2. I Feel Therefore I Seek

I exist—sat; I have awareness that I exist—cit; then: I exist for some purpose—ānanda—pleasure, happiness, joy, ecstasy.

A saying of Descartes: “Cogito, ergo sum.” Because I think I can understand from that that I exist. But that is sat, existence, and cit, cognizance or awareness that I exist. This is what separates us from inert matter. Sat, cit, then, a third aspect comes into awareness: I exist for some purpose. So, ānanda. Sat-cit-ānanda: pleasure, happiness, joy, ecstasy. Consciousness allows me to feel those things. But it also allows me to feel sad, unhappy, pain, su ering.

 

3. Boob Culture

We are searching after amrita which means “nectar” and by extension—“immortality”.

Here we are—13 years into the 21th century: social networking, Twitter, Instagram… In the future people will go, “What’s was that?” It will all change—and become more of the same. And still the world, this I guarantee to all the future viewers, “Tell me if there are still janma, mrityu, jara, vyadhi—birth, death, old age and disease? I’m willing to bet that they are still there.” They are inescapable. Mortality is inescapable. Science hasn’t made people immortal. We are searching after amrita which means “nectar”, and by extension—“immortality”.

 

4. Nike, L’Oreal and Me

“Just do it!” Why? “Because I am worth it.” “Total indulgence. Zero guilt.” Modern advertising and conscience.

Modern advertising is saturated with humanistic sloganeering. Like Nike, “Just do it!” What does that mean, “Just do it!”? It implies there is some conscience you have, some self-restraint, an internal process you go through before you decide to do something. They’re saying, “Don’t listen to it, don’t think about it, just do it!” So, Nike makes that proposal, who gives the answer? L’Oreal, “Because I’m worth it”. But of all the ads I ever saw, the most blatant, naked assertion of humanistic sloganeering was from a company whose slogan was, “Total indulgence. Zero guilt.” No conscience, just indulge without conscience. Who does things without conscience? Generally, they’re called animals…

 

5. Advertising | Humanistic Slogans

Humanism in a nutshell: “Man with all of his innumerable defects is the measure of the value of all things.”

Even in a secular sense, artists, writers, musicians talk about nding their own voice under the layers and layers of cliché, of clichéd artistic expression. They talk about “trying to nd your own voice”. Even they know how you’re under the in uence of those, who thought and expressed ideas before you. They know, for the most part, what people express is just their regurgitating what they’ve heard from others. And where do they hear it?

 

6. 60s, 70s, 80s | Diminishing Expectations

Self-analysis: to do an honest assessment of yourself and say, “Yes, I am, in a sense, hopeless, helpless.”

Humanism tries to awaken a competitive ego assertion, where you can envision yourself as an absolute center and try to extend the range of your exploitative capacity—you don’t owe anything anyone, you’re number one, you’re the man, the whole thing… And why? Because “I am worth it!” Whereas Guru Maharaj would say, “Without the grace of Sri Guru we are lifeless clay.”