This is the world

Songs from this generation:

"We're gonna play the game the playstation all day,
With metal gear solid to tekken 3.
And from omega boost to resident evil
Just play for the fun
Cos we got it going on.

Tekken 3, metal gear solid
resident evil, gran turismo, omega boost,
bloody rhoar, x-files, another world
come on
ridge racer
odd world
we get a living
that came in our posession "

I don't know what the real lyrics are to this song, particularly on the last phrase, as they differ from site to site (google the lyrics to see for yourself), but the fact that someone thinks they say this tells me the message that many people get.

We don't imbibe words without effect. They are food, and they are seeds, and they grow into fruit, whether rotten or good.

Why is it a game to kill people in a brutal manner a la Resident Evil? Why do we think it's, in fact, fun? Because we are a brutal people, in reality. True, most of us don't act out in the same precise fashion the things we play and watch in our entertainment, but they are metaphors for what we do to each other spiritually and emotionally: we are brutal killers.

There can be no other explanation to our draw to such violent imagery, to why we can enjoy it, and why it rather does not, as one might hope, frighten us and make us feel horror.

We think it's a game, we think it's all make believe, and it makes us feel better, and that's why we tell ourselves that. But if we put ourselves in the position of an outside observer, we see a world of people who can entertain themselves with violence because they are a violent people, in one manner or another. We are also a dishonest people, seeking not truth, but seeking pleasure. We cannot face the horrible faces we have in the mirror, so we buy creams to make our physical likeness more youthful, to lie about our ages and what we are doing to our bodies, and to our minds, and to our souls.

Here's another picture of what we are, narcistic and vain:

"Here and there, everywhere
The places that I go
People stop and they stare
I'm beautiful that I know
I am quite a sight to behold

(Bridge)
Hey now, hey now now
I want you to remember me
Being who I want to be
Hey now, hey now now
Turn it up, then you'll see
Everybody look at me"

Thus far, it is all about pride in self, particularly pride in one's sheer phsyical appearance.


"(Chorus)
Snapshot
Take my picture Snapshot (Take my picture)"

Further, we want to preserve more permanently, our likeness which we so worship, for others to see and worship. What of, "You shall have no other gods before me", and, "You shall not make for yourselves any graven images, you shall not worship these".

"Let me show what I got
Red hot
Take my picture Red hot (Red hot)
Take it over the top"

"Red hot" is an interesting choice of words. I will say nothing more.
Why do we have the expression, "over the top" in our language? The words we use betray our intentions: we want to be above God, we want to be higher than the Almighty.

"Photograph, video
Catch me while I can
Cuz I got to go (got to go)"

Isa 59:7: "Their feet run to evil."

"Hollywood, Sunset Strip
Living in the spotlight can be such a trip"

Can you say, stumbling block? A "trip", indeed.


"(Bridge)
Hey now, hey now now
Take it on my good side
Don't want me on my bad side
Hey now, hey now now
I ain't never been shy
Ain't got nothing to hide"


We only want to show our "good face", and not what exposes us for all the ugliness underneath.


Then, I heard this song on my iPod, from a Christian artist:

"I can't stop loving you, oh Lord, I can't stop loving you, no matter what they say!"

Again, our words betray us. The Almighty does not coerce us to love him. If we really felt we couldn't stop loving God, then we are admitting a God who has not given us free will, but a God who has, at some point in our lives, seen that we are his followers and has now possessed our will and we are now enslaved to him, no longer able to decide whether to love God or not.

We should not try to excuse our ill use of language, our sloppy diction, because our words betray what we really believe.

Upward Facing

There is no difference, because nothing can stand against truth. Even in the evil we see, there is a ray of light, or we could not see the evil. So in each situation I find myself, I am constantly faced with the decision, downward or upward facing? I wonder if the choice of perspective is what seeds my actions. I feel drained when I live in the earthly, sensual world. I know that sensual pleasure is a gift, so there is no guilt in feeling sensual pleasure, only in seeking it first above upright, transcendent living.