F*ck It Friday- Absurdity, Absolutes and Amaranthine Loveliness

Inspired by a book a friend had suggested I read I decided what better way to start off the Easter weekend with thoughts on Albert Camus’ The Myth of Sisyphus. The essay touches on futile attempt in finding meaning and clarity in one’s life in the wake of an unfathomable world absent of a God or eternal truth. The essay reveals the crippling vulnerability of humankind and its inability to accept the utterly tragic purpose of life; life has no predestined absolute, simply being has neither intent nor reason, rather, it is an existence that is entirely subjective. Absurdism embodies this concept; one will inevitably fail at any attempt to find a rational explanation of the existence of humanity within an immeasurable world.

How delightful isn’t it? Why is it I find such a bleak and devastatingly bold theory to be incredibly romantic? Camus made several things clear throughout this essay that spark my pessimism into a new level of superiority over those who believe in a higher power: the absurd arises when humans feel the need to justify the purpose of tomorrow, the absurd man should live through action not rational thinking, one must relieve oneself from false hope, and finally, much like the mythological Greek myth of Sisyphus, one must acknowledge the tragedy of life’s immeasurability in order to be content. That seems fair enough right?
For F*ck It Friday I couldn’t help but see the incandescent truth that emits from such a dismal, yet entirely reasonable, theory and want to share it’s gloom and doom with the world. However much I’d like to live in a world where my fate is predestined to a life amongst fairies and clouds I find it highly unlikely, more so, sitting on this notion seems anything but didactic towards humanity; perhaps it is no more than a misleading concept that keeps people cozy in their delusional world of spiritual hierarchies and periwinkles… yah, I said periwinkles what of it? I'm not trying to be too extreme here, I do believe extreme positions are only ever followed by contrary extreme positions. I suppose I just want to glare into a world where the medium of time and meaning has disappeared; it seems it is only then when everything backwards becomes rather lucid to me.

F*ck It Friday... Religion is a Pill you must Swallow without Chewing

“Faith means not wanting to know what is true.” - Friedrich Nietzsche

However much I’d like to believe in a higher power, to be oblivious to the realities of the world must be rather easy living, I can’t help but fail to comprehend the dim-witted agenda of such an outrageous concept. Religion tends to advocate notions of happiness and peace, claiming a believer is far happier than a skeptic. Ummm…What!? To say a skeptic is less content with their life than a believer is no more to the point than the fact that a drug addict is happier than someone who is sober; the happiness of gullibility is a cheap, spent piece of used jet trash that is utterly dangerous. You get what I’m sayin?

For “F*ck It Friday” I decided to showcase an author/journalist who is the star of the league of new Atheist writers. Seen as the bad boy of modern Atheism, Christopher Hitchens regularly stumbles into literary conventions unshaven, a lit cigarette hanging provocatively out the side of his mouth and a glass of scotch in his hand. However unconventional his appearance and demeanor may appear he is a brilliant, and civilized, writer. Hitchens will always casually say whats on his mind without pausing for a thought and embellishes his claims with sonnets of Shakespeare... see, Atheists can be romantic too.
His most noted work, God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons everything, claims the days have long past when major religions were selling, successfully, their bogus beliefs. Ultimately those were the days when there was nothing better to offer other than the tranquility of an afterlife; a crude and ridiculous explanation of the world was far better than no explanation at all.

Interesting isn’t it? Perhaps it is time we recognize religion does three distinct things: indoctrinates, controls, and most importantly, divides people. By creating a fictitious figure (Gawwwd…) that has the manners and morals of a spoiled child is rather dangerous. Is it not enough to look at the world in its pure beauty without having to credit the picturesque image to a benevolent being, or that there are little angels beneath the ground that are watching our every move to determine whether we will be going to burn in the pits of hell or not?! As far as I am concerned, the world has suffered far less from ignorance then the pretentious notions of believers. It is not skeptics but ideologues who threat civility and progress. No atheists ever burned anyone at the stake or tortured those who oppose their views. I believe the bible to be nothing but a fairytale book of rules and laws that indoctrinate the naive which in turn has helped create war, hatred, oppression, discrimination and judgment.

