel like it is important here to state that this development of the self is in terms of the society that the self is inside. It is every man’s duty for the development of the society to develop the self. This is very different from the selfish ambitions of those who would radically attempt to take charge of their lives and thereby take control of others—I guess I’m thinking of Smith’s stupid hand and all those ruthless business bastards whose only goal is making money…this is not the development of the self for the betterment of society. I hate you Adam Smith. At what point did you forget that the reason humans have to develop themselves is because they essentially suck at living.
I guess what I’m here to advocate is the turning off of the TV—in a literal and metaphorical sense, the taking off of the headphones—is that a gasp of horror from iPod advocates everywhere that I hear, and returning the gaze to the development of the self. Take back control of your life by cutting through the bullshit static that seems to expand the more we allow it to gather. It is almost as if, once we give it a foothold in our life, the complacency and laziness that comes with unessential drama mushroom clouds until it is all we see. The point is, of course, to not let things get that far. Start practicing selfness now. Start waking up and making sure that you have a plan for making yourself better.
If you don’t know how, take some advice from the ancients, because the development of the character of the self necessarily involved reading, writing and physical activity. Start up a simple regiment of thinking in the morning. Find a good meditation book like “The Art of Living” or “The Tao Teh Ching” or “The Art of War” and start your day off by thinking about HOW you can make yourself a better human being… just thinking. That goal being accomplished (and it shouldn’t take any more than fifteen or thirty minutes), watch one less TV show and use the time to go running. If you can’t run, go for a walk. Join the gym. Start a yoga class. The body is the seat of the mind and a healthy body aids in the health of the mind. Finally, do some writing at the end of the day and recount what you did to make yourself better. Recall the words from the book you had read earlier. Write about the things you thought as you walked. Were they wholesome? Were they directed to the essential challenge of nature for the human being: how can I be better at being? Follow this simple regiment for one month and see if anything comes of it. Put down Dan Brown and pick up Epictetus. Turn off American Idol and go for a walk. Write.