The Calm Before The Storm

It would be fair to say that I’ve had a reasonably quiet start to the year, something perhaps reflected in my recent web presence or lack thereof. Having spent so much time wanting to be someone who had written a book as opposed to someone who is writing one and trying to achieve that; I hadn’t really thought about the next bit. It hadn’t been necessary. But come just after New Year, and with the initial mass of passion and drive about what I was doing when originally able to take to the streets with my book all but expired, I was then faced with that question again. What am I doing? Or at least what do I want to be doing next that could drive my present now’s?

This was a question to which I didn’t really have an answer, but one I needed to find an answer to. Half of the battle of knowing what to do is knowing what you want to do. I know enough from personal experience that I don’t want to do things such as call centre work or charity street fundraising again, both professions that seem to make up the majority of what’s on offer for people of a certain age at the moment, but what did I actually now want to do? Knowing a few of the things you don’t want to do can be but a small comfort and a poor substitute to such priceless knowledge.

It’s harder to inspire when you’re not being as inspiring and while I wasn’t doing anything uninspiring I felt I needed to sort my next plans to be able to continue mass distribution of ‘The Happiness Manifesto’ sincerely. If you’re not doing something about things you can end up simply complaining about them, and that’s not something I’ve ever wanted to do. As a result of such thought I found I wasn’t so inclined to invite public conversation as frequently, though I did distribute a small number of books in Berlin (where I went for my birthday in the New Year) and perhaps a month later I also took to the streets when I was lucky enough to come into a large amount of cake; though this occasion only seemed to serve to suggest that the British public may actually be more interested in rhetorical questions than free cake.

               

The next thing I’d wanted to do with ‘The Happiness Manifesto’ was to take it to Manchester, but I no longer felt inspired to do it. I needed to work out what I wanted to do and it needed to be good. To do this I worked out everything that I like doing and tried working out how in any way I could maintain my existence through such activity. What would my dream occupation entail? It took me a while but what I came up with was that I’d like to run a clothes, records and books shop that would also act as a creative lounge, performance space and skills swap shop for young, creative people who want help putting projects together. Further that it’d be called The Crystal Ship and that I’d like to run it with my girlfriend. I always give time to consider multiple possibilities and genuinely spend time trying to think ‘sensibly’ but it never seems to make much sense. No, it may be a tough goal but once one is in mind it is instantly infinitely more achievable than not having one at all, and makes anything that isn’t that more bearable so long as you know you are still working towards it. More than that though it is truly my goal and already since realizing that this is what I want to do I have made sizeable first steps and more towards finding out how this may become achievable.

With renewed energy, enthusiasm and focus  Manchester was once again in my sights. The weather was good, I was going to stay with an old, dear and not recently seen friend and was to have my first hitch of the year to get there. I was up in three and there by 4 and, not including 2 a half hours stood on a roundabout next to a dead dog, it was all round a very pleasant journey. After a good evening’s catch up I went the next day to the Arndale where I decided I wanted to hit Manchester short and sweet and get the 40 books I had on me quickly to receptive people. The way I did this was with a sign simply saying ‘Free books for Smiles’. An hour later and 40 smiles up I was ready to enjoy the rest of my visit and catch up in Manchester knowing I had brought smiles to a few more faces, and got a few more copies of ‘The Happiness Manifesto’ out into the world.

               

I always wanted to visit certain cities and distribute books on the street, and I’ve done that now with over 300 out there. This leaves me a small number which I will from here be carrying around with me as I do already; just one in the back pocket on occasions whereby it feels right to distribute if it seems appropriate. But this isn’t the end, it’s the beginning and as I suggested in the title; the calm before the storm as I have so much latent energy just hungry to be thrown into something again. I want to create and achieve something for myself that will hopefully benefit other young people who want to achieve their dreams and become who they want to be.

Watch this space…

New Years Revolutions

If you can organize yourself for Christmas you can probably organize yourself for revolution; it’s a logistical nightmare but on balance both are almost certainly worth the effort. It has been a period of relative quiet for me and The Happiness Manifesto as I indicated it might be, but that is symptomatic of the other things going on at this time of year and has provided me with the opportunity to touch base with family, catch up with old friends and generally take stock in preparation for this new calendar year. And, having said this; while I haven’t been taking to the streets, I have been continuing to engage in philosophical debate and distributing books to friends, family and more than the odd as yet unknown friend.

