We are living on the edge of a precipice. Don't look down. It's taken me a long time to realize how critical the situation is, if, in fact, I am right that we are living on the edge of a precipice. What if we aren't but think we are? What's the difference in our behavior? Whoever, whatever, or however we were designed, something important was left out - the ability to accurately see the present. Our brains are not wired for the illusion that dominates our beliefs handed down from the 18th Century Enlightenment - the possibility of rational thought. The reality is that our brains aren't wired that way.
Perhaps I should start with, Are we living on the edge of a precipice? I look around me and see that our society is failing, the world is failing, we're making a mess of this Eden given to us — by God or Darwin, I don't care — it doesn't matter. What do you see, I wonder, and how can we resolve our different visions?
Human beings as civilized creatures is the most dangerous myth ever foisted upon a species. It's not fair. A million years ago we were living in caves, probably without language. In evolutionary terms, a million years is the flicker of a lightning bug. Our tools have evolved so much faster than we have that we mistake the elegance of the tool for the basic barbarian who created and now wields it. How could such an imbalance happen?
I have facts to support my illusion. Do you have facts to support yours? For example, as a good corporate spokesperson, I belittled global climate change for years, but only a fool would reject the notion that something is happening to our climate whether humanity is a major or minor player. Or consider that nuclear proliferation is reaching the point where a bomb planted in a major western city is simply a matter of when, not if. We proudly proclaim high moral values, but at the slightest sign of inconvenience, they're jettisoned. We rarely live them.
What did we learn after six million Jews and six million others got gassed and flamed and tortured to death by the Nazis? The world since then has become a testament to our heightened morality and chest-thumping words of grand visions.
We stood by while Cambodia created its killing fields, the Hutus and Tutusies (a fictional racial creation) slaughtered each other, while Mao and Stalin and Amin and countless other dictators and thugs and scum slaughtered at will while we wept oceans of crocodile tears. It's still going on - right now. Today. In Darfur. Do you hear? A child just died from starvation. Listen. No, you can't hear the cry of death. Don't look down. Wait. Now. Do you see? Another child was just slaughtered with a machete or a bullet or a bomb. What are we doing about it? Trick or treat for UNICEF? Is there is a more pathetic vision of our indifference?
Article comments
1 - Baronius
OK, Mark, now I see where you were going in your last article. There's no doubt that you can write. I won't even try to turn your frown upside-down, but if it helps, it is possible to look at the same world you see, and have hope.
2 - Mark Schannon
Baronius,
Thank you. I appreciate your thoughts. I do/did once have hope. That's why I tried very hard not to state this as definitive but my worst fears, and virtually begged for people to disagree with me.
I'm not, by nature, an unhappy person. Quite the opposite. But something's been happening recently that leads me to think one of two things are happening: I'm hitting a midlife crisis and the emotional baggage is blinding me to the world...or what I've stated in this article is correct. That we are, from an evolutionary sense, barbarians with no capacity to manage or control the tools we can develop.
I would appreciate it, deeply, to hear your perspective. My world is becoming philosophical--this for someone who for 20 or 30 years said the unexamined life was just fine with me. Ain't nothing in there worth examining anyway. I was right--but there is so much out there I need help understanding.
Oh well, how odd that I've regrown my beard after 15 years or so--and it's coming in almost white.
I'm ready to take on a senior role, and curmudgeon, my play old person, isn't serious enough. Maybe I'll be Moses II or Jesus II.
Have you seen Dogma. Great flick. A lot of Catholics were outraged, but as an agnostic, I couldn't but think that if I were Catholic, I'd be very proud--and my faith would be reinforced.
Enough.
Be well.
The Rest Is Silence.
3 - nugget
Ignore the hype, Mark. Charles Roberts victims excluded, I wonder how many Amish people are worried about global warming or nuclear war?? Just something to think about. Burn your newspapers and television if it makes you feel this way. We weren't born to worry. Make money and visit the mountains. Remember that you work hard, have passion, and that you are a good person. Oh, and did I mention visit the mountains?
