Peter J. Chesterton

Let’s start with a question.

When was the last time you stopped, even for a second, and took a look at the world around you?

When was the last time you took a step away from the rumble & the rustle of life and actually took a look at it, thought about it, life itself?

When have you ever taken even just a minute of your time to realize the insanity & absurdity of the culture surrounding you?

Most likely, you haven’t, but let me tell you, it is all both beautiful and absurd.

Nature, life, our very planet, it is all nothing but beautiful… It’s truly a shame that we don’t stop to take in this beauty more often. This is because of the culture we have been engulfed in from head to toe; it invades every aspect of our daily lives, flooding our minds with absurdity, leaving no room for deep or rational thought. The culture of which I so vehemently condemn is the culture of acceleration.

You may scratch your head and deem me insane, “There is no such thing as a ‘culture of acceleration’! You’ve gone mad!” But I assure you, there is, and it stretches its influence over each and every single one of us just as the tentacles of an octopus wrap around and choke out its prey.

The core belief of this culture is the belief that we must constantly progress faster. Instead of learning from the past & living in the present, it advocates that we must constantly be working, working, dedicating all our thought & mind to making ourselves feel good, sacrificing whatever we must to progress towards the future as fast as possible. In this culture of acceleration, we cannot slow down for anything, we cannot feel any bad feelings, we must only do what pleases us, we cannot think of any deeper thought; we must live off of an almost primal instinct.

If something doesn’t feel good or make you feel good, throw it away. If you aren’t always feeling happy, feeling a rush of adrenaline, then it is a problem. If something doesn’t look good, get rid of it. If something or someone doesn’t perfectly conform to the concepts of society, treat them like trash. If someone reads books and thinks about more abstract concepts rather than be playing some sport or doing the same things as everyone else, then they are worth nothing! Abandon them, stamp them down like the inferior people they are! It’s all for pleasure, and it’s all for progress. That is the dangerous culture of acceleration. If we keep the status quo, then one day this evil ideology will grind the very fabric of our society to a pulp and infect the minds of our youth (as if it hasn’t already). Drugs, lust, alcohol, & gluttony are the four horsemen of the culture of acceleration, and every man & woman faces at least one of these at some point. So I say to you, for once, distance yourself from such temptations. Distance yourself from the ever-growing culture of acceleration. Slow down, even just for a minute, and take a look at the world around you. Take a break from the next sport you’re about to practice, the next game you’re about to play, the next stack of work you need to get done, and take in the beauty of the great world around you. Trash the absurdity of acceleration and accept the beauty of reality.

Take a moment to reflect upon, to contemplate, life itself.

How does it look?