hopelesshappiness.com

This week (in Alex Finlay’s “The Night Shift”) I read the following: “Sports. Ella never understood the fascination. A professor explained that it’s the human need to belong to something. A tribe. Ella’s never felt that need.” I’ve of course heard this before; it is a common platitude. But I disagree; or I at least partially disagree. The part about the fascination driven by a need to belong I believe is only part of it; a larger part for some, a lesser part for others. Identity is important, but as important (perhaps more important) is the human need for possibility; for hope. Competition within a framework of rules creates a winner and a loser, but the loser today is not absolutely destined to be the loser tomorrow. Though (as discussed here) the odds may be in favor of privilege, in sports there will always be possibility. And we need that.

To further this argument, competition is a reflection of the dichotomous nature of Humanity. I have said before that each one of us is “nuanced or laden with Goodness or Malevolence, Compassion or Cruelty, Empathy or Indifference, a desire for Justice or a self-serving greed.” In sports we can see these characteristics (both good and bad) in both the good guys (our team) and the bad guys, thus when the good guys win we are to a degree vindicated by association; victory becomes hope, a possibility, a promise of salvation. Ultimately, beyond fulfilling one's need to belong, sports fulfills our need to believe and flirts with our desire to transcend.

In this sense, victory is not about who has the most points, or money, or power, or shoes, or degrees, or titles, or answers, or votes. To transcend is to reach or move beyond one's mere mortality and its trappings. And from there it seems the most assured way for me to transcend my mortality is for me to work for future generations. Yes, the euphoric high that comes with an important victory (lived vicariously or otherwise) certainly feels like I have moved beyond mere self-actualization, but reality, in one form or another and usually in short order, reminds me that (I believe) true transcendence requires a lifetime of consistent effort toward balancing my personal dichotomy and (as much as is possible) sharing the experience. I could (should) do a better job. The alternative is to live vicariously and/or associatively through those who have more points, more shoes, more answers.

I have been accused of being somewhat obscure or esoteric in my writing. Yes, I am saying above that quiescent hope as found in doctrine, dogma, divisiveness, certainty (as found in politics, organized religion, sports, bureaucracy), will not lead to transcendence; and if one finds some slight semblance of self-actualization in any example of quiescent hope, it is personal, selfish and short-term (i.e. one lifetime). And yes, I did say above we need hope and possibility and can be inspired by sports, but it should serve as exactly that: inspiration; a jumping off point leading to active transcendence (i.e. working for future generations).

Einstein made many, many mistakes. Babe Ruth struck out 1,330 times. Transcendence is not a bolt of lightning. In his book “There Are Places in the World Where Rules are Less Important then Kindness” by Carlo Rovelli, he says,

“The Einstein who makes more errors than anyone else is precisely the same Einstein who succeeds in understanding more about nature than anyone else, and these are complementary and necessary aspects of the same profound intelligence: the audacity of thought, the courage to take risks, the lack of faith in received ideas—including, crucially, one’s own.” (Rovelli, pg. 80-81).

Again, Transcendence cannot happen vicariously, instantaneously, or quiescently. Again, Transcendence requires an active, effortful immersion into a lifetime of consistent effort toward balancing one’s personal dichotomy and (as much as is possible) sharing the experience.

“Being right is not the important thing—trying to understand is.” (Rovelli, pg. 81).

I would like to believe I have not given up. But for all the difference I am making, I am thinking I have. Is it that no one listens? Or is it that I am not making a strong enough effort? Or is it that I am wrong? Or maybe I am just not very popular. Or is it that on some level each one of us does understand the importance, the necessity, of Beauty, Truth, Wisdom, Justice, Love, but find it easier to filter thoughts through the momentary me and act and react accordingly? I am guilty. Every day I go to work and pretend. When not managing my public face, I frequently work to lose myself in walking, reading, cooking, music, Netflix. Recent forays into actual efforts toward working and/or arguing for consequential improvement have ended in cries and tears of frustration and anger and sadness and warnings from varying constituents about my heart and my health; i.e. all encouragement to filter through momentary me.

