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The Wise and True Prophets of Comedy (Part 2): Bill Hicks

Jason Cooper — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 09:22:32 +0000

Hicks: The smoking "Truth-Seeker" of comedy

I now like to turn your attention to the late Bill Hicks, who was in the same mould as George Carlin, featured in the post ‘The Wise and True Prophets of Comedy (Part 1): George Carlin’.

In fact, the young Bill Hicks was very much inspired/influenced by the older George’s style and subject matter.

Fortunately for us lost deceived souls, Hicks decided to produce and to display his own brand of social commentating and irreverent comedy.

Here is an excerpt from the Bill Hicks Official Website of Hicks’ biography which describes him as being a down-to-earth guy, who was always frank and always seeking truth within the mystery of life – all this despite being struck down in his prime by a terminal illness:

Despite his illness, Bill was at peace. He spent time with his parents, playing them the music he loved and showing them documentaries about his interests. He called friends to say goodbye and re-read J.R.R. Tolkein’s The Fellowship Of The Ring.

On February 7th, 1994, Bill wrote his last words to the world:

I was born William Melvin Hicks on December 16, 1961 in Valdosta, Georgia. Ugh. Melvin Hicks from Georgia. Yee Har! I already had gotten off to life on the wrong foot. I was always “awake,” I guess you’d say. Some part of me clamoring for new insights and new ways to make the world a better place.

All of this came out years down the line, in my multitude of creative interests that are the tools I now bring to the Party. Writing, acting, music, comedy. A deep love of literature and books. Thank God for all the artists who’ve helped me. I’d read these words and off I went – dreaming my own imaginative dreams. Exercising them at will, eventually to form bands, comedy, more bands, movies,anything creative. This is the coin of the realm I use in my words – Vision.

On June 16, 1993 I was diagnosed with having “liver cancer that had spread from the pancreas.” One of life’s weirdest and worst jokes imaginable. I’d been making such progress recently in my attitude, my career and realizing my dreams that it just stood me on my head for a while. “Why me!?” I would cry out, and “Why now!?”

Well, I know now there may never be any answers to those particular questions, but maybe in telling a little about myself, we can find some other answers to other questions. That might help our way down our own particular paths, towards realizing my dream of New Hope and New Happiness. Amen.

I left in love, in laughter, and in truth and wherever truth, love and laughter abide, I am there in spirit.

On Saturday, February 26th, 1994, Bill died. He was 32.

Why not Change this Amusement Ride of a Life for the Better?

In the following video, Hicks offers up a metaphor of life as being an amusement park ride, as he tells us to ride with love and truth, rather than with fear and hatred…

Final Destination: Peace on Earth with us laughing all the way.

The Wise and True Prophets of Comedy (Part 1): George Carlin

Jason Cooper — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 10:42:18 +0000

Carlin: The "Socrates" of comedy

Wisdom and Truth can be garnered from the most unlikely of places – none more so than the spectacle of stand-up comedy. So I’d like to introduce you all to two such past comedic greats who can be considered true prophets of their craft.

The comedians in question were George Carlin and Bill Hicks, who both penetrated our conscience, and raised our consciousness with their pinpoint insights and observations into all the pretentious bullshit and hypocrisy that society propagated and continues to propagate – not to mention, provoking uncontrollable laughter at the same time.

Both Carlin’s and Hicks’ social and political views were considered controversial at the time – but controversy does not mean that they were wrong.

Here is an excerpt from the George Carlin Official Website detailing Carlin’s autobiography ‘Last Words’ which contains his comedic value, iconoclastic views and philosophy of life:

LAST WORDS also delves into Carlin’s work as a stand-up comedian, and his acting aspirations, in which he offers a frank account of his talent: “I was devastatingly inept! There were no Oscars in sight.” In the end, the book is a celebration about a boy from Harlem who knew how to make people laugh and forever changed the face of comedy in America and the world.

George… on politics: I had a left-wing, humanitarian, secular humanist, liberal inclination on the one hand, which implied positions on myriad issues. On the other I had prejudices and angers and hatreds towards various classes of people. None of which included skin color or ethnicity or religion. Well—religion, yes. I used to get angry at blue-collar right-wingers but that passed because I saw that in the end they were just a different sort of victim.

