Essays From The Master

For some this month is one of ethnic pride while for others it honors a bishop of the third century church of Rome and for others still it is a time of honoring the wild inside and outside alike. Can those that focus on a particular ethnic group this month not see that this “pride” is a way to manipulate them and set them against other groups and the other groups against them? Can those that focus on an ideal of love this month not see that this ideal is meant to control them and prevent them from accepting love as it really is even though it falls short of an ideal? For those that this month calls on the wild within and without this month too is about an ideal one that has nothing to do with living without comfort or subsisting but rather having comfort and all the rest while not losing touch with one’s primal nature that makes the rest possible. In all of the cases stated the issue of pride becomes either a prize or a trap depending on how said pride is defined and used by the individual.
Rather than devoting a month to a particular ethnic group why not build a month for each of every such group, every individual to explore the ethnic threads that they are made of? Let each individual learn from their own ethnic past over the stated month and then take those insights into daily life. Let each individual be an example of their ethnic composition rather than looking to an assumed past or future; it is the present that the individual can use to make life something to be proud of. Rather than seeking an idealized i.e. limited idea of love why not take love as those that have it to give offer and make the most of it. No matter what it is make it a love and a life to be proud of. Rather than giving the beast within and without its day why not make a point to give the beast its time, voice and other expressions it needs daily? By acting in ways to be proud of and inspiring pride in others one takes pride as a weapon out of the hands of one’s foes and those that rule the world.
The world uses the ego and the feeding of it to control others and calls it pride. This ego pride is a hammer to make individuals adhere to the masses and fit in. Things like wine or other drugs feed the ego and are thus linked to pride. The “pride” of wine and drugs dulls the senses and allows the individual to be manipulated and made to adhere to some station among the masses. When the world and groups appeal to or prick at an individual’s ego pride this is the whine of pride. The whine of pride can be seen in telling members of some group that they do not have the rights of the masses i.e. they are a sub-group and thus need special rights. The first step in losing rights is seeking them from others, if the individuals of the sub-group do what it takes to have general or common rights the sub group has the same rights as the masses and has no need to justify its particular traits to the masses. If every individual sees to their own pride by living in a way to be proud of and ignores the trap of false pride then one’s pride becomes a treasure rather than a stone to hinder one. Ego synced pride is linked to fears; actual pride is linked to productive results that are objectively open. One does away with the why of pride by right action, one does away with the wine of pride by controlling one’s intake and one does away with the whine of pride by knowing power and acceptance only comes from within.