Nestor's Cola

Your average person lives in a world of fear and guilt. It doesn’t matter that they lead wholesome, worthwhile lives. There’s a guilt that ‘someone in authority’ will inevitiably call them to account for their actions.

I’ve always been a fan of psychology and sociology. I took courses in each in both high school and college. I don’t have the attention span for them to dedicate anything more than a casual study, but while in college, there was this one lab we did. Approach a random person you’re somewhat familiar with. A friend, colleague, accquintance, co-worker, etc. Looking very serious, accusatory, even, ask them this: “Did you really think you’d get away with it?” The obvious reaction would be confusion. “Huh?” Surprisingly enough, though, that’s not the case. The typical reaction is guilt.

There was a lot of theories postulated as to why people would feel guilty. One was that people are afraid that they live a lie. Think about that for a moment. People are afraid that they live a lie. What lie is that? People are ashamed of their successes. People are afraid to admit their own self-worth. People live in fear. Fear, and guilt.

The fact that people live in fear and guilt (unreasonably, I’m not talking about people who deservingly live in these emotions) isn’t what interests me. What interests me is why.

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I bring this up because I’m talking about my Heroes. If the average person lives in guilt and fear, my heroes are the people that laughingly and happily defy that ideal. To live in fear is to live imprisioned, to define your existence through the bars on the windows. You’re only free to express yourself within boundaries. Often the fear and guilt (my opinion) is that society itself will call you to account for your actions. Maybe, in fact, we’re so terrified of being ostracized from the community that we instinctively become trapped in a fear-guilt loop? I dunno, and I’m not prone to speculation.

This is an example of breaking ultimately useless and crippling ties, of tearing down the bars of your self-imposed cage. In this example, Tragicsmile is one person I hold a deep respect for- he recognized the need to stop pissing and moaning, and enjoy life. There is no shame in doing things unconventionally. There is no shame that you shouldn’t feel, unless it’s truly deserving. Isn’t it liberating, knowing that doing things unconventionally can achieve an inner peace?

If cleaving oneself unto society’s strictures and norms removes a selfish, egocentric identity, you’ll lose yourself. breaking away from society and doing something radically free returns you to a state where you have to deal with the one person you’re really terrified of. Yourself. No one is more harsh and punishing on someone than themself. And if you can come to terms with yourself, come to know and understand yourself so well that you are unshakable, you’ll never feel that overwhelming guilt and fear again. (again, my opinion)

Wow, that was a bit disjointed, and for that, I humbly apologize.

1. People live in guilt and fear. It’s my opinion that this stems from societal pressures to conform.
2. People lose themselves while in tune with societal conformity.
3. People are afraid of being held accountable for their lives.
4. People are afraid that they’ll be held accountable for not being true to themselves.
5. The people I respect and admire are the ones who are most in tune with themselves, and cast aside the belief that conformance to societal norms and mores is essential.

I invite you all to strip your minds naked, tear away any preconcieved notions, and read Ayn Rand’s Anthem. It’s a book about individuality and society. More importantly, it’s about the utter awesomeness of the word we use only in negative ways these days. The Ego.

tragicsmile, If you’ve got any problems with me referencing your LJ entry, let me know and I’ll be more than willing to remove it.

Nestor Dissertation, Imported piece, Quick Post, Sociology

Before we talk about my heroes, we have to talk about the anatomy of heroes, and the creation thereof.

A hero is mythical and insubstantial. A hero is literally ten feet tall and invincible, insane and superhuman. There’s a distance between the hero and the society that spawns it. A hero exists slightly outside of the light of civilization.

One is not simply born a hero. A hero is created through society’s belief. That’s the keystone of the Hero’s power: Belief. His power stems from the people that believe in him. Belief and faith are powerful energies. If someone can believe into existence a souless, bloodsucking vampire that preys on hapless virgins by the light of the moon, has far-ranging powers that allow him to ride moonbeams as insubstantial dust, it’s also belief that says that a simple wooden stake through the heart will destroy such a fearsome and terrifying creature.

Let’s take a look at the society in question, and the different kinds of people that make up that society.

It’s my belief that there’s a limited amount of types of people.
There are victims. naturally born, weak, sickly ones whose sole purpose is fodder for those who prey on them. I believe that we, as society evolved the need for murderers, rapists, and social deviants; as we have no natural predators that weed out our weak and sickly. What I’m saying is this: as a herd runs across the savannah, the weak and sickly ones fall behind, allowing the natural predators to strike. Would this not be something that’s designed, ordained? If everyone were naturally and perfectly designed, there would be no balance; I’m saying that sooner or later there is a genetic boundary that says randomly “You are born to be food.” Society created the need for predators, and we fufilled our own need, and satisfy it through the creation of victims. it’s a self-perpetuating cycle. So, there are victims.

Next, we have survivors. A survivor bears a striking resemblance to victims, except that they have one additional attribute, they survive. They continue on, wavering beween the leaders and the victims, defining existence not from being food for others, or leading others, but being the comfortable middle ground that exists between them. These are the workhorses of any society, the middle of the pack runners, the people who are satisfied with mediocrity and following in the footsteps of others. No trailblazers, these!

