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No one will read this; that is why I am posting it here
10 years ago
I could have wrote this in a number of venues. My professional blog, a university journal or periodical. But for some reason not even I am aware or conscious of, I wanted this to not be read by a large number of people. Perhaps a few passerby will glance it over; read the first few sentences and move on with their day. Maybe one or two will even read this in its entirety. But there were things, admittedly, that were on my mind that I felt needed to be written down someplace. So here I am, in that secluded part of cyberspace which is my page on FA.
I have been deep in thought as of late, lost in the recesses of the mind which speculate and extrapolate on musings that are irrelevant in most situations. I have been thinking about, us. No, not the furry community or our constructed avatars we call sonas. I've been thinking about us, people, humans. I have had the pleasure of meeting and growing close to some truly incredible people. Some of which I consider my family, some I consider friends and even some where our lives intersected for a brief moment and veered into different paths. Those paths; are what I have been so deeply concentrated on. We are a very fickle, if not ironic species. That fickleness is represented in all of us by our desire (if not need) to be selfish and see our way of thinking as always correct. Ironic in the sense that we have the most evolved minds on our planet, but fail to use them to their fullest potential. As far back as history takes us, that fickleness has brought about conflict, strife and misery on the smallest of scales and the largest. We are adept at dividing each other into categories, the blacks, the whites, the right, the wrong, the desirable and the undesirable. We have little to no capacity for abrupt change of ourselves or forgiveness. Again the irony is that we are the most intelligence forms of life on this planet and are the only species capable of these vast ranges of emotions; yet we cannot do something as simple as admit we are wrong. I am not suggesting that the barriers of right and wrong are transparent and do not exist. Clearly there are instances where there is a correct action, and an incorrect one. What I am suggesting, is that we lack the ability to effectively reach across those boundaries and discuss. To talk about our views (which are exclusive to humans) and come to an understanding of not only each other but ourselves.
So why is it that such a large percentage of the population continues to leech off of those who have transcended this failing? Why are we so content to stagnate and never move forward? We have become lazy, slothful and happy within the mediocrity which we have built around us. If asked to build a city with only a spade an a pound of cement, very few of us would accept the challenge with grace. Even fewer of us with a sense of purpose and happiness. We are creatures of ease now, our technologies have made this sedentary and stagnant life acceptable if not preferable. We have no challenge left within us, we look for the easiest way out of a situation. Whether that be leeching off those few who have sought out challenge and conquered it, or relinquishing control of one's life and becoming content in that mediocrity. Ever since my first listening to the late JFK's moon speech I have sought out arduous challenges and the most breaking of conquests. I did so, not because they were easy, but because they were hard.
I am so utterly exhausted of this tired notion that there is no way out, there is no hope. I become angry when a person's problems in life are blamed on sources which they have had part in shaping themselves. Saddened when I see an individual who has great potential, but gives in to the easy and simplistic ways of life. Imagine what we could do, as a species if we thought hundreds of years into the future and not just days. If we let humility take hold of us, and had that important dialogue with each other to find solutions. I imagine a world in which all these things are not uncommon, but the norm. We have thousands of years of evolution behind us to create technologies which eighty years ago were considered fiction. More importantly we have the ability to rationalize complex situations while doubting ourselves; and then finding the truths in life to cast aside that doubt. But somehow, we lack the capacity to do so. Thousands upon thousands of years of evolution which have given us the ability to collaborate and share the best parts of ourselves with others; mixed with the stubborn and fickleness we have constructed around ourselves.
So what is this journal about, really? It's not about anything you or I should concern ourselves with. After all, are we not so happy living in mediocrity? Or do we long for something much greater? I know I do, and I am ready to face the difficulties in conquering the highest precipices of life's journey and to admit that sometimes I am wrong, I am flawed and I wish to learn from those stumbles. The real question I suppose you as the reader must ask yourself, the only question worth asking anymore. Are you willing to do that same?
I have been deep in thought as of late, lost in the recesses of the mind which speculate and extrapolate on musings that are irrelevant in most situations. I have been thinking about, us. No, not the furry community or our constructed avatars we call sonas. I've been thinking about us, people, humans. I have had the pleasure of meeting and growing close to some truly incredible people. Some of which I consider my family, some I consider friends and even some where our lives intersected for a brief moment and veered into different paths. Those paths; are what I have been so deeply concentrated on. We are a very fickle, if not ironic species. That fickleness is represented in all of us by our desire (if not need) to be selfish and see our way of thinking as always correct. Ironic in the sense that we have the most evolved minds on our planet, but fail to use them to their fullest potential. As far back as history takes us, that fickleness has brought about conflict, strife and misery on the smallest of scales and the largest. We are adept at dividing each other into categories, the blacks, the whites, the right, the wrong, the desirable and the undesirable. We have little to no capacity for abrupt change of ourselves or forgiveness. Again the irony is that we are the most intelligence forms of life on this planet and are the only species capable of these vast ranges of emotions; yet we cannot do something as simple as admit we are wrong. I am not suggesting that the barriers of right and wrong are transparent and do not exist. Clearly there are instances where there is a correct action, and an incorrect one. What I am suggesting, is that we lack the ability to effectively reach across those boundaries and discuss. To talk about our views (which are exclusive to humans) and come to an understanding of not only each other but ourselves.
