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Thursday, January 21, 2016

The Myth of Sisyphus... Albert Camus

The gods had condemned Sisyphus to ceaselessly rolling a rock to the top of a mountain, whence the stone would fall back of its own weight. They had thought with some reason that there is no more dreadful punishment than futile and hopeless labor.



If one believes Homer, Sisyphus was the wisest and most prudent of mortals. According to another tradition, however, he was disposed to practice the profession of highwayman. I see no contradiction in this. Opinions differ as to the reasons why he became the futile laborer of the underworld. To begin with, he is accused of a certain levity in regard to the gods. He stole their secrets. Aegina, the daughter of Esopus, was carried off by Jupiter. The father was shocked by that disappearance and complained to Sisyphus. He, who knew of the abduction, offered to tell about it on condition that Esopus would give water to the citadel of Corinth. To the celestial thunderbolts he preferred the benediction of water. He was punished for this in the underworld. Homer tells us also that Sisyphus had put Death in chains. Pluto could not endure the sight of his deserted, silent empire. He dispatched the god of war, who liberated Death from the hands of her conqueror.

It is said that Sisyphus, being near to death, rashly wanted to test his wife's love. He ordered her to cast his unburied body into the middle of the public square. Sisyphus woke up in the underworld. And there, annoyed by an obedience so contrary to human love, he obtained from Pluto permission to return to earth in order to chastise his wife. But when he had seen again the face of this world, enjoyed water and sun, warm stones and the sea, he no longer wanted to go back to the infernal darkness. Recalls, signs of anger, warnings were of no avail. Many years more he lived facing the curve of the gulf, the sparkling sea, and the smiles of earth. A decree of the gods was necessary. Mercury came and seized the impudent man by the collar and, snatching him from his joys, lead him forcibly back to the underworld, where his rock was ready for him.

You have already grasped that Sisyphus is the absurd hero. He is, as much through his passions as through his torture. His scorn of the gods, his hatred of death, and his passion for life won him that unspeakable penalty in which the whole being is exerted toward accomplishing nothing. This is the price that must be paid for the passions of this earth. Nothing is told us about Sisyphus in the underworld. Myths are made for the imagination to breathe life into them. As for this myth, one sees merely the whole effort of a body straining to raise the huge stone, to roll it, and push it up a slope a hundred times over; one sees the face screwed up, the cheek tight against the stone, the shoulder bracing the clay-covered mass, the foot wedging it, the fresh start with arms outstretched, the wholly human security of two earth-clotted hands. At the very end of his long effort measured by skyless space and time without depth, the purpose is achieved. Then Sisyphus watches the stone rush down in a few moments toward the lower world whence he will have to push it up again toward the summit. He goes back down to the plain.

It is during that return, that pause, that Sisyphus interests me. A face that toils so close to stones is already stone itself! I see that man going back down with a heavy yet measured step toward the torment of which he will never know the end. That hour like a breathing-space which returns as surely as his suffering, that is the hour of consciousness. At each of those moments when he leaves the heights and gradually sinks toward the lairs of the gods, he is superior to his fate. He is stronger than his rock.

If this myth is tragic, that is because its hero is conscious. Where would his torture be, indeed, if at every step the hope of succeeding upheld him? The workman of today works everyday in his life at the same tasks, and his fate is no less absurd. But it is tragic only at the rare moments when it becomes conscious. Sisyphus, proletarian of the gods, powerless and rebellious, knows the whole extent of his wretched condition: it is what he thinks of during his descent. The lucidity that was to constitute his torture at the same time crowns his victory. There is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn.

If the descent is thus sometimes performed in sorrow, it can also take place in joy. This word is not too much. Again I fancy Sisyphus returning toward his rock, and the sorrow was in the beginning. When the images of earth cling too tightly to memory, when the call of happiness becomes too insistent, it happens that melancholy arises in man's heart: this is the rock's victory, this is the rock itself. The boundless grief is too heavy to bear. These are our nights of Gethsemane. But crushing truths perish from being acknowledged. Thus, Oedipus at the outset obeys fate without knowing it. But from the moment he knows, his tragedy begins. Yet at the same moment, blind and desperate, he realizes that the only bond linking him to the world is the cool hand of a girl. Then a tremendous remark rings out: "Despite so many ordeals, my advanced age and the nobility of my soul make me conclude that all is well." Sophocles' Oedipus, like Dostoevsky's Kirilov, thus gives the recipe for the absurd victory. Ancient wisdom confirms modern heroism.

