Escaping The Gaudy Life

I live my life these days in the same sense that I experience a mountain, or enjoy the night sky. I do not see it as something that belongs to me. But, it is something I can explore, and attempt to understand.

I suspect that people who think of life as something they “have” and are “responsible for”, are seriously missing the point, not to mention any chance at ever grasping the “real” meaning (or any meaning that is real, and not superfcial such as the kind of meaningless high-sounding rubbish that comes out of a preacher’s mouth). These are the ones who always want more; more pleasure, more money, more power, and more time. In fact, their idea of paradise is an infinite amount of all these things, especially time (i.e. “eternal life”).

I was once like that. I lived the gaudy life; always wanting what I didn’t have and never truly appreciating what I did. I thought beauty was something that had to give me pleasure. But now I know, the most beautiful moments in my life were also the most painful (they don’t have to be, but mine were). I once sought to “decorate” my life with all the superficial, and cheap, trappings that are given such high value as “success” markers in our culture; a college degree, a decent car, apartment, clothes, sporting gear, skiing trips, holiday vacations with family and friends, etc... etc... Instead of paying attention to my life more, and trying to “make something of it” less, I did what most people do; precisely because it was what most people do.

I made my life gaudy; full of cheap meaningless things that only distracted me from the really important lessons that had been waiting for me all my life to understand. Once I had tossed everything that I thought had meaning to me aside, then the lessons came rushing in, and the real meaning became as plain as day.

I have been trying to express this “real meaning” ever since. But, I have come to understand that it can not be expressed with words any more than anything else that is “real”, the moon, the sun, a mountain, the night sky, or love. It is there, and it is as real... even more real... than any of the above, and all the more ineffable. It is WHO I am, not WHAT.

So I no longer worry about making my life “pretty” the way primitives do with their bodies. I no longer make my life gaudy. Instead I enjoy and appreciate the simplest things in ways that bring me more genuine pleasure than my “prettiest” possessions and experiences did in the past. I have met a pretty girl through the mail. And through the mail we have fallen in love. And through the mail we have gotten engaged. In the past, this would have been impossible for me; I would have thought it impossible for anyone. But, my fiancée and I see and understand that our lives are more than what we can see, touch, taste and smell. Our lives are part of an infinitely connected continuum of experiences that can be shared between two people as meaningfully and intimately through the mail as they can in person.

My girl and I understand that we have lived together forever already, and the lives we will promise to share with each other “’till death do us apart”, are no more, and no less, than stars in a night sky.

[J.D. March 16, 2016]

A Zoological Hypothesis

If I were a zoologist, then I'd like to pursue this hypothesis: If given an ecological system with ample prey, but not predators, predators will quickly and naturally evolve.

Actually, I suspect this is not a new hypothesis at all, but merely a variation of the theory that predators evolve to serve critical roles such as population control and "weeding" (reducing the number of weak/sickly prey). The only difference is my hypothesis asserts that predators are a critical part of not just ecological systems, but everything that evolbes (e.g. sociological as well, of course). The role they serve is so basic and fundamental to evolution itself, that predators will always evolve anywhere "prey" is to be found.

And, an extension of my hypothesis would go on to assert that as prey evolves the ability to resist predators, so predators will evolve in step to overcome all resistance...

Oh, wait! That's already a proven theory, isn't it? (Ever heard of a "superbug"?) But, if it's already proven, then why do the police in our society insist that their job is so important? It seems to me (and all stats and studies confirm) that the more we resist crime, the more crime we get. Not only that, but conversely, the less we resist crime, the less crime we get (given enough time for the "predators" to diminish naturally).

This is what happens in nature as well; so as soon as we stop thinking of ourselves as "divinely created" for some "divine purpose", and realize that we are as much a part and product of nature as any other species on this planet, then we'll stop resisting where nature is trying to take us. And maybe we'll "hear" what She is trying to teach us: That She's the one in control, not us; and She knows more about what She's doing than we ever will.

[J.D. Feb. 23, 2016]