First, if you read this and by the end, find yourself not really having any major disagreement with what is said here.... would you please share or repost this? If it is at least non-offensive, just pass it along. There will be plenty of issues and realities that one just cannot address in a single, readable in length, post on a blog - or at least my blog. So don't worry so much about what i'm not saying right now. Focus on the more grandly unifying aspects of the following proposals because those are the concepts I'm trying to get across, here and now. In the sense of an argument on paper, so to speak, you hammer out the outline before you correct the grammar.
SO............. LIFE
In the famous words "I think. Therefor I am." one can gather that if you are thinking you are alive. So what the hell is this term 'alive' anyway? As people, this is really confusing because being alive gets muddled with the feeling of being alive.
What one feels about something is just a complicated response mechanism to something that actually IS. The feeling of being alive seems (to me) to relate to the concept of The Mind, or a soul, or the 'heart.' Whereas being 'alive' could be construed as relating specifically to the physical processes of life; protein molecules, DNA, metabolization, tissue formation and organ development, respiration, etc.
So, I'm gonna run with this being alive idea for now, but we'll get back to the feeling stuff later.
Alright, you're alive! You move around a bit (not everything), you RESPOND to stimuli, you CONSUME some kinda stuff for energy to GROW & REPRODUCE and you DIE. That's kinda it. You might move some shit around, a.k.a. build something, cook something, make anything, drag some stuff from one place or another, but that's it. That's all that there is to the MECHANICS of life. No, not the guy in the jumpsuit that fixes your car mechanic, but the actual movement and function of the little bitty parts that make up all the stuff... ever.
Feeling a little small? good. you are ultimately less than the cosmic dust you are made of, in the grand universal scale of things.
That pang you felt right there, thats a bitch I call humility. Learn it. Love it. Live it.
Anywho, back to the chain of ideas here... So all being alive is, is really, the movement of tiny bits and pieces. If those bits didn't move, and move together... consuming, building, excramenting, dividing, etc. all one would be left with is molecular fusion and decay... Somewhere along the line, those steps of adding more & breaking apart specialized. Fusion (or adding more) separated into consumption and consequently growth; and fission (or molecular decay) separated into releasing waste and reproduction (dividing). The only weasel left is that odd duck, the response to stimuli.
Which could be argued is simply a natural result of the combined effect of multiple specialized units acting in unison with the goal of the survival of the whole.... but we'll get back to that one too.
So, everything but the response to stimuli, one can reason is just the movement of stuff. It's that reactionary action that is special. Basically, if something provides a positive (as in happy) sensation, the natural inclination is to repeat that action. If something results in a negative (hurt-y) sensation, that something is avoided. Run to happy, run away from hurt-y. Easy! This is the fundamental law to surviving, and prospering in the game of life.
It is this reactionary quality that makes (what we have witnessed it to be) life special. Or, at least it makes life unique and therefor prized. Mind you, we haven't gotten to the point of choice yet, not by a long shot... Rather, just focus on the concept that there is just an inclination to do things that continue each instance of life, as well as a similar inclination to avoid things that threaten each instance of life - and that newfound inclination is the basic principal of the difference between alive and not alive.
Now as you progress up the tree of life, all of these individual decisions compile, and the bigger and more sophisticated & specialized each higher being becomes.
For example; bacteria = not so many functions i.e. simple, a sponge or moss = less simple, a worm or fern = ennnh, stuff startin' 2 B really goin' on now... Moving up to mammals and flowering plants, there are so many bits all moving around that one is confused to the point of cutting oneself a little slack, and imagining a being that is sooooooooo significantly out of proportion between your newly self-prescibed value (emotions) of it versus the true sum of its parts; that this new mental hyper-constuction can actually degrade from the overall significance of each of these beings.
ooooof. simply, if you make something out to be grander that it really is, it is easy to lose sight of the basic function and placement of that one thing in the grand scheme of things. (google panda bears and where they're @ in the food web.)
...and since food and energy in nature are the exact opposite of Reagan-omics, in that shit rolls DOWNHILL- but life moves in the opposite fashion; the guys at the top are totally dependent on the guys at the bottom... and most of the guys at the bottom could exist without consideration to the existence of those at the top.
