A Short But Brief Summary of a Quiet Contemplative Mindset on life
If we as individuals matter not at all to the evolutionary system, of which we are a part for such a minuscule period of time, then do we matter in any other way? After all, evolution would go on if any one of us had died at childbirth. The reality seems to be that if Lincoln had not engineered the end of slavery, somebody else would have because better always supersedes worse over time, so evolution moves forward and upward——new species develop which provide new experiences and new capabilities in new environmental situations. The evolutionary system is brilliant just like a glittering exquisite building is so also, even though the individual bricks are unimportant. After all, if any individual brick should happen to break in the wheelbarrow en route to being put in place, a similar brick will end up in it’s place, necessary for the end brilliance of the building, but of no matter itself to the end visual product . Thus we find ourselves in life. There are now 7.1 billion humans on this planet, alone all together, like lemmings compulsively racing as a species to the edge of the cliff, unable to control our own population growth, unable to effectively establish global livable minimum wages, unable to allow the better angels of our nature to bring peace, prosperity and respect for diversity. By chance alone, each of us came into this brilliant process, not everyone created equal at all, but with but a chance to achieve some contentedness in our life if we, by chance, get a decent genetic hand, a decent environment for our formative years, and we, by chance again, have others help us achieve some goals in our lives. To the extent we treat others as we would have them treat us, they get more contentment in their lives, and we—as a giver—then get rewarded with more contentment in our lives too. Then we die, as surely as anything else we ever know for sure in life is true. The billions of years which came before us has mattered little to us personally, and the endless years ahead for this process will be of no consequence to us at all. Death eliminates any future stress, frustration, or any kind of existence.
Is this a sad tale of no personal meaning? A lot of people buy a ticket to the lottery, not because anything they do can help them win the lottery, but if we no play the game, we no can win the lottery. So is life, if we are not born, we have no chance to win the contentment which sometimes happens in life to some, if only a few. Knowing what we all know now about life, even seen through the prism of our own perceptions, most everyone would be willing to take a chance again to start life anew and take our chances. All we ever get is some hope things will go our way and we have the essence to cope with the challenges we will face. It is not for any species to really understand life, or anyone to be exempt from God's laws which govern the evolutionary process. By the time we begin to understand a few things meaningful about life, we are old enough to die.
I remember, en route to the train station late one night—sitting on this short stone wall and staring at these two small children in a box just staring at the passer-byes, none of whom were throwing any change in the cup set out by their mother. Would I then, knowing that I could get a chance to live life again, a new afterlife—if I would come back as one of those children, what would I choose to do? Of course we never even get to choose whether we are born or not, let alone under what circumstances and with what cards in our hands, so all these questions here are moot. I wonder where these two little kids are now? What kind of civilized society would let this situation with those two kids exist? We live in a society that just elected Donald Trump as President, someone with not a single personal characteristic that remotely resembles a Jesus Christ, a Buddha, or any other ethical prophet of any sort in history. Does this itself matter at all in the long term of the evolutionary process? Clearly it does not. After the holocaust everyone said 'never again'—and yet today, right in front of our eyes, far more millions are being slaughtered or left homeless than Hitler ever achieved. Whenever some leader says in wild eyed sincerity that they are going to make some nation, or some religion, or some political system, or some group of any ilk, great again——the outcome is never good and will include a lot of bad things—really bad things—happening to a lot of good people —really good people—good people representing all sorts of diverse groups—and when the sun finally sets on all the consequent graves from civilized implosion, the evolutionary process will move on. After all, over 97% of all previous species are now extinct. Time alone moves on, everything else goes with the flow. Change and advancement rule, albeit with some lengthy time setbacks (thousands and millions of years).
I was sitting in a chair and waiting to begin a photo light therapy procedure to remove pre cancerous growths from my face when I motioned to the doctor present: “Look at this” I made a fist and showed him the back of my hand— “I look like I am twenty years old.” Then I opened my fist and tilted my hand back ward a bit, “Now look, I look like I am 90 years old just like that. In a few years I will have another trick and my hand will be a skeleton.” The Doctor looked puzzled, “Why are you saying that?” I have no idea. Why do I say or write or do a lot of things? I just do. It gives me some sort of weird contentment. Well, if everyone else can be oddly weird, why can’t I?”
I bet most everyone can guess at what time of day I wrote this: morning, afternoon, evening, or post midnight. A bit into darkness of night earlier today, I found two doe deers I had been looking for to see if they escaped the deer extermination squad. They were maybe 15 feet away. I raised my cane (walking stick) so they would for sure recognize me. I talked to them for maybe 15 minutes and neither deer budged, just stared at me mesmerized by my attention. They had no inkling what fate awaited them while I did. Such harmless innocent little creatures. The evolutionary process is a merciless process—I guess necessary, but full of sadness and unfairness. Say good night Gracie. Good night Mrs. Calabash (I guess we all have a Mrs. Calabash of some sort) wherever you are. What kind of day has it been? A day like all days only you were there. “Happy Trails to you, until we meet again” were my last words to my 15 minute friends. Maybe it really is the little things in life that count.
