Notice the rush of activity going on around you, like swarms of insects in a race for time. Next time you wander round the busy streets of your metropolis, stop…Give yourself time to take in the atmosphere instead of sinking in ,getting pulled in by an ever more powerful current ,driving nice citizens (hint*) in their daily rituals. You might appear out of line or even out of synch; You will become a social tourist, a stranger to modern society, even a rebel to modern day politics; But you will gain an unprecedented advantage in this modern rat race: The edge, the borderline status, a step back enabling you to view your life from a higher perspective. You wont gain control of your life (complex rational rules sadly apply: U might be taken in for heresy, with devilish consequences) , but you can more or less direct your own destiny. So where do I want to get to? Let me first give you a little anecdote.....

...A conversation I had recently with a Alzheimer’s supposed volunteer that stopped me in my tracks, while strolling around familiar parts of town. Drawn in by her deep blue eyes, I got sucked in a charitable donation speech session by an alleged charity volunteer. I use the expression alleged, because after a few inquisitions I found out it was her full time employment…
I quickly grew all the more cynical and I didn’t have to ask about the program, she was already bombarding me with data and scenarios. What surprised me was her passion for the subject, her motivations where on the contrary rather dubious…So I thought I’ll amuse myself with a bit of psychology…Not only could it help her, but satisfy my ever growing curiosity as I got drawn into her eyes (Lol , no its not a formal obsession, but it puts things into context :)

Here are a few things I found out ; She found that job last year, after an unsuccessful university year. Desperate to find employment in London to soothe her worries, she stumbled into the charity’s job applications…Then It would appear that she researched on the subject ,and attended lectures on Alzheimer’s disease. I then enquired rather playfully on her thoughts, and if she feared being diagnosed as such. Her response was expected, but she had a phobia like paranoia thing going on. A sort of hypochondriacs fever ,and she seamed quite obsessed by the fact that its an incurable disease.
I agree of course on al the above points given her given information, but I felt the duty of changing her or just attempting a slight modification of her mental attitude (in a 10 minute conversation it has no chance of working, but I had time to burn:) . My first task had to look at her surroundings and pastimes; Her lack of social interactivity became obvious; After failing her studies she must have quietly left the social pattern of going out and (seeking socialisation she must have thought that a part time job as an charity street funds raiser would fill the need…)instead of meeting new people, she got surrounded with like minded people, with the social support of a charity. Not that I have anything against charitable causes, its just that they sometimes get a bit too passionate and obsessive, and such a surrounding can’t be too useful for such a modern damsel in distress is you don’t mind the reference.
I questioned her social life and leisure’s attempting to generate a defensive attitude from her in a attempt to wake her past need for going out like any student going to Uni .Then after a brief feel good about yourself and enjoy yourself while you can speech (Americans and business people love these psychological motivators :) , I went in with the artillery by giving her the unlimited possibilities anyone has of reaching the coffin ahead of time. And that’s it, 15 minutes later she had a smile on her face, I had a smile on mine and it was just about time for lunch at Burger king.
I don’t know if I changed her mind one bit, but if there’s this minute chance it made small difference in her way of thinking… But why give you this anecdote anyway? No its not to emphasise on the fact that I’m a nice person, or that I like talking to strange people in the streets; But that its very easy to get into a routine, thus limiting our horizons and even bringing us more harm than good. We sometimes need to step back and analyse our lives, what we represent. Many of us consider themselves as simple organic and biological beings; Humans are Dictated by needs and sensations that rule their activity. Some on the contrary see themselves on a more spiritual level , leaving behind the scientific approach and relying purely on a more human echelon. This is where science meets religion, spiritualism and on formal bases , where sensations meet feelings. The ideal lies in the middle, where we rely in science but choose to believe in parallel in things we don’t really understand (yet?).

Our lives represent a fraction of existence, and time is not yet in our control. This means of course that we need to expand our possibilities, not limit ourselves to one thought, or point of view, but accept and take time to pause our lives, to fully understand the society we live in.

Q