The Little Fount

By A.R. Teixeira

A modern take on philosophy and religion, The Little Fount is a long-form essay about sin, temptation, and redemption through the eyes of the modern man, written as an ode to his source of inspiration. The Little Fount looks at the modern world through the eyes of a man who has learned how to see past the petty insecurities of society’s expectations—it is a model for how to live life outside of the status quo, and how to navigate the complex relationship between God and society without having to sacrifice the core of your beliefs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: A.R. Teixeira
• Release date: Nov 12, 2013
• ISBN: 9781310626173

Book preview

Little Fount, you are easily defined. I know what you are, but what are we humans? Surely, we are more than flesh and bones. What we believe defines us; it becomes apparent in the manner in which we live and how we conduct ourselves if freely allowed to do so. Not what we say but what we do is what truly defines us because when a man acts out his beliefs, he acts according to his true conscience, therefore committing himself. He has put his feet before his mouth; he does the walk. Our beliefs are what give us our perspective and attitude; acting upon one’s beliefs is what gives one credibility. Without beliefs we are but vanity, blank people whose life stories can be written with invisible ink. But are our beliefs authentic? Are they our true inner longings, or have they been manufactured and then planted in us by some exterior force?

It is crucial that one’s beliefs are rooted in reason. True beliefs are well-rooted and not easily dislodged. Any belief that cannot stand logical questioning will eventually fail. Such are the beliefs that exist within the realm of fantasy—beliefs entrenched in falsehoods, agendas hiding their weaknesses and afraid of a fair trial. Such beliefs will only exist and be accepted in chaotic, binding environments, environments afraid of the light of enlightenment. Such a collapse can only hurt false believers and those who have been misled because truth is invincible and impenetrable. Debate and discussion in a free society are of utmost importance if we are truly seeking the full truth and not just speech molded to what suits one’s lifestyle or point of view. Greater things can be said about a man who accepts defeat gracefully than one who embraces his victory arrogantly. The victorious, arrogant, correct man is only half-right.

Beliefs are the foundation of society’s and an individual’s very cores. Beliefs, proper faith, and credibility are the wheels that the cart rides on; acting upon these beliefs is what pulls the cart and gives it motion. What we see on television is nothing short of a reflection of our inner selves. What repulses us reveals something about us and in some way reflects our values. All life that is nourished merely on shallow desires and endless, vain entertainment is life void of sound principles. When one says one thing and then does the opposite and this becomes acceptable, it is a sad reflection upon a society. Such is our modern, twisted state of hypocrisy.

Most of our modern societies were built with and continue to accept falsehoods into their structures as they waddle forward toward the unknown and uncaring. One must be certain that one’s beliefs are sound. If they are not, then one has created a plague. If your beliefs are true and genuine, you won’t have to impose them on anyone—they will flow into the hearts of men due to their purity.

THE OPPRESSORS

We live in a world of forceful, self-appointed guardians. What is their influence and source of beliefs? They’ve committed uncompassionate acts that only other oppressors could condone or relate positively to. Oppressors are the deniers of free will for all but themselves. Free will is a gift, a right, and a blessing given to mankind.

It’s a complicated, dark world where the fools and the fouled cannot distinguish between an act of persuasion and one of persecution. If you probe into the minds of those who unjustly use force on and detain others, you’ll find that they too are living with an inner dungeon that they then impose on the outside world, creating multiple dungeons for their fellow men through a binding force and fear that create lasting psychological piercing wounds.

How long can a man keep another man bound and gagged because of a difference in point of view? Such men are trying to create other men out of their own image. The divine fools have made of themselves heartless, self-justifying stone gods consisting of endless layers of deceit. They have become their worst enemies. They have a mental state where everything and everyone has been reduced to a piece of property and has a price but is void of value. They live to control. Where there is no free will, there is no credibility, truth, or wisdom, only endless manipulation. In order to have harmony, Man must create a world where each individual is allowed to live his or her life, according to their individual conscience and guided by reason.

Unfortunately, in this world of ours, there are two gods: one true, one false—the creator and the created. One is heavenly, with mercy greater than any sin, should one show genuine remorse; the other god is an earthly, self-appointed, mortal dictator, worldly in his desires and deeds, whose tolerance is reserved only for himself and those who bow before him with worshipful gestures. If we are forcefully bound to a world where we are denied our beliefs, denied the freedom to live those beliefs, and forced back into the catacombs, then we truly live a life devoid of choice, one where everything is dictatorial. As such, we are living for someone else. Even the greatest thing in the world is no more than a shackle if imposed against one’s will.

