The Institution
by We simply have to ride with it for if we don’t you know what happens.
I remember listening to this song by 4 non-Blondes (What’s Up) years back when I have just found a job months after I was sacked from my first job after college. I was sitting by the front seat of a passenger jeepney airing that song while on the leg of the trip (back in the Philippines) and at that particular moment, my “enlightenment” was attained. Amusingly, it wasn’t a higher enlightenment the Buddha attained the 1st of December centuries ago but just a mundane awakening slapping me back to reality with every lines on the lyrics of the song.
Life in a civilized world (preferably concerning survival in an urban environment)is all about getting into the flow of the activities of the “Institution”. If you wonder what is this institution you will realize it’s the everyday activities you indulge in your everyday life as an ordinary human being. Basically, you are from a family who knows its roots, and then you were brought out to a society and baptized in whatever faith your parents were born with. Then you are a citizen of a country who after legal age becomes a part of the government machinery giving part of your earnings to the state in the form of tax. That of course will be in a better light if your parents afforded you some education to help you in finding a decent job. Then the job decides if you’re the man inside a building or merely one of the many scattered at every side of the streets. Your job gives you direction that you have a particular thing to do until that moment in your life that you are incapacitated to do work. Without a job, you must be witted enough to support a business to drive your life if you can’t adjust to the environment of being someone’s working man, to do work for him with a compensation.
I was so fine and happy that day for winning back my life with a job and as the rest of the story goes, it was well worth remembering when you have triumphed against the odds and write about it years hence. Keeping your mind on the right track is another thing. There is an institution within an institution where those who haven’t got hold of their sanity were forever laid in bounds for their entire lifetime. Whatever happens, despite the hardships of life, don’t attempt to lay down a fishing rod on a clogged kitchen sink filled with water or do it in a toilet bowl to catch fish.
Liked it
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Post Commentalbert1jemi
On February 9, 2010 at 7:58 am
good work
Michael Eboh
On February 9, 2010 at 8:26 am
Thanks for the share!
sambhafusia
On February 9, 2010 at 8:29 am
well written…nice share..
devsir
On February 9, 2010 at 8:38 am
Nice article. quite thought provoking
Lady Sunshine
On February 9, 2010 at 8:43 am
The “Institution” can suck, you know. lol. Interesting piece.
Netty net
On February 9, 2010 at 9:17 am
Nice job.
K Kristie
On February 9, 2010 at 9:18 am
Good discussion.
Atanacio
On February 9, 2010 at 9:22 am
I like your entries but sometimes correct me if I’m wrong the Institution is in place for the majority good right?
AlmaG
On February 9, 2010 at 9:36 am
Wonderful memories to share. Inspiring
Guy Hogan
On February 9, 2010 at 9:44 am
Triond is the only institution I belong to now. And my membership is voluntary.
johnnydod
On February 9, 2010 at 9:58 am
Good for you
Hazel Crowther
On February 9, 2010 at 10:36 am
A good article.
Jenny Heart
On February 9, 2010 at 10:51 am
Well done!
qasimdharamsy
On February 9, 2010 at 10:57 am
Great Post…well done…
Brenda Nelson
On February 9, 2010 at 11:12 am
in the words of The Verve “try to make ends meet, your a slave to money, then you die”.
Sharif Ishnin
On February 9, 2010 at 11:20 am
Being in the institution is the industrial age way of thinking. Not everyone can step out of the box. sadly.
drelayaraja
On February 9, 2010 at 11:40 am
wonderful share…
Mark Gordon Brown
On February 9, 2010 at 1:12 pm
great thought blue… I have been thinking a lot about this type of thing in the past few years as well. The whole idea of seperating ourselves from society to attain enlightenment has become rediculas to me. I actually find teaching like those of buddha lacking because of this revelation within myself. I am not sure if this is actually what you are meaning here or if it is just what I am reading into it. I have come to believe that we are in this world to have a material experience and that trying to force enlightenment by avoiding the experience is a sin, if there is such a thing. If we can not learn to function in what is around us then we have failed. That being said I believe that we can create the situations in our life that we want to have. At this point in life I do not have what I believe is my ideal job. Still hopeful that will come. Doing what I think is my best in the job I have now will lead me to my ideal, not through promotion but through the power of my own will. So I have no need of going in sitting in a sweatlodge or under a flipping tree. Siddartha dropped out, to me that is not the road to nirvana. It is a false bliss.
Trinket
On February 9, 2010 at 1:32 pm
Very interesting material. With todays economy, the way it is. It causes a person to really look at themselves, and wonder if maybe they can make a difference. I believe more and more people are trying to start a business for themselves. Many companies are abusing people’s rights. They are pushing the envelope more and more. We decide whether or not we want to live in this kind of institution. God Bless everyone
LoveDoctorLoveGoodBye
On February 9, 2010 at 1:48 pm
I think I am starting to feel as if I belong to Triond as well. Supersonic..
Michael Eboh
On February 9, 2010 at 2:42 pm
In the same roof we all belong!
8Shei8
On February 9, 2010 at 3:23 pm
I remember that video as though is was only yesterday! I went to a financial convention and as long we work for someone, we are a slave to the institution. You break free by becoming your own boss! Good insight my Supersonic friend.
ashan1614
On February 9, 2010 at 6:01 pm
In order to get something you’ve never had, you must do something you’ve never done. Most are content with the ordinary; the institution. Few will break out and we will admire their courage.
Snooky
On February 9, 2010 at 6:48 pm
The institution should be the theory to be worked on but not the whole solution.
deep blue
On February 9, 2010 at 7:43 pm
I’m sorry my brothers and sisters in Triond, I appended the wrong song link. That was supposed to be What’s Up by 4 non-Blondes not Supersonic by JJ Fad. BTW sometimes mistakes get the better of things. That was a whole lot of comments. Thanks a lot.
Will
clickmarbin
On February 9, 2010 at 10:15 pm
this is wonderfully written. thanks =)
Jenilia12
On February 9, 2010 at 11:21 pm
Good post.
Thanks to share this one.
J J Neuman
On February 10, 2010 at 12:00 am
You’ve nailed it again, Will. It’s like being put into the machine…it’s a job, or a business to drive your life if you can’t adjust to the environment of being someone’s working man…either way, we’ve got to pay our taxes.
Frances Lawrence
On February 10, 2010 at 3:35 am
A thought provoking article, well written.
diamondpoet
On February 10, 2010 at 6:07 am
Great article and well written, I enjoy your work.
papaleng
On February 10, 2010 at 11:45 am
nicely done and quite provoking topic.
RS Wing
On February 12, 2010 at 5:41 pm
Personnaly I hate the “Institution”. But unfortunately, we must conform or else we’re out in the cold. Who ever thought of this idea that we have to work a dead end job to survive. We should lynch that sucker….unfortunately, it is what it is! Great write Will.
lillyrose
On February 14, 2010 at 9:51 am
I know just how you felt throughout this piece Will. I would love to know more about your life and how come you ended up in Dorset? I would love to not be a slave to the institution. I have always pulled away from the normal things in life. Ideally I would love to live in a little wooden cabin, in the middle of some beautiful scenery of the natural kind.
tytyty0062
On February 15, 2010 at 9:39 am
good article! I enjoyed reading.
fragile18
On March 11, 2010 at 9:32 am
thanks for sharing