The first of these came a little before Christmas shortly after a man challenged me in the supermarket having seen me pick up some average tinned soup. He suggested that I looked like the kind of guy who could probably make his own soup. I countered with a list of the soups that I do regularly make and said that the tins in question were simply for those occasions whereby I don’t have time. He argued that time was no excuse and in all fairness he was right. Why eat average food? If you’re going to do these things you may as well make time to do them properly and take pleasure in doing so. I‘d been had and so put the soups back accordingly before giving him a book. This triggered a further 20 minutes of more philosophical debate in the tinned foods aisle in which the man in question continued to play an excellent devil’s advocate.

This was a happy man, the kind of man who has no fear of strangers and will happily open a discussion with one jokingly on the basis of their would be purchases. I stated recently that I would be giving books to those that on some level may need it, but that does not in any way rule out people who are happy and who are already probably of similar persuasions. We all need encouragement at times and I know from personal experience that these little moments can really give you a boost in how you’re feeling about the world. So it was that I hope the gentleman in question left as buoyed from the experience as I was. He had a book, I was going to make a better soup for my lunch the next day than I would have previously opened and we’d both had an unexpected but rather excellent discussion.

A few similar but briefer encounters were had over following days including my giving a book to a man who served me in a record shop. I explained that each year when Christmas shopping I inevitably, and quite quickly, end up freaking out and buying myself records. The guy laughed and said, ‘As long as it makes you happy’. He couldn’t have been more right and so was obviously getting a book. After that it was when at home that some of the most interesting discussions took place and in familiar surroundings, with some dear old friends.

In a party of 6 at the pub we ended up having something of an impromptu staged debate. Each of us had a chance to pitch the one thing we would change in the world if we had the power to do so, and at the end we would have a secret ballot to determine which idea would hypothetically then get put into practice; obviously you wouldn’t be allowed to vote for yourself. My friend Satish pitched the idea of higher taxes on the rich through such measures as the financial transaction tax so as to attempt to address the clear growing divide between rich and poor. Peter proposed the 4 day working week arguing that it would instantly improve everyone’s quality of life through having that extra day of freedom and further that we could probably still get whatever apparently needs doing done within that time. Daniel argued that he would reform education to try and make it fairer through measures including lowering tuition fees and revising the way UCAS points are calculated so as to take into account people’s backgrounds; thus making it easier for someone economically deprived to have the opportunity to go to university. Jenna said she would go back in time and stop John Lennon from being killed, arguing that his was such an important voice from an unprecedented platform that was calling for peace and change; that this voice is one that has been lost and has been much missed over the past few decades. Laurie stated that he would make the world vegan, suggesting that the kind of caring ethics that veganism promotes would mean a better world and further would stop the systematic oppression of animals. I argued, as might have been guessed and the arguments for which are already loosely documented; that I would remove money.

After the pitch we held the vote and amazingly, but somehow quite fittingly in my mind, the results came back even. Each one of us had one vote from someone else at the table but there was no outright winner. I feel this quite aptly depicts how in many ways there are no right answers though there are very good suggestions and beginning to think about solutions is an important exercise. That we will never have such power is probably a good thing despite the fact that I’d trust any one of them more than the tyrants and sociopaths currently at large.

This New Year we have woken up to another massive hike in train and bus fares, massive cuts to housing benefits which will price many out of their homes and leave in many cases 2 claimants to every one property available within the new bounds for what can be claimed for; as there are simply not properties available at the prices the government are now to back. This will surely create a further increase in homelessness and leave more young people having to leave the cities for places where rent is cheaper and where inevitably there are even less jobs, thus further limiting chances for employment. Talk about an own goal. I can only hope that more people will realise that they will not stop. While the fight for progressive increased social justice should be constant, there are times in history when balances quite clearly and simply need to be redressed. This is one of them.

May you have an incredibly happy and revolutionary 2012.

Time to pick sides…       

After this relatively quiet festive period I will be getting back out on the streets soon.

Post birthday in Berlin, the next city in my sights is Manchester.

