Life is an enigma. We love because we can’t help it but the same is a factor in hate. Do we ever make choices? Are we so conditioned that we can’t be responsible for anything? Why must it be like that? Why do people have double standards? Sometimes it is for the ultimate ethical reasons – and will still be seen as evil or diabolical. That goes to show how absurd humanity is. There is much to say for living by instinct.
Man started to go upright. Man developed speech and reason. When they started developing a nascent philosophy, things went from bad to worse. Still, without thought, without reasoning, without thinking where would we be? Would the world be a cleaner and pleasanter place? Or would it be a veritable hell?
We strive for something that is bigger than we are. That’s all. Without that effort, we wouldn’t have got out of the primaeval soup. You can’t have angels without devils. There is and will ever be a duality, a split. Good and evil has no existence without thought. Who can blame a cat for acting like a cat? Exactly.
It is a matter of staying sane and – alive. And it is a day-to-day fight. Might that be a reason why it seems endless? No doubt, many humans experience an accumulation of unpleasant experiences that make it more difficult to stay on course. That situation might seem to repeat ad absurdum. Perhaps that inspired people to invent the idea of karma.
If so, the question is whether it helps or just makes us fatalists. What is the lesson to learn? That isn’t clear to me. There are such subtle shades in the entire complex of experiences. It makes little sense. Perhaps, the only thing that matters is to stay true to one’s inner convictions. That isn’t all, one must also tolerate other people’s opinions, and be generous about them. One must care for those who a weaker or – sicker. It doesn’t matter if it’s physical or mental. Every person must fight his or her personal demons. Who can tell if it is harder to suffer mentally than it is to deal with any physical trauma?
©HMH, 2021