When a society loses its morality, fairness becomes just a matter of opinion. One group is then pitted against another, and on and on it rages. Morality is the glue that holds things together and prevents deterioration and decay. A foundation and source for that morality is crucial in order for a moral life to be sustained in a continuously harmonious manner. When we have a situation where the people on the left call morality bigotry and extreme, and the people on the right feel they can impose their self-righteous will and their own brand of morality through force, one is left bewildered as to what is left of the left that is worthy of any consideration and what is right about the right. They have become spectacles, two testicles on an impotent penis.

My precious Little Fount, I turn to you with a stupid, blank look on my face and seek enlighten on this point: where does an arrogant society turn to when it has rejected outright the virtue of humility and all the other sources of enlightenment?

At its very core, this society has taken on a tone of arrogance and become rebellious against all that is humble and pious. At its very core, it is rotting due to its negligence. A society created through such prevailing shallowness prevents itself from seeing beneath the surface. Its greatest enemy is not far off but within. Reason is replaced with self-centered excuses and self-benefitting agendas. Some people have clearly shown that they are truly incapable of changing, having learned nothing from history—personal or otherwise—except how to point accusing fingers and repeat errors instead of working together.

SOCIETIES

Society must be, above all, practical and properly utilized. Nothing can ever be practically applied or reach its maximum benefit unless there is consensus amongst the people. People must work together in a community. That is how societies are built, maintained, and prosper. Each stone is shaped for its proper use and purpose—the stronger supporting the weaker—or it all unravels. We must look beyond ourselves. Sacrifices have to be made by all; there must be some compromise for the good of all.

What may be hard and difficult now will make things easier in the future. Each post is crucial, each virtue a centurion. As such, those who lead must be chosen wisely. Choose them based on their practicality, principles, and virtuous visions, not on images or fancy speeches written by remote speechwriters. Voting decisions made based upon personalities and looks are the votes of the vain, the naïve, and those under foolish influences. Think deep while at the same time seeking the intercession of the wise, the devoted, those in the know. Then, there can be no manipulation, nor will we be fooled into giving them the tools with which they may wound or mislead us. Man is tempted to take the easy way out or in. Be wary; what sounds good may be too good—just fancy, hollow phrases of persuasion. A good PR man knows how to spin the truth into sounding awful and how to spin lies positively, giving them a tantalizing appeal and hypnotic effect. The PR man has the audacity and ability to convince a man on matters of things that are logically inconceivable when one is not under negative influences or is in a sound, sane state of mind.

Don’t sell out your principles for precious material wealth and possessions. Hang on to your principles; they may be your way out of darkness one day. They will give you that sense of hope in the worst of times. Know yourself. Think logically—if you are one who is incapable of being level-headed when things are good, how do you think you will handle things when they become difficult? Thus our principles are indispensible. Zoom, zoom, zoom it goes—an endless race for bigger, faster, better, and newer that has no ending because it has no logic. Be wary—this same attitude you’ll apply where the treatment of your fellow man is concerned has also made you easier prey for the forces that are beyond your grasp to conceive, ones not so visible to the environmentally conditioned eye and ear.

UNFORTUNATE JOURNEYS

Now let me turn the focus of my heart to you unfortunate souls who may now be down on your knees—not by choice but out of absolute desperation. Since you’re already kneeling, you might as well learn how to pray, since all earthly help has deserted you. Do not attempt to get back on that same horse. That was a Trojan horse, the dark force of deception. You must find another means to salvation, one devoid of the seven deadly sins. It is for you to accept all your failures in a graceful manner. Such a fall is probably the best thing that has ever happened to you. You must use all mishaps as a propelling, self-teaching tool. You must mold your mind to gracefully accept and appreciate the simpler and humbler things in life.

Little Fount, your steady, tranquil flow keeps me level-headed, unlike man-made props. What influences do people fall under that throw them so far off course until a society is strained and lost to the point of worshipping their version of the golden calf?

As for the truth, if it’s all just a matter of opinion—as many have come to believe—and it’s all relative, why bother with any laws? In such an environment, we must also ask if the meaning of freedom is also based on opinion. It’s a naive world where everyone speaks vaguely as to what freedom is. Freedom from what? Freedom for what? How can we claim to appreciate something and then exploit and abuse it? How can one claim to love what he or she desecrates? Freedom was never meant to be put at the disposal of selfish exploitation; we must use freedom for doing what we should do. What I do is my business, as the famous saying goes. But what you do may indirectly influence others in ways you may not be aware of.

Freedom can be expressed in two ways: positively or negatively. It’s my life, and I will do whatever I want, right? Wrong—whatever you do will leave a residue that will in touch someone, somehow, no matter how isolated the act may seem. Do not possess the kind of mind many celebrities have. They live promiscuous lives in the public eye, influencing impressionable people and leading many—through their influence—into a lifestyle of self-destruction, dysfunctional relationships, and sexual behaviour motivated by lust and pleasure rather than love, commitment, dedication, and sacrifice. They teach Hollywood-style values to naïve and impressionable youths, leading them to promiscuous lives that inevitably result in sexual diseases, broken hearts, ruin, and despair. They glamorize their lifestyle and make it fashionable through images, books, music, videos, and movies. These same celebrities will then have the audacity to appear on some benefit program to raise money and awareness to cure the very disease that they helped to create and spread through a promiscuous, risky lifestyle. They get a free pass for their twisted behavior from the media, which coincidently also have entertainment style values. This is a coincidence only if you believe in fairytales.