Say Whaaaa Wednesday... "The Satanic Verses"

I realized I hadn’t post much on literature, besides my own poetry, so for “Say Whaaa… Wednesday” I decided to advocate the need to read controversial books. It seems a stark controversy couples rather nicely with a pleasant story, whether fiction or non-fiction, which always invokes a sense of mischievousness in the reader… oh yes, literature can be bad ass too don’t you know! The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie was read as a sacrilegious treatment of the Islamic faith as Rushdie refers to the Prophet Muhammad as Mahound, which is the medieval name for the devil. The public was outraged and riots broke out in 1989 over the publication of the book where people were killed and many injured in India. Wow, religious tolerance in the world is just blissful isn’t it? I find it ironic so many religions say everyone is equal under the eye of "God"; now wouldn’t that include differing opinions and writers who choose to express their opinions through fictitious novels?

Rushdie did however issue an apology but, get this, Iranian spiritual leader Ayotollah Khomeini went to the extent to issue a $1 million bounty for killing the author, increasing that to $3 million if the assassin was Iranian. Even Venezuelan officials threatened anyone who owned the books could possibly be sentenced to 15 months in prison! The Japanese imposed a fine for anyone selling the English edition and translators were getting murdered for interpreting the book for interested individuals. Major U.S book dealers even removed the book from their shelves due to death threats and Rushdie remained in hiding for almost a decade.

Wow, such hostility towards the book makes it all the more appealing! I couldn’t believe a novel could cause such chaos throughout the world, especially since it was simply criticizing a religious… ohhhh right, I forgot.

F*ck It Friday... It's Got to be a Chocolate Jesus

Yummm… you know if the lord was made of chocolate I’d probably be religious. Actually I take that back, there are bigger, and more substantial, issues I have with Christianity rather than the fact that their savior lacks a delicious coating of sweet candy. For “F*ck It Friday” I came across a rather popular piece of work that was showcased at The Laby Gallery in Manhattan in 2007. Cosimo Cavallaro created a 6-foot replica of Jesus Christ hanging from the cross titled “My Sweet Lord”, made of chocolate. The piece was revealed during Easter and stirred up a lot of controversy in the brief 2 day showing. Art Director Matt Somler took down the piece and resigned immediately after feeling tremendous pressure from religious communities.

I am not seeing the big deal here? It’s a Chocolate Jesus, where’s the controversy in that? Cavallaro didn’t through a tutu and paint a swastika symbol on the guy’s forehead or anything? This type of pious suppression is exactly the issue our contemporary world is facing in regards to religious tolerance. Look, I’d like to think I am an agnostic atheist; I don’t believe there is any sort of deity that dictates my life, however, I also don’t believe there is any conclusive argument that proves there is not a god. I am not trying to bash Christianity, well yes I am actually. I suppose I have just grown tired of religious jack asses infiltrating every aspect of our social and political culture in order to ease their insecurities, after all, they have been doing it since the beginning of time. Tom Waits wrote a lovely song about a chocolate Jesus and sums up my conception on the whole matter:

"When the weather gets rough
And it's whiskey in the shade
It's best to wrap your savior
Up in cellophane
He flows like the big muddy
But that's ok
Pour him over ice cream
For a nice parfait."

The Proverbs of Religious Bigotry- Part I: An Atheist’s Confession

I want to believe
in a power beyond my own.
In trust, in faith - to be naïve;
my heart no longer harbor in stone.
Can I be freed by those who trail,
misspoken words of no avail,
from a God who’s presence is so cold?

A dire time eats my will.
Disparity seals my heart that I’m
finding refuge in his petty shrill.
My voice; no more words
than scriptures laced with lines that blur.
Spoken truth I do prefer
then be amongst rows of statues,
extremely lonely.

Pity enables the foolish kind,
saluting a welcomed anguish.
A guide who tames the deaf and blind
with a fallacious love he bestows.
My tired self has drowned,
in convenience that I have found,
to burn my eyes with such a sound
as piercing as gospels sang by the partisan of Satan.