If no one around me hears me, if everyone around me refuses to act according to what they know, how do I help to move us forward? Is effort seemingly only for the sake of effort worthwhile? Though constantly looking, I've not found an answer. Perhaps it truly is simply that easy is popular. And my thoughts, my suggestions, my sense of urgency, my insistence, my frustration and anger and sadness, is all agonizingly difficult; about as far away from easy as you can get. Yet if we all on some level know that it is necessary to work hard beyond the momentary me…?

A large majority of us continue to vote for easy; whatever in the moment will get us most comfortably to the next moment. Perhaps some stray thoughts toward maintaining a comfortable status quo for a few moments beyond, but no serious effort toward true generational improvement.

I have said previously that it is “much easier to be told than to think. Much easier to belong than to be ostracized. Much easier to be defined than to define oneself. Much easier to accept a truth than to fall short of Truth. …It is much easier to pretend to be happy with division, certainty, convention, bureaucracy, [than to struggle toward] Beauty, Truth, Wisdom, Justice.”

I have also said, “In recent years I have become more afraid of the consequences of knowing than I am of the constancy of uncertainty. And perhaps it helps to understand that the constancy of uncertainty will lead us closer to Beauty, Truth, Wisdom, Justice. And perhaps it helps to understand that the constancy of uncertainty is critical to our survival; and ultimately to our salvation. And perhaps it helps to understand that the constancy of uncertainty is the Will of God.” Whoever your God may be. But the constancy of uncertainty is agonizingly difficult and a large majority of us continue to vote for easy.

So again, for all the difference I am making, it appears I have given up. I asked above, “Is effort seemingly only for the sake of effort worthwhile?” The word I hang onto here is ‘seemingly'. Perhaps my thoughts and my efforts are underground, lying in wait for their moment. Perhaps I am yet to contribute in some small way to future improvements. We can remember and honor those who came before us. We can glory in the nearly 8 billion moments here today. But species survival requires that we recognize, acknowledge and work for the generations to come. As a species choosing easy, we are doing a poor job.

This is a short, sad story of a village; and its children. Children born in filth to parents filled with angst pretending to be love. In the moment in which Life sparked, the filth was external. But in the very next moment, before acknowledgement was barely possible, the purity was sullied. Their parents could still see the hope around the edges, and deep within the parents held onto a dream that indeed this child would be the one. And some parents proclaimed as much to all who might listen. But alas, these same brash parents diluted possibility with expectations that were unavoidably attached to the filth of worldly desires. Yet those parents who were not overbearing, were as equally unsuccessful filtering the filth; despite their reason and their warnings, their children played in the mud. And then there were those parents who worked to (over)protect their children; to keep their children completely away from influences unbecoming, but regardless, the filth found a way to seep into these children as well.

As the children grew to ask more complex and difficult questions, their understanding of filth was refined, spreading and expanding to cover all and everything around them leaving a circle of righteousness like a cocoon keeping them snug and safe. Filth parted before them as they continued on their quest for their parent's hope. Some children it appeared were able to hover over the surface-filth and disguise their forays into filth as efforts to fulfill expectations. Some children wallowed in the surface-filth. And some children, in fact all children, learned how to fling filth making it stick to and slowly drip from some other children, marking them as derelict regardless of truth. It turned out that the hovering children were prolific filth flingers and also quite adept at dodging flung filth. And some of those surface children who were constantly barraged with flung filth soon found their cocoon in shreds and tatters.

Each grew up accordingly. The surface children who still held on to some semblance of a cocoon, began adulthood working for those who hovered. Those surface children entering adulthood in shredded, tattered cocoons felt filthy regardless of truth. The weight of the flung filth dragged many of these former sparks beneath the surface. Some of these outcasts spent a lifetime floundering. Some disappeared. Most of those who hovered as children, hovered as adults and came to believe that flung filth was truth and that everyone was deserving of their place.

