The Return of the Beat Generation (Beatnicks of the Information Age)

Whether it's Occupy Wall Street, Banksy graffiti murals, the return of psychedelic drugs, the re-ignited interest in the Beat generation of the 40's, 50's, and 60's as well as the whole counterculture hippy movement, or the widespread urge to simply break out of the niche that has been dictatorially carved for us by people we will probably never meet... it seems like the intelligent youth of today have reached a precipice.

For those of us who have studied past movements in freedom, we always note that they eventually either fetter out and die, or simply become co-opted (like a majority of the counterculture of the 1960's... hippy, Beat, or otherwise). This truth, whether we like to admit it or not, intimidates us, and makes us question our own potential as fully-functioning human beings.

Both roads lain in front of us present numerous ups-and-downs. The only difference is that one makes the established order happy, and the other causes it to writhe in discomfort as you romp around semi-independent of its anchor and chain. One resides within everyone's comfort zone.. while the other resides in a constant state of adventure, and hence, a constant transition between comfort and discomfort. A poetic and beautiful sort of transience. What some find quite disconcerting, however, is the fact that the road of freedom requires us to fully awaken and carve our own path, whereas the road of social expectation, although still challenging, is ready to carry you like an on-rails shooter to where it decides you need to be.

I had a realization a few weeks back, and have continued to have the same realization over and over again since.

It happened like this:

It's around 11:36 PM on a Friday night. I'm on-air doing my live radio show with my 2 co-hosts and a guest of ours. We're all freestyle rapping, save for Christian who feels more comfortable sitting back and listening. The poetry is spouting from our mouths like God himself is simultaneously manifesting himself within all of us, coaxing out the universe in our words. Then we stop for a moment and decide to talk about religion, philosophy, and life. Right in the middle of our conversation, I cut someone off because I feel like I can't not say what's on my mind..

"Sorry, Anton.. I didn't mean to interrupt. I just noted something absolutely incredible."

"Alright, cool. Let's hear it." 

"I just realized.. this is the kind of moment people live for. Moments like these are why people feel the faint motivation, no matter how drawl their life may be, to get up and out of bed to go to work at their minimum wage jobs for 8 and a half hours. They feel like they're working to earn moments like this."

"Interesting. Continue though, you've intrigued me."

"This is a Holy Moment. A true and honest Holy Moment. And not only are we living it.. we're living it while we're entirely aware we're living it, and it hasn't caused it to disperse. This is the Promise Land. Moments like this are what the Sages and Priests secretly and allegorically mean about the Kingdom of God that is within each of us. We are no longer experiencing a dissonance between us and the true workings of the Universe. Right now.. all there is, is us. And we know this moment won't last forever; but what the fuck does that matter? We have no goal in mind. We are doing what we're doing, simply because we're doing it. There are thousands of intellectual justifications we could label it with.. but why would we? Moments like this not only justify existence.. moments like this prove how absolutely incredible this is."

"I'm fuckin' loving what you're saying, dude. I can see the fire in your eyes. You're absolutely alive right now."

"I am, dude! I can feel the whole of all of it pulsing through me! This is it! Moments like this are what each of us live for, yet most of us lose sight of even their slight potential to exist in full form after years of simply going through the motions of societal expectation- go to high-school; get a job. Work your ass off. Go back to school. Make sure you're going back, however, for something that is economically applicable so you can continue to work towards moments like these. People don't fucking realize it! People are too afraid to realize it! The Promise Land is right fucking now! What you've been searching for, laboring for, crying over the lack of is right under your nose. Most of us are just too Goddamn afraid to reach out and grab it, because it's too surreal to think it's that easy. We realize how easy it is in our childhoods, and usually continue to hold this truth close to us into our teens. But our parents tell us we're wrong. We have to get up off our asses and get jobs, go to school, make ends meet... follow in their footsteps in one way or another. Us teenagers try to show them that it's all right here, and it doesn't need to be earned or worked for. Our parents.. and the rest of the older generations.. refuse to believe us because then all of their hard work and pain would have been in vain. All of their hours.. days.. months.. years.. spent climbing the social and labor ladder would be in vain. Most of them refuse to believe it could have been that easy all the way along. And this refusal to believe is psychologically backed by the rest of our mainstream society."

In essence.. I believe it's absolutely insane to live life any other way.. because these moments are right now.
I would rather live a full life and die at 50, then live an empty life full of work and economically-centered goal making with occasional release here and there and die at 100. 

Regardless.. I am still battling myself over which road to choose. 

I think I wish to follow both, and simply switch back and forth as I see fit.

The trap lies in believing you're trapped. 

"Don't chase your dreams, because they're right in front of you. You're just too afraid to reach for them."