4 - nugget
I don't know what to write about anymore. I know I'm not making a difference with this article regardless of how many ways I recreate it. Even if I could get my fiction published, it wouldn't move the firmament. If only God wasn't such a mute, perhaps I could become a preacher. Perhaps, in His silence, that's the best use of my time, but I will not be played the fool - offering strident calls for human rights and dignity that, at best, are read quickly and disregarded.
this is a beautiful paragraph.
5 - Mohjho
Hey Mark, just in case you see a little ray of light, think about this: Every day, over 10,000 children in the world die of neglect.
On the other hand, all thoughts of hopelessness can be dispelled by spending just a few hours playing with your grandchild.
What a strange thing we are.
6 - Mark Schannon
Nugget, thanks for the comments, although I don't think making more money (I have enough) and isolating myself will cure what ails me. (And I kinda liked that paragraph myself, LOL.)
Both, it's not me I'm worried about. My bride and I have no kids. We'll probably be little dust bunnies under your bed by the time anything really bad happens--if it happens--a seer I ain't.
Mohjho, it's your grandchildren I'm worried about.
The Rest Is Silence...oh hell, what a glum ending. I'm going back to what made me happy...
In Jameson Veritas
7 - Baronius
Mark, I’m a philosophical Catholic with a leaning toward pessimism. We have nothing in common, except for a few gray hairs in our beards, which we notice because we know where they are, and it’s not a sign of aging, it’s just a change in pigment.
I’ll admit that it’s easier to avoid melancholy when you believe in a deliberate creation. But that’s not why I believe. I’ve never understood people who believe in God to feel good. For me, it’s about truth, not happiness. If anything, I’d prefer that the truth were something bitter and awful that I could brood about, then die. Anyway, no religion can prevent bad moods and personal traumas. (The ones that claim to are cults.) And as a Republican, I’m not exactly brimming with enthusiam this week.
As I get older, and the kind of flourescent lighting that makes my beard look gray becomes more common, I’m consistently impressed at how many people are better than they seem. A rotten co-worker is a good dad. An online opponent is an excellent photographer. An obnoxious kid on the subway gives his seat to an old woman.
And there’s this whole bunch of humans who are completely insane, but very cute.
People produce awe-inspiring beauty and vomit-inducing crimes. But the average person wakes up every day and tries to make his and his family’s lives better without hurting anyone else. And if he’s selling slurpees to a rustproofing researcher’s travel agent, he’s performing a miracle. It’s the day-to-day virtue or malice that can erode mountains.
What you see as isolation, or maybe insulation, I see as circles of goodwill. Most people in 1350 had as many close friends as I do, I'd guess. They tackled the problems they could, got away with a little bit of bad conduct, and put something aside for charity. We may be able to communicate online with millions of people, but we basically have the same sphere of influence as they did. A lot of impact on those close to us, less the farther away you go. Pardon the high school debate technique, but is there a better sign of humanity than trick or treating for UNICEF?
8 - Mark Schannon
Baronius, I'm an agnostic optimist. I go through life offering trust as my first response, believing that people will do what they say -- knowing that I'll frequently be disappointed, but it's my soul (odd choice of words for an agnostic) that remains cleansed if I trust and it's violated.
But, personalities aside, you've pointed out the biggest problem in both my article and any one trying to respond. What is real and what is really happening before us? We're neurologically ill-suited to answer that question, so we have to watch behavior and intuit underlying motive.
Of course, one person's observations constitute nothing but anecdotal information which cannot be projected to the population at large. So we're stuck with impressions, feelings, observations that we know are flawed but it's all we have.
I think my proof points in the article are stronger than yours in the above comment. But we could go on listing them for eternity and never get closer to the truth.
I also know that I could flood this space with statistics that would all point to a failed evolutionary experiment. It is hard to prove that we are still barbarians, only a few steps from the caves. Except the neurological experiments about which parts of our brains respond to threats first and how do they respond--all of which suggests very primitive forces at work.
Polls say we are actually feeling more isolated, with fewer close friends. They measure lowered levels of trust not only in institutions but in individuals. But that's today's data. What will it show tomorrow?
