15-1

I have been fairly silent lately on the “issues” of the day. We have a ranging variety of societal illnesses and a severe degree of unrest from a number of interested parties. I don’t know how to begin talking about these issues as separate problems. I could talk about race, law enforcement, education, government, corporations, religion, the environment, the economy, world relations, cultural appropriation, violence, gender equality, or a myriad of other hot button issues. In my head I can relate this all. I can make the grand connections and big points about my place and feelings and beliefs in this problems. It’s easy to reflect and discuss and pontificate on these troubles. Some of us ignore them, some of us try our best to advocate or argue our viewpoints. Some of us work towards actions of resolution. Others are caught in a middle place, between a desire to solve and feeling of helpless frustration. And yes, we need to acknowledge two other (and entirely maddening) places. The ignorance/blinded population, be it laziness, lacks of exposure, complacency, or other. The last is the knowingly oppositional. I say this not to take sides (that comes later). I say this to acknowledge that in every one of these problems there is an entity or group that is aware of the problem and is doing everything in their power to make the problem worse and or justifying the problem. Those justifying these problems are troublesome, yes, but the malicious parties who are actively watching the world burn (and frequently causing the burning) are the most serious in this day and age. I won’t say it’s a battle between good and evil. It’s not. Don’t even believe that I am implying that. That is, in fact, not my point at all.

What I encounter in a day is mostly mundane. I eat, sleep, and participate in a developing social structure based on judged and perceived value system (not moral, but more in the sense of worth). Everything I do is categorized by society to generate a data point that factors into my worth or importance as a piece of our fully realized civilization dream. Be it my job, or lack of, the status of my house in relation to neighbors, friends, relatives, and other humans (of whom play no role in my personal view of my worth). Yet somehow the mundane is an easy conduit for the problems of our modern developed society to exhibit the fractures in our dream that we either ignore, protest or damage.

We know and observe these fractures in a variety of ways. Our reactions to them are more important to my point that the fractures themselves (though they will be clear momentarily). Our dream civilization is broken. That much is clear. The degree to which is a point of contention that sometimes occupies the discussion more than it should. These fractures are not new.

Let us for a moment assume that these fractures have always been here. Impurities in our dream. The way that some ceramics and paints crack and fracture is a fairly useful image based analogy.  As we move forward into a connected world we find ourselves zooming out in a sense to observe more of our planet and our species than ever before. We cry afoul as we find new fractures in our world. We fret over the severity and debate how soon we will collapse in upon ourselves. I think this is the wrong approach. Our system has always been broken. We had these problems in our design but couldn’t test out the flaws until the system had been running long enough to see that. This isn’t something we planned for. To be clear our world looks like it’s falling apart. It’s not. It’s fractured and worn and in need of alteration, but it is not shattered, not yet at least. We can destroy our dream. We are the only ones capable of that action. And we very well may get there someday. But we aren’t there yet.

Our species is self-aware. We debate our effect on our world, we create problems, we solve problems, we scheme and we plan and we fight. We have philosophy and psychology. We are outrospective and introspective. We define things and argue over those definitions and their accuracy. We as a species are obsessed with ourselves. That is a force that spreads our fractures.

The constant obsession with ourselves isn’t some noble quest for understanding, it’s a thriving natural need to replace our confusion and fear with an element of security or clarity. I am just as guilty as the rest of my species in this. Observing my species is what leads me to this piece. But I still maintain that this is at its heart an impurity of our material that causes these fractures.

I guess this is as a good a point as any to clarify my use of the word impurity. A few of you will have a visceral reaction to the concept of purity…relax. Remember this is not about good or evil. I’m not talking about moralistic or value based impurity. I’m talking about the opposite of pure, without flaw, of lack of perfection. This is not inherently a bad thing. I use impurity as one would talk about an impurity in a piece of pottery. Some minor addition or particle that alters the makeup of perceived perfection. Do not imply some sense of judgment to my words. There is none. We are not perfect, we don’t claim to be. What I am referring to is the basis of our fractures, where they stem from.
Let us move to the assumption that these fractures are some innate part of our dream. The topic to discuss then becomes should we fix the fractures or destroy and recreate it entirely. I’m not writing this to have an opinion on this part. I want to acknowledge those who will say that we need to spend the time to repair and rebuild our crumbling world. I want to acknowledge those who will say that these are to be expected in a species development as widespread as ours. I want to acknowledge those who will say we should destroy our entire system and create something new. No matter what path we take, we are bound to continue/create a system and a world filled with impurities. That is in its truest form human nature.  This is where my controversial point will hit home for some of you.

Humans are jerks. Do I need to explain this? All you have to do is look at what you see as problems. It doesn't matter what side of the issue you are one, the people you disagree with are jerks. But so are you. We can’t get a handle on equality, of race, of gender, of economic standing, of ideology, of anything.  We profit off whatever we can, be it destruction of the environment, misuses of public assets, the backs of others, the attitude of extreme greed that drives us to gain and hoard and obtain. We have dollar signs in our eyes and knives in our hands. We misuse power. We fight. We can’t handle the self-awareness. It is where we struggle. It is our fracture. We live in a broken system that hurts us all. Is it our fault, and yet, as an innate quality in our species something that was out of our control.

I know there are people out there that can handle their self-awareness. There will doubtlessly be a tide of response about “I’m not a jerk.” “My mom isn’t a jerk.” “My neighbor isn’t a jerk.” If this is the way you respond to my argument then I ask that you spend more time contemplating my message. Right now there are a world of people who battle injustice. But where are we going? It is no longer a power struggle. It is a matter of determining our purpose on this planet. In this universe.

Either nothing matters or everything matters or some combination of the two or some entirely unknown concept that is outside the scope of human understanding. I don’t blame anyone for the philosophy that with a world of problems the best we can do is focus on our own lives and communities. I don’t blame those who dedicate themselves to fighting injustice. I don’t even blame those who keep their head down, unsure of what to do.

I blame those who knowingly participate in the self-importance, the greed, and the judgment. You will laugh this off and deride it as philosophical garbage. But none the less I blame you. I don’t agree with you. Then again, who am I to have an opinion? I am just another frightened creature wandering around this life cage that is beyond comprehension. We all are.