Pensieve

All societies started off being pagan. There's no argument here (even if some Catholic politicians try to make you forget about it - for example in Poland we have some fucked up people who believe Jesus is the king of the country and his mother Mary is the Queen - I am not going into the Oedipus complex theory here, but yes, it is very tempting at the moment ).

Many symbols we know these days were in use centuries ago as protective elements.
I will go through couple of the ones that these days seem to carry a negative connotation, and one that had its meaning the improperly sanctified.



Swastika

"It is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing (卐) form or its mirrored left-facing (卍) form." Its name comes from Sanscrit and it means a "lucky object". When displayed it was supposed to provide good energy, wealth and happiness. Its origin can be traced back to 4000 b.c.
Today - if one decides wear swastika on their neck, or embroider it it their clothes they would be perceived as Nazis.
Auntie Wikipedia even says:
"The German (and Austrian) postwar criminal code makes the public showing of the Hakenkreuz (the swastika) and other Nazi symbols illegal and punishable, except for scholarly reasons."
This symbol was simply "borrowed" by Hitler, as he was hoping it will bring him luck and will show others that somehow he is worthy "inheriting" the power of gods...



Pentagram

Pentagram is in the shape of a five-pointed star drawn with five straight strokes.
Its origin can be dated up to 3000 b.c. It was used (and still is by Pagans) as a symbol of five main forces - fire, water, earth, wood, and metal.

But what is the first thing that comes into your mind when you see it? How does society perceive people wearing it their neck?
First thing that comes in mind is Satanism (and yes, we should thank the Catholic Church for this, because they make sure everything in the world is about them...).

I wear a Pentacle on my neck - and to be frank British people do not seem to notice this too much, which is great. But as soon as I head home - some devout Catho-granny will make sure she points out to me that I will be burning in hell



Cross

The cross symbol has been used in many cultures for various different purposes (it is even linked to Swastika), it can be used as a symbol of life or fertility, a "medicine wheel of life", a house protection from fire etc. etc.
For the past 1500 years (and under various shapes and names) it has mostly been used in Christian religions. Even the Inverted Cross (another pseudo-satanist link here) originated from a Christian - Saint Peter, who was crucified upside down.






It is important to remember when looking at symbols that whatever we associate to them may not be right. So many symbols are perceived as evil (or "unlucky") and they have even been prohibited in some parts of the world, but we forget about the heritage they carry with them, we forget that their original meaning is different to what we perceive it to be.
And sometimes, we give sanctified meaning to symbols that were simply protect us from bad luck (like the cross) because we fail to dig deeper and see that they haven't in fact originated in the current era.

It worries me that although now we've got access to all the knowledge in the world we choose to pick up only the messages fed to us by the mainstream groups and fail to look for the correct information ourselves.
We are becoming lazy and we turn to stereotypes for instant information...

We are hunter-gatherers (or so I was told at school). This means our behaviours can be similar to those of a magpie.
Those birds tend to pick up everything that's shiny, bring it to their nest and embed it within it.

To survive we need water, food, sex and shelter.
There is however a force, that makes (almost) every person seek for more, attempt to be better, learn new things and accumulate goods. Thanks to it we evolve as a race. We think of better ways to save time, to make ourselves more comfortable (and lazy and fat ).

I guess it is good in some ways, but on the other side - it doesn't seem to make us happier. It doesn't seem to bring us more peace of mind. We are stressed over things we don't have, and fail to appreciate the things that we do.
I call it the "Mc Syndrome" (borrowed the prefix from the name of the oh-so-famous American fast food chain).

Because everything is so easy accessible, and we don't even need to have money to buy it (let me just dig out that credit card from my wallet!) - we tend to go by quantity rather than quality.
The rumour has it that goods are no longer produced to last, as it is clearly better if you need a new TV every three years.
And boy, does getting a new one give you a rush!





Why am I writing this (for the one thousand fifth time on this blog - well the old posts are no longer visible, so I may as well indulge myself!)?

I am currently a conscious "not-owner" of any sort of TV.
I believe it feeds you shit and makes you crave more of the same...
Maybe it isn't fair - I know there are a lot of interesting documentaries to be found, I myself also like some TV series (I used to be an Ally McBeal junkie, and now enjoy watching stuff like House or Grey's Anatomy), but I am afraid that once I get a TV I will turn into a brainless maniac, eating cereal while sitting in front of the shiny box, not even looking at my hands whilst doing it.

Jacek (my partner) thinks that as we are both foreigners, having TV at home could help us progress our language onto another level (or help us with understanding more of the various accents that surround us here).
And I have already started linking his craving into mine - I always wanted to try using one of those boxes with a mat connected to it, that help you with yoga and other exercising, and I know one WILL lead to another. We will end up with a TV, satellite dish, satellite decoder, a gaming console and a surround sound system.

With already four computers at home (two PCs, one netbook and one laptop that holds SQL server on it) I am not sure whether I am ready for another set of boxes that will clutter my personal space and make humming sounds.

What's wrong with spare time spent in peace and quiet with a cuppa of earl grey with lemon and a book in your hand, or a face to face conversation with a friend instead?
It actually scares me, I don't want our evenings to change into time when we sit next to each other looking at silver screen, instead of being together consciously.

Am I turning into a technophobe?

As we approach certain milestones (not neccesarily linked to our age) some things should be rid of.

How does one decide what is to stay and what is to be let go?

Is embracing the change ever easy to anybody?