And as for Trick or Treat for Unicef. It's like throwing a starving child the wrappings from your McBurger. It's an outrage because it should be the way young people are trained to think about their obligations to others; instead, it's a way to feel good by doing so little--because most adults do nothing.
Ah well...at least I am happy, hard as that might seem to be true from what I write, but when I stand up and stop writing, or write my humorous fiction, or spend time with my bride or look at a tree or a rock and smile...there is joy.
In Jameson Veritas
9 - Richard Brodie
Desmund Tutu, and a small handful of others leave the safety of the area around the cave and walk out into the open fields. Our pride soars at what humanity can accomplish
Taking "Three Steps Backwards Towards the Caves", DT's "accomplishment" was to convert a once prosperous First World white nation into just one more third world black African hellhole. And the more white businesses and farms they confiscate, the further down into their own HIV infested shit they sink.
10 - Mark Schannon
Yes, well, given the way Europe "created" Africa with no regard for natural or tribal boundaries...the same as they did i Arabia, it's not a great surprise at their struggle.
But, more importantly, assume I'm wrong about old Tutu, how does you statement undermine the rest of my claim?
in Jameson veritas
11 - Mohjho
"Mohjho, it's your grandchildren I'm worried about. "
Lol, now your worried about my grandchildren?
I have faith that the world they grow up will ultimately be as interesting and meaningful as the world I grew up in. But that's just me. I am an optimist.
I apologize for barging in on your self pity rant.
It wont happen again.
12 - Mark Schannon
Mohjho...I wasn't sure you'd read the article the first time. Now I'm sure you haven't.
You shouldn't wear your lack of understanding like a badge of honor. Doesn't look good.
In Jameson Veritas
13 - Chanakya
Mark,
I agree with Baronius's first post. There's no doubt that you can write. And write well at that. A very compelling read. I am with you on all counts. One of the worst feelings for a human is to be deeply moved by a situation and being utterly helpless to influence it. I was not planning on writing a comment. Your "Our pride soars at what humanity can accomplish, but it's not humanity; it's a few humans" kept haunting me and I had to come back and re-read the article. From stating the obvious gospel truth about how a select few have helped us come thus far, you quickly move to pessimism. "Even if I could get my fiction published, it wouldn't move the firmament". I was left waiting for some semblance of a proposed solution. As kids we were oft told, "don't just come up with problems, bring a couple of solutions as well". The same bad world taught us "It is better to try and fail than fail to try" or "No matter how long the night, there's always light at the end of it". I'm agnostic as well. So do not attach any faith to my comments. It's just about Humanity. Maybe I am on a greener turf. Maybe I aim low. I just want to light a candle or see a distressed person smile.
Peace
14 - Mark Schannon
Chanakya,
I appreciate your thoughtful comments. I think the article, albeit pretty pessimistic, has moments of hope, but I probably didn't emphasize them enough.
If only we would emulate them. If only we would see that, in evolutionary terms, they are superior to us, but we've been given the gift of consciousness that just might make it possible for us to force our own evolution in the right direction. Neurologists have found that primitive parts of our brains, created when the world presented different threats, still have the power to determine our reactions with us having no conscious understanding of why we're acting as we do; but our conscious minds are not without power if we have the courage to engage them.
And
Wait for a moonless night when it's still warm enough to walk outside. Listen. Let the sounds of civilization pass through you until you can hear what nature, naked, is trying to tell you. Look at a plant, or a tree, or a rock - it's nothing special - just a plant or tree or rock; but it's amazing. Enjoy the awe of realizing that it somehow got there. Feel. Let the earth reach up and caress you with her toils and triumphs until you realize how fragile we are. Find a way out of yourself to help forge a true civilization.
There is hope offered there--I guess I don't give us high odds, but I do offer a way out if people are first willing to see (or prove to me that I'm not seeing correctly) and then act.
"Just lighting a candle and making a distressed person smile," is doing something.
Peace & Future
In Jameson Veritas