Mass Identical eJourneys Of Self-Discovery

    I felt knowledge and the unity of the world circulate in me like my own blood.” ― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

Yes I’ll be making a deeply spiritual journey but I havent crowdsourced which road to travel this year

I must seek my true self somewhere far from the well-worn maze pathway I trace in the daily ratrace

I’ll lose my mind and discover myself- according to stuff I’ve been tweeted from certain bestsellers

And it won’t be long before I leave, no way! I just have a few more loose digital ends to tidy up

Wont need much besides my iPad - just my credit card and the overpriced travel clothes in my pack

Gonna head out to see the suffering that rules the world sos to reach a higher plane of consciousness

I’ll be getting twisted up in trendy yoga poses while I ponder the complexities of climate change

Broadening my horizons by holding my nose and tiptoeing thru their inescapably-crowded streets

I’m going off on a pilgrimage during which my normal life and busy thoughts will flake uselessly away

I’ll gaze upon the menial jobs of the filthy working poor to grasp the dignity of their grinding poverty

I’ll make a voyage of self-discovery and then step back in my cube with but a little cattle prodding

I’ll tour their swarming, filthy hives but spend almost all my time with other tourists, just like me

Gonna take back some life lessons learned photographing others from safely behind closed windows

Why, I’ll be gone close to 3 whole weeks, worrying every minute that I’ll be robbed, shot or infected

However, all the time I will hold tightly to the knowledge that I’ll be back home before I know it

Then I’ll integrate their gritty lessons into my ass-kissing and back-biting shoulder-climb to the top

Look for my pithy posts from identical dirty hostels run by world-weary, expatriate entrepreneurs

I’ll upload the photographic proof of my emerging spirituality on social media in near-realtime

See, I’m going off looking to raise my cosmic awareness and it’s not simply because I cant find a job

And I got bookmarks on all the highlights that I simply gotta see to nurture my eternal soul

I’ll be taking lots of pictures of stuff that I won’t ever even actually look at with my naked eyes

Yup, I’ll sneak soul-stealing snapshots of real people from our bus to hang in my cubicle, back home

Daringly, I might even brush my teeth in the tap water and possibly even try some local food

But mostly I’ll have beers with my new tourist friends in places where the natives can only work

I can spice my twitter feed with the nuggets of worldly wisdom that I am trying to digest here

Wearing dirty clothes and hardly ever getting a really decent shower, so does my understanding grow

Just watching out for my wallet and holding on to my passport requires a lot of my attention

Observing all the litter and their infinite dirty faces will surely raise my own level of enlightenment

I will adjust to their pace of living and kick back, yet diligently keep to my hard and fast schedule

My fellow travelers and I will share tips on hostels, tours, food and bars – all created just for us

Finding and successfully using an ATM will become an exotic adventure that I will always remember

And I will experience their culture just like I do their food – only in places made safe for such as us

I will learn to ignore the endless stream of trinket sellers and beggars with a soulful equanimity

I’ll be wearing local bracelets, tying my hair back in skinny dreds and not shaving, most of the time

I will try to keep repeating Om Mani Padme Hum as I squat forlorn and sick over a squalid asian toilet

I will learn patience waiting for the moment when none of the 1000 other tourists are in my picture

I Keep Doing These Stupid Things

I might glance, but you cannot force me to see

I may hear, but I don’t actually have to listen

I considered, but I am certainly not about to heed

I can continue talking - and keep saying nothing

I struggle on, though I still refuse to fight

I laugh, but it’s just part of the soundtrack

I smile though clearly, I am no friend of yours

I am massively defended, yet I do not feel safe

I have hurt you, but I do not feel your pain

I cry, but all my tears come out very dry

I sleep, only to awaken tired once again

I stop, yet time always keeps on going

I ask, but I reject any and all of your answers

I plead, but the one true judge remains mute

I suffer, yet there can be no redemption

I was spared, but it was only a random mercy

I was injured and I cannot ever heal

I struggle, but there is simply no escape

I gain, but enjoy only the briefest satisfaction

I learned much but did not build any wisdom

I gorge, but am simply unable to be satisfied

I drink too much, though sadly cannot stay drunk

I study the koran diligently, but in a foreign tongue

I lose, yet I cannot ever retain the lesson

I keep on buying though I have no real needs

I spend so much, but such are not investments

I tithe generously, but truly know no charity

I lay here quite still, yet I am not at peace

I whisper, but still it seems far too loud to me

I dig, but it is just my own shallow grave

I swallow, though it’s only more bitter pride

I leave and head off again to nowhere

I work hard, but still my debt increases

I always diet but never keep the weight off

I see much that I must leave to others to explain

I willfully ignore, and simply take refuge in my prayers

After Work...Our Real Lives

After work, boys, that’s the time… Those few hours for our lives to really shine

After work and before the homelife responsibilities and our entertainment downtime

After work we’ll push it hard for a moment, cause we’re finally doing stuff we think really matters

After work, for a couple hours, I can practice being semi-pro at something that I actually enjoy

After work is maybe just the Happy Hour where I purge myself by poison, of their grasping insecurity

After work one of these days let’s get together and do a barbecue or something

After work I’m gonna try and reach the real trajectory of a life I still feel like I might lead one day

After work there’s always more work to do but I might squeeze in an hour or so

After work we’ll get our lives together, doing what we know is truly important, for a little while

After work they wont be micromanaging us with that ever-present threat of sudden unemployment

After work we can at least try to act like the men we always thought we would one day become

After work we’ll pay some real attention and give it all we’ve got

After work I might even undertake like maybe a short search for meaning…or something

After work I’ll spend some real quality time with my treasured family

After work and before it gets dark again we’ll take our places in the sun

After work I’ll drive around like a rich man with the tinted windows up and my dark glasses on

After work I’ll seek an antidote for all the force-fed BS I’ve learned that I must swallow with a smile

After work we wont be at all like politically correct if we want to laugh out loudly, together

After work that self-serving bitch wont be looking over my shoulder every couple of minutes

After work we’ll take some ammo and a sixpack out to the dump and just relax for a while

After work I might study stuff that could help get me another job after the next round of big layoffs

After work my possibilities emerge briefly like a short sunset under low clouds on a dark winter day

After work I bet we’ll be able to see that there could be more to life than their venal strategic vision

After work I’ll be laughing cause it helps me to get my head back on straight, if just for a little while

After work we’ll have to move it, if we really want to get some recreation, what with all the crowds

After work I’ll prove that I’m more than an interchangeable, disposable and, actually, unwanted part

After work we’ll get out the bigboy toys that can still make it all seem somehow worthwhile

After work I’ll pick up the kids and we’ll roll out together in that big blue SUV for their favorite eats

After work I can expand again, outside the muted, cubicle flunkie mold they’ve got me pressed into

After work, whaddya know, I’ll be doing stuff that actually interests me, if only for a short while

After work we’ll be more than too-slowly moving little dots on some suckup’s failing project schedule

After work we’ll climb right outside their box, stand up on our hind legs and really think for ourselves

After work I’m gonna try and figure out what it is I actually want to be when I finally do grow up

After work we’ll enjoy the feelings of self-worth our trivial daily grind so efficiently abrades

After work, just you watch and see, their bullshit will, for a moment, not put the fear of god in me

After work – Yet, we all know we’re just lucky we still got our jobs to go to again, tomorrow morning