Zombie Days

Vampires

In times of olde, vampires were those powerful creatures who devoured the blood of others to continue their own existence, supposedly existing like this forever, roaming the darkness seeking victims to fuel their own excess.

Now, when we think about it, this pretty well describes those who live in the material world where even the vegetarians exist by plundering the helpless lives of others.

Perhaps this is what the original vampire stories were supposed to tell us, not to beware of Count Dracula but to avoid inadvertently becoming "Count Dracula" in our day to day life.

Malcolm X is Dead, Murdered in 1965

I read a quote today by Malcolm X who, as a criminal doing a 10 year sentence, converted to Islam during his time in prison and found a whole new outlook on life. After his release, outraged by the harsh treatment of Afro-Americans in the USA, he became a human rights activist. He came into public prominence during the 1960s. The quote, although concerning the Islam religion, pointed to Malcom's humility and repentance. It would do us little harm to have such a realization ourselves.

The quote: "Awareness came surging up in me - how deeply the religion of Islam had reached down into the mud to lift me up, to save me from what I inevitably would have been: a dead criminal in a grave, or, if still alive, a flint-hard, bitter, thirty-seven-year-old convict in some penitentiary, or insane asylum."

The above quote whilst remarkable in itself for one coming from Malcolm's previous background is not what really interested me.

Zombie Mentality

I was more interested in the fact that he had referred to segregational comments he had made whilst a member of Nation of Islam, a group which Malcolm subsequently quit, as "that of a zombie".

This zombie concept reminds me not to permit myself to become a bhakti-zombie.

If my heart is not becoming joyfully filled with love and affection for those around me, seeking to become the kind well wisher of all my brothers and sisters, regardless of colour, race, creed, and even species, then all that I have done is to become a mere repository of knowledge, spouting quasi-relevant Bhagavatam quotes meant to fulfil my own self interest, in an avid continuance of my previous exploitative vampire "life".

Furthermore, knowing what we know about reincarnation, if asked the question, "Are the dead really dead?" I might justifiably reply "Are the living really alive?"

Joy to all beings