Radically Say Yes to Life

The other day, I was basking in the glory of the sun. Thank God for spring is here. Just chilling on the corner, catching the sunset, what a beautiful scene. Children playing in the fountain, that is empty, and soon will be filled, couples, hand-in-hand, locals laying in the grass, people sitting in the park on the benches, reading, birds, chirping, and that annoying guy who is playing the flute that pollutes the park with sounds that pierce your ears.

And then, as I was photographing on this particular day, and it seems like whenever the sun comes out, especially during the winter time, in the city these days, groups of masked protesters emerge from the shadows, with frankly tired looking bodies and faces full of anger and bitterness. Like ghouls exiting from the cave, they emerge as slaves to information and media that is fed upon their screens. They scream and chant “drop bombs on Tel Aviv.”

A strange looking woman with a peculiar smirk on her face comes up to me and asks, “do you like what you’re hearing and seeing? Want to learn more?” With a communist “socialist revolution” newspaper with the hammer and sickle icon, pamphlet in hand.

And so who in their right mind would like what they hear, when it involves death, destruction, and war? Since when has it become normalized to be full of hatred, bitterness, and ugliness of the soul?

Things are getting weird. My theory is, media, photographs, television, videos, basically all of this visual, audio, information that people are indulging in, is enslaving people’s minds at scale. It’s not just a meme or some little thing to brush off that you need to stop using your phone, or go touch grass or something. Considering a simple flicker of a shadow casted upon a wall can move the physical body of mass amounts of people, despite whether the outcome of their actions is good or bad is baffling to me. The influence of this media is now getting to a point where people will inwardly destroy themselves and everything beautiful around them.

And so now those who are spending their time under fluorescent lights in the darkness, trapped in the four corners of their room indoors, scrolling on their scrying devices are receiving their revelations from the fallen angels they sought, and are now full of hatred and ugliness, moving in the direction of chaos and destruction.

And so what is the antidote to this modern degradation of the human spirit? Creating beautiful images through the power of media and art. An absolute fuck yes to life, waking up in the morning with insatiable love for life and curiosity, with pure physiological vitality after getting a good night of sleep, after breaking your fast and eating clean whole foods and red meat, being so full of power after lifting heavy weights and pulling the weight of your body up on a bar. Having balanced hormones, taking cold showers, regulating your nervous system, and spending time under the sunlight in nature away from the screen. And so when you are so radically healthy, so full of love, physical strength, testosterone, and power, the overwhelming joy that you feel can never kill your love for life.

And so the radical approach forward in the face of degeneracy and ressentiment is not wearing a mask and spreading hatred— it’s allowing the sun to kiss the skin of your face and meet God.