....in other words...
The grand society of the natural world can live without its kings or CEO's... it cannot live without is farmers and builders.
... now scale that to the level of species, taken form the previous analogy of professions...
The amoebas and bacteria don't need us. But the plants and animals that we need to live, do...
...and we need them (bacteria, et al.) on a personal level much more than they need us...
...ever try to digest food? yup, bacteria helpin' yo ass out, just working for food and a place to stay... so put the sanitizer down and stop being such a cunty princess. get dirty, you'll smile more.
oooooookay, almost off point there...
To recap, you are WAAAY more dependent on all that life you would traditionally consider "below you," AND all that life of which is "below you" could survive just fine if you vanished, died, or never was in the first place...
So, considering that balance of power... that we are dependent on all this other life... wouldn't there be more than just a simple moral imperative to do both these things; manage our consumption (as well as pollution - again later) of all this life beyond our own species as well as to do everything in our power to aide and proliferate the existence of all these other forms of life?
We (as people) need the rest of life. Not just a cow or a codfish, but the whole damn thing. It's no secret to anyone that life is a blissfully dynamic, woven, interrelated and complex network (much like the internet, but just not nearly as limited), so why not respect it as such? If i were to stab a ballpoint pent through the flesh and metacarpals of your right hand and inject a bunch of ink (say, a form of pollution), it will hurt your body.
DUH.
So why then, does anyone seem to think that doing the same to the biosphere (that we've already established we are dependent upon) on an comparable scale would hurt life any differently than the ink would to a person's body? (google "deep-well injection sites" for full metaphorical impact)
So what i'm saying here is that the complexity of your soul and body is, quite literally, a scaled-down version of life on this planet. If you feed yourself crap and don't exercise, and shoot up a bunch of Drain-O,... enh...
OR, if you take care of yourself and pay attention to how things work, and react to stimuli in a way that demonstrates you are not insane- that you are inclined to activities that would promote and prolong your existence (like managing your waste and food source), as opposed to activities that would threaten your existence - such as cutting down every last tree on the island and then wondering why you can't grow anymore coconuts, nor find anymore wood to build a boat to leave- or scooping too many fish out of the oceans, then wondering why there aren't as many as last year, much less, enough growth in catches for all the new mouths to feed....
...you'll stand a much better chance, if you were savvy enough to say, "i don't have that much left, so not only will i not spend it all at once... but i will try and learn how to use less to get more out of my life in the future..."
Have I beaten this dead horse of a point enough yet? no? I thought not.
but moving forward!
We have now discussed one aspect of that balance of power i mentioned earlier that was between people and their one-way dependance on the rest of life. We need to not destroy it for our own survival. It's all interrelated, we cannot fuck one hole too hard for too long or the whole bitch will give out... but we (people) are trying to pull this Le Mans, DP, gang-bang style on the planet and biosphere that we are so pathetically dependent upon. Now it's time to let the other ball drop.
We are obviously competent enough, as a single species, to do one thing...... to somehow act MORE evolved than those that preceded us.
But that is exactly what we are NOT doing.
Every other species has in some way, without our trick, been able to achieve a balance with its environment.
Where we differ is that we keep creating new technologies (our trick) to compensate for our lack of balance with the rest of the world.
TAKE DEEP BREATH HERE
What if our abilities to create and use technologies had a purpose?... beyond our personal selves as a species?
...to recap, you are WAAAY more dependent on all that you would traditionally consider "below you" AND all of which is "below you" could survive just fine if you vanished, died, or never was...
But then why would such a specialized creature as ourselves exist? Are we functionally just a drain on resources? Yet we've created ideologies of purpose, meaning, responsibility, exploration, worth, value, principal, morality....
In all this discovery, and searching.... i know one thing; that the current conditions.... as well as the existence of this solar system, are finite.
i know one other thing. the possibilities of human imagination and creative problem solving are infinite.
take the two and what do you get?
the reason (if there was forethought to it) for human existence. our collective reason d'être. the purpose to our being...
what is one thing no other species has been able to do, save ourselves?
come on........... the big one...
To be able to leave this planet and get something or someone to another.
--I am an American, and i do love my tired Christian symbolism so...