So why is it that such a large percentage of the population continues to leech off of those who have transcended this failing? Why are we so content to stagnate and never move forward? We have become lazy, slothful and happy within the mediocrity which we have built around us. If asked to build a city with only a spade an a pound of cement, very few of us would accept the challenge with grace. Even fewer of us with a sense of purpose and happiness. We are creatures of ease now, our technologies have made this sedentary and stagnant life acceptable if not preferable. We have no challenge left within us, we look for the easiest way out of a situation. Whether that be leeching off those few who have sought out challenge and conquered it, or relinquishing control of one's life and becoming content in that mediocrity. Ever since my first listening to the late JFK's moon speech I have sought out arduous challenges and the most breaking of conquests. I did so, not because they were easy, but because they were hard.
I am so utterly exhausted of this tired notion that there is no way out, there is no hope. I become angry when a person's problems in life are blamed on sources which they have had part in shaping themselves. Saddened when I see an individual who has great potential, but gives in to the easy and simplistic ways of life. Imagine what we could do, as a species if we thought hundreds of years into the future and not just days. If we let humility take hold of us, and had that important dialogue with each other to find solutions. I imagine a world in which all these things are not uncommon, but the norm. We have thousands of years of evolution behind us to create technologies which eighty years ago were considered fiction. More importantly we have the ability to rationalize complex situations while doubting ourselves; and then finding the truths in life to cast aside that doubt. But somehow, we lack the capacity to do so. Thousands upon thousands of years of evolution which have given us the ability to collaborate and share the best parts of ourselves with others; mixed with the stubborn and fickleness we have constructed around ourselves.
So what is this journal about, really? It's not about anything you or I should concern ourselves with. After all, are we not so happy living in mediocrity? Or do we long for something much greater? I know I do, and I am ready to face the difficulties in conquering the highest precipices of life's journey and to admit that sometimes I am wrong, I am flawed and I wish to learn from those stumbles. The real question I suppose you as the reader must ask yourself, the only question worth asking anymore. Are you willing to do that same?
Well, I can't really say a whole lot for that first part, because I disagree completely under the notion that we lack the capacity for any of those things.
As for being a selfish species, I'd argue that every species is selfish to some extent. It's nature, and it's not without good reason according to nature alone. Without this innate sense of selfishness, there would have been no incentive to care about oneself enough to survive. Only in the last few thousand years has the notion of being selfless in our species and in a civilization as a concept even come about.
As for the notion of the lack of hearing other points of view and trying to always be correct, I recommend looking up information on 'cognitive bias' and 'heuristics' if you maybe want to get a clearer picture into why people may act irrationally or even selfishly as you refer to it.
Now addressing your second main paragraph:
What is the mediocrity you are referring to? What is the challenge? I'm not implying there isn't either, but all I see are vague statements and I am wondering what challenge you wish to put people under. What is the challenge you wish for people to face that may put them out of their comfort zone and for what purpose? I guess it all boils down to: Why?
For example: why have you sought out arduous challenges and breaking conquests? You say that JFK's speech inspired you to do so, but what did it inspire you to do and why?
"Imagine what we could do, as a species if we thought hundreds of years into the future and not just days."
That's the problem though and you've pointed it out very clearly. Many people are occupied with themselves as is and their own lives and even fewer are going to think the same way as you and think of the collective whole of humanity. I personally myself don't necessarily think only days in the future, but I have a hard time making any sort of plans or thinking about commitments that will be longer than 5 years down the line. Is it a deeply imbedded sense of nihilism that I possibly cling to? Perhaps. But as you mentioned before, what argument would you give to those people who think about the now and not the future to make them think about the future? For what purpose do you think that people should push themselves out of their relative comfort and challenge themselves and each other?
Your life's journey seems, as you described it, to escape the mediocrity you perceive for whatever reason. What do you say to those who don't share that same sense of mediocrity and are content with what they have? As for someone admitting they are wrong, the first step in that process is using the tools you have to first prove that they are wrong.