Cross Examined in Cardiff

Cardiff’s a very special place to me as it is partially responsible for four of the best years of my life; or at least it provided the backdrop to that time and place we call University. That all I learnt was that I probably didn’t need a degree is little to no matter; an expensive lesson but one that can only really be learnt by indeed doing it and one that pales into insignificance when you consider the friends you make, the experiences you share and that last period of almost freedom that you have before the reality of the adult world. As such returning to Cardiff to do some book distribution was always going to be one of my first moves after getting them published, and the idea that I could give a little something back to a place that had given me so much was a pleasant one which had me smiling all the way to Queen Street. Indeed from the moment I got off the train and stepped out I felt both care-free and yet in control, which is how I’ve become accustomed to feeling in Wales’ fine capital and my adopted second home. I knew that I was in for a good two days and was very much looking forward to getting out among the people of the bustling high street and having some interesting conversations.

Both afternoons on Queen Street panned out much as my time in Bristol had which is unsurprising as I was essentially doing the same thing in a different location. This meant a fair amount of confused expressions, quite a bit of intrigue and many a pleasant and positive resultant conversation within which at some point I hand over a copy of ‘The Happiness Manifesto’ before parting ways, usually mutually satisfied by the encounter. In this sense, at times what I’m doing is really easy. The people who are willing to strike up a conversation with a stranger and ask them what they’re up to are usually positive people who are quick to be on board with what you are doing anyway, provided you are going about it in the right manner. As such there are inevitably multiple encounters that I have in a day which play out quite similarly, and at times quite casually, as if merely with friends I had not yet met. This is a most pleasant series of experiences but makes it all the more important to stay sharp for those encounters which require a little more work.

On my second afternoon in Cardiff, having spent a few hours out on the street, I was approached by a man who similarly to many other people that day wanted to know what I was up to. What was clear very quickly however, was that this man was not particularly predisposed to like me and that he would be prepared to let me speak but did not want to hear whimsical positive thinking and would be quite quick to cut me short if he felt I wasn’t answering his questions properly. Why is it exactly that I’m doing what I’m doing? Why’s that any better than what anyone else is doing and what exactly am I proposing? I almost lost him early on when I admitted that I wasn’t so much concerned with answers but encouraging people to ask the questions necessary to begin to generate answers. This clearly wasn’t good enough, so when pushed further I said that the answers I implied revolved around the overcoming of both money and government. He agreed that the gap between rich and poor had become too great but didn’t see how what I was suggesting could provide any sort of solution and further highlighted the futile nature of what I was actually doing, suggesting that as a clearly intelligent, articulate young man he was surprised I couldn’t find, what in his mind, would be a more positive and constructive outlet for my personal feelings of wanting to do some sort of social good.

This whole discussion went on for the best part of forty minutes and meandered all over the place going from politics to religion to at times me answering quite personal questions about my own background in relation to both of those subjects and a fair few more but in the end, having not wanted to take a copy of my book when first offered, this gentleman not only took my book but complimented me highly and wished me luck. This was a real turn around but had taken full concentration for the best part of an hour to achieve, and left me feeling totally exhausted. I was done for the day but elated from the intensity of the discussion and the extent to which it had taken quite a lot of mental agility to get through it. When people are being openly friendly to myself, who has chosen to be a stranger standing out, it is a beautiful thing but it is easy to forget the position I choose to put myself in. If someone asks you what are you doing and you say that you are promoting the pursuit of happiness it is, if you think about it, fair enough to then ask what I mean by that, how exactly and why. That I managed to successfully navigate through the lines of questioning that resulted from every answer I gave served to sharpen my dialectic powers of argument but also served to remind me exactly what it is I’m doing and why I’m doing it through forcing me to consider both carefully.

Last night I ordered 125 more books.

Tomorrow I’ll be going to London to show my support for anyone who’s striking over pensions or indeed amassing for a public show of frustration.

In the days after that I’ll be distributing books across landmarks in the capital.

Taking Philosophy To The Streets

For me philosophy is, or at least should be, a practical discipline openly evoking thought, encouraging debate and engaging discussion. As such my current activities were always the end goal but my performing them has only been allowed through my transition from a man who has been writing a book, to a man who has written a book. It is difficult to convey the sheer magnitude of this transformation on a personal level. The sense of achievement you feel when you finish a University essay, successfully construct a cabinet from Ikea using only their shoddy pictures as guidance or just do an old fashioned hard day’s work is usually enough to warrant a beer or two. The completion of ‘The Happiness Manifesto’ was almost overwhelming. For the first time I was able to hold in my hands the physical embodiment of what had previously only existed in my head as an idea and in it I could see the justification for everything I had been working towards over the past year and a half. Further and most simply however; its completion is the axis which has allowed me to move from being the man writing philosophy, to being the philosopher.

