Something Real

"From now on, I'm only concerned with things that are real"
--Russell Hammond, Almost Famous

Great movie if you haven't seen it. In it Russell Hammond is a rock star who is fed up with the "industry of cool" that is rock and roll and wants to get to what is real in life.

We discussed yet another chapter at the book club tonight. The book has got me thinking of how we could be doing things different, how we could be living different, thinking different, be doing any or everything different. Its led me to start thinking of what is reality and what is the perception of reality that we operate under. Another great movie, Sneakers, had a line in it about this. "Everything operates, not on reality, but on the perception of reality."

So this is the mental exercise... What is real? Question everything. Question the big things, question the small things, question the day to day things and the things the day to day things are based on. What's on the list? To me, the list is quite small.

Is where I live real? The physical structure of my house is, but the borders of the property I claim to own is not. California is not. America is not. We create these borders, these lines in the sand and adhere to them, protect them, fight for them.

Is money real? No its a perceived value that we adhere to and operate business and market rules by.

What about love? Fear? Being a good person? Being cool? Being smart? Paying taxes? Eating at McDonalds? Going to church? Going to work?

What are the things we live our lives by that we think are real, have always thought are real, and have been taught to never questioned otherwise?

Why don't we think of a better way to do things? Why can't we think of a better way to do things? How would we live if we didn't believe some of the things we belive? Why is our imagination held captive by the belief, "because that is the way it is"

How much better could we live with a new imagination? What things could we live without in this new imagination. What new things could we invent? Where would we live? How would we live? What would happen?

Imagine

Imagine there's no heaven,
It's easy if you try,
No hell below us,
Above us only sky,
Imagine all the people
living for today...

Imagine there's no countries,
It isnt hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
No religion too,
Imagine all the people
living life in peace...

Imagine no possessions,
I wonder if you can,
No need for greed or hunger,
A brotherhood of man,
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say Im a dreamer,
but Im not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us,
And the world will live as one.
--John Lennon

Think about those words, but don't think about living for today, but living for forever, one day at a time. What would that look like? What would that feel like?

I'm trying to imagine.

Ben...