Posted by cav on January 01, 2005 at 07:12:40:
At this time of year I always find myself getting really irritated. It doesn't suit the season and everyone is usually too quick to say so. Thankfully this year I was spared all that...and as a result actually felt a good deal of genuine holiday cheer. It was nice. See, I'm really not down on holidays, in fact I really like them. The irritability comes not even from the exploitation of sacred things, but rather from the forced feelings and behaviors that accompany holidays.
Those of you who know me, know that under it all, I'm really just a punk...so for all that could mean, one thing is that I can't stand being told to do something without a good reason, or logical sense, and tend to react by doing the opposite just to make a point (surprisingly this happens almost instinctually). So because an arbitrary outdated calandar happens to place a celebration on a certain day that everyone knows isn't even close to the actual day it is supposed to be, I'm supposed to arbitrarily be giddy and friendly while they push me out of the way to grab the last plastic model for their screaming brat and tin of mass produced cookies with fake dutch pictures on the side?
Of course here in Japan, New Year is the big holiday, but it's surprisingly the same...although far less commercialized (no one's fighting in stores, but the whole cheer thing). Fortunately we're spared most of the fuss, being foreign, but it's here, which leads me to think it really has nothing to do with the particular holiday, or the culture, but is really a product of the mass mentality. It's one of those vicious cycles that no one really starts. Some people feel a certain way, and it is observed, repeated, and it becomes the popular mindset. And because it's the popular mindset people cater to it, which in turn means it becomes even more the way people should be at a certain time. And in the end, it is one big mass of people who are all expected to be doing the same things and feeling the same things each indivdually and in their own respective places. It really isn't even a mass to have a mentality, it is just assumed that it is there. Maybe everyone is at home thinking it's stupid but won't say anything because they think everyone else is genuinely feeling it and they are just wierd.
Well this is a pretty silly example, but in other realms the same mentality prevails. Think of your school days, when everyone had something you didn't, or think of church where some people are always smiling and happy (or the reverse, depending on the tone of the church). Statistically this isn't possible that they would all suddenly be feeling that way of their own accord. So maybe it's God, well maybe, but that doesn't explain it here in Shinto and Buddhist Japan! It's mass-mentality!
Stop the madness man! Don't fake it...and especially don't fake that you aren't faking it, as seems to be the downfall of every subculture. Thank God that He doesn't cater to the masses. I mean, God's kingdom is the one place where the individual can matter entirely even in the midst of billions. And in truth there are about 10 billion of us alive now who all matter individually...Can you imagine the implications if we were to try to actually organize something where each person truly mattered and had an equal voice?
Actually it has been done. There are some denominations where decisions must be made be 100% agreement. Of course this doesn't preclude politics from making their mark, but it would sure change the face of it, wouldn't it? I mean you'd either have to genuinely work to convince the one hanger, or turn tyrant and force them into line. Actually what usually happens is that the body only moves on supremely important issues. It's just too hard to get full agreement.
...Maybe this isn't such a bad thing.