It was an odd feeling heading into Bristol to stand outside Natwest for the first time holding a sign saying ‘another way?’ While I knew that it was me asking the question I also knew that it was me who’d be subject to further questions and who would be called upon to defend himself. What was pleasing was that while I  knew that I didn’t have the answers to society’s problems, I knew I had my answer and that that would involve encouraging more people to consider in turn what there’s would be. I also knew I now had this tool to aid me; I wasn’t just another man in the street whose ideas are no better than your own. Indeed they are no better but for the moment they are by nature more considered as they have been considered to the point of taking a physical form which may yet not stand up to dissection, but at least requires such action. That I may support it if I choose but that the book supports itself and requires no further justification was something that buoyed me. So was the knowledge that if someone wanted a book, all they need do is ask.

People ask me what I’m up to and seldom consider that I may very well ask them the same question. This is no matter however as it is clear that I am being asked because what I’m doing is so obviously not what everyone else is doing. This alone lets me know I’m probably doing something right as society is the sum of its parts and the collective world we have at present is indeed something I want to contribute towards as little as possible. Having said this it would be false to suggest I do not want to contribute towards society and each time another person, intrigued by what I’m doing, asks me what I’m doing I gain hope that one day I may see one.

So what kinds of people have I been meeting? To say there are kinds of people is all kinds of wrong and it is partially through this labeling of people that we have allowed ourselves to be divided. However, if I had to generalize, I would say I have been speaking with good people. People who are open to others and people who themselves are beginning to ask the questions necessary to begin to generate answers. If we are looking for labels however we see that these are people from a wide cross section of society and people representative of a wide range of demographics. Old people, young people, Christians, Muslims, lecturers, students, retailers, the homeless, artists, single mothers, ex servicemen and a newly released ex prisoner all with one thing in common: that they DO feel let down by government.

This confirms many suspicions I had already and leaves me asking further questions. If a government can’t provide good living standards for its citizens then what is it there for? Even if government are trying to help us they are clearly doing such a bad job that we shouldn’t let them continue so as we may help ourselves. But in truth every news story I see every day makes me think that they are not and if this is the case then all the more so we should remove them. This week alone I see more economic turmoil and youth unemployment and yet the policies I see coming from government to tackle these problems are thus; using public money to fund an independent panel to assess sick leave so as to save a few quid for business and giving unemployed people involuntary, unpaid work experience at Tesco’s.

Politicians know nothing of the way we live and the needs we have and they don’t speak to the people so as to try and find out. They know nothing of us and as such of course they can’t help. They are masters of nothing but spin and the art of seeming but unfortunately their mastery of this ill discipline upholds the general level of ignorance that we are up against. So far my experiences on the street have been nothing short of phenomenal; I have been told multiple times that I have made someone’s day, I have had someone I had previously given a book to stuff a fiver in my hand and tell me that he loves what I’m doing and to grab a coffee and keep going and someone personally e-mail me to tell me I had profoundly touched their life. The one real piece of negativity that came my way was from a group of males in their late 20’s/early 30’s wh,o in response to my sign saying ‘Dare to Imagine’, actually provided me a positive in reminding me of this level of general level of ignorance we’re up against:

‘Dare to imagine what mate?’

‘Dare to imagine I could look like you? No fucking thanks.’

‘Dare to imagine I could actually get a job and pay my taxes.’

In response to the first question, the point of the sign has been missed entirely i.e use your imagination.

In response to the second point I’m proud to not look like the kind of man who hurls abuse at strangers and never suggested or asked that anyone would try and look like myself.

And finally in response to the third and somewhat more political point but one which will round off this first blog quite nicely indeed:

In the absence of suitable paid occupations which would well utilise my skills I have created my own unpaid work. I’m sorry if you don’t see value in what I’m doing because it doesn’t make money but the idea that an involuntary action which specifically helps no-one is somehow the moral gold standard to which we must aspire to and that nothing has value outside of that is, if nothing else, just depressing.

I would like to do more good in the world but at present am not sure entirely how. However, for the moment I will have no shame in not contributing to that which would kill and steal on my behalf and will take what small actions I can on my own behalf for the benefit of all; evoking thought, encouraging debate, engaging discussion, asking people to consider what small part they would like to play in creating the world they want to see and giving free books to those who show an interest.

Over the past 10 days I have between 4 separate outings distributed around 100 books on the streets of Bristol.

Next week I will be spending some time in Cardiff.

See you on the streets.