... long ago, when god saw the world going to shit, he told this bloke Moses, "I'm gonna wipe the slate, build an ark and save the necessaries."
Well, either we fuck it up, there is a meteor, nuclear war, the sun has time to grow to a red giant (or whatever that next phase is) and eventually the Earth WILL BE swallowed in fire, simile or no.... but we got to keep this shit cool.
So, shouldn't we save the bunnies, britches, and buffalo! stop the looting & polluting?
Preserving and being a steward of life is the most moral thing a person can do. Just ask Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians. He says the same thing... (NYTimes.com)
Think about it another way,
Think of the most meaningful, life changing moment of your memory....
If you have had children, usually it is either the birth or death of a child.
This strong emotional sensitivity to both nurturing and death is one of our species most admirable qualities. But the best part is, it is not limited to our own species.
Think of any pet or plant you've ever owned. You have emotional attachment to these living creatures... you care whether they live or die. you may even enjoy caring for them too.
When you are able to care for and see the growth, development, maturation and eventual proliferation of these life forms you have nurtured... does it not lend to you an amazing sensation... a dull pride, a warm feeling that you have been able to not just survive but have done that so well that you were able to aide in the survival of others... and that investment and witness to independence and success is one of the warmest, most natural and fulfilling experiences you will ever have....
that is the action that provides the most nourishing and sustainable meaning to your life.
more life.
AND THE CUNT OF CHOICE AND HOW THAT FITS IN WITH MORALITY IS NOW THE BARE BUNS BITCH AT THE BURLAP BEACHHEAD OF YOUR BEATIFIC BUNGALOW.
It's an easy calculation but a hard pill to swallow- most of the shit you value in you life actually takes away from your ability to find any lasting purpose, meaning or contentment, as your value system is organized around things and concepts that are at their most historic, TEMPORARY.
SO, do you want to last forever or just fade away?
A question then,
why is Utopia always portrayed green and lush and undomesticated?
isn't that what it's supposed to be?
but it doesn't end with this planet... that's where our purpose comes in again....
1. we can get off this rock.
2. and we know this rock wont last for ever.
3. we can't go it alone.
4. we need to take the rest of life with us to survive.
5. if this is the only life in the universe, by default, we have a duty to preserve it, out of self-interest.
6. so, the meaning to our lives is to care for life
7. and our purpose is to safeguard it, life.
SO............. LIFE
In the famous words "I think. Therefor I am." one can gather that if you are thinking you are alive. So what the hell is this term 'alive' anyway? As people, this is really confusing because being alive gets muddled with the feeling of being alive.
What one feels about something is just a complicated response mechanism to something that actually IS. The feeling of being alive seems (to me) to relate to the concept of The Mind, or a soul, or the 'heart.' Whereas being 'alive' could be construed as relating specifically to the physical processes of life; protein molecules, DNA, metabolization, tissue formation and organ development, respiration, etc.
So, I'm gonna run with this being alive idea for now, but we'll get back to the feeling stuff later.
Alright, you're alive! You move around a bit (not everything), you RESPOND to stimuli, you CONSUME some kinda stuff for energy to GROW & REPRODUCE and you DIE. That's kinda it. You might move some shit around, a.k.a. build something, cook something, make anything, drag some stuff from one place or another, but that's it. That's all that there is to the MECHANICS of life. No, not the guy in the jumpsuit that fixes your car mechanic, but the actual movement and function of the little bitty parts that make up all the stuff... ever.
Feeling a little small? good. you are ultimately less than the cosmic dust you are made of, in the grand universal scale of things.
That pang you felt right there, thats a bitch I call humility. Learn it. Love it. Live it.
Anywho, back to the chain of ideas here... So all being alive is, is really, the movement of tiny bits and pieces. If those bits didn't move, and move together... consuming, building, excramenting, dividing, etc. all one would be left with is molecular fusion and decay... Somewhere along the line, those steps of adding more & breaking apart specialized. Fusion (or adding more) separated into consumption and consequently growth; and fission (or molecular decay) separated into releasing waste and reproduction (dividing). The only weasel left is that odd duck, the response to stimuli.
Which could be argued is simply a natural result of the combined effect of multiple specialized units acting in unison with the goal of the survival of the whole.... but we'll get back to that one too.
