Thanks mainly to a positive comment I recently found a YouTube Channel of an Amsterdam based spoken word artist called Vino Venitas. For one thing, it has reminded me of the creativity of exploring a poetic voice. For another, a certain video of his has inspired me to write about self-belief and the importance of faith in others.
Inspiration
The poetic work that instigated this post uses the metaphor of being the captain of your own ship. I interpret it as follows; a captain has responsibility for themselves and their crew, essentially he or she has a plan for the voyage. They will make decisions that have an effect on the success of whatever endeavour the ship is involved with.
As we move through life’s calmer waters or traverse its steep upswells, we take responsibility for our friends and families at various stages. Our decisions of how we treat people in this life ripple out in a karmic sense and for the most part will come back to us.
Whilst universal justice remains elusive and evil deeds often seem to go unpunished, there are also a great many people who get what they deserve. The spoken word performance talks about heavy matters such as war and peace but also has so much smart wisdom applicable to daily life. To lift a line from the poem;
‘Don’t create your reality by the media’s views of the world.’
Reporting always contains some form of bias no matter how neutral a stance is taken. Often reality is distorted by the conventional press and journalism. In contemporary society, this is blended together with layers of meaning generated through social media. This is so much so that it is hard to tell what is the media’s view of the world, what is the social consensus and how this is affecting us as individuals with our own consciousness.
The New Media Impact
In this semi-chaotic new media landscape that we are all somehow a part of, we can become lost in a haze of expectation which sometimes has no bearing on reality. Within such a thick fog of confusion and sometimes self-doubt, it is easy to become rudderless, and then to find that we can’t stand up for ourselves.
In such a state it is easy for malevolent people or unforeseen events to get the better of us. I would suggest that self-awareness is key here. Through taking time to pause for reflection, to breath in and out deeply, to perhaps hum to ourselves and to smile, we can appreciate what we have now and how far we have come.
I would say that having faith beyond ourselves can exponentially increase our support in life. I’m certainly no advocate for a higher power in an identifiable or specific form but I do believe in a higher power of some description, even if it is just in the vague sense of an all-pervading energy. Believing in a force greater than ourselves can be a phenomenal motivation for change and empowerment. Yet I would say something even better is to foster an unconditional belief in the potential of the people that make up our own social worlds.
To return to the ship metaphor, believing that your crewmates are the greatest possible people for the task at hand, and ultimately have your best interests at heart, will bolster you through difficult and demanding situations. An extension of this is that we should surround ourselves with the good people we know, and furthermore never cease believing in their abilities. To put it simply; make sure you know who your friends are, and once you know, never give up on them.
Final Thoughts
From the age of maturity or even before, each of us will realise that life is no bed of roses, but it’s how we deal with the succession of rolling waves that defines who we are as people. When disaster strikes, the captain is the one who must take the big decisions and face the challenge or go down with the ship.
This picture is complicated by the notion of fortune; the albatross of fate which follows our ship should always be interpreted positively. If we can do these things then we will make it through any dark nights at sea and sail safely back to shore.