One does not discover the absurd without being tempted to write a manual of happiness. "What!---by such narrow ways--?" There is but one world, however. Happiness and the absurd are two sons of the same earth. They are inseparable. It would be a mistake to say that happiness necessarily springs from the absurd. Discovery. It happens as well that the felling of the absurd springs from happiness. "I conclude that all is well," says Oedipus, and that remark is sacred. It echoes in the wild and limited universe of man. It teaches that all is not, has not been, exhausted. It drives out of this world a god who had come into it with dissatisfaction and a preference for futile suffering. It makes of fate a human matter, which must be settled among men.

All Sisyphus' silent joy is contained therein. His fate belongs to him. His rock is a thing. Likewise, the absurd man, when he contemplates his torment, silences all the idols. In the universe suddenly restored to its silence, the myriad wondering little voices of the earth rise up. Unconscious, secret calls, invitations from all the faces, they are the necessary reverse and price of victory. There is no sun without shadow, and it is essential to know the night. The absurd man says yes and his efforts will henceforth be unceasing. If there is a personal fate, there is no higher destiny, or at least there is, but one which he concludes is inevitable and despicable. For the rest, he knows himself to be the master of his days. At that subtle moment when man glances backward over his life, Sisyphus returning toward his rock, in that slight pivoting he contemplates that series of unrelated actions which become his fate, created by him, combined under his memory's eye and soon sealed by his death. Thus, convinced of the wholly human origin of all that is human, a blind man eager to see who knows that the night has no end, he is still on the go. The rock is still rolling.

I leave Sisyphus at the foot of the mountain! One always finds one's burden again. But Sisyphus teaches the higher fidelity that negates the gods and raises rocks. He too concludes that all is well. This universe henceforth without a master seems to him neither sterile nor futile. Each atom of that stone, each mineral flake of that night filled mountain, in itself forms a world. The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.

Moral of the story... embrace your up-hill battles. Continue the good fight for freedom and equality for all. Do not allow yourself to feel burdened by your struggles, rather, smile and go about your work merrily. 

please welcome our new COOL HAND VETs Blogger

ERIC GRIMES

    Born in Pennsylvania and raised in Virginia, Eric joined the U.S. Army in May of 2001. He served with the 82nd Airborne Division and the 173rd Airborne Brigade until 2007. He is a single father and a disabled Vet currently living in South Carolina where he enjoys drinking, smoking pot, raging against the machine and fighting for equality across the board. 

Not subscribing to any faith, Eric has proclaimed himself as an atheistic agnostic. He also considers himself a bit of an a**hole and will use his attributes to stimulate "real" Non-politically correct dialogue

"just the type of element we need around here"





On behalf of Cool Hand Vets Thank you for becoming a new addition to the team.




Disclaimer:
The views and opinions expressed by Eric Grimes are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of COOL HAND VETS




Wednesday, January 20, 2016

...if I were a rich man....



     I was sitting on the back porch smoking with my family one night. 6 smokers in the house, all outside. With that information, we had one thing to talk about already. Smoking. We could have talked about the dangers of it. We could have talked about how Philip Morris has enough money to sue entire countries




We could have talked about the known dangerous chemicals that added to cigarettes to make sure you want to continue to use their product. We could have talked about the aggressive advertising campaigns in the 80's and 90's that were used to trick children into starting and how they are still going on today in other countries. We could have talked about anything.

The first person to bring up a topic was my step-daughters boyfriend.

"Have you seen the new 'Total Recall' ? I hear they are also going to make a new Blade Runner"

"Those are all Philip K. Dick novels, have you read them?"

"No. I don't read those kind of books."

"You just said you liked the movie, and you are excited about the new remake that is coming out...?"

"Well yeah..."

"Ok, just please stop talking... I feel like I am getting dumber whilst listening to you"

(Goes back to looking at his phone...)

As I turned to look at the faces of the rest of the group, I noticed something. Their faces we not curled up in dismay that I would say something like that. They were not smiling at a witty comment. They were all staring at their phones. Little 7 inch screens illuminating their faces with different shades of white and blue and yellow and red. Three were playing games, one was watching vines, and one was now scrolling through his facebook feed again, dismayed that his shot of breaking the silence was cut short. I decided to explain my comment, or rather defend it.

"Look at all of you! There are six people out here, and nobody is talking to each other. Each and every one of you has the entirety of all human knowledge at your finger tips, and you are playing games, or watching dumb shit. You are getting excited about shit that already happened 20 years ago. 



