Showing posts with label TALES FROM THE WADHEAD. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TALES FROM THE WADHEAD. Show all posts
Saturday, 15 May 2010
Tuesday, 11 May 2010
THOUGHTS FROM THE MIGHTY WAD: The Ego and the Wad
People like to think they have a personality, and that this personality is what defines them. This is highly simplistic, and oftentimes just not true. Everything depends on one's point of view, and as someone said, we do not see things as they are, we see things as we are. We are all the stars in our own film, and we all (especially when young) embark on a lifelong quest to find ourselves.
This is a quest which will ultimately prove fruitless.
The fact is, we all have two personalities. At least.
We have an outer self, which is on show, and an inner self, which is what I would call the thought balloon self. This is the self that has a running commentary which, if made public, would result in carnage, certainly the end of marriage as an institution, and a drastic drop in life expectancy. There would be no questions of guns being made freely available if thought balloons were made visible.
This inner self is also the repository of doubts, fears, jealousy, envy (the two are different), random cynicism, killing boredom, and most base desires (lust, gluttony,etc.). It also the source of beauty, poetry, a sadness which knows no bounds, contentment, and love.
This inner self is the sanctum of the Wad.
Good old Sigmund Freud divvied the human sentient being into the Ego, the Id, and the Superego. Waddism is a little more succinct. There is the Ego (the outer self) and the Wad.
And that is pretty much it.
Growing up and maturing is not so much a question of finding one's self, for indeed one of Waddism's tenets is that "From life's great trials we do not change; we only emerge as who we are."
The Wad is there. It is sort of a governor on the top speed we reach. It makes us fly, and brings us crashing back to earth. The Wad is our humanity.
The crucible of life is enough to temper the steel of one's character, and it is the hard times which will really define who we are. There is no need to look or discover yourself. The more you try, the more you will be frustrated. Forget about yourself. Think about the world around you and try to open up to the varied experiences, people, and worldviews available in it.
As the Mighty Wad says: Think of others. Be yourself.
Life, as a process, is the mastery (or indeed acceptance) of the Wad which is present in all of us, which can only be discovery by living, and following the singular path which is our destiny. The world will eventually tell us all we need to know about ourselves.
This is a quest which will ultimately prove fruitless.
The fact is, we all have two personalities. At least.
We have an outer self, which is on show, and an inner self, which is what I would call the thought balloon self. This is the self that has a running commentary which, if made public, would result in carnage, certainly the end of marriage as an institution, and a drastic drop in life expectancy. There would be no questions of guns being made freely available if thought balloons were made visible.
This inner self is also the repository of doubts, fears, jealousy, envy (the two are different), random cynicism, killing boredom, and most base desires (lust, gluttony,etc.). It also the source of beauty, poetry, a sadness which knows no bounds, contentment, and love.
This inner self is the sanctum of the Wad.
Good old Sigmund Freud divvied the human sentient being into the Ego, the Id, and the Superego. Waddism is a little more succinct. There is the Ego (the outer self) and the Wad.
And that is pretty much it.
Growing up and maturing is not so much a question of finding one's self, for indeed one of Waddism's tenets is that "From life's great trials we do not change; we only emerge as who we are."
The Wad is there. It is sort of a governor on the top speed we reach. It makes us fly, and brings us crashing back to earth. The Wad is our humanity.
The crucible of life is enough to temper the steel of one's character, and it is the hard times which will really define who we are. There is no need to look or discover yourself. The more you try, the more you will be frustrated. Forget about yourself. Think about the world around you and try to open up to the varied experiences, people, and worldviews available in it.
As the Mighty Wad says: Think of others. Be yourself.
Life, as a process, is the mastery (or indeed acceptance) of the Wad which is present in all of us, which can only be discovery by living, and following the singular path which is our destiny. The world will eventually tell us all we need to know about ourselves.
Sunday, 9 May 2010
THOUGHTS FROM THE MIGHTY WAD: Egotism
Waddism is the realization finally that we are all egotists, that we are bred and raised to be egotists, but that au fond, as the french say-at the heart of it all, this comes to nothing. Those who do blow their own horn all the time will eventually end up playing solo.
Nonetheless, society demands that we try to be egotistical. This is necessary in many respects just to keep your head above water. Behind every charitable action, admirable though it may be, is some tiny bit of egotism that yes, I have made a difference. You don't get to be the head of anything without valuing your opinion, or at least your ability to make a judgement about other people's opinions, above those of your fellow man.
Waddism is the embracing of this fact too. Not all wadhead traits come from being inept. Some actually come from being ept, if there is such a word (now there is), or perhaps apt. Waddism is listening to others, and listening to yourself, and when either voice gets a bit too loud, throttling it back a little.
We aren't even the center of our own universes, as incredibly limited those may be, though we like to think we are. You can be damn sure that somewhere out there there is another Wad who has thought the same thought, felt the same feeling, and done the same wadhead move in his/her own way.
It's okay to think of yourself, indeed you would be lying if you uttered otherwise. Just remember this Waddism though: Aim for perfect, get good. Start small, think big. Think of others; be yourself.
Nonetheless, society demands that we try to be egotistical. This is necessary in many respects just to keep your head above water. Behind every charitable action, admirable though it may be, is some tiny bit of egotism that yes, I have made a difference. You don't get to be the head of anything without valuing your opinion, or at least your ability to make a judgement about other people's opinions, above those of your fellow man.
