Today’s featured inspiring video is Bill Hicks ending one of his shows with his philosophy. Hicks was an American stand-up comedian, satirist and social critic. In the video, he explains his idea that “Life is Just a Ride”. The beauty of this idea is that, once life is conceived of as a ride, those things that seem to weigh it down with importance lose their weight. Life is a process of change and we can choose to create a better ride.
This video has been transcribed below, although it is worth watching for Hicks oratory style.
“The world is like a ride in an amusement park. And when you choose to go on it you think it’s real because that’s how powerful our minds are.
And the ride goes up and down and round and round. It has thrills and chills and it’s very brightly coloured and it’s very loud and it’s fun, for a while.
Some people have been on the ride for a long time and they begin to question: “Is this real, or is this just a ride?”
And other people have remembered, and they come back to us, they say: “Hey, don’t worry, don’t be afraid, ever,
because this is just a ride.” … and we kill those people.
Ha ha, “Shut him up. We have a lot invested in this ride. Shut him up. Look at my furrows of worry. Look at my big bank account and my family. This just has to be real.” It’s just a ride. But we always kill those good guys who try and tell us that, you ever notice that? And let the demons run amok. But it doesn’t matter, because it’s just a ride. And we can change it anytime we want. It’s only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no savings and money. A choice, right now, between fear and love. The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your doors, buy guns, close yourself off.
The eyes of love instead see all of us as ONE.
Here’s what we can do to change the world, right now, to a better ride. Take all that money we spend on weapons
and defense each year, and instead spend it feeding, clothing and educating the poor of the world, which it would many
times over, not one human being excluded, and we can explore space together, both inner and outer, forever, in peace.”
The latter is an idea I have had several times myself. It is sad that, as a result of people being so invested in life (as Hicks observes), the defence industry has become large and difficult to dissolve; as a result money is wasted every year on things that tear us apart rather than brining us together. I hope that, with time, these things will change.
AWESOME INSPIRATION 