Then, you have your leaders. Your leaders, be they nominated for the position, or through meritous deed, are leaders because they want to lead, to forge a path, to control not only themselves and their direction, but also influence those around them. Leaders define their existence through what they can do, not only for themselves, but for others as well.

So these are the kinds of people that spawn heroes. Let’s take a look at the anatomy of a hero.

I reiterate: a hero is apart from the light of civilization. They hold themselves apart; that’s one of the defining characteristics that define them. They are apart, they are outside. They work at cross-purposes to society’s wishes. They break the bonds of conformity and normalcy, they destroy the bonds we impose upon ourselves. They inspire. They reach down from their impossible, superhuman heights, and they lift our chins up, forcing us to see at least a glimpse of the bigger picture.

A Hero is hopelessly insane. They defy our rules, the structure of society, violating our standards, mores, values, trends, basically everything we decide is ‘right’, ‘normal’, ‘accepted as common sense’. A Hero will lasso cyclones and defy logic. He typically does it with a smile on his face, too.

A Hero is impervious, invincible, and immutable. He’s an icon. as a representative of our hopes and dreams, they hold a quality to them that defies mortality, an impervious ideal that can withstand the greatest of assaults.

Why, then, do we believe in something that is outside, utterly batshit insane, and impervious? Because, at the very bottom of the list, a hero is essentially human. It’s that essential humanity that inspires and drives us. They’re ‘one of us’ and if they have any real worth to us, they never forget that essential human aspect.

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My heroes are none of these things. My heroes are normal, everyday people, people that seperate themselves from the pack. People that lift their own heads up from staring at their own shoes as we all march in the traces, lift their heads high and can see above and beyond the hunched shoulders of the rest of us. Those of us that break away from the herd because that’s not what we need. We don’t need the herd, though to use the herd to accomplish our goals is simplicity in and of itself. We have no need or desire to exist in the light of civilization. We can break away and live without regrets or remorse at will. Those of us that cannot and will not be restrained; those of us that are free and defiant.

Those are my heroes.

Nestor Dissertation, Imported piece, Quick Post, Rant, Sociology

Today we’ll talk about behavior patterns. volumes can be written (or spoken) about the way a person stands, the tilt of his head, the way he moves. the more he moves and acts, the way he interacts with others, tells more about who they are and what they’re thinking than anything he’ll say.

Now, you might say that each person is unique, and each one will do things in a different way, and to some extent you’re right, until we start adding certain universal constants.

Mankind is at turns, social and antisocial. He moves between these two extremes vaguely, drifting between these polar opposites at any one time.

Mankind likes things set, ordered, and patterned. He likes routine. Of course, just like he is at turns social and anti social, he is organized and disorganized, logical and chaotic.

societal and peer influences also control and curb his movements. some people prefer the straight handshake, others prefer the over and under handshake, etc, etc.

These are the foundations that everything else is pretty much built off. Other variables factor in, even so obscure and ambigious as time of day, the weather, etc.

But the point is, once you start grasping the fundamentals, you can predict people’s actions and behaviors. Once you interact with them, you understand that there’s personal constants as well.

Study Sociology. It’s fucking badass. You learn about traits, mores, belief systems, trends, counterculturism, nilhism, all sorts of facinating things that really point towards a more… hive psychology. the psychology and methodology of society as a whole.

Then, study psychology. The psychology of the individual. Watch people. your brain cracks open like a walnut and you sit there, gape-jawed, wondering exactly why the fuck it was all a mystery to you before.

People are predictable. once you know the patterns, you can anticipate the end result of any series of actions and interactions.
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Once the wonder wears off, You have a surprise waiting for you. The surprise is this: There are no more surprises. no matter what kind of interaction you have with people, as long as you’re perceptive, you know exactly what they will do. A beginning conversation reveals the conclusion.

It’s also very boring. You can’t ignore it.

Nestor Dissertation, Imported piece, Quick Post, Rant, Sociology

What’re you guys doing for Halloween?

I usually do this: I’ll post it in instructional form, so you can do it too.

1. Go to salvation army, Goodwill, Deseret Industries, whatever thrift store you have. Buy pants two or three sizes larger than you. a couple oversized shirts, too.
2. purchase clothesline. the good cotton kind, as thick as your thumb.
3. Chad and I rock and wall climb, so we have climbing harnesses. dress in pants and put on the harness. put the pants on over the ones you are wearing to conceal the harness.
4. Braid a noose with the clothesline. Not hard to do.
5. Get hoisted up in tree outside your house by the harness. the good harnesses have a clip in the back. if they don’t, use a carribeaner to secure. run the climbing rope your back. put on your shirts to conceal the climbing rope.
6. drape noose around your neck. get hoised up into the tree by the climing ropes. secure tightly.
7. adjust the noose so that it looks like you’ve been hanged. (Make sure not to strangle yourself, ‘kay?)
8. wait for the kids.

When the kids see you, grunt groan, and make choked, strangling noises. move around a bit.

enjoy.

the kids really scream.

as an added bonus, fill your pockets with hard candy. pelt the kids.

Nestor Imported piece, Quick Post, Sociology