the nomad diary

Each morning 7 billion people arise to a single task- to be the architects of an existence that is rich in both quality and meaning.  The complexity and diversity of the human experience is evident in the endless number of ways these terms are personally defined, but a basic unity of purpose is difficult to deny.  In this simple way, we are all seeking the same goal, following the same path.

To reach these ends- quality and meaning- we are equipped with frontal lobes and free will, the ability and liberty to make decisions that promote our desires and ambitions.  The choices we are faced with are limitless, and vary significantly in terms of their importance and repercussions.  Some decisions are fleeting, destined to fade from consequence,  while others remain in effect for the duration of our time on earth, and indeed stretch well beyond our own relatively short lives and into future generations.  Every instance of love, revolution, war, and religion can be traced back through a lineage of single choices, some of which, had they been made differently, would have resulted in a world far removed from the one we know today.  It’s interesting to ponder the more weighty examples-

-What if the Vienna School of Art had chosen to accept a young Adolph Hitler into their program?

-What might be the nature of religion be if Siddhartha Guatama had chosen to remain in the lap of luxury, rather than embark on the religious quest that was to be the precursor of the Buddhist faith?

-What if Gutenberg had decided to cut an over zealous bite of German sausage while eating lunch one day, choked on that bite, and died prior to inventing the printing press?

Though examples such as these are entertaining to daydream about, they offer little to help us understand the gravity of the choices we make in our own tiny lives.  Why do our decisions, so relatively small in scale, even matter?  After all, most among us will play only a small part in the grand production of mankind, and having fulfilled these roles, will retreat into the obscurity of endless non-existence.  We are all destined to be forgotten by our species, our identities absorbed in full by the endless cycle of creation and death.  No man or woman, regardless of fame, infamy, influence, or ingenuity, is so robust as to defy the pull of time itself.  The day will come when Hitler himself is forgotten, and you can bet that the last mentioning of your name will occur somewhat earlier than that.

So what’s the point of all this?  Why invest so heavily in the act of living when the end of “me” is so dauntingly imminent?  What’s to stop us from doing anything and everything we please, regardless of consideration for others?  Why do we bother to consider issues of morality, justice, and ethics?  If the human existence itself is not of consequence, how can the minor events within that existence be interpreted any differently?

Following this train of thought to its end, it is easy to imagine how one might end up engulfed in darkness, yet somehow 7 billion people manage to wake up in the morning.  We make our beds, use our turn signals on the drive to work, cut our dog’s toenails, refill the ink in copy machines, drink cappuccinos, make love/art, and use mouthwash.  How?  Why?  What’s the point?

To me, there are three possibilities-

1) We are intellectually incapable of fully comprehending the consequences of our impermanence.

2) We employ subconscious mechanisms that prohibit us from delving too far into considerations of our insignificance

or

3) We do matter, and while we may have a hard time explaining it, we somehow feel it to be true.

The evidence I have gathered thus far from my limited personal experience is not enough to form a concrete conclusion, but my suspicion, my hope, is that truth lies in the third possibility.

I believe it is in the nature of man to care deeply about the well-being of his species, and to love each person therein to the greatest extent possible.  This view may seem naïve in the face of the many cruelties people inflict on one another, but I maintain that even the most socially destructive people are bred into the collective consciousness that senses the oneness of all beings.  That we falter so regularly is not evidence against this unity, but rather a clear indication that there is struggle inherent in the process of honoring it.  Though it is in our nature to love, to do so is no doubt the most active of processes.

To be clear, when I mention oneness, I’m not talking about god(s), at least not necessarily.   What so many interpret (perhaps correctly) as god, may just be an abstract awareness that our existences are inextricably linked to the human lives, past and future, which collectively comprise the history of a species.  We don’t yet know the full details of our beginning, and no doubt the end is even more uncertain, yet most recognize at least a subtle connection to these unknown territories.  It is when this connection is severed that atrocities are committed.

We must be humble enough to  embrace the impermanence of our identities, yet also be prudent and courageous enough to accept that the choices we make have potential beyond all comprehension.  It may very well be that no one will recognize my name in 500 years, but this is not to say that a single act of kindness I carry out in this very moment will not set in motion a never-ending perpetuation of goodness.

So long as our species exists, the choices we make matter, and very much so.  There is simply no telling how far-reaching the impact of our lives may prove to be.  A single mortal life is comprised of an endless onslaught of choices, the effects of which, positive or negative, carry on forever.

So how are we to live?

Lovingly, empathetically, and  with an unfaltering dedication to community and sustainable well-being.

Never before has the demand for this formula been stronger.  So long as we continue to act selfishly, to view the world through the false lend of separateness, the  future of our species will be gravely uncertain.  We’ve been heavily conditioned to maintain a singular focus on our own personal agendas, but so far as I can see, this path leads directly to spiritual depravity on a personal level and inevitably to the extinction of our species.

We must regain the strength and wisdom required to make choices that serve mankind as a whole.  The individual search for meaning and quality in each day needn’t go beyond this goal.