carpe annum

When you come to think of it, almost all human behavior and activity is not, essentially, any different from animal behavior. The most advanced technologies and craftsmanship bring us, at best, up to the super-chimpanzee level. Actually, the gap between, say, Plato or Nietzsche, and the average human is greater than the gap between that chimpanzee and the average human. The realm of the real spirit, the true artist, the saint, the philosopher, is rarely achieved. Why so few? Why is world history and evolution not stories of progress, rather this endless and futile addition of zeros? No greater values have developed . Hell, the Greeks 3,000 years ago were just as advanced as we are. So what are these barriers that keep people from reaching anywhere near their real potential. The answer to that can be found in another question, and that’s this: which is the most universal human characteristic: fear or laziness?

• quoted from Louis Mackey, from “Waking Life”

It seems to me fear is the most pervasive affliction…laziness itself is just fear of action. Fear mostly mascarades as “SECURITY” which we see as somehow inherently favorable in society; job security, national security, food security, etc.. The status quo is always better than change, at least this is what people who suffer from an under-abundance of life might say. Most of us are deathly afraid of taking risks…we fear uncertainty and thus adopt a life of pattern and repetition; banal, but safe. What is secure, is valued in society, which is maybe why our fundamental values haven’t changed in thousands of years. Of course, human thought and accomplishment has evolved not from the status quo, but from change, from action, from risk, from uncertainty. Why did Europe experience “dark ages?” Simply because the church wanted to maintain its secure grasp on its political and spiritual power. Most people fear change, and even today in the 21st century, I am astounded how many people my age want simply to find a secure job, to plug into the patterns of society. Fortunately I find it easy to be adaptable, to value unorthodoxy, to question the status quo at every turn. I hope I never find contentment in being a super-chimpanzee.

Resistance is not futile, we’re gonna win this thing, humankind is too good, we’re not a bunch of under-achievers! We’re gonna stand up, and we’re gonna be human beings. We’re going to get fired up about the real things, the things that matter! Creativity, and the dynamic human spirit that refuses to submit.

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