Humans in Search of Humility

Dear Humans,

It is time to get humble. 

Yes, we have created the means to access information with a few strokes on our portable devices.  We have created drugs to quell all variety of maladies and the side effects of the drugs that treat the symptoms of those maladies. 

We can 3-D print damn near anything, including prosthetic limbs and perfectly fitting jeans. 

We have vehicles that drive themselves and devices that respond to our requests when they are not busy spying on us.

And, yet... 

Are we so lacking in knowledge that we are feckless with the absence of access to the Google machine?  Are we going to die without the drugs on which we are dependent?  Do we know how to make the things we cannot easily procure?  Can we even critically evaluate the information that we access?

It is as though we are trying to cheat our own nature.

We are finite, fallible beings.  Technology is only as good as our working assumptions, and it will not give us meaning, interpretation, or a better understanding of what it is to be human. 

To be human is to exist as an inextricable part of nature.  Nature will always win.  And, trying to trick it, cheat it, or outsmart it is the height of human hubris and may very well be our downfall. 

We must cast off our vanity and our pride.  We must relearn our exact place in the world and accept that, even though we may be resourceful and clever, we may not always choose those paths which harmonize with the natural order. 

I am sad today because I do not see many people thinking beyond the range of their own personal biases and interests.  I am sad because I do not think many people are concerned with the meaning of their own lives.

Money, food, sex, drugs.  They will not assuage your pain.  They will not fulfill your needs.  Diversion is not sanctuary or salvation.

Let's get off the treadmill and get real.  We need to rediscover the authenticity of being human.  If we can extricate ourselves from the relentless pursuit of physical and psychological immunity for a moment, perhaps, we may learn to listen to that quiet, still voice within that urges us to reconnect with ourselves.

You can only run away from yourself for so long.  On your deathbed, do you want to admit that you lived as an automaton rather than as a human? 

I urge you to cast off all the trappings and assumptions that chain you to a conventional life.  Rather, listen to your heart.  Listen to your conscience.  Put down your goddamn phone and just observe.  Observing in nature is even better.


Let's take a moment to look around, see the world, and reassess our place in it.

Best,
Me