Untitled
At the beginnings of our lives - that is, the viable bits when we start maturing beyond total codependence - it is arguable that the biggest question we have is where did we come from. A good deal of time later (although, asour civilization progress, "a good deal of time" is becoming a lesser and lesser deal of time) towards the ends of our lives, we begin to ask where we will go after death. Just as with the concept of pregnancy, there are a variety of "stories" to explain the after-life. Some cultures teach of heaven, some throw in hell. Some societies preach of reincarnation, while others still have a more metaphysical approach that basically concludes to spiritualy one-ness with the universe. But who's to say that these theories arent just storks i their own repsects. Maybe death really is just as simple as birth: egg plus sperm equals fetus. Maybe death really does just equal body minus life.Where we go after death is six feet under; into a furnace, to be scattered off the bow (or stern, i don't really know the difference) of some cheap rental yacht; chopped into bits by a doctor for donation purposes, or autopsy purposes, ot perhaps not by a doctor at all, but by some sociopath who will then make some stew out of our bits and fragments. But i have digressed. The point i was getting at, before the 'after-life' bit: at the beginning we ask "What happened before this?" At the end, "What happens after this?" So, theoretically, in that time between (after we learn of our true gooey origins and before we speculate about the plausibility of a spiritual after-life) we should be asking "What's happening now?" We don't. We did, in the past; the likes of Aristotle; Socrates; More; Machiavelli; Shakespeare; Locke; Hobbes; Jefferson; Dostoevsky; Marx; Engels; Sartre; Camus; Kafka (just to name a few of my favorites), asked that question and came up with their own personal theorems. Yet, in this age, despite the vast technological advances and the hundred-fold increase in all-around productivity, it is far and few between to find a person truly making their own theorems. In America, we define oursalves and our purposes by capitalism (obviously what's happening is that we're accruing property) and democracy (obviously what's happening is that we're voting). But what if we're not? Everyone takes for granted that the founding fathers knew what was and would always be best for us as a nation. But that's not the truth. Even Jefferson knew and admitted that, even as he was drafting the Constitution. The document was designed to be a temporary solution to the imminent self-destruction of the newly formed nation. Yet, here we are, 231 years later, taking it's word and the basic concepts behind them at face value and regarding them as absolute truisms. Even that is stictly antithetical to the sole founding beliefs upon which the entire construct of our society is balanced; "We hold these truths to be self-evident." It's up to ourselves to make our own truths evident. Every man, woman, and child has the right to lif, liberty, and property or pursuit of happiness (depending on whether you ask Locke or Hobbes). Outside of that, no man, woman, nor child can dictate which rights a person can and cannot grant his- or herself.
What we're here for is to decide what we're here for. More simply put, we're here for WHATEVER WE WANT. We choose our own self-truths and then live by them. I know my self truths (they have nuances of romanticism, absurdism, socialism, misanthropicism, and manualism). The question is do you know yours? Maybe you should give it some thought. And don't goand find some other dead guy's theorems and pick the on that suits you best. Define who you are on your on terms, and if you find a nifty little catchphrase to describe who you really are and what your really doing here, all the better.
What's happening to you now is what your happening upon yourself.
Exist
- Optimus Prime
