We all know what we are rejecting. That is always the easy part. It is very simple...almost intrinsic for a person to be able to articulate their distain or displeasure with something, somewhere or someone. I'm becoming more convinced that somewhere along the way children are given a secret government class on rejection...how to do it and what to say. I know it's not the parents...because they all whine...ironically, like children...when the youngster refuses to eat dinner because they "don't like the color!"...that being said...perhaps we do learn it from our parents! In reality, that is probably closer to the truth than the grown-ups want to admit. But it is very obvious...we are very well versed in the art of rejection.

It makes sense that we actually learn this impressive expressive action of rejecting from parents and older society in general. We grew up listening to them talk and more appropriately reject the systems before them. If you take time to process the idea, you realize the instruction in the art of rejection rests directly on the generation before us, which received it from the generation before them, who inherited this craft from their predecessors, and the cycle just keeps repeating. Just like the discussion from before...we are the new revolutionaries, the same as the dying era was before us. But that also makes us the new patrons of rejection, again just like the era before us. For a new system to be put into place, an old one must be done away with. To do away with the old system, it has to be rejected. It must be tried, weighed and found wonting. (wonting is spelled correctly...it's a fancy way of saying "lacking"!!! I'm so intellectual!)

I attended a church today, as is my common practice on Sunday mornings. Today there was a guest speaker, who brought the word for the service. He was a vibrant individual...very full of passion for his beliefs and convictions. Quite obviously this particular man cared very much for his family. He was younger, but most definitely falls into the late period of the dying era before our generation. He will be the last of that breed, with the exception of maybe a few young converts. But the fact still remains, that he is bringing up the rear of this old army. This person considers himself an evangelist for the christian movement. And by all definitions of that term, he fits the mold perfectly. In fact, I would go to say that this person is the poster child for the fundamentalist-evangelical movement. He can recite the Romans Road from memory. He is well versed in the evangelical language that is a necessity for saving souls. And is fully convinced that the world's problems are solved by the simple acceptance of Jesus as one's personal savior and as long as you are assured of your eternal destination, you can enjoy life.

While I listened to this evangelical wax-eloquent about salvation I had a sudden thought which is one of the primary arguments for our generation's case. He started to talk about this one particular event that will be occurring in a few weeks. It is a giant largess of an evangelical event, where the gospel will be presented and (direct quote) "we've already seen a 100 people come to know Jesus as their personal savior." This is my thought. If this christian message is so life-changing to humanity...if it is so powerful and so meaningful...why isn't it working? I mean seriously, evangelicals most refined talking points are "how many souls they've saved." If we were to add up the amount of people that have "accepted Jesus as Savior" I think we would be shocked. Simply because the majority is not living like they were saved. And we know this because if all these people were actually living like they were "saved" the world would be a much better place as opposed to the shit-hole it is now.

Now I need to be fair...it's not just the christians that got this one wrong. The whole era before us preached that same message for whatever worldview they promoted. Just blindly accept and believe...we've done all the math, we've got all the answers, we'll never be wrong...so just do what we tell you to. You did not have to even be spiritual to promote this agenda. It was a viral system of thinking. If all these people were right from the beginning, we wouldn't be finding ourselves revolting and rejecting! We would be able to get behind those messages and embrace them with our heart and souls. But we can't. We know they're wrong...and not even because it didn't work for us...it didn't work for them. We saw the hypocrisy in their words and actions, and deep down we wanted something more. Something honest. Something real. We are rejecting.

But this raises a question...what are we accepting? Whenever you reject something, you are accepting the alternative. If you reject Coke you are accepting Pepsi. If you reject tea you are accepting coffee. Even in our own worldview...we, as the rising revolution reject the conformity of the previous, thus accepting our own entrapment into an ideal. We say there is no such thing as only black and white, consequently making the opposition black and us the white. There is no escaping. There will always be two sides. And that is actually ok. It is expected. We can't be afraid of that. I said this before, there will eventually be a generation that rises up and tears down our caste system of thought and worldview. Here is where we can grow...this is what will separate us from the previous generations and eras...we don't fight it when it comes. (More on this later) But we can't reach that learning process until we have successfully torn down the previous system and rebuilt a new one in its place.

It actually isn't too hard to see why the cycle keeps repeating itself and is never broken. A generation of revolutionaries rises up, begins a battle for the minds, hearts and souls of their peers and eventually at some point they achieve their ultimate goal and overthrow the system before them...whether it is societal, political, spiritual, economic...whatever. But then the question that always rises once the dust has settled and the parades of victory have ended is this..."What now?" "Where do we go from here?" There is no one left to fight. There is no more oppression. There is only one static theme remaining. Survival. Before, when fully engaged in the fury of battle, survival was a necessity for the furtherment of the ideal. Once the victory has been achieved, survival is still the dominant thought. You must preserve your way of life whatever it is. Again, this is to be more deeply explored later. Our generation's dilemma is that we don't know what our way of life is. It has been so fucked by the generations before us that we just simply don't know anymore.

We've inherited such an absolute shitstorm of problems that we are not even sure we can do anything about it. The effects of global warming, the greed-driven, materialistic ideals of mass entertainment culture, the continuation of wars that we really don't know why we are fighting, the perpetration of empty, shallow religious systems that bring nothing but guilt. Where do we even begin to fix the problems? We know we don't want this kind of life so we rebel...but we are so lost in where to go that we are actually just going to end up repeating history. That is unless we can really embrace a society and culture we believe can change the world for the better. That is the first step for us to win this battle. We need to know what we are fighting for. We know full well what we are fighting against. But what are we fighting for? What are we willing to die for? We know what we are dying to...alcoholism, sexual addictions, drug addictions, eating disorders, suicide, materialistic pursuits, racism, religious prejudice, self-mutilation, gang violence, these are the symptoms not of a fully engaged army ready to fight for life, but rather a demoralized, crumbling militia being crushed under the regrouped power of a flawed and faulty system.

So what should we fight for? Unconditionality. Seriously. I know that sounds weird, but it actually makes sense. We need to unconditionally love. Unconditionally pursue peace. Unconditionally pursue acceptance. Unconditional restoration. Which ends up posing a strange juxtaposition. We are using violent terms...revolutionaries, war, battle, rise up...all to describe a movement of nonviolence. A movement of hope. A movement of love. And I think it is unfortunate, but this is the language we are left with for the time. The truth still is that we need to move in a direction towards love and acceptance. When homosexuals and heterosexuals no longer stand on either side of the street with their respected signs and slogans and chants. When an orthodox Jew, a practicing Christian, a convinced Atheist, a devote Muslim can sit together and share stories of life and pleasure. When the lumberjack and the environmentalist can see the value in preserving nature. That is what we need to fight for. I believe that for too long we have lived in the "us and them" mentality. We are all human. We are all flesh made in the same image...made with the same passion...to enjoy life. Why have we so insisted on a caste system, be it political, economic, religious, societal, cultural, that is not embracing the humanity of the whole world?

It is now on our shoulders. Our parents had opened the door...they got it cracked open, but then gave up. It is time for us to radically change the world. We can do it too. I believe we can. This life is more than just living for the death that is eventually coming. It is about being right here in the moment that we are living in...and I would much rather spend as many moments living in a world where the sickness and depression and wickedness is either abolished or at least seeing it's last few breaths! I do not want my children to inherit this existential life. So it is on me...on us...to change it!

much love.