so as we inspect human being, both male and female, the one obvious thing that stands out over and over again is people not doing what is in their own best interest, or any one elses for that matter.
both men and women behaving 'immaturely'.
and the question should be asked, why? why do humans behave this way.
in the greater context, the reason i believe, is that the human being is trapped in an absurd context.
life is a damned if you do, damned if you don't experience. no matter what you do in life, time marches on, you get older, and you die.
and anyone who has gotten older will tell you that the future never lives up to the expectations of the fantasies one has as a teenager. ever.
because even if you get everything you could ever desire - even if you become the president of hte united states or the most famous rock star - you are still, like everyone else, a 'dead man walking'.
when you are young they hide this from you. we live in a sterilized society. when people get sick and die, they do so in hospitals. the food we eat comes in neat little packages and we never had to cut the head off a chicken etc.
because most people today have been sheltered from life's ugly basic realities, we have all grown up with a sanitized, fantasy-like view of life.
and so as people get older they find themselves faced with aspects of life they have never experienced close up - primarily the notion that time IS passing, that death WILL come and that many windows of opportunity have passed by.
it is this clash - the clash between the fantasizes and unrealistic experience of the world that we had as children and the reality that the end closer than it was 20 years ago - that causes people to behave irrationally.
people become DESPERATE. desperate to find something that either takes their mind of their own mortality or somehow makes it less difficult to accept (hence the whole legacy issue most people struggle with).
this is why presidents invade other countries even knowing that it could blow up in their face. its why women lie and manipulate a man in the hopes of getting married nad having children. its why people will lie and backstab each other in the corporate world. its why people get surgery to look better. etc.
man is a creature who is desperately attempting to find some kind of meaning / value to his life. trying to busy himself enough so as to not think about the grim reality that awaits him one day. yes, of course he will admit that he will die one day, but he refuses think about that event in a realistic way. instead he chases after cars, money, fame, legacy, etc.
if there were more time, i think most people would behave more maturely. if we lived to be 300 years old, if women could have kids for 50 years, etc. peopel would not be so DESPERATE to 'get' things.
humans do not act rationally because they perceive that there is no time to do so. and in a way they are correct. the imperative to ACT is paramount because there is no time to waste. but at the same time, the key to maturity is taking the time to learn and evolve so that when you do act you are doing so with wisdom on your side.
i put forward the notion that the biggest and largest determining factor in how one experiences life, is how they view death.
many who have had near death experiences experience an awakening. they unplug from the matrix instantly. where before they chased after endless distractions, afterwards they seem to approach life as an 'experience'. every day simply another day filled with various experiences - and they make the most of those experiences.
albert camus put forward the notion that the only real philosophical question of any importance was whether suicide was an acceptable act - whether life was worth living. he felt if one answered that question then all other questions fell into place.
and there is something to that. it is only when one embraces their mortality, their finiteness, can they begin living in what we might call the 'infinite now', in the moment if you will.
when a man overcomes his fear of his own mortality then he overcomes all his fears - whether they be women, rejection, etc.
this is often why we see such a peaceful demeanor in those who have found a higher spiritual power to believe in. that belief washes away their fears.
it is only when a man has conquored his fear of the life to death context in which we all live, that he can even begin to truly live authentically (nietzsche espoused this as well).
anyway, something to think about. how much of the irrational, immature behavior that we see around us every day is actually, fundamentally rooted in the basic human paradigm of 1) limited life expectancy and 2) a FEAR of ones own mortality.
these two factors alone, when you drill deep into the core of the human experience, seem to be major drivers behind the very fallible human decisions and behaviors that we see going on in the world every day.
both men and women behaving 'immaturely'.
and the question should be asked, why? why do humans behave this way.
in the greater context, the reason i believe, is that the human being is trapped in an absurd context.
life is a damned if you do, damned if you don't experience. no matter what you do in life, time marches on, you get older, and you die.
and anyone who has gotten older will tell you that the future never lives up to the expectations of the fantasies one has as a teenager. ever.
because even if you get everything you could ever desire - even if you become the president of hte united states or the most famous rock star - you are still, like everyone else, a 'dead man walking'.
when you are young they hide this from you. we live in a sterilized society. when people get sick and die, they do so in hospitals. the food we eat comes in neat little packages and we never had to cut the head off a chicken etc.
because most people today have been sheltered from life's ugly basic realities, we have all grown up with a sanitized, fantasy-like view of life.
and so as people get older they find themselves faced with aspects of life they have never experienced close up - primarily the notion that time IS passing, that death WILL come and that many windows of opportunity have passed by.
it is this clash - the clash between the fantasizes and unrealistic experience of the world that we had as children and the reality that the end closer than it was 20 years ago - that causes people to behave irrationally.
people become DESPERATE. desperate to find something that either takes their mind of their own mortality or somehow makes it less difficult to accept (hence the whole legacy issue most people struggle with).
this is why presidents invade other countries even knowing that it could blow up in their face. its why women lie and manipulate a man in the hopes of getting married nad having children. its why people will lie and backstab each other in the corporate world. its why people get surgery to look better. etc.
man is a creature who is desperately attempting to find some kind of meaning / value to his life. trying to busy himself enough so as to not think about the grim reality that awaits him one day. yes, of course he will admit that he will die one day, but he refuses think about that event in a realistic way. instead he chases after cars, money, fame, legacy, etc.
if there were more time, i think most people would behave more maturely. if we lived to be 300 years old, if women could have kids for 50 years, etc. peopel would not be so DESPERATE to 'get' things.
humans do not act rationally because they perceive that there is no time to do so. and in a way they are correct. the imperative to ACT is paramount because there is no time to waste. but at the same time, the key to maturity is taking the time to learn and evolve so that when you do act you are doing so with wisdom on your side.
i put forward the notion that the biggest and largest determining factor in how one experiences life, is how they view death.
many who have had near death experiences experience an awakening. they unplug from the matrix instantly. where before they chased after endless distractions, afterwards they seem to approach life as an 'experience'. every day simply another day filled with various experiences - and they make the most of those experiences.
albert camus put forward the notion that the only real philosophical question of any importance was whether suicide was an acceptable act - whether life was worth living. he felt if one answered that question then all other questions fell into place.
and there is something to that. it is only when one embraces their mortality, their finiteness, can they begin living in what we might call the 'infinite now', in the moment if you will.
when a man overcomes his fear of his own mortality then he overcomes all his fears - whether they be women, rejection, etc.
this is often why we see such a peaceful demeanor in those who have found a higher spiritual power to believe in. that belief washes away their fears.
it is only when a man has conquored his fear of the life to death context in which we all live, that he can even begin to truly live authentically (nietzsche espoused this as well).
anyway, something to think about. how much of the irrational, immature behavior that we see around us every day is actually, fundamentally rooted in the basic human paradigm of 1) limited life expectancy and 2) a FEAR of ones own mortality.
these two factors alone, when you drill deep into the core of the human experience, seem to be major drivers behind the very fallible human decisions and behaviors that we see going on in the world every day.
