Now What Do I Do?

From Black Iron Prison

Some thoughts and ideas about the often asked question: "Now What??"

Introduction

Reverend What's-His-Name? wrote:

So, I'm here thinking. We've got some people out there wandering. Aimless and hapless. But, not all are without hope, and so some of us aim to reach them and maybe give them a little light. (black light?) So, they download a pamphlet, they look over the meme-u, they stream some POEEcasts. And so, they start to open up to some of the possibilities and philosophies we lay out. But, then what. To me there are at least two steps in the process, maybe three.

1. Open the door
2. Walk through the door
3. Keep on walking.

So it seems like what we do here is a lot of step 1, maybe some of step 2.

What can the person do for themselves besides read our propaganda? Is there, are there, activities/excercises that could help them expand their vision and to get them to continue with step 2 and step 3?

In other words, "Okay, I've read your stuff. Makes sense, I dig it. So, now what do I do?"

Suggestions

LHX wrote:

1. stay in touch
2. in the face of a society that has gone mad - take it upon yourself to Do The Right Thing™ - take more chances with your social status/ego/pride knowing that you have a community of people who wont turn their back on you if you mess it up
3. dont be lulled back to sleep by anybody/anything (it will start burning if you do)
4. explore the validity of all known limitations
5. do all of the above as extremely as you can without providing reason to be incarcerated
6. consider focussing on helping youth

Self-sufficiency is what its all about.

Rev. What's-His-Name? wrote:

It seems activities that actively engage creativity would have potential. Also activities of observation. Like, perhaps, observing something that seems ridiculously trivial and meaningless and to see if you can observe details you've always ignored.

DJRubberducky :

- "So I've read your stuff, I dig it, what now?"

- "Explain to me why it's all a load of bullshit."

Prof. Cramulus :

People asked Tim Leary what to do once they'd turned on, tuned in, & dropped out.

His advice: "Find the others."

Finding Freedom While Suffocating

by Rev. What's-His-Name?

We have to eat, we need a place to sleep, we need to clothe our bodies, and we need to take care of others in our familial units (pets included). It is vital to a certain aspect of our survival.

But then there's the other part of survival. The part that happens in the headspace.

Life happens and we happen with it. Events may dictate that we end up in a job or occupation that wasn't necessarily in our Top 5 when we were in 2nd grade. While this situation may be less than ideal, it doesn't have to be a death, or life in prison sentence.

The key is to attain, retain, and maintain that freedom in the head. This can be difficult though while life is happening around you. You are forced, by your boss, to do certain things to maintain employment, that may work against how you feel and think inside. Maybe you need to start making cold calls, when you hate getting cold calls yourself. Maybe you need to start declining more applicants, while you hate it when it happens to you. But if you don't do these things, life will happen much more harshly when the income dries up.

So, much like many things in this world, it seems like being able to balance is key. If you can walk the tightrope and keep your wits about you, you'll make it to the other end. Your aide will be your balancing beam. Maybe it's writing poetry/prose. Maybe it's creating music. Maybe it's sticking your hands in dirt in your back yard. Maybe it's scaling the nearby rocky cliff. Whatever it is, you need to keep it at hand. To keep that headspace open and free.

Because suffocation is simply where you stopped breathing.