2
TI he CI ac I camas P rint
WEdNEsdAy,JuNE 5, 2002
Change your mind, change your life
Wisdom is obvious, but it
wijl never be seen unless it is
sought. Seeking wisdom does
not mean running away to a
far-away land and asking some
guy on a mountain what the
meaning of life is; it is simply
paying attention to your daily
life.
I suggest that you start by
paying attention to your state
of consciousness. This you
may begin doing right now:
take a pause to analyze your
present state of consciousness,
then see how what you are
reading changes or affects your
state of consciousness. If you
have trouble with the term
“state of consciousness,” just
go with “state of mind.”
I am sitting by a computer,
playing with a Slinky. The per
son next to me is reading the
lyrics to Tool songs. All in all,
it reminds me of what it is that
I am living for.
That moment gone, I begin
writing. I contemplate going to
a woodsy grove, a place where
I can more easily manifest a
peaceful state of conscious
ness. That is what I shall do,
but first I will finish writing.
The woods have a natural,
chaotic (not chaos in the sense
of disorder; I mean chaos in
the sense of perfect order) useful guide for improving
atmosphere of sensory stimuli your daily life and mental
that is at harmony with my pre health.
ferred thinking patterns. The
Suppose that you are indoors
linearized environment of under fluorescent lights. Your
buildings and the city in gener state of consciousness closely
al is at disharmony with what I resembles narcosis as you head
perceive to be natural, healthy for the door. As soon as you
thinking patterns, and therefore step outside, your head clears
such an environment manifests up and you feel slightly alive.
in me a negative state of con Normally this would have gone
unnoticed. What lesson can be
sciousness.
State of consciousness is learned?
I believe that if a significant
affected by virtually every
thing in your body and/or number of people began pay
environment. Drugs, type of ing attention to their state of
lighting, ambient noise, coir consciousness, a change would
ors, other people and even occur in the way that people
what you believe all affect relate to each other. In addi
tion, the physical structures
your state of consciousness.
Amazing observations can and environments in our lives
be made in your daily life by would soon change in a way
paying attention to your state that would be more conducive
of consciousness. Though this to a peaceful state of con
area is very much neglected, I sciousness.
To reach Jesse Gurry nski e-mail
believe that it will prove a
very important area of study in hateapparatus@hotmail.com or
the very near future, and is a drop by B-104.
Ditch the cubicle, run away from reality
Staff Writer«:
Nick Barron
Jesse Gurzynski
Shadra Beesley
Andy Price
Jennifer Kane
J.J. Pearson
Megan Cobb
Isaiah Creel
*
Secretary:
Joanne Gale
Adviser
Patty Mamula
Goal«:
*
The Clackamas Print aims to report the
news in an honest, unbiased, professional
manner.
The opinions expressed in
The Clackamas Print do not necessarily
reflect those of the student body, college
administration, its faculty, or The
Clackamas Print. Products and services
advertised in The Clackamas Print are not
necessarily endorsed by anyone associated
with The Clackamas Print. The Clackamas
Print is a weekly publicationfind is distrib
uted every Wednesday except during
Finals Week. The Clackamas Print
Copyright 2002.
I couldn’t ever work in a
cubicle. It would be like
being an animal, having
someone breathing down my
neck all the time. Trapped. I
couldn’t handle having a boss
either. Someone who tells me
what I’m doing wrong, and
decides whether I get a
Christmas bonus. That is, can
I buy that huge impractical
gift for my child. Many of my
friends are getting married,
having babies, moving on to
“real life,” as they say. Well,
I’m fairly content with my
pretend life for now.
So, I’m taking off, I think,
into the desert, away from
these cities that twist us with
anxiety and obligation. I will
cover myself with paint and
act only on my impulses, not
what I think my impulses
should be. I’m off to a place
whefe'I can wander aimlessly
for hours without a care in
the world for anything but the
present moment. I’m going to
a place where I will never be
- forced to say a commonplace
thing just to fill in the blank
space in a boring conversa
tion. This place exists, you
know.
It’s probably a state of
mind more than anything
else, this place. But people
have a hard time getting
there without leaving the
country or taking drugs. And
when they come back from
either trip, they slowly for
get how to live all over
again.
There’s a way to cope
though, in this place, with
random acts of senselessness
and beauty. Beauty that peo
ple may not recognize as
beautiful. Like getting naked
and running down the street
in the middle of the night in
the rain, singing Christmas
carols in June, breaking
glass bottles, or jumping off
a bridge into deep powerful
water and feeling it take
control, knowing that there’s
something Big out there...
Human nature doesn’t
extend much past acting like
a freak, but for some reason
the Puritan notion that we
must act like sensible, fear
ful, law-abiding individuals
has taken control. Granted,
society wouldn’t work if just
any old person jumped off a
bridge or ran naked down the
street breaking things. We
could all still handle loosen
ing up a bit.
So let us go then, you and
I, to a place where the sun is
shining and we don’t need to
abide by the rules assigned
to us. Where we can sit in
the shade, eat ripe grape
fruit, play in the waves and
send a message back to the
“real world,” showing to
those stuck in cubicles,
where the rain comes down
daily, what great things there
are.
To reach Erinn Lerten
e-mail goawayrocks@hot-
mail.com or drop by B-
104.
What are your plans for summer vacation ?
Advertising:
The advertising rate is $4.75 per col
umn Inch
19600 S. M o I a II a A ve .
O reqon CiTy, O reqon
Marlies Berney
Amy Rose
Debnian Anzaldua
foreign language
pre-nursing
psychology
97045
(505) 657-6958 X25O9
CCCpRiNT@clACI<AMAS.CC.OR.US
hnp ://dE pts. c I ac I cam AS. CC. OR. US/pRiNT
“School To get
may prerequisites
out of the way for
nursing,”
“Working for a
masonry, and for
I fun Fm going to
Texas for two
weeks.”