A few of those working on the surface came to realize that those who hovered, though seemingly above the filth, were actually the purveyors of filth, sprinkling it down upon the masses cloaked as power, wealth, success, tradition, even kindness and generosity, and a (forever unfulfilled) promise that those who worked on the surface would ultimately learn to hover. Most of those working on the surface though were enamored, seeing these offerings as manna and learning to be happy in their place.

Anecdotally a former child would on occasion rise from their clinging filth and learn to hover. Anecdotally a former child would on occasion reach down and rescue a lost or floundering soul and help them to repair their cocoon just enough to find a place on the surface. For the most part though, those who hovered, hovered; those on the surface, worked; and those beneath the surface, drowned, over and over and over and over again.

This is a short, sad story of a village; and its children.

And this is a shorter, sadder story of other villages. Imagined villages. Hopes and dreams. Myths and legends. Villages in which sparks are reignited, purity is unsullied, and everyone is equally joyful and deserving of their reward. And villages in which justice is doled out, punishments are received, and everyone is equally filthy and deserving regardless of truth. In this story, everyone acknowledges that a day will come when each one of us will have to leave the village in which we sparked, grew and spent our adulthood.

According to the tradition of those who hover, all those who had hovered in the village from which all emerge will travel to a village inhabited largely by all those who had hovered. And those who had hovered will arrive with power, wealth, success and traditions intact. And according to those who hover, those who unappreciatively work on the surface and those floundering and beneath the surface will disappear, perhaps traveling to another unacknowledged, inconsequential village, (likely some horrible village filled with pain and suffering and angst). And according to those who hover, a select few of those who appreciatively work on the surface will join those who hover in their new village; after all those who hover will likely need workers in this new village as well.

And according to all those who appreciatively work on the surface of the village from which all emerge, they will be amongst the select few following those who hover to their new village.

And those who recognize the purveyors of filth, and those who are floundering and/or beneath the surface are largely silent on the topic of future travels because they are occupied, busy cleaning up the filth in this village from which all emerge and/or they are simply occupied, busy surviving.

And there are rumors of other villages. Villages that recycle visitors and put them on a train going back to the village from which all emerge. Villages in which visitors are copied, printed, bound and shelved in the stacks forever and ever amen. Villages in which visitors are liberated then merged into a single conscious goodness. Villages filled with orgiastic ecstasy. Villages in which each villager has attained a personal state of Nihilistic Perfection.

And this is a shorter, sadder story of other villages.

And this is the short, sad story of our village; and our children.

To ignore, to accept, to rationalize a consensus irregularity will only serve to further disjoint the status quo, creating the potential for a downward spiral. This week I have read this suggestion regarding our government’s reaction in two different contexts. In one the impetus was to give in to consensus behavior and in the other the concern is government's possible inclination to give in to extremist threats. Intimidation or coercion, whether by an actual majority, a vocal majority, or an egregious majority, does not make good government. (A vocal majority is a minority heard more frequently; an egregious majority is a minority heard more loudly.) We too often (and too consistently) forget that our Constitution was written to protect individual rights by avoiding the tyranny of any majority. James Madison said, “It is of great importance in a republic, not only to guard the society against the oppression of its rulers, but to guard one part of society against the injustice of the other part.” Be it from power or from fear, we live in a time (and perhaps it has always been so) in which a majority, and/or a minority posing as a majority, can and does tyrannize other smaller, less powerful, or quieter parts of society. In this regard, our practice of good government is merely rhetorical and our Constitution is merely theoretical; but it is good theory – something to aspire to. Having said all this, it does not lessen the import of the two aforementioned contexts in which we as individuals, as a people, as a nation should maintain vigilance and avoid rationalization, acceptance, and ignorance. If anything, these two examples should breathe life into our Constitution and ignite (or re-ignite) our passion and urgency for good government. But as long as we bend to the influence of a more powerful and/or a more scary faction, (or in some cases even a larger faction), we will be tyrannized.