…on values: The worst thing about groups are their values. Traditional values, American values, family values, shared values, OUR values. Just code for white middle-class prejudices and discrimination, justification for greed and hatred. I believe in giving everyone, as I encounter them, one at a time the full value of their dignity and their honor in the world. Whether I’m seen as a celebrity on an elevator or I’m just George the stranger, I open myself to them and I take them in and I give them everything I would want myself in terms of treatment, feeling and consideration. I call that a value.

…on being an individual: It always seemed to me that the reasons groups came together were superficial. The group didn’t feed me and I had nothing to contribute to it. I had a deeper goal, this giant puzzle to work on, which was only going to happen if they left me alone… The aloneness of the stage makes groups irrelevant. Few things dramatize the face-off between loner and group more starkly than the artist before the audience. And there’s no irony here. If this loner can’t get the audience to act as a group—laugh together—he’s fucked.

The Truth or not the Truth – That is the Question

In the following video, Carlin offers us some good advice, as he tells us to question everything we think to be true…communicated in his own irreverent but humorous way of course.

Read part 2 of the series: ‘The Wise and True Prophets of Comedy (Part 2): Bill Hicks’.

What Does Wisdom Mean To Will Durant

Jason Cooper — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 11:11:04 +0000

American writer, historian, and philosopher Will Durant describes wisdom in his own intelligent and eloquent way.

Read the following excerpt of ‘What is Wisdom?’ by Durant:

“What is wisdom? I feel like a droplet of spray which proudly poised for a moment on the crest of a wave, undertakes to analyze the sea.

Ideally, wisdom is total perspective — seeing an object, event, or idea in all its pertinent relationships. Spinoza defined wisdom as seeing things sub specie eternitatis, in view of eternity; I suggest defining it as seeing things sub specie totius, in view of the whole.

Obviously we can only approach such total perspective; to possess it would be to be God. The first lesson of philosophy is that philosophy is the study of any part of experience in the light of our whole experience; the second lesson is that the philosopher is a very small part in a very large whole. Just as philosopher means not a “possessor” but a “lover” of wisdom, so we can only seek wisdom devotedly, like a lover fated, as on Keats’ Grecian urn, never to possess, but only to desire. Perhaps it is more blessed to desire than to possess.

Shall we have examples? Rain falls; you mourn that your tennis games must be postponed; you are not a philosopher. But you console yourself with the thought, “How grateful the parched earth will be for the rain!” You have seen the event in a larger perspective, and you are beginning to approach wisdom.”

Please read the rest of this fascinating article here.

Let me also turn your attention to a few recommended books authored by Will Durant, which will give you a good grounding in the history of philosophy and the great thinkers:

Words Of Wisdom: The Simple And Humble Aphorisms Of Marty Rubin

Jason Cooper — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 12:24:55 +0000

The great American poet Walt Whitman was a shining influence for Marty Rubin, who now produces great wisdom of his own in the form of aphorisms

My like-minded friend, Marty Rubin who is also known as nothingprofound on BlogCatalog, is a man of pure wisdom and creator of thought-provoking aphorisms which are, despite his alias, nothing but profound.

So without further ado, here I shall present you with a select few of Marty’s words of wisdom:

Whenever I do nothing I feel I’ve accomplished a lot.

What variety is to life, contradiction is to the mind.

The flea that doubts doesn’t jump nearly as high.

Water flows because it’s willing.

Looking in the mirror is seeing what other people see.

If it’s work you’re trying too hard.

To hate everything is to be wounded by everything.

The old philosophers knew so little; that’s why they were so wise.

The air lets the arrow pass right through.

In the wind, more leaves tremble than any theory can account for.

If the light’s not in you, you’re in the dark.

Someone told me the world is round, but I’m checking it out for myself.

Please take the time to visit Marty’s blogs Out Of Context: pieces of a life and Aphorism of the Day to sample more of his delightful aphorisms.

Liberate Your Mind with the Empowering Wisdom of Hip-Hop – Part 3

Jason Cooper — Wed, 26 May 2010 07:53:33 +0000

The basic instructions before leaving earth is to pursue the true knowledge and wisdom to free our minds and live a righteous and joyful life, that’s according to hip-hop artist GZA.

