Are We Human Or Are We Denser?

I’ve always been the one who tells it like it is which doesn’t play well in a world firmly in the hands of sycophants.. It’s all about toadying to the people who can promote you and then once elevated surrounding oneself with yes men and women. It makes me sick. We have become a society of pathological narcisitists completely out of touch with the reality that as a species we mean absolutely nothing in the larger scheme of things.. The fact that we have evolved, through whatever cruel laws of Nature to become the cancer that is plaguing the Earth is truly a sad, sad thing. I am not convinced that we will be able to turn the tide. Perhaps we still have a generation or two to go before the present arch of human civilization burns itself out or maybe we only have a few years, maybe months left.. On the grand scale of Eternity the point is moot. Whether we continue for another day or another thousand years, The Universe is completely indifferent to our existence. We are but an ephemeral blink in Time’s Eye.

So all we have is right here on Earth. Now. Discipline and restraint are the essence of being human. Being able to recognize the pitfalls of desire and avarice and to willingly restrain ourselves from those pursuits is what is at the core of all religious texts. It didn’t take the Internet and smart phones and cheap energy for our ancestors to figure it out. They were much more human than we are. As we accelerate our use of machines to mitigate reality we become but digital simulacrums of our pre-computer analogue selves. It reminds of early critiques of compact discs. They sounded so crystal clear compared to vinyl…but lacked a certain warmth.. nobody but audiophiles seems to care anymore. The same was true with HD. So crystal clear…but something is missing. Ditto for social media. What all these compterized offerings are missing is “presence” – the moral dimension. By removing flesh and bones people from the equation we reduce all our digital acquaintances to so much expendable digital baggage. I’ll leave it at that for the time being.

Despite this dour view I am still grateful for every day that the sun rises anew, or more to the point, that I am here to witness it. In a way I long for the madness to end. Nothing makes one feel more alive than having to struggle to see another day! And yet this makes me nervous. I am more afraid of what I might have to do in the name of survival if civilization collapses than what others might do to me.