    They have been doing this with entertainment for as long as I can remember. First it was books, I have read 3 different books about tripod alien creatures invading earth and how we won the battle after setbacks and failures. Then they took those books and made movies about them. Then they made cartoons out of comics. Have they run out of new ideas to keep you guys occupied? They are so bad off, they are just redoing the old shit now? And you're EXCITED about that? You guys come out here and smoke and stare at your phones watching people get hit in the nuts instead of learning about something new and exciting. You could be learning about what the hell your government is doing behind your backs instead of watching some ugly chick twerk on stage with no ass! HELL, if you were at it long enough, you could BECOME one of those assholes passing dumb bills behind the nations back. Instead, you waste hour after hour of your life listening to the same fucking song over and over again because you think you just KNOW what this song is about, or watching some guy walk up to random strangers and tell stories about them for laughs.

You are going to be of voting age in this election...can any of you tell me anything about any of the people running? Bonus, you are NOT allowed to use anything you read on Facebook about it..."

(silence)


"You should vote, it should be important for you TO vote. Just do me and the rest of the nation a favor, and do not be an ignorant voter. KNOW who you are voting for, and what they are all about. I would rather you NOT vote if you do not know anything about the candidates than for you to vote for somebody you heard of. Start these conversations about politics every chance you get. Get informed and blast people who learn everything from Facebook with real TRUTH. Get involved, and stop letting people who are out of touch with you represent YOU."

I noticed everybody had turned off their phones and were listening intently. I even think I saw a spark in my step daughter's eye.

"Maybe there IS hope for the future."

My step-daughter replies with. "Dude.... smoke a bowl and chill out..."

"I CAN'T because you don't know WHO TO VOTE FOR!"



Please people.... FRIENDS DON'T LET FRIEND VOTE DUMB

CHV is now recruiting BLOG AUTHORs


That's right..., CHV is calling all Veterans and active or Reserve Servicemen & woman from all branches to join us on this digital platform to discuss and share; information, thoughts, experiences, beliefs or disbeliefs with the intention to inform, inspire and or connect with our fellow man.


Even as you read this there is so much history being made, that is why this invite is being sent to you. We need more Vet-Zen Journalism to cover so many of these topics that affect us all.

COOL HAND VETS 
is less than 15 months old and our Views have been growing exponentially 







For all of FACEBOOK's censoring and data storing and or spying, it has taught me this. We all know one another through someone and that creates an invisible tether that connects us all.

time to exploit that power to bring it back to WE THE PEOPLE.

There is no corruption or hypocrisy too small to ignore when dealing with the power structures or systems that govern US.


Bare in mind that there is no monetary gain in doing this but there isn't a deadline either. Your passion for the search for truth is all we desire. Ideas and concepts will collide or clash but as long as ego's and hidden agendas are left out, we may find answers. It is an exiting and dangerous time to be alive. Constant manufactured fear and division is being pumped into our reality but for those of us who notice. Its like having a six sense tugging at your soul begging to warn others.

With all that being said, here is some out of my pocket incentive:

When you join the CHV Blog Author team
you will receive 


1. CHV Notebook with your name




2. CHV pen (2)


3. CHV Mousepad (two choices)

Option Alpha


Option Delta


(still in the concept phase for hoodies)

Friday, January 8, 2016

MARK PASSIO!! FREE YOUR MIND/ Order Following opposes CONSCIOUSNESS





This is the presentation Mark Passio gave at the Free Your Mind 3 Conference in 2015. In this lecture, Mark explains how Order-Followers in the Police and Military are members of a world-wide Cult that is destroying human freedom





The military oath taken at the time of induction reads:

"I,___________, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to the regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me GOD"

The Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) 809 [890] . ART.90  (20), makes it clear that military personnel need to obey the "lawful command of his superior officer,"  891.ART.91  (2), the "lawful order of a warrant officer", 892.ART.92  (1)  the "lawful general order", 892.ART.92  (2) "lawful order".  In each case, military personnel have an obligation and a duty to only obey Lawful orders and indeed have an obligation to disobey Unlawful orders, including orders by the President that do not comply with the UCMJ. The moral and legal obligation is to the U.S. Constitution and not to those who would issue unlawful orders, especially if those orders are in direct violation of the Constitution and the UCMJ




Free Your Mind returns to Philadelphia in 2016 with a three-day conference featuring top-caliber whistle-blowers and researchers from across the country who will shed light upon our world’s problems and bring forward empowering solutions.
Spreading awareness on the topics of consciousness, mind control, subversive occult influences, holistic body-mind-spirit health, and solution-oriented approaches to the problems humanity faces in these challenging times.