The Perversion of "Positive" And “Negative"

This flower doesn't know positive or

negative, it only knows to grow, to

breathe carbon dioxide and exhale

oxygen.  It will multiply, giving to the world

more beauty, more oxygen for other beings

to breathe, and likely some kind of health

benefit that we humans have yet to discover.

We hear the grossly overused words, “Positive” and “Negative” at least twenty times a day.  From where I sit, both words have lost their meaning.  Please allow me to elaborate.

We’re told that if we have an unpleasant thought or feeling, we are being “negative”.  What we are not told is that when an unpleasant occurrence presents itself, it is perfectly natural, even motivating, to have an unpleasant reaction.  We are told we must suppress said reaction, that we must replace it with something “positive”, in other words, we should be dishonest in order to be liked, respected, and accepted by society.  Does that sound like bullshit to you?  Well, it should.  For me, there is nothing more negative than being dishonest.  My thinking is that we should work through the unpleasant thoughts and emotions, learn from them, even get them to work in our favor, of course, after we allow them to run their course.  This is not to say we should have a conniption every time something happens that we don’t like, it just means that we should not deny the less than pleasant thoughts and feelings.  I’ve always said that when we deny and/or suppress our emotions, they will come out at some point, in some other way, will be exponentially more destructive; and almost always directed at people or things that had nothing to do with the initial action or circumstance.  Being honest should always trump your desire to be liked.  And make sure you define “honest” honestly.

When a person tells a lie, how often is there a good result – even when the lie was intended to protect someone?  If you take a good, honest look at the blatant lies that are being told to us by those in power, and by those who own huge businesses – where is the “positive”?  These lies have been bringing horribly negative results since the beginning of time.  You may think that a little white lie is harmless, because you have good intentions, but again, how many times have you ended up with a good result – my guess is never.  Multiply one little white lie by millions of people who think the same way, and the negative is what we see all around us.  Do you see the snowball effect here?  On top of the initial lie, most of you will deny (denying is just another from of lying) that things are progressively getting worse, succumbing to cliches that are designed to do nothing else but to silence us.

If we expect things to ever start to move in a good direction, we must learn to think for ourselves, we cannot continue to let the Powers That Be tell us what to think, tell us to lie to ourselves and everybody around us.  Yes, of course they are very good at it, and it continues to work for them.  If you go around denying the less than pleasant things, you pretend it’s not happening, you want to be liked, accepted, respected by telling endless lies about how wonderful everything is, then how the hell do you expect any problem to be addressed, much less remedied?  I understand a child wanting to be accepted, I understand his or her desire to pretend he’s all positive so his peers will like him, but you full grown adults, knock it off, cut the shit, and call ‘em as you see ‘em.  If something is wrong, say so.  That’s not to be confused with trying to dictate to others how they should live, I’m talking about people who intrude on others, who steal from others, who bully others – those things are wrong and should be dealt with.  Again, please don’t confuse yourself – it’s not your place to be bothered by what your neighbor believes, thinks, or says – provided their ways are not intrusive, exploitive of others, or thieving.  It is not your place to be offended, or to proclaim superiority, based on your religion, political beliefs, skin color, nationality, financial status, your self proclaimed intelligence, or anything else.  Only when someone is literally intruding on other people’s lives should you be offended.

So, look around you, do you see things progressing for the better?  If so, you’re either not paying attention, or you are in severe denial.  Neither will ever bring about a positive result.  You know that any lies you’ve told in your life have not brought about anything good, so it stands to reason to not lie.  If you are so desperate to be liked, to the point where you’ll pretend everything is peachy, that is negative, it’s also cowardly, and there is nothing worse than a coward.

I firmly believe that everything we humans do is stored somewhere at the sub atomic level of all matter, and will have some amount of bearing on all future civilizations – including ones that we cannot even begin to comprehend at this point in time.  Some won’t care about that, which is still another negative, so those of you who do care, be honest, be courageous enough to call bullshit what it is – just make sure you define bullshit properly.  And, keep in mind, being dishonest in any way never has, and never will bring about anything positive or good.  Honest = positive, dishonest = negative – it’s a law of the universe, and all the denying and pretending in the world will not change that fact.