Waddism is the embracing of this fact too. Not all wadhead traits come from being inept. Some actually come from being ept, if there is such a word (now there is), or perhaps apt. Waddism is listening to others, and listening to yourself, and when either voice gets a bit too loud, throttling it back a little.
We aren't even the center of our own universes, as incredibly limited those may be, though we like to think we are. You can be damn sure that somewhere out there there is another Wad who has thought the same thought, felt the same feeling, and done the same wadhead move in his/her own way.
It's okay to think of yourself, indeed you would be lying if you uttered otherwise. Just remember this Waddism though: Aim for perfect, get good. Start small, think big. Think of others; be yourself.
ABOUT THE WADHEAD: Waddism- PATRON SAINT
Waddism isn't a religion, though I suppose because it is universal it is a sort of religion. It is the belief in fallibility, much the same I suppose that Christianity sees everyone as a sinner. The difference is subtle, but Waddism doesn't see everyone as a sinner, because that implies choice. Waddism sees people more as massive screwups. There is no universal redemption in Waddism, because everything is a question of degree. If you are a screwup and don't do anything about it, pretty much you will be dealt with by nature through a brutal selection which will weed you out. However, one of the basic tenets of Waddism is that in life, there are two types of people who rise to the top: cream, and pond scum. Now, of course one hopes that the baddies get their come-uppance in the end, that they will end up in a bunker shooting themselves or being hung upside down in some square with their mistress and their eyes gouged out (see Hitler and Mussolini). However, it appears sometimes that justice, though retributive, is as random as everything else in life. For every lawyer who strikes a blow for justice, truth and redemption, there is some Johhny Cochran type who coins a slogan and gets his scummy client off scot free.
If there is a patron saint for Waddism, it is St. Jude Not Iscariot, as he was subsequently referred to (also known as St. Thaddeus), who eventually was martyred. Imagine having to have your name continuously qualified (like I am Paris, Not Hilton, for instance).
Anyway, St. Jude is the patron saint for lost causes.
Perfect, because one of the central tenets of Waddism is that we are all beset by lost causes. Life is a lost cause.
Franz Kafka, who knew a thing or two about futility, said that life is a series of small scale victories and large scale defeats.
Now, is Waddism negative, if this is the sort of claptrap it espouses?
No, I don't think so. It merely asks the question of yourself and others: How much of a screwup am I or the next person, and what can I do about this?
It is sort of empathy in reverse. You don't seek to understand if and why the other person is acting like a butthead (the guy who pushes past you when you are trying to get off the Tube, the boss who utters plain self-serving nonsense bereft of logic), you just assume it beforehand, and try to deal with it.
Take a look at yourself and try to minimise the Wadhead-ness in yourself, and assume it in others without being negative. Don't let it get you down, but don't pretend that just because you sign off on some it-makes-me-feel-better belief system this will change much about others.
A good friend of mine once said: I am sick of going deep-sea diving for good; if it is not on the surface I am not interested.
Waddism is about realising that the good might lie just below the surface, just as below the surface of what appears to be good may lurk some very nasty stuff indeed.
So don't be disappointed by yourself or others. Espouse forgiveness, but mete it out carefully.
We are all, in one way or another, lost causes.
If there is a patron saint for Waddism, it is St. Jude Not Iscariot, as he was subsequently referred to (also known as St. Thaddeus), who eventually was martyred. Imagine having to have your name continuously qualified (like I am Paris, Not Hilton, for instance).
Anyway, St. Jude is the patron saint for lost causes.
Perfect, because one of the central tenets of Waddism is that we are all beset by lost causes. Life is a lost cause.
Franz Kafka, who knew a thing or two about futility, said that life is a series of small scale victories and large scale defeats.
Now, is Waddism negative, if this is the sort of claptrap it espouses?
No, I don't think so. It merely asks the question of yourself and others: How much of a screwup am I or the next person, and what can I do about this?
It is sort of empathy in reverse. You don't seek to understand if and why the other person is acting like a butthead (the guy who pushes past you when you are trying to get off the Tube, the boss who utters plain self-serving nonsense bereft of logic), you just assume it beforehand, and try to deal with it.
Take a look at yourself and try to minimise the Wadhead-ness in yourself, and assume it in others without being negative. Don't let it get you down, but don't pretend that just because you sign off on some it-makes-me-feel-better belief system this will change much about others.
A good friend of mine once said: I am sick of going deep-sea diving for good; if it is not on the surface I am not interested.
Waddism is about realising that the good might lie just below the surface, just as below the surface of what appears to be good may lurk some very nasty stuff indeed.
So don't be disappointed by yourself or others. Espouse forgiveness, but mete it out carefully.
We are all, in one way or another, lost causes.
Saturday, 8 May 2010
Wednesday, 5 May 2010
Monday, 3 May 2010
THE MIGHTY WAD: Money is like sleep...
Much as the wad might be confused with penga (wedge, spondoolies, as in wads of cash) in fact, material goods are of little interest. Nonetheless, many waddisms do involve the filthy lucre.
Such as this one:
Such as this one:
Sunday, 2 May 2010
THE MIGHTY WAD: My money talks
My roommates in grad school christened me Wadhead for some of the bonehead moves I used to do (such as leaving a ham hock lying around the kitchen for six weeks, which eventually ended up greeting me one morning in my shower).
However, even wadheads have their moments. Herewith the first in many installments of The Mighty Wad.
Living well is the best revenge, but having the last word ain't bad.
However, even wadheads have their moments. Herewith the first in many installments of The Mighty Wad.
Living well is the best revenge, but having the last word ain't bad.
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