Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Abandoning Mental Contrivances: They're all Golden Showers

There is an obvious duality to human beings in that physically human beings dwell within the actual world but mentally they dwell within a realm of perceptions and opinions of that physical world. If one were to claim that there is a primary crux to the problems of humanity that duality, that failed reconciliation of perception and reality, would have to be it. And the evidence is fucking everywhere.

Let's start out small. Rodney Hawkins died from eating crab at a Ruby Tuesday. Now, the perception, the mental illusion, is that people with severe allergies can consume food at public restaurants and avoid foods which will kill them due to a plethora of social constructs fabricated into reality by humanity's stupid little social system. But the point to which Rodney Hawkins' corpse attests is that factually, actually that little social system does not always work: its utility and dependability is an illusion. So, while one can maintain the position that their shellfish allergy oughtn't prevent them from eating at Ruby Tuesday, Rodney Hawkins' corpse attests to the contrary: If you have a food allergy cook your own fucking food or die.

Senator John Cornyn provides another terrific example:
“When people fill up their trucks or S.U.V.’s in Texas and pay over $100 to fill up their vehicle, it gets their attention, and they are looking to Congress to frankly get out of the way and allow America to develop more of its own natural resources as we take other measures to conserve energy and become more efficient.”

Marvel at the obvious internal disharmony in that statement. Americans want to drive S.U.V.'s AND conserve energy? Explain that. And what possible meaning can exist within "develop natural resources"? "Natural" Resources are not developed; humans drill, dig, and pump for natural resources. Americans want to be more efficient with our consumption of resources? Fuck no they don't! America's energy situation right now is simply a migraine inducing clusterfuck of stupid which is completely divorced from reality.

The problem is that reality is secondary to perceptions of reality and the entire thrust of humanity's effort is towards reinforcing and maintaining that illusion. We drive cars and cut down trees while at the same time acknowledge, fundamentally know, that we require oxygen to breathe. The only way to do that is to maintain a mental illusion that the oxygen we breathe is separate and distinct from those trees, that car exhaust. The only way to maintain the notion that we can secure an unending supply of cheap gasoline is to maintain the illusion that earth's resources are not finite, despite reality. The ony way to make sense of humanity's stupid little system is to ignore the fundamental disharmony between the reality we mentally fabricate and the world in which we live.

Someone asked me this weekend if I want to have kids. My initial reaction was to point out the flaw in that question. I can certainly see the appeal in having an ideal little boy or girl, fostering that relationship and teaching it to hate the things I hate. But when one recognizes the chance of a birth defect, the possibility of birthing a little case of Autism? When one recognizes the facticity and reality of the situation and abandons the little mental illusion utilized by society to portray parenthood as admirable and desirable? The desire to breed disappears.

And that, I think, is the mindset to which all ought strive. We need to mentally dwell within reality, to appreciate the facticity of our existence and abandon those mental contrivances which lead us away from reality and towards a fabricated illusion. We need to stop thinking that we exist independent of Earth and realize that we rely upon Earth for our existence. We need to stop thinking that we were divinely created and realize that we're just a happy accident. We need to stop thinking that there is some purpose and meaning to our being and realize that we are simply here. We need to stop thinking that when we turn on the shower we're granted access to clean water and realize that, actually, we're bathing in someone else's filtered piss.

Stated simply: Human beings need to pull their heads out of their asses and look at reality rather than their own repetitive, delusional, idiotic shit.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Just an FYI: tress != oxygen. It is a myth that most of our oxygen comes from trees, and it is a myth that has sadly been perpetuated by reputable sources.

_J_ said...

"Green algae and cyanobacteria in marine environments provide about 70% of the free oxygen produced on earth and the rest is produced by terrestrial plants."

zomg source