So, everything but the response to stimuli, one can reason is just the movement of stuff. It's that reactionary action that is special. Basically, if something provides a positive (as in happy) sensation, the natural inclination is to repeat that action. If something results in a negative (hurt-y) sensation, that something is avoided. Run to happy, run away from hurt-y. Easy! This is the fundamental law to surviving, and prospering in the game of life.
It is this reactionary quality that makes (what we have witnessed it to be) life special. Or, at least it makes life unique and therefor prized. Mind you, we haven't gotten to the point of choice yet, not by a long shot... Rather, just focus on the concept that there is just an inclination to do things that continue each instance of life, as well as a similar inclination to avoid things that threaten each instance of life - and that newfound inclination is the basic principal of the difference between alive and not alive.
Now as you progress up the tree of life, all of these individual decisions compile, and the bigger and more sophisticated & specialized each higher being becomes.
For example; bacteria = not so many functions i.e. simple, a sponge or moss = less simple, a worm or fern = ennnh, stuff startin' 2 B really goin' on now... Moving up to mammals and flowering plants, there are so many bits all moving around that one is confused to the point of cutting oneself a little slack, and imagining a being that is sooooooooo significantly out of proportion between your newly self-prescibed value (emotions) of it versus the true sum of its parts; that this new mental hyper-constuction can actually degrade from the overall significance of each of these beings.
ooooof. simply, if you make something out to be grander that it really is, it is easy to lose sight of the basic function and placement of that one thing in the grand scheme of things. (google panda bears and where they're @ in the food web.)
...and since food and energy in nature are the exact opposite of Reagan-omics, in that shit rolls DOWNHILL- but life moves in the opposite fashion; the guys at the top are totally dependent on the guys at the bottom... and most of the guys at the bottom could exist without consideration to the existence of those at the top.
....in other words...
The grand society of the natural world can live without its kings or CEO's... it cannot live without is farmers and builders.
... now scale that to the level of species, taken form the previous analogy of professions...
The amoebas and bacteria don't need us. But the plants and animals that we need to live, do...
...and we need them (bacteria, et al.) on a personal level much more than they need us...
...ever try to digest food? yup, bacteria helpin' yo ass out, just working for food and a place to stay... so put the sanitizer down and stop being such a cunty princess. get dirty, you'll smile more.
oooooookay, almost off point there...
To recap, you are WAAAY more dependent on all that life you would traditionally consider "below you," AND all that life of which is "below you" could survive just fine if you vanished, died, or never was in the first place...
So, considering that balance of power... that we are dependent on all this other life... wouldn't there be more than just a simple moral imperative to do both these things; manage our consumption (as well as pollution - again later) of all this life beyond our own species as well as to do everything in our power to aide and proliferate the existence of all these other forms of life?
We (as people) need the rest of life. Not just a cow or a codfish, but the whole damn thing. It's no secret to anyone that life is a blissfully dynamic, woven, interrelated and complex network (much like the internet, but just not nearly as limited), so why not respect it as such? If i were to stab a ballpoint pent through the flesh and metacarpals of your right hand and inject a bunch of ink (say, a form of pollution), it will hurt your body.
DUH.
So why then, does anyone seem to think that doing the same to the biosphere (that we've already established we are dependent upon) on an comparable scale would hurt life any differently than the ink would to a person's body? (google "deep-well injection sites" for full metaphorical impact)
So what i'm saying here is that the complexity of your soul and body is, quite literally, a scaled-down version of life on this planet. If you feed yourself crap and don't exercise, and shoot up a bunch of Drain-O,... enh...
OR, if you take care of yourself and pay attention to how things work, and react to stimuli in a way that demonstrates you are not insane- that you are inclined to activities that would promote and prolong your existence (like managing your waste and food source), as opposed to activities that would threaten your existence - such as cutting down every last tree on the island and then wondering why you can't grow anymore coconuts, nor find anymore wood to build a boat to leave- or scooping too many fish out of the oceans, then wondering why there aren't as many as last year, much less, enough growth in catches for all the new mouths to feed....
