Darryl Learie : philosophy

Showing posts with label philosophy. Show all posts

2017-02-19

A meaningful rap about love - Darryl Learie

A meaningful rap about love...

A meaningful rap about love (YouTube Video)

While I was having coffee with my best friend, Mark I showed him a rap music video. He informed me that he thought rap was a pointless art form void of skill, and meaning. Later I took it upon myself to attempt to construct the most meaningful rap I could that would be filled with famous quotes of wisdom, and be purposeful.

It was quite the challenge, I struggled to follow the rap format (which I believe is written in quatrains - 4 line versus), I could not remember if each line had one or two statements. I worked hard to rhyme the most famous quotes of wisdom while making the connection to my own ideology.

I believe if one has an insatiable need to be creative and express one self - one ought to use their gift to spread a message that is either positive and/or productive. Anyways, here are the lyrics to my highly experimental meaningful rap song, I hope you like it.

The un-examined life - is not worth living,

knowledge speaks but wisdom listens,

Love one another, it's the gift the keeps on giving,

A life lived for others - is the only life worth living,

Love what you love, but without love your life is nothing,

Thus the meaning of life is love, that's the message worth mentioning,

Imagine conflict, and pain, without empathy and compassion,

Anxiety and depression, it's those who love that bring resolution,

You got the power, you got got the power,

The power of love, the power to love,

Do the right thing, it's not a left or right-wing thing,

It's the real thing, do the compassionate thing,

cause if you don't do the right thing, your life won't mean a thing,

So stop and think, and do the right thing,

Judgement, without care and concern,

Is wanting to attack and burn,

criticism that's not constructive, is simply destructive,

What would you choose, if you had to walk in another man's shoes,

You got the power, you got got the power,

The power of love, the power to love,

Relationships are full of complexity,

When it comes to love, they test our ideology,

What love looks like, What love feels like,

Trust leads to intimacy, love her like you love yourself is the way it's got to be,

We're all looking for love, All we need is love,

Everything we dream of, The reason we live is love,

Why do we have to debate believing in God,

Can't we all agree on love,

You got the power, you got got the power,

The power of love, the power to love,

Life is finite, giving our life infinite meaning,

Do right, and stand for something,

A rebel without a cause is just another soul lost,

Are you a human doing, or a human being,

Be the change you want to see in others,

But it's got to start with loving one another,

Society is either everyone for themselves, or were all in this together,

Be passionate, but compassionate, and you'll be seen the world over,

You got the power, you got got the power,

The power of love, the power to love,

Darryl Learie

2016-07-29

The ramblings of a confused moral conscience

The ramblings of a confused moral conscience

It would seem that we were born into this world with no choice. We did not ask to be born, nor did we ask for the circumstances we were born into. Some will be blessed from birth and others will be cursed from birth. Unless there is some divinely inspired purpose for this, the reality is absolutely unfair and unreasonable.

However, some time after we are born into this world we inherit a moral responsibility to others in this world. And that moral responsibility is not to further harm others by our actions or lack of..

Every individual born is equally important because every individual is self-aware, continually thinking, and personally experiencing real emotions and physical sensations. Furthermore, the extent of pleasure or pain that can be felt (emotionally or physically) by any individual seems to be not only profound but beyond comprehension.

Self-awareness alone (or consciousness) is the greatest phenomenon that exists in the known Universe - it is only paralleled by the phenomenon of the Big Bang (The very beginning of space-time, and existence). The true miracle of life is that the Universe itself has become self-aware, and has done so through every individual born.

We must respect this experience of being truly alive in others because it is also our own experience. Not only that but we all have the very same psychological and physical needs. This is my initial argument for empathy.

Why should we be careful not to cause pain and suffering to others? Because we all share in the same reality, we all experience the same paradigm. Like the Golden Rule illustrates, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." We live in a world of cause and effect, every action on our part has a potential consequence affecting the very well being of others. It is logical not to inflict pain and suffering on another because we do not desire the same for ourselves.

When we intentionally or unintentionally harm another we have no control over just how much pain and suffering we have caused that individual. And at the fear of being redundant, the extent of pain and suffering that individual can experience can be so severe - it can be beyond what we can imagine or comprehend. It personally amazes me just how much pain a person can feel.

Every human being has earned their right to exist. Every human being is the product of genetic material that has survived despite the deaths of many previous generations of life not selected by the process of billions of years of evolution. To go even further, the odds of you being you and not somebody else is astronomical. It requires the right sperm out of millions exchanging DNA with the right egg out of tens of thousands every time across thousands of generations of the right people.

We as individuals are inherently valuable. But we must seriously consider if our presence is an asset or a liability to others who make up society. Is society as a whole benefiting from our existence? Of course if we go around causing others to suffer than society would not deem us as valued members of society.

How do we know if we are good people? This is a question that continually concerns and haunts me - how do I know if I'm a good person? How do I know if my life has had a positive net affect on society as a whole?

Am I truly a good person if I am kind to strangers, but hurtful to someone in my family, one of my friends, or even an ex-girlfriend? Have I out of ignorance hurt people in the past? Have I posted something on-line that has negatively affected others? Is my ideology, and what I believe constructive or destructive to society? Am I merely a product of my environment, and if I was, was that environment conducive to learning to becoming a good person? Is my psychopathology destructive towards others? Could I be a bad person and not know it?

Another reason it is so critical that we do not cause harm to others is because every person has the potential to greatly benefit others in society. Therefore it is important that others be allowed to mature, and develop in the most supportive, and nurturing environment possible. To negatively affect one's psychological development could potentially have severe implications for society as a whole.

That is to say, if we hurt one person it could inadvertently result in hurting other people we are unaware of. Because of the relationships that person has with other people and how they interact with those other people when they're hurt.

How do we effectively measure the gravity of our actions on others? How much impact do our words truly have on others, and how far reaching are those words? How has our lives shaped future generations yet to be born?

Society is a bee-hive, we as individuals do not survive very well on our own without support from others. Society does not work efficiently unless enough individuals fulfill a specific niche (a purpose) that can benefit the hive as a whole.

Society requires different people of various skills, strengths, aptitudes, and personalities to appropriately achieve all the roles that need to be fulfilled for society to work. Of course these roles can take the form of jobs and volunteering efforts. That is why every person is so potentially important.

Every person despite their socioeconomic status has something valuable to offer others; like a purposeful and meaningful friendship and/or relationship.

But there are those who like parasites do what they wish at the expense of others. They cripple the very people they benefit from by their selfishness, ego and greed. Some are bullies, some are thieves, and others simply use people for their own gain.

   Einstein said,"Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile," and Socrates said,"The unexamined life is not worth living."

   What Einstein means is that the only way our life can be truly worthwhile (or have value) is if we have in some way benefited others in our life. In other words having a purpose that results in a better quality of life for others makes our own lives worthwhile.

Socrates goes as far as saying, if you have not even taken the time to examine your own life - than your life is not worth living.

2016-03-05

10 Newspaper articles on Homelessness, Crime and Mental Illness

10 Newspaper articles on homelessness, crime, and mental illness

From 2005 09 14 to 2006 10 24, I worked as a columnist for a small street paper,"Our Voice." The writers made very little money while vendors (usually homeless people) sold the paper for extra monies. Our audience was around 6,000 people within the Edmonton, Alberta, Canada region.

The paper focused on,'empowering the marginalized' often spreading awareness on the subject of homelessness, and other relevant social injustices.

Although the following 10 articles are over a decade old, their content still remains worthwhile. Thankfully I was able to scan the following articles into PDF's, and share the links via my Google Drive. Simply click the link below the pictured article to read the article. And thank-you again for your interest.