As you will no doubt see in his lyrics, GZA’ s B.I.B.L.E is perhaps a true interpretation of what a holy book should be, as it instructs us on how we can become like gods and make this planet a heavenly place to live.

The first things we must start with is ourselves, and to always seek truth no matter what…

GZA feat. Killah Priest – B.I.B.L.E. (Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth) Lyrics

Basic instructions before leavin’ Earth
Basic instructions before leavin’ Earth
Basic instructions before leavin’ Earth

Chorus:(X2)
Life is a test, many quest the universe
N’ through my research, I felt the joy N’ the hurt
The first shall be last N’ the last shall be first
The basic instructions before leavin’ Earth

(Killah Priest)
Knowledge this wisdom, this goes back when I was twelve
I love doin’ right but I was trapped in Hell
Had mad ideas, sad eyes N’ tears
Years of fear, but yo my foes couldn’t bear
I searched for the truth since my youth
N’ went to church since birth, but it wasn’t worth the loot
That I was payin’, plus the prayin’
I didn’t like stayin’ cuz of bizzie-bodies
N’ dizzy-hotties
That the preach-ass souped up with lies
Had couped up, lookin’ at loot, butt N’ thighs
During the service, he swallowed up the poor
N’ after they heard this, they wallowed on the floor
But I ignored, N’ explored my history that was untold
N’ watched mysteries unfold
N’ dropped the jewel like Solomon, but never followed men
Cuz if you do your brain is more hollow then
Space oblivia, or the abyss
With no trace of trivia, left with the hiss
Does it pay to be deaf, dumb, or blind
From a slave he was kept from the mind
N’ from a caves he crept from behind
N’ what he gave was the sect of the swine
When the bible, that condemned the pig
I don’t mean to pull your hems or flip your wigs
But we used to wear a turban, but now were in the urban
No more wearin’ beanies or dress like the genie
No hocus pocus cuz I focus on the facts
N’ put it on the track or brought it through the wax
I speak on Jacob, it might take up some time
N’ too much knowledge, it might break up the ryhme
I did it anyway, just to wake up the mind
Of those who kiss stones or prays on the carpet
Those who sit at home, or sell books by the market
Need to chill N’ get their mind revived
For years, religion did nothing but divide

chorus(X2)

I strolled through the books of Job to unfold
N’ opened bibles, instead of hopin’ on revivals
Callin’ on his name N’ screaming Halleluja
When he hardly knew ya, that’s how the devils fooled ya
See, look into my eyes brethren, that’s the lies of a Reverend
Why should you die to go to heaven
The Earth is already in space
The bible I embrace
A difficult task I had to take
I studied till my eyes was swollen
N’ only arose when I found out that we were the chosen
I deal with the truth N’ build with the youth
N’ teach my son as he kneels on the stoop
Son, life is a pool of sin, corrupted with foolish men
N’ women with wicked minds who build picket signs
To legalize abortion, the evil eye extortion
I quiz some with my wisdom
Before I converted I was perverted
N’ knowledge was asserted
The study of wisdom, I perferred it
The understandin’, it gave me mental freedom
I even learnt Caucasians were really the Tribe of Edam
The white image of Christ is really Cesare Borgia
N’ uh, the second son of Pope Alexander
The sixth of Rome N’ once the picture was shown
That’s how the devils tricked my dome
I prophesized to save a man but no one gave a damn
For my nation, the seed of Abraham
Blessed with the tongue of Hebrew
Now we’re strung on needles, N’ some are plungin’ evils
So study N’ be wise in these days of darkness
Peace to my nephew Marcus

chorus

A Philosopher As Parent (Part 2) – Ten Commandments to Parenting Wisely

Jason Cooper — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 09:45:48 +0000

This is a continuation of the “A Philosopher As Parent” and the last in the series. The first post in the series can be found here.

Learn About Yourself whilst Adapting to Parental Life

I don’t think I’m wrong in saying that bringing up children is not an easy task and is perhaps the greatest challenge anyone can take on in life. Anyone looking to start a family will find that out soon enough -believe me!

For me personally, I am finding out the hard way (due to my ignorance of not being a parent before) that I must learn (quickly) to adapt to every given situation in regard my relationship with my 18 month old boy. I have to also admit there are times when many apparent difficulties arise when he seemingly changes his behaviour and attitude from one day to the next.

