And the Precise Rules of Life Are...? - Confessions of an Indolent Mystic #2

I wonder to myself, what are the precise rules for men and urinating in toilets? Are we not allowed to pee sitting down AT ALL? Sometimes I sit down to poo, but I pee first out of necessity... actually, I almost always pee before pooing (sometimes it takes so long I no longer need to poo). Should I feel shame?

Read From the Start: Part #1 here

Do we even know who we are anymore or what's right? The refrain of our current culture is "people can figure things out for themselves. We're all adults," but is that true? It's an unpopular and not-very-egalitarian thing to say that most people can't figure most things out for themselves and don't behave as adults all by themselves. Only a few of us elect to be philosophers, priests/druids/shamans, and civil servants/politicians - and even these people can't possibly comprehend the details of each other's jobs. I'd say it's actually to everyone's benefit if society came to the realisation that most of us don't know how to live because it relieves so much pressure from the already-tiring task of existing at all. Back in the day, these elevated classes of people would simply spread poems and stories (myths) which would convey the right ways of behaving in the various spheres of life, while underneath in subtext providing clues to young philosophers-and-civil-servants-to-be to decode and understand why those rules were constructed.

Let's face it, when we practice "true Democracy" in our culture everything gets boiled down to the most convenient form - in other words, the most convenient and materialistic. Those obscure but beneficial social customs that once underpinned our society fall by the wayside and EVERY ASPECT OF OUR LIVES follows the McDonald's business model: efficiently serve what's demanded and clear the floor so the new batch of customers don't even realise you were there earlier that day. This new consciousness is exemplified by the Millennial generation, as if that efficiency is not upkept, there will definitely be complaints!

A realm in which this McDonaldization of reality has occurred, which I can use by example here since we all partake in it, is: copulation. Literally today you can pick up your phone and swipe on faces of people in your locality and decide on a moment's glance whether you want to FUCK this person or not. Everyone, made up like a Big Mac on a commercial or the overhead menus at the counter - individuals. But like 99% of the burgers you buy in-store, 99% of the people you meet on the various digital dating apps and sites aren't what they are portrayed as if you scratch enough beneath of the surface. As a result, most (for example) Tinder dates don't go beyond the singular encounter for this reason. Either because one or both parties know this Big Mac picture isn't the real thing or they're simply out for a one-off fuck so presentation is all they're after. Back in the day you went to the local dance hall and the local matchmaker put you together. Today, where do you go?

Eight or so years ago I wandered into the New Age crystal/book/incense booth to buy myself some incense. I was immediately accosted by the young woman (who I later learned was filling in for the owner on lunch break) immediately and invited me for a coffee. She seemed... flustered... hyper, and maybe a little bit of a blissninny. I was personally shocked by the whole encounter and simply paid the girl for my incense, took my change, and shuffled off in a state of bemusement. After a day of trying to figure out what the fuck just happened I returned and asked the owner who she was, yet pursued it no further. Fast-forward to a month ago, visiting my local health food store proved to be another social hurdle as for a month-running this one particular woman seemed to always be on staff behind the register and always made small-talk with me, making fun of my misanthropic despondency, and gently shaking me out of my situational depression. I made nothing of it until last week, at 5:30PM near closing time, when we had gotten the pleasantries out of the way and she expressed her gladness for being so close to the end of her workday... as she handed me my change, the crazy cunt went ahead and said "I feel hungry out of nowhere for some reason." I was in a state of "I'm doing my weekly shopping" and thinking nothing more of the people who checked me out as the employees of that premises, so it was only until I was thirty seconds out the door when I copped that the woman was fishing for an invitation for a coffee (at least according to myself and the 10 other people I asked about this).

So is that now the new frontier of meeting people? RETAIL? Is that the last bastion of organic encounters? It certainly seems to be within the female domain of control as it's generally a woman taking your order or checking you out, so now she has a captive audience for at least 30 seconds on a routine basis to swoon whatever has flown into her web. Heck, I'm not complaining - I've spent my whole life wondering and complaining why it is that a woman can't make the leap herself for once - it just took me by complete surprise?

What are we becoming? More on this tomorrow, Gods willing.