Friday, September 22, 2006
What do we do?
The question keeps echoing in my mind lately...what do we do? What can I do? What is in my power to be done? At this point in my life, the answer is almost universally "not much". I feel like I have to do something, anything, to improve the world I live in, but am constantly haunted by the unpleasant truth that my power as a man is so limited. My time is so full of activity, I rarely have a chance to give the matter any significant consideration. Here's what has been bouncing around my mind lately...
There are certain things no man who is not a Judeo-Christian messiah is going to be able to do anything about. The world will always house more followers than leaders, more weak than strong, more cowards than courageous, more slothful than motivated, more selfish than generous, and more foolish than wise. History makes the case universally and I can see no evidence that the reasonable expectation isn't for these constants to continue ad infinitum. Likewise, peace amongst all peoples on the planet at any given time is impossible. Human desires, both good and ill, dictate that violence will be a constant component of our existence as homo sapiens. We may survive long enough to evolve away from the animalistic drive to employ force as a solution to particular problems, but that bit of genetic mutation will very likely not happen in my lifetime and certainly not to everyone at once. Similarly, lying, cheating, and stealing will remain components of humanity's behavioral constants until the end of our time. No man is going to erase these negative aspects of the human animal.
So is it hopeless? In some ways, yes, I think it is, in that we have to accept the unreasonable nature of our ideals, as well as the messy nature of reality. As one who does not believe people are inherently good, I accept that the primary motivating factors in our decision making processes are predominantly self-preservation and self-gratification. What will continue our lives and what will make us feel good in living those lives are two of the most powerful motivational considerations we are confronted with on a day-to-day business. In our society, an overwhelming majority of us no longer have to worry about the daily continuance of our lives, so we have an abundance of time to spend on what makes us feel good about living and how to go about getting it.
What makes me feel good about living probably puts me in amongst a miniscule minority. I like to work; physically, mentally, and spiritually. I do not like rest or remain idle for long. Where I draw a certain amount of pleasure from things like cars, music, movies, books, etc, real satisfaction is derived from my mental and spiritual well being. The deeper implications of maintenance of the mind, body, and spirit factor into my daily life and decision making processes. This constant vigilance and contemplation makes my life worth living, by my own estimation. There will always be mistakes, but I feel like minimizing the number of mistakes I make contributes greatly to the overall quality of my life. Where some judge their lives according to wealth, power, and social standing, I side with those who recognize these things as fallacies and ultimately inconsequential. None of it matters once one’s body has failed them.
All of the world’s existing religions recognize the ultimate meaninglessness of wealth and status, and I am led to believe there is some value in this recognition, not because I believe there is a Heaven or Hell waiting for us, but because I believe there is an inherent and obvious truth in the idea that there is more to this life than the simple, primal acquisition of goods, pursuit of physical gratification, and exhibitions of power. I am just so tired of the superficial and the meaningless. I want to surround myself with philosophers, spiritualists, and altruists. Where I once might have dreamt of raising everyone up in some kind of mass enlightenment movement, I now realize how foolish something like that sounds in the echo chamber that is our real world. My primary desire now is to find the 5% of the populace who are worth a shit and are focused on doing something positive with their lives, discarding or ignoring the 95% who are interested in doing whatever it is they do.
Where are the people who want to make a difference? I’m not sure, but I want to find them, because the rest of these people are annoying the shit out of me!
Random aside...another comic might be on the way. This is probably news to the two or three people on Earth who care. For the other two or three who will read this, please carry on. :)
Read or Post a Comment
so... how do you reconcile your belief that we as humans are driven by self-preservation and self-gratification rather than any sort of inherent goodness with your desire to do something to better the world?
Easily. :) It makes me feel better to think of better ways to live, to strive for what I judge to be a better, more honest life and thus, I am being selfish, in that I do these things and live this way because it makes me feel good. I am not perfect, never will be, but my mistakes are far outweighed by my successes and my misdeeds have usually only hurt me, so my good deeds outnumber the harm as well. If living this way didn't make me feel good, I would probably try something else. See, it's all selfishness. ;)