I think by one having a philosophical view to parenting, tinged with some wisdom, will go a long way toward making bringing up a child a little easier – as well as for saving one’s sanity.

Bear in mind; I am in no way telling you how to bring up your kids, but I only wish to share advice on how I am trying to deal with this major challenge in my life, with the goal being to raise a child who is healthy in mind as well as in body.

Ten Commandments to Parenting Wisely that I try to adhere to:

ONE: ‘You shall have no other gods but yourself.‘ – we are all gods in our own way because we have in our possession a phenomenal gift of being able to create life. Parents must learn to act as a god would by showing responsibility and compassion for what we have created, as well as always being virtuous in the way we nurture our young.

TWO: ‘You shall only lay down the foundations for their survival.‘ – obviously some boundaries must be set and we must teach them the necessary skills for survival very much like how animals rear their young. But we must remember to be both objective and rational whilst nurturing our young and try not to impose our subjective feelings, prejudices and ideas onto them.

THREE: ‘You shall not compare your child with other children.‘ – we as parents are sometimes guilty of comparing our child to another who we think excels in activities at school. We then put unnecessary pressure on our children to follow the example of the ‘Teacher’s Pet’ who supposedly succeeds in everything. What type of human being do you wish to produce? An authentic being who has the untroubled freedom of always being itself; or an imitator who will never know themselves and are incapable of creating anything of originality? You choose.

FOUR: ‘Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it for spending quality time with your child.‘ – spend as much time with your child as possible as ‘Time’ waits for no parent because before you know it the child would have become an adult and will, by then, want to get as far away as possible from us old fogies – so make the most of the time you have with them as toddlers.

FIVE: ‘Honor and respect your child’s freedom in life.‘ – give your child the freedom to grow and make their own mistakes so that they can learn from them – which will help them to become wiser. Remember to also respect your child’s independence and decisions to pursue whatever they wish to do in life.

SIX: ‘You shall not murder your child.‘ – I know there are times when you feel like murdering your kids due to their noisy behaviour and seemingly aggravating ways, but a parent must learn to have patience and an understanding attitude towards their child. At the end of the day, children will always be children, and in most cases all they want is attention or for us to help them to achieve something that their little bodies are not capable of doing.

SEVEN: ‘You shall not treat the child as your possession.‘ – it is natural to want the best for our kids but we as parents must tread very carefully in how we GUIDE our kids – and that is the operative word – GUIDE. There is a thin line between wise parenting and tyrannical parenting. Once a child reaches a mature age for it to make decisions for itself then parents must learn to let go, otherwise the child will not be able to function independently and cope with everyday life adequately – so allow them to LEAD themselves.

EIGHT: ‘You shall not steal their childhood.‘ – leave them alone and let them be kids by not living your own failed ambitions through them. Allow them to grow and develop at their own pace, so that they can discover for themselves the vocation they wish to do and be happy in.

NINE: ‘You shall not lie to your child.‘ – always speak ‘Truth’ to your child and not condition them with what you want them to know by telling massive porkies. If they ask you a question (and they certainly will – and many of them), respond to them with honesty and frankness, as it’s somewhat hypocritical of us to teach them not to lie, but in the meantime we do just that to either protect them from the truth or to propagate fantasies. As Manly P. Hall wisely points out, “The child is not damaged by facts. The child is damaged by delusions.”

TEN: ‘You shall not spoil your child.‘ – it’s all well and good buying the odd toy for your child on birthdays, but they must be taught a valuable lesson that they cannot get everything which they ask for, especially if you capitulate and comply to their whims as soon as they throw a temper tantrum. Otherwise you will be setting a dangerous precedence for your child into becoming a self-centered grand manipulator when in adulthood.

The lesson here is: I think we just need to be aware that every child is different, and that there is no standard formula for parenting that will work for everyone. All I will say is that we must keep in mind not to impose on our children and corrupt them with our bullshit ways – but to allow them the room to grow and develop their own personality – hopefully, they will become wiser, happier and more inquisitive than us ignorant, miserable and narrow minded adults.

I just need to keep reminding myself, “I must let go! I must let go!”, no matter how hard I’m already finding that liberating prospect.