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When one hears the term barbarian, one cannot begin to cross the threshold of the next thought without imagining something to the effect of a scene that is bloody, gruesome, and cold.

Humans are in a constant loop of sensing information outside of themselves and then perceiving thoughts and ideas stemming from this new data.

Those thoughts and ideas, by the time they are perceived by our conscious mind, have already been translated between what is actually there in front of us and what our mind is trained to see through years of adaptation and experience.

Put another way, there is a difference between what we declare to be truth and what actually is.

Put another way, there is a difference between what our intentions are and how we actually make people feel.

Put another way, there is a difference between what others' intentions are and how they actually make us feel.

Apparently Edgar Allen Poe said the famous line "believe half of what you see and nothing of what you hear." I wonder if this was in relation to their trust in other people or in the trust they had in their own ability to think clearly.

Many would think the former, I would venture to bet on the latter.

How could one not experience cognitive dissonance as it relates to getting older and recognizing that some systems and processes designed before us are antiquated?

If it is possible to outgrow old mindsets on a personal level, then it requires more than that to heal on a larger scale.

What I mean here is that we are at war with one another, and in more ways than meets the eye.

The more we are inclined to follow mass opinion on ways of being, the less inclined we are to think for ourselves.

The less we think for ourselves, the fewer opportunities we create for ourselves as truly our own.

The more we rely on the approval of others to get by.

The more we feed this never-satiated monster of influence.

Call me a barbarian, but I struggle with participation in matters trivial or lambastic.

We're all feeding into it, whether we think we are or not. Including myself, even when I think I'm not.

A game of influence, buy into me or not.

In a world so obsessed with the front-end, who has time to understand anything?

We're all so busy seeking desperate validation over trying to actually challenge each other.

Trying to be a part of the culture we see over participating in creating the culture we want to see.

Wanting to fit in by standing out and stand out by fitting in.

Denying oneself as just an animal with needs over obsessions of self-actualization and glory.

All the while, never truly wanting to be what is called 'me'.

Now that, to me, is a travesty.