I’ll try to keep it short, but I’m not good at promises.
I look at people, people who don’t even have time to look at themselves. Everyone’s part of a great rat race, probably the greatest we’ve all known. It’s been going on for decades now and never stops, not even at night anymore.
People socialize, hang out, and try to belong, in an attempt to tell themselves that this is what they want. In fact, some are actually so high now on their little bubble that they do in fact, want this. Good for them, at least they think they’re not lying to themselves. Ignorance is bliss, after all.
I’m not even sure who might relate to the rants of a rat not willing to participate. I look at social media, and all I see is a competition to seem better than the rest, happier than the rest. The master of everything, the innovator, the overachiever, the top 1% of the top 1%.
If nothing, someone’s probably a philosopher. Philosophy is in great supply anyway. Philosophy, wisdom, whatever you like to call it. People are so unoriginal that they don’t even know whose quote they just quoted, or maybe paraphrased as their original. But it sure makes them feel good about themselves, and you can expect wisdom coming your way from people you don’t even expect.
Then I think about the paradox of it. People try to get some joy out of this, being better than others, not realizing that there’s always a bigger fish (— Qui Gon, Star Wars). I wonder if this realization would snatch their happiness away or would they actually stop this fake pursuit of happiness on their own.
I too, interact with everyone. And yet somehow manage to not mix with the crowd, like oil in water. You give it a shake, mix it properly and for a while it seems the oil is one with the water but a few minutes later it’s back to being separate from the water.
This is like a maze that I’ve created, and put myself somewhere inside of it. I can navigate it, go wherever I want, and yet, it helps keep the distance between me and the world, isolating me from it while being a part of it. Kind of like a mute button in real life.
I feel like the rat who saw a stream of rats moving down the drain pipe, or being pushed downstream by a barrage of other rats; before he joined the crowd. They don’t even realize they’re not moving on their own, but are being moved by the machine itself. Oh I love the illusion of control.
I know, I joined too. And whether or not I care to admit it, I’m part of the machine too. I too, flex at times, make people feel inferior and feel superior myself. I put myself at pedestal comparing myself to the others because that is one language everyone understands. Lucky for me, I’m one of those rats who enjoy their work, but not everyone gets that luxury. All of this ends up reminding me of this short video by Steve Cutts.
To me, this is a maze built of rats and cheese, that begins when I wake up in the morning and ends when I go to sleep. People tend to think I’m one of them, that I like the company of my fellow humans. The truth is, it’s all just a facade, an illusion at best. And I’ve been made aware at times that this illusion is working as I intend it to.
I’ve realized that the only company I truly enjoy is myself and the few that I love. Thankfully that’s a true emotion, or so I think. All I know is that it’s my perfect maze, and I’ll protect it at any cost.
