Bi Polar Decoder.

Being stuck in a rut for fifteen years isn't much fun. Despite being a philosophy graduate, there has been some part of me that has failed to grasp the maxim: "know thyself."

Not really knowing what you want out of life, one becomes like a ship that is battered from side to side; the tide and winds determining where you will eventually end up. The random occurrence of events, gives a puff of hope in a mundane world lacking in deliberation.

Yet, there is so much one can change.

My moods ravage me wildly, from ecstatic states that thrill and let me forget my pain, to the doldrums of depression, where there is a faint hope that I might whither away and sink deep below the surface of things.

Alcohol plays a big factor; the highs get higher and the lows lower. Like a bi polar decoder, the beauty of the world can be experienced in 3D widescreen with surround sound - while the pain and intensity of the smallest pin prick can whither me away into a mumbling wreck.

The trouble is with the lows. It is difficult to deal with such pain. To drink more can elevate these downs. Such self medication leads to the thorny issue of alcohol dependency. Drinking under these circumstances is never a solution - just a temporary reprieve on the corridors of death row.

Human relationships also become problematic. In a society where everyone drinks to celebrate, to commiserate - at weddings and concerts, nights out and nights in - there seems to be no escape. Then try telling your friends that you want to give up drink. One is expected to justify why you have chosen not to put one of the most dangerous drugs known to humanity into your your own body. It is as if your friends actually own you.

When you try to make a stand - it is then you discover how much people actually take you for granted. You are expected to attend this and that - you are meant to behave in such a manner. When you want to change your life and your circumstances - all of this will become disrupted. People will not know what to make of your 'erratic' behaviour. They may even become offended.

For a long time - I have been part of a matrix of mutual dependancy. At ten forty five every Saturday morning, my friends know where to find me. This has long been the case but neither have I got any closer to fulfilling my dreams. I have been going around in circles.

It was Ghandi who said that sometimes it is important to be in a minority of one but be living in the truth.

Sophistry and the Language of Persuasion: An Argument by Martyrdom.

When someone fails to be convinced by our arguments one is faced with a small dilemma. There is something irksome about such a response. Does that person mean that we have not excercised enough reason or feeling in pursing the point? Have we failed to live up to the other person's standards? And why should we feel the need to live up to such standards?

The language of persuasion is a difficult one to master. One cannot help but be moved by the religious or political martyrs of the past. It is difficult to doubt their convictions but that did not make them right.

Likewise, to have millions of people be persuaded by an argument does not make it right either. As the friends of Socrates (the philosophical martyr) were aware, democracy is not co-existent with 'Truth.'

What is irksome, is that in our everyday lives, we have to convince and persuade people. In job interviews, meetings with manangers, when pursing love interests..., we need to know how to persuade. The Ancient Greeks called this art of persuasion sophistry. How to speak in public, how to compose a convincing letter, how to get things done all rely upon this art.

However, there is something demeaning with this pursuit. It is a mark of slavery. To live a life were one does not need to persuade... now that is a life worth living!