The Ghost of Value

In a world seemingly overrun with rampant visual distraction and endless methods designed to lure the otherwise selfless individual to become a narcissist, there are those who feel lost and adrift in rushing waters. It may seem like the idea of life is to develop a keen sense to stay relevant in a fast moving world, as the human condition seems to be going too fast, and too eager to leave the value of the past behind as quickly as possible. To hold onto things quickly aging is viewed as nostalgic or longing for identity in artifacts adrift in the subconscious and not represented in the visual spectrum any longer. The discarding of personal anchors is not only necessary for humanity to thrive as a species, but is also necessary for psychological evolution that the universe requires to even unlock a fraction of its secrets.

To begin a complete detachment of relation to material wealth, one must find greater reward in the experience within a single moment, rather than a sum total of prior experiences. To live in a blur of present and past is what gives objects such as expensive cars and jewelry their value as manifest in today's society. The idea that one can parade around material wealth, but enjoy it in privacy just the same is proof of this. If one buys an expensive Mercedes, the value can be twofold. On one hand, the owner can drive the car as a status symbol, feeling a sort of sense of accomplishment via extension of the good they possess, but also drive the car in private down a desolate road and enjoy the functions and comfort it provides. However, it is important to note that the function of value in one's life is constantly in flux and dependent on factors such as personal, subjective perceptions of quality of life as well as overall health mentally and physically. For instance, if one suddenly becomes sick with a highly debilitating terminal illness that cripples them greatly physically, owning this expensive car, the value of the Mercedes changes drastically as it no longer is able to be driven with prestige the same way, lets say, as to a nigthclub or to a social function where the car is the extension of the assumed health and projected perfection of the owner. At some point a moment of division occurs within the subconscious mind where a person is forced to reckon with the mechanical and the sublime. Things that once held value from their perceived newness and the subsequent adventurous freedom it introduces in otherwise mundane existence soon turn into maintenance and necessity in order to gain more, and thus a never ending downward spiral is constructed.

To find the correlation between the ideal and the actual in regards to ones' overall life story, there has to be a firm grounding in value that is rooted in either one or the other. The other must be an emergent force and be ready to be discarded without emotional attachment. Either one must live fully in the moment, only caring about the present and temporary luxury, therefore not caring about forming extensive bonds with the actual or one must seek the more solid and well grounded aspects of life and view temporary things and the present as ever fleeting, therefore invaluable. A sort of harmful duality exists in one that tries to embody both of these in that there is no perspective of what is objectively real and substantial in any meaningful context. The idea that something must in visual form or available to the touch in order to be "something" is also an unfortunate illusion of the human mind, as it tricks itself to find anchor in something other than itself. When in reality, the perception and processing of anything the senses land on is in itself a "thing" or a "moment". This is precisely where the value of a memory arises, and rightfully so.

Perhaps the most important things in life are the ideal that is cast from imagination in the moment. A memory, while already significantly faded twenty years after the creation of it, is only interesting to remember because of the mind's desire to play with it and project it onto current reality. The same is said with a material object being held in the present. The object itself is what it is, but it becomes more than what it is when the mind attempts to play with it and dream about its other possibilities selfishly by the observer.

This is the seat of value, and why it is important to remember that it isn't a bad thing if you're not as well off with material wealth as your neighbor or friend. It isn't the amount of objects you have, nor the amount of things you can remember. It is about what you do with what you have in the moment, and how you allow your human mind to infuse imagination into it that gives it the true value it holds, and as long as you're observing and breathing, you will always have that gift. Find that value in everything, and you'll never feel old nor will you lose your wonder for the world.

:)