Four to five-hundred. This is the number of daily COVID deaths we Americans have decided we can live with. Somehow, we have rationalized this number as acceptable, and our government has made concessions in the form of new CDC guidelines to justify this new status quo. The problem is, now that our government has agreed with us that we are tired of all things COVID it will be hard to backtrack. It will be difficult to ramp up any kind of response if things worsen only slightly from say a mere variant or simply bad behavior, thus opening the door for another new status quo of say six-hundred daily deaths; then it's just a hop to seven-hundred; then maybe a small leap to eight or nine-hundred. A downward spiral.

The second consensus irregularity of concern this week, is perhaps of more concern because a faction within our government is instigating, thus more inclined to rationalize justification for what a few years ago was considered fringe but more recently has become a scary egregious majority. Scanning headlines, I read about the threat of violence, actual violence, talk of civil war, and the convenience of withdrawing support when it works against a prescribed agenda. In this example, the same faction that has consistently supported an enforcement of laws that kills an inordinate number of blacks, is now condemning law enforcement when they are executing a legal search warrant. And because there is a vocal majority (today’s right) instigating, rationalizing, accepting and ignoring an egregious majority (the far right), more tyranny is inevitable.

In this nation, good government is charged with protecting individual rights, individual liberty; and as important, good government must protect the rights and frustrate any potential for oppression of those smaller, less powerful or quieter groups otherwise lost in the muddle. It is a difficult task. Our government today is not a particularly good government. I’m not sure if our government in any day has ever been a particularly good government. Much easier to go with the majority du jour (actual, vocal, egregious) and govern rhetorically, as all three branches so obviously do. Much more difficult to see our Constitution as a living, breathing document to be interpreted as a whole rather than our current inclination to apply an a la carte selection to rationalize and justify a specific agenda. Our government today is not a particularly good government.

I have not studied it as I should, but I suspect if I looked more carefully I would find that we as a people have been fairly consistent throughout our history regarding our application of law to err on the side of rationalization, acceptance and ignorance instead of Truth, Wisdom and Justice. That said, I would also like to believe, (I do believe), we have (to an extent) improved and perhaps on occasion we take a baby step or two in the right direction. But unless we somehow create a greater sense of urgency, I am afraid our ways will end in greater tyranny and increased violence. Will we as a people, will our government, continue to bend to power and fear? Or will we reach for compassion and justice before it’s too late?

Most interpret dominion as power and act accordingly typically in the interest of (in ascending order):

1. The Earth.
2. The fish of the sea.
3. The birds of the air.
4. Every living thing that moves.
5. Humanity.
6. My people.
7. My nation.
8. My state and/or municipality.
9. My village.
10. My family.
11. Me.

But if one were to interpret dominion as follows?

To have dominion is to be responsible. To be responsible is to take care. To take care is to provide. To adequately provide requires consideration and compassion.

Suddenly dominion is not all about me. To reinterpret power as the responsibility to provide for all those less powerful would be consequential.

…to say the least.

Politics is commonly associated with government. Power is commonly associated with strength, might, force, control, and privilege. Today, both are associated with an Us/Them divide.

But if politics at its root is simply a struggle for power, then would the struggle be as mighty if every one understood that power now required inordinate consideration and compassion sans ego? No Ego! No Us/Them! No Dominion in the traditional sense! And because politics beyond government, in every nook, cranny, crack and crevice of our lives, is this same struggle for power, (look at any circumstance or arena that includes even a single ego), within this new understanding of power as responsibility, would we be more likely to hold our leaders more accountable? And if this accountability somehow really did couple with this inordinate consideration and compassion, how many politicians would seek re-election? How many bullies, bosses, tyrants, fear-mongerers would be out of a job? How many old white men would we have to forcibly remove? How much wealth would have to be redistributed?

I am sad for this world. The lack of responsibility, the lack of compassion, the lack of justice, the overt divisiveness, the lack of love. And even sadder than this sadness is how this sadness does not appear to resonate nearly enough to create a proper sense of urgency. And the fact of this is even sadder yet. Layers of sadness, layers of anger, layers of ignorance, layers of ego, all laid down and intertwined forming a seemingly impermeable foundation fast separating Humanity from Life.

Overwhelmingly, I am sad for this world.

Overwhelmingly, we should all be sad for this world.