29 and still not done thinking....

As I sit here on this night, once again my friends I have felt the compulsion to sit down and write my thoughts. 

As the title suggests not 10 minutes ago the clock struck midnight here in Europe, at that I also struck another minor mile stone along lives road, another mile marker on the road that is my life.

Yes that is right as of that moment I became yet one more year older moving from twenty eight on to twenty nine. It is at these moments, when this Gentleman Traveller finds himself deep in thought. 

Thoughts that to anyone else, including this sometimes out spoken and not so humble Traveller are a maze enshrouded in a perplex fog, a fog which the mind has created and a maze that is ever changing. With no clear path through which can be clearly discovered, however there is a path but it is not on the road most travelled...it is hidden for it is the path that few people will ever want to travel...the road lest travelled. 

This road is the lest travelled because it is a part of life that few have the courage to follow, not because of the road it self, but because of where it leads and what truths about oneself one will inevitably discover whist following it. 

Like Alice on her trails through wonderland, or Neo discovering his fate, his destiny, why the characters in these stories are there in the first place. We all have a story but it is not being written by them or anyone else. It is the story that we don't want to write, as we are more than happy to choose to escape from our reality rather than face the harsh realities of life. 

In this world there are many extremes, these in my mind are shown no where better than in the mythology or in the contrasting religions created by Mr George Lucas. Yes I know that to say such a thing will upset many, in Mr Lucas's most well know creation. 

Yes I am speaking of the mythology and the religious beliefs of the Star Wars Universe. Now why do I call it religious beliefs?...I can hear your mind thinking...well in the UK there is an actual Religion which is recognised by the Government known as Jedi. Does this mean that the followers of this religion can use "the Force"? No, but do they have a set of commandments, a mantra which is the very pinnacle of their belief system? YES...they do in fact however what one can say about this is that there are two sides to every system. A Light and a Dark Side, which with out one you cannot have the other. Some might call this Good and Evil, or two colours that contrast one another in perfection.

We typically know this from the Movies that most people have seen, with Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Darth Vader etc. However it goes far deeper than this, far deeper than even Alice could imagine before she went down the rabbit hole. 

The mantras that I spoke of earlier are simple and yet at the same time in perfect contrast, these you will be able to discover yourself by looking below:

The Light Side, Aka the Jedi Code:

"There is no emotion, there is peace.

There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.

There is no passion, there is serenity.

There is no chaos, there is harmony.

There is no death, there is the Force."

The Dark Side, Aka the Sith Code:

"Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The Force shall free me."

Now this is entirely Yin and Yang, so ideally you would be able to take certain aspects from both sides and combine them in to one.

One side says that violence should always be the very last course of action, that resorting to it should be used only to defend those that cannot defend themselves. Always looking to find a peaceful resolution before jumping in guns blazing so to speak (any US police force could learn from that one, as could many students or religious extremists). That knowledge and understanding are key to being part of the whole and are the best ways to prevent conflict and prevent the inevitable chaos that can be caused. 

The other side states that its our passions that guide us and lead us to the highs of ecstasy. That our passions should be what give us what we need and are the seed that should be encouraged from an early age. That only by gaining victory will our lives mean anything, that we will only be gifted freedom by achieving victory and our lives will actually mean something to us once "Victory" has been achieved. However in order to achieve victory you need to become strong and powerful. Much like any religious script this can be misunderstood as many have been in the past. The Spanish Inquisition was a misinterpretation of the Bible, the current slaughtering and destruction of those who oppose Islam because some preachers have misunderstood the Koran and are convincing people that death to "infidels" is essential. These infidels are just people like my self, are people who don't believe what they believe in of course, and who deny the existence of any spiritual being or Prophet that others happen to believe in. 

Now no where in the Sith Code does its say that you should hunt down the Jedi or kill just for the sake of killing, let alone destroy an entire planet with a man made weapon. I can also guarantee that no where in the Bible does it say that Homosexuality is a "Sin". It's a very simple misinterpretation which has caused more harm than good. For hundreds if not thousands of years, well since the inception of the three religions of Jerusalem in fact (Christianity, Judaism and Islam). Before then sex was...well..SEX...just a simple past time and a highly enjoyable one at that, it didn't matter who you did it with so long as it was enjoyable for all concerned parties. Mutilation of the Genitalia, particularity the Female Genitalia would have had the person responsible for enacting or even mentioning something so horrific, castrated themselves. Brothels were common place, and why not for men and women's carnal desires catering to both. One could almost state how these three religions are still around in this day and age is beyond all measure of understanding. Have we the human race not progressed beyond believes that were established over TWO-THOUSAND YEARS AGO???!!! 

One would hope so...but we the human race are still having the same arguments that we have had for over two-thousand years. People are still dying for causes and arguments that are 2,000 years old. To the logical mind guess how much sense it makes....ZERO, why people are being sacrificed and are sometimes willingly harming themselves and their fellow man for this is to be frank... completely and utterly DISGUSTING and entirely pointless. 

I was reminded recently by this having read an article by Maajid Nawaz, "The British Left's Hypocritical Embrace of Islamism". The author makes several highly valid points in this article and I highly recommend you read it. I did and for the most part I could not agree more with him. However there is one thing in his article, it is actually the very last sentence where Maajid, has ruined the entire article by stating and I quote:

"Israel is the real enemy. Keep it real, man"

In an article where he is trying to tell people to reject violence and sharia law, he then goes and says that Israel is the enemy....now I am not Jewish but still this is so frustrating, as I am a man of the world. Why should we have "Enemies" an Enemy is typically someone you kill or harm before they can harm or kill you. Now having never heard of Mr Nawaz, I was so impressed by his article and agreed with everything other than that one sentence. Because that combination of nine words completely and utterly contradicted all the good work he had done up to that point. 

This actually where we can compare the religious beliefs of Star Wars to those main faiths of the world today eternal conflict. In which the death toll is more so than can be tolerated or even accepted in in any society or as part of a military strategy. Let alone how any human being can say that someone anyone becoming a "Martyr", is a good thing, is or should be completely and utterly repulsive to consider let alone even think about.  

We are human after all so we fly into extremes far too easily because lets face it, we do like going for the far end of any spectrum. It's what has driven us a species for thousands of years. It's this attitude that has helped to create things of beauty and such splendour that not even King Solomon could have ever dreamed of. However it has also caused us to create things such as the Atomic Bomb and other weapons, weapons that can kill our fellow man in more twisted ways than even Dante could of have imagined whilst writing about the 12 circles of hell. 

I am fully aware that is not what one would want to or expect to be thinking on one's birthday but there you have it. In a world as messed up as ours is why the needless slaughter of rare species of animals for ANCIENT medicines etc. Is still taking place when the medicines, which are proven to work by science exist is just completely and utterly idiotic in facts its beyond stupid. China, has given much to world but this practise needs to stop, sharks and Tigers are animals that man has and is STILL, hunting to beyond the brink of extinction. 

So there you have it part of the maze of my mind, clarity has settled in and now finally I can go to sleep. Looking forward to what I hope to be a day of enjoyment and great satisfaction, and I am wishing the same to you all. Unless of course you happen to be planning any harm to your fellow man that is.