Pop culture imprisons people in a shallow entertainment level of thought, influencing just about all aspects of life, including religion. It has created a religion with a permissive god who conforms to the secular mindset, perpetuating a destructive selfishness that infiltrates all aspects of society. We are creating a society where numbness sets in and people become easily bored. What’s in it for me? is the prevalent attitude. The appearance of things has taken precedent over substance. I ask you: where is the gatekeeper, and how did all this madness slip by him? Where are the wise amongst us? Endless images portray good as evil and evil as salvation. Nowadays, in some circles, it seems that having a career or success is preferable to having credibility.

THE MEDIA

We all have to conform in some way, so don’t become too comfortable. The world is highly technical, with endless ways of keeping tabs on you for security, political, and many other reasons. Your privacy is an illusion.

As I sit and watch the placid, trickling flow of the Little Fount and reflect on this world’s madness, I can’t help but wonder: who is watching the watchman? Who is questioning the inquisitor? Is he the last free man? Who serves who? Since we’re talking watchmen, let’s talk about big eyes, the corporate media. The corporate machine of media is endlessly roving, an entity that seems to have an agenda, although it may not be consciously. Perhaps it’s environmental. Perhaps, like many of us, they have a bias that they are not aware of, born of conditioning. Will they ever attain the objectivity needed to turn those accusing cameras on themselves and look inwards to expose their true state? Only then could they attain the proper perspective and correct themselves, and only then could they treat both sides of the issues in a balanced manner and have credibility. The truth is that if you don’t know yourself and your mind, then all you do is suspect because you don’t know your own biases. Smugness is a stumbling block on the road that leads us to the truth. In our modern times, the light often shines where the glare is already blinding.

THE SOUND of DESTRUCTION

We sadly live in a world dominated and overwhelmed by pop culture values, music, movies, internet, television, and the values of many other negative influences. Music television values show a lack of interest in how others are affected and an interest in only short-term trends. Of what value are those values? The truth is there are no music television values; they are a myth, much like their sincerity and credibility. Their negative influence destroys the very lives that allow them to exist and profit. They promote a lifestyle to the impressionable youths that is as realistic as they are sincere. They are part of a world where the hip and the cool are blinded to reality and the destruction they create, a world of double standards, and egos running wild with all the discipline of hyenas at feeding time. To them, it is all about what they can use or exploit to further the promotion of a lifestyle and add to their territory and wealth. The truth is it is their lifestyle and pleasures that they treasure and value. They speak in vague terms and are rarely challenged by a celebrity-worshipping media. As a fan, you are just a number in a popular game of deceit. Don’t ever fool yourself into thinking you’re more than a digit. As a matter of fact, you’re nothing above zero unless you can be prostituted. Much of the music industry consists of endless set snares, any of which are capable of trapping you in a lifestyle that benefits them through deadly delights so that, as you lie dying, you will do so with a delusional smile on your face and a black, naïve heart. It is a business no matter how you spin it, Mr. D.J.

PERSPECTIVES

Reflecting upon the Little Fount of great humility, I wonder: by what process of measurement is a man measured and judged? Different societies have different measurements depending on one’s culture. But still, is it all relative? In science, there is absolute truth, as well as in math. Is two plus two not equal to four? Doesn’t the sun rise in the east and set in west? Isn’t that an absolute truth everywhere? Then why can there not be an absolute truth about the essence of man? Since slavery is an act that cannot be justified under any circumstances, such values regarding it are therefore absolute truth.

If there is no absolute truth to guide people, absolute chaos will occur and each individual will pull their own separate way until it all tears apart. Man is a creature of free will but is ruled by functional common sense. He aspires to be free but is also a creature of rules. If there is no absolute truth, then we’re all perfect because we can do no wrong. This is clearly false.

If one’s vision is limited to selfish, gluttonous consumption, then shortsightedness is undeniable. One will see only the here and now and be imprisoned in the material world by these shortcomings, which are in turn strengthened through the unrepentant negative force of one’s ignorance and stubbornness.

As I watch your trickling flow, I can’t help but reflect on how it is a blessing to be childlike but a curse to be childish. One is about the purity of innocence, the other about the ruins of immaturity. Truly, life is all about growing stages, one added and built upon another, raising us steadily to a higher level. Life is about being wise and disciplined enough to know which things will raise and which will lower us. Nowadays, it’s all about what makes one feel good. No one wants to take the bad-tasting medicine. We are all waiting for someone else to make the sacrifice or take the fall when clearly there are no angels amongst us.