...you'll stand a much better chance, if you were savvy enough to say, "i don't have that much left, so not only will i not spend it all at once... but i will try and learn how to use less to get more out of my life in the future..."
Have I beaten this dead horse of a point enough yet? no? I thought not.
but moving forward!
We have now discussed one aspect of that balance of power i mentioned earlier that was between people and their one-way dependance on the rest of life. We need to not destroy it for our own survival. It's all interrelated, we cannot fuck one hole too hard for too long or the whole bitch will give out... but we (people) are trying to pull this Le Mans, DP, gang-bang style on the planet and biosphere that we are so pathetically dependent upon. Now it's time to let the other ball drop.
We are obviously competent enough, as a single species, to do one thing...... to somehow act MORE evolved than those that preceded us.
But that is exactly what we are NOT doing.
Every other species has in some way, without our trick, been able to achieve a balance with its environment.
Where we differ is that we keep creating new technologies (our trick) to compensate for our lack of balance with the rest of the world.
TAKE DEEP BREATH HERE
What if our abilities to create and use technologies had a purpose?... beyond our personal selves as a species?
...to recap, you are WAAAY more dependent on all that you would traditionally consider "below you" AND all of which is "below you" could survive just fine if you vanished, died, or never was...
But then why would such a specialized creature as ourselves exist? Are we functionally just a drain on resources? Yet we've created ideologies of purpose, meaning, responsibility, exploration, worth, value, principal, morality....
In all this discovery, and searching.... i know one thing; that the current conditions.... as well as the existence of this solar system, are finite.
i know one other thing. the possibilities of human imagination and creative problem solving are infinite.
take the two and what do you get?
the reason (if there was forethought to it) for human existence. our collective reason d'être. the purpose to our being...
what is one thing no other species has been able to do, save ourselves?
come on........... the big one...
To be able to leave this planet and get something or someone to another.
--I am an American, and i do love my tired Christian symbolism so...
... long ago, when god saw the world going to shit, he told this bloke Moses, "I'm gonna wipe the slate, build an ark and save the necessaries."
Well, either we fuck it up, there is a meteor, nuclear war, the sun has time to grow to a red giant (or whatever that next phase is) and eventually the Earth WILL BE swallowed in fire, simile or no.... but we got to keep this shit cool.
So, shouldn't we save the bunnies, britches, and buffalo! stop the looting & polluting?
Preserving and being a steward of life is the most moral thing a person can do. Just ask Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians. He says the same thing... (NYTimes.com)
Think about it another way,
Think of the most meaningful, life changing moment of your memory....
If you have had children, usually it is either the birth or death of a child.
This strong emotional sensitivity to both nurturing and death is one of our species most admirable qualities. But the best part is, it is not limited to our own species.
Think of any pet or plant you've ever owned. You have emotional attachment to these living creatures... you care whether they live or die. you may even enjoy caring for them too.
When you are able to care for and see the growth, development, maturation and eventual proliferation of these life forms you have nurtured... does it not lend to you an amazing sensation... a dull pride, a warm feeling that you have been able to not just survive but have done that so well that you were able to aide in the survival of others... and that investment and witness to independence and success is one of the warmest, most natural and fulfilling experiences you will ever have....
that is the action that provides the most nourishing and sustainable meaning to your life.
more life.
AND THE CUNT OF CHOICE AND HOW THAT FITS IN WITH MORALITY IS NOW THE BARE BUNS BITCH AT THE BURLAP BEACHHEAD OF YOUR BEATIFIC BUNGALOW.
It's an easy calculation but a hard pill to swallow- most of the shit you value in you life actually takes away from your ability to find any lasting purpose, meaning or contentment, as your value system is organized around things and concepts that are at their most historic, TEMPORARY.
SO, do you want to last forever or just fade away?
A question then,
why is Utopia always portrayed green and lush and undomesticated?
isn't that what it's supposed to be?
but it doesn't end with this planet... that's where our purpose comes in again....
1. we can get off this rock.
2. and we know this rock wont last for ever.
3. we can't go it alone.
4. we need to take the rest of life with us to survive.
5. if this is the only life in the universe, by default, we have a duty to preserve it, out of self-interest.
6. so, the meaning to our lives is to care for life
7. and our purpose is to safeguard it, life.
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