What I wrote in class today

Sitting around in a classroom hoping to learn is about as effective as jerking off and expecting it to get you laid. At the end of the day you're just running in circles. This is of course, is not entirely true but nothing is these days (except that nothing is?) so stick with me for a moment. But when you find yourself getting more out of a half-drunken conversation with a group of Indians at a bar than say, countless hours of lectures on post-modernism and social construction, the desire to sit in rigid metal chairs aligned in a linear arrangement competing for external validation in the form of letter grades becomes stifling if not fucking claustrophobic...This may have more to do with anxiety than anything else but there is an element of truth to it.

Regardless, an education need not always come from a classroom, or even an educated person for that matter. The wisdom of a former heroin addict in Tompkins Square Park in New York City probably better prepared me for life than any P.h.d. wielding professor ever could (sorry mom). As we watched people nodding off and the desolate atmosphere of derelict despair (more apologies for excessive alliteration, it just sounded cool to me) the nihilism of the situation was biting to say the least. People with skin diseases that I imagine closely resembled the black death from a lack of needle exchange programs doesn't make the world a pretty place.

A sign (an etch sketch one I might add) posted close to where we were sitting labeled the park benches as "crust row" or "crusty row"..don't recall which one...with the ever promising greeting of "abandon all hope ye who enter here." touching.

The dude turned to me as we watched junkies slipping off into an opiate daze and said (I paraphrase) that life sucks sometimes but you can't sit around leeching off other people getting high all day just to keep the dope sick at bay, that isn't going to cut it, you need to "man" up and accept your situation and confront it. Seems more valuable than literary theory.

His credentials came not from a university but rather from getting so fucked on H that he overdosed and died, literally. However, I would imagine it was a former graduate student who revived him so perhaps it's only fitting that in death all the contradictions come together and we realize not one school of thought has the appropriate message and there is something to be learned from everything and everyone, perhaps all of equal value when taken in the right context.

Still, I chose to hold onto the belief that the only knowledge worth pursuing is that which comes in the form of pure experience. If you aren't warping or losing your identity than you're stuck in routine and stagnation always has a putrid stench. Maybe if you're content than this won't hold true. I don't know. I suppose everyone learns differently and perhaps my hands on approach to the world and a lack of this method in formal education would be the primary culprit for my contempt. But how often do people say they learned more in a classroom than by traveling?

The difference I find between Western and Eastern thought comes in how you can apply them. Eastern thought can be implemented into all dimensions and aspects of life while Western philosophy tends to be limited to the classroom and intellectual endeavors.

If that doesn't mean anything than consider that Eastern thought/practice (i.e. Buddhism, Taoism, so on) can be prescribed as remedies for everything from psychological ailments to physical therapy (yoga, mediation, letting go). Western thought on the other hand claims it's own anxiety disorder: existential angst...

I'm from the West and I'm in the East. Perhaps I can find a middle way and combine the two into something practical worthy of embodying. The one clear message that seems to echo through my mind during all of this comes from my summary of a heroin's addicts poignant message: the way out is through.

1.) We went to a temple built in 2006 called Arkshardham. Visually and aesthetically stunning (been compared to the Taj) but the artificial vibe overwhelmed any artistic element...not to mention the food court and imax theater...on the grounds...

2.) Due to terrorist problems, we had to go through a similar security system that one would see at an airport. As I looked at the "don't not bring these items" chart I couldn't help but notice they had a picture of a trident. Fortunately, I left mine at home. I wonder what would happen if you actually decided to bring one in a mellow mood..

3.) Tomorrow we leave for Agra to see the Taj Majahahahallala and other stuff. I'll post pictures soon of me pretending to touch the top of it.