I am very salty. You know, salt-of-the-Earth kind of person. And I can't help but to keep thinking of the Way the Universe works. You know, the Tao and all that. It also helps, of course, to have a good deal of common sense. I imagine how there may be other life on other planets as we steadily gain the opportunity to perceive it. I imagine what they will be like compared to humanity. And I find myself hoping that they really aren't like us at all.
Humanity. Human beings. Homo sapiens. We sure don't know a hell of a whole lot for being so damn sapient. I mean, about existence, about balance, about the cycles of things, and how to live a life in harmony and stasis in the environment around you. All you have to do is observe the modern media, politics, or visit to your local Mega Mart to realize that a great deal of humanity is completely ignorant.
Blatantly ignorant, what's more. Oh, that's not to say they're apathetic, however. They care about these things, but not enough to make a real change; not enough to change how they behave, live, think. Change is inconvenient. It interferes with their busy little personalities and business schedules. It interferes with their marriages and their television programs. But they care in a "oh, that's terrible but there's really nothing I can do about it," kind-of-way. Well keep using up all your planet's resources to live your expensive, important little lives. One day it will all just be burned up, consumed by the Sun: nothing more than vapor and plasma.
But long before that happens, our gorgeous, special planet Earth will be a used-up, wasted little husk of post-humanity trash and carnage. And this--because of blatantly ignorant people like these and their addiction to the talking heads on television--will be our grand, human legacy to the Universe. There are nearly 7 BILLION people on the planet. I believe there was a phrase intended to convey the particular sentiment of this very statistic: It is called, "What The Fuck?"
How can anyone honestly believe that we can just zip around to the Mall and the Grocery Store when this is our present reality? Just use something and throw it away. Well, let me tell you how long it takes landfills to decompose. Some of it virtually never does. Let me also tell you how quickly they fill up. These giant lakes and oceans of trash can be seen from SPACE. And they grow like festering wounds, giant boils of human filth and refuse upon the face of our Mother Earth.
But I care. I really, REALLY genuinely care about these things. Because, in understand the Way, you must come to understand the How, the What, the When, and the Why. Well, in coming to understand these things, I have come to some pretty pathetic, embarrassing conclusions. And I find myself unable to do anything about all of this nonsense because of the strains and bonds that modern society has placed upon me. Needing cars and cellular phones and all other manner of our pretentious technology, that is "making a better world." All of these virtually pointless, precocious little things that one simply can't live without. Well guess what? Our world was just fine until humans somehow developed the clever idea that you could Boss People Around. Then, we decided that in order to Boss People Around, you had to really make them afraid of you for some reason. The Power of Deities. Satan and his fiery inferno called Hell. Death and disease and starvation. Infidels, heretics, and blasphemers. Losing all your hard-earned money. Secret agents. Nuclear warheads. Total economic collapse. Natural disasters and catastrophes. We also decided to sell them things, investing all our collective faith in the grand idea of monetary, arbitrary value. You need these things, you do! You simply couldn't bear to live without them. You surely couldn't survive without them, could you?
So when I am out working in my garden, riding my bicycle, swimming in the river, studying and wondering over Nature in her incredible majesty and infinite mystery, and busily trying to understand the Way Everything Works, I think about these people and it makes my Soul, my secret self, burn with anger. And (thanks to Yoda) we know what anger leads to: hate. And Hate leads to suffering.
But it's all so unfair! Why should I suffer this burden, when no one cares enough to do anything about it? HOW CAN THEY JUST SIT THERE AND NOT GIVE A DAMN?!
We are on a bullet train toward the brink of self-annihilation and people are too busy drinking double-tall, white mocha creme latte with little brown sprinkles and reading magazines to observe or care.
Self-important, bellicose, materialistic little bastards! I think that's what life on another planet would think of us when they got to know us even just a little bit.
And this is the grand legacy of our species. TA-DAAaaaAA!
I told you I was feeling rather salty.
One can't just remove their focus from the game of life and place it on nothing. So what then, do we place our focus on? If not chasing money and material things, what do we chase?
ReplyDeleteOne healthy substitution for the distractions of the rat race could be love. There are many.
Until one finds a focus worthy of one's time and energy, one will continue to be caught up in the game.
Until one finds a suitable replacement for the focus on the rat race of life, one can focus on nothing else. Breaking a habit involves much more than quitting behavior.
ReplyDeleteOne replacement could be "love."
Until then, people only know what they know through their five senses; even when one knows they are dreaming, it is still very difficult to wake up.