I often contemplate what life would've been like if the human race developed different social norms and behavior.
Stagnation & Cognitive Dissonance
Here we are, a somewhat intelligible race, who has found itself stuck inside a perpetual state of learning. It's almost frightening to imagine how much further we will advance when we consider how far we have come in the last few centuries. And yet, it feels like in the last few decades we've slowly stagnated our growth, like a nostalgic child that can't let go of the past.
We accept things as truth and later find it hard to deny those truths. We ingrain a standard of living into our minds day by day, moment by moment, until we eventually find ourselves stuck inside a cage of beliefs. These same beliefs become introduced to you from the outside. Everything you see, everything you do, say or hear; all of it is influential. You become a product of experience.
Is it plausible then, if what I just said is truth, that society has found itself living within a complexity of egotism. An omnipotent complexity that has developed over the ages. Each one of us thinking that we're superior to others because of where we come from and what we know. Some kind of evolutionary pissing contest.
If that is the case, then why aren't we seeing it? Are we truly being censored by some group of shadow capitalists? Is what we think even relevant to ourselves, or, are we just regurgitating the words of the last person we witnessed and thought, "hey, they're smart, I might follow them".
The conclusion I find myself at is one that is more complex than any one of us is willing to admit. I feel that this is in fact the case. That we aren't living up to our potential because we're stagnating ourselves with beliefs and expectations. We keep setting unnecessary rules that restrict our growth.
Finding balance
It's like stereotypes. Stereotypes exist so that we can label our expectations of something or someone. When we hear a stereotype we immediately visualize our expectation of something and its role within our existence. We label things and paint them with a certain color, and then when we see a similar color we expect it to be the same. I'm sure you've heard the saying, "no two things are alike".
That's because of natural selection. No, not the Mussolini kind. I'm talking about the chemistry of cohesion. No two things are alike because everything is balancing against each other to become one.
As an example, imagine a rock pile at the beach. Gravity is helping the rocks to balance against each other, however none of the rocks are the same size. Each one is performing its role in that moment. They are ub perfect harmony with their existence and where they need to be; they have no need to push in opposite directions in that moment because they have found equilibrium. They are one.
Balancing life
The same example could be applied to life. In a perfect existence we would spend our days creating balance. Relationships, for example, should be balanced. Instead, we over indulge. We find something we like and then we abuse it. Our consumerist behavior is fueled by greed and that greed destroys our balance. The same greed motivates us to become something more than what we need to be.
Nobody needs to be anything but what they choose to be.
You can be good or bad but at the end of the day it's your decision that you have to live with, if you're making that decision without the right experience then you're almost destined to fail. Without preparation then it's almost impossible to progress.
We could be spending our days thriving for knowledge, instead we choose to stay within the boundaries of what already is. We glue labels all over our body and in turn add to our own egotistical complexity. Our character becomes a wash of mutual satisfaction and regret; satisfying ourselves no matter the consequence.
It's so easy to pick up a book that's completely out of your comfort zone and choose to add that to your repertoire, yet most instead choose to indulge in the fascist views of a culture poisoned by perpetual sin. When did we lose sight of what was right and wrong? Was there ever a right or wrong?
Historically stagnated
Throughout the history of human civilization, I'm not entirely convinced that there was ever a moment of intellectual peace. Before we had clothes we were most likely some type of lower mammal which would have hunted to survive. If that is indeed true then we can start to understand that our current complexity is some what of an evolutionary bi-product of a once barbaric existence.
Society has grown and grown, yet it stagnates its growth with barbaric decision making. It's as if we're choosing the struggle when we could be working together like a colony of ants to create a world that's heavenly. It's not hard to imagine Earth becoming the Heaven we grew up with in fairy tales.
I can't help but feel guilty when it comes to egotism. I know I have my own complex hindering my true self. I was raised to follow suit and show respect where it's due, all of which are incorruptible values, but I was also raised to follow social norms. Raised with conformity; conforming with stereotypes and social expectations. These standards shape me and in turn influence me in their own ways. It's hard to unravel and reprogram each layer of experience that is negative but I try. I feel that if I can tackle my own complexities then I can help others to do the same, and lead by example.
Maybe we are each destined to live within the guidelines of our own standards, and that it's up to each one of us to decipher which of those standards should be accepted wholeheartedly. Perhaps our egotism isn't a bad thing if it's harnessed through self critiquing and moral actuation.