THE FORSAKEN

We are all sinners to some degree. With endless limits imposed on one by society, one can’t help but to feel as though one is on a leash.

Oh, Little Fount, how desperately such an entangled man wants to lash out, but he is only too aware of the grave consequences should he do so. He knows where he has to be and how to behave. He can only hope that after the CEOs are done, they will have left enough meat on the bone they tossed aside for him to chew on. Learn to take it; learn to fake it—that’s his motto. The common man has become an abused soul who has attained the Midas touch in reverse. New laws, new restrictions, and new taxes are applied; he is dizzy from all the rules and all the running around. He wonders out loud: who has him on a leash, and why are they tugging so hard? He no longer bothers to vote. Voting has become just another ride on the merry-go-round. He becomes so disgruntled and dizzy that he tumbles to the ground and starts to envy all those six-feet-under, the only place that he may ever find peace and mercy. He tries to break the chain in vain. The harder he fights, the tighter it gets and the deeper he sinks.

Play the game or be driven insane. Don’t struggle—submit is the message and the warning. There is no one to turn to; it’s all so mechanical, cold, sterile, and heartless. Everything he touches feels cold. Passed from one master to another, modern man no longer creates his society. His society creates him. It restricts then recreates him. He is ever-evolving in an unchangeable environment. Even his god has to be filtered through political correctness while his true god is banned and isolated from public eyes and ears.

MAN and HIS SOCIETY

Oh, precious Little Fount, how dependable you are, unlike the selfish, single-minded complacent one. He lives in the crowded city, but when push comes to shove he is suddenly awakened to just how alone and defeated he is. He can no longer find any comfort; all the things that could give him comfort have been taken from him by a society that found those things to be an offence and a hindrance to the creation of their artificial god. So he turns to booze and drugs to replace the hell within with an artificial heaven.

Artificial things will only sustain him for a short while. The moment one awakens to the realization that these things are all against the grain of the very nature of man, he will then be in an inner and outer conflict with himself and that discredited world. Then, my friend, the rebel is born, and he won’t be fooled again. He won’t be pacified, because the hypocrisy has been exposed. What was once just little insightful glimpses and lingering doubts has now become unacceptable facts and glaring contradictions. Now that he has found his inner self, he must also become one with discipline and direction. If he fails to do so, he will become the new oppressor, the new master driven by ideology rather than principle.

Men of decency must always prioritize principles ahead of ideology. Even the shallow, the brutal, the godless, and the tyrants have ideology. There is nothing principled about an ideology if it is not virtuous. A man who puts his ideology ahead of his principles is much like a man who puts the cart before the horse.

Mistreated one, do not become vengeful; mirror not your enemy. Don’t lose your sense of self-worth and values in a rage. Reflect and remember what was done to you, how you felt and how it affected you. Make certain your firmness is based on fairness and you are harsh only as the last resort and justified.

Etch this into your heart and mind: all life is sacred.

Acquire and maintain the mental state that sees life’s sanctity as fact, separate and above all other facts, including one’s past cruel deeds. This is necessary in order to be just.

DISCIPLINE

Little Fount, if you were given enough time and were to accumulate, you would eventually become a great body of water—a great lake—and the same is also true of Mankind. With each generation, Man gradually grows intellectually, spiritually, and technically until, hopefully, one day all things that were once scattered and in conflict will unite and become one, united as chicks under the hen’s wings.

Man loses himself when he focuses solely on the material aspects of life, building himself a false paradise Our lives need disciplined hearts and minds for personal progression. A man who is undisciplined is a self-defeating man devoid of humanity, lacking self-awareness. He is a mere child in a world of intellect, existing at a crawling stage, with endless self-inflicted wounds and constant anger. He is a wounded man who when forced to lick his wounds finally feels the harshness of his tongue, something that he had never felt before but that all others were well aware of.

Lack of discipline not only affects those who are undisciplined but also has a tremendous negative effect on others. The world becomes the undisciplined person’s playground, a toy land where nothing is taken seriously. Lack of discipline negates any physical, mental, or spiritual progress. Attitudes such as I don’t give a damn, I’ll do as I want, or I couldn’t care less are often glorified and accepted as hip by those who live in a shallow and ignorant state. To such people, their own decay is not enough; they need to take others down with them, as in a murder-suicide. Popular culture portrays them as cool, hip, and free-spirited as if such people are opening up new frontiers, but in truth it’s more like a look into a cave-dwelling existence or a glimpse into hell. This murder-suicide mentality I spoke of is a sure sign of immaturity, like a fifty-year-old, wrinkled rock star who urinates on stage for applause or considers it a hip thing to do. Internal discipline replaces those dysfunctional tendencies with inclinations and desires for internal and eternal seeking and a yearning for greater