Indeed
As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, looking into the eyes of crimson red. I am flattered, expected, for vanity is my favourite sin. Blabbering on, words hold no meaning anymore. In the depths of despair, one finds God, but what if the one who rules the universe is not good? I don’t believe he is good; I believe his morals are incomprehensible to us. We don’t set the definition; he is what he is, and that defines what we are. The one above logic and science, every rule of this universe. Primitivity is an appraisal of who we are in his eyes. All the words ever created in every language fall short of his definition; he is everything and more. We cannot protect him, and we cannot define him; we cannot love him, and we cannot hate him. We are so insignificant in his eyes that anything we do will always fall short of amusing him. In essence, he is the truth and the truest form of all the philosophical ventures we have taken. He is such an omnipotent and omnipresent being that his entire presence should now be extraneous to what we do daily. How else would a colony of bacteria in a petri dish in the lab of a biologist comprehend the biologist? This nihilistic lens of perception only then leaves us to forge for ourselves. To live up to the true nature of what being human is. This is the question that countless thinkers, philosophers, artists and godmen have tried to answer for centuries. I would like to take a humble shot at the very same question. I think that unless everyone ponders over the great but practically insignificant questions of life, we cannot hope advance further than what we are today. As a species, we have made decisions over millennia that not only baffle me but, I am sure, will baffle any extraterrestrial organism capable of understanding complex social dynamics.
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Companionship is one of the most fundamental of human tenets. Yet daily, you will see only a handful of us appreciating those around us, let alone adjusting our needs and wants according to our so-called friends. Sticking to one’s word, principles and values (or what they so claim to be their values) is the pinnacle of human existence, but why? I believe this should be the basis/foundation upon which the material condition is built. You will see toxic competition, hatred, and bitterness among friends and family. Jealousy and envy consume us as a species, even for those who try to be “good”, the first thought that comes to their mind is look at what the best deal I may get. The only time we invoke feelings of love and friendship is when we demand a sacrifice from someone. So the question arises: is it true that we, as humans, are brutish, selfish, and indulgent, or is there, lying buried deep in our psyche, a small figment of love? I cannot answer that conclusively. The least I can do is try to list the evidence for the same.
Research and experience already show that photos of nature can increase the rate of healing, both physical and mental, and that patients need less pain medication during surgery. Acts of altruism release a cocktail of feel-good hormones, i.e. oxytocin, dopamine and endorphins. Yet we choose to look after ourselves first. I have a theory to answer the why of it. We do it because of conditioning. We are conditioned to believe that whenever we do good for others, adjust to their needs, or compromise, we are getting the short end of the stick. Anytime a deal is not conclusively in our favour, it means it is somehow to our detriment. This socio-psychological conditioning has nullified the natural human response to altruism and selflessness. No matter how many times we hustle someone, the dopamine response won’t be the same. As altruism, the best we get out of it is a sense of relief. When do