“Question everything,” my father once said, assuming it would lead me to sense and reason. I only realized how dangerous this was when I understood what it means to live in a world of arrogance and ignorance. This is not a diatribe nor is it a tirade. It is simply an alternative view on how we perceive reality.

Society, media, and political intervention are entities that set the rules for the playground we are born into. You either abide by these rules or you find yourself in an awkward pit of judgment, pain, and confusion.

Expectations have us regretting the past and dreading the future. These preset conditions and targets that we inherit, is what separate people from their true ambitions; ambitions that bring sense to our convoluted presence.

Success, the most misinterpreted and overrated word misused ever since the discovery of trade. The bane of all judgment, the measurement unit of one’s self in society, the creator and destroyer of lives. People will give their life and take others’ for success. Blinded by it, manipulated by it, bloodthirsty and frothy for it. This is the epitome of all that is wrong in this world. Greed, deceit, envy, ruthlessness, and sacrifice; all byproducts of the pursuit of success. To think that people actually believe that success is what it’s all about. That it is all that one can ask for and what one can possibly desire. The very foundations of how we perceive life and its purpose as have yet to be questioned.

I questioned religion. I questioned faith. I questioned morals, ethics, politics, education, and generic advice.

Fear. Fear is what these are derived from. The fear of death, the fear of failure, the fear of crime, mistakes, and regret. We are run by fear and fear is what has everyone comfortably incapacitated in their respectful bubbles. Once you’ve backtracked far enough through the source and reason of these social constructs, you will find yourself in an intimidating position. Detach yourself from emotion and focus on reality, and you will realize how alone we are; how insignificant and irrelevant our existence is. You begin to understand why reason was necessary and belief was vital.

Question life and you will soon begin to contemplate it. What happens when there is no answer? What happens when questions are open ended and the sole purpose of your life relies on that absent answer? What is the point of all this? You eat, sleep, excrete, grow up, find work, have a family, and then pass away. Is that all there is to it? Logically speaking, that’s pretty much it really. If that doesn’t scare you, I don’t know what will.

Reason. We are beings of reason; take away reason, and what’s left? Where we find reason is what defines us individually. People resort to religion, faith, work, education, anything they can get their hands to give reason to what little time they have left on the miracle that we have appeared on that is earth.

It is important to fully comprehend the roots and possible reasons of such phenomena. After all, if it wasn’t for the creation, inheritance and adoption of such lifestyle, we wouldn’t be here today. How would a kingdom thrive off its people without the illusion of power through fear? How would its economy run without the demand for what is perceived to be the symptoms of success i.e. land and wealth? How would you convince another equal living human being to clean the sewers day in and day out while you sip on your martini at a cigar bar down at crowns?

Hope. Have them struggle, slave and work for reasons you have constructed. A decoy if you may, an illusion within an illusion. You think you’ve got it all figured out? That’s what they want you to think. At the end of the day, we will slave away and we will abide with the rules because nobody knows what they don’t know. Think about it.

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man how to fish at a price, and you will be fed for a lifetime.

Commercialized Education. This “Just put up with it for a few years, it’ll be over soon” nonsense needs to stop. The need for education has been for all the wrong reasons over the past decade; usually a forced decision due to poverty or pride. Education has moved from the thrive of knowledge to quite literally the only way to make a living these days (at least that’s what we’re made to believe). This is the x factor, the final pieces of the grand scheme of things finally falling into place. You work to survive and you survive because you work. Essentially, you will do as you’re told.

Compare technological advancements to overall worldwide physiological diversity. It is abysmal and quite embarrassing how the majority still clings onto prehistoric mannerisms such as sexism, racism, homophobia, cultural pride at the cost of happiness etc. We have been able to track down and illustrate Kepler-186f, the most Earth-like planet some 500 light years away, but people still cannot wrap their heads around the simple idea of individuality. Pathetic isn’t it?

What is wrong and what is right? Don’t have anyone tell you otherwise because at the end of the day, your consciousness is all that is real. You are the maestro of all that you will ever know. Compose your destiny, write it and if you aren’t satisfied, rewrite again until you get it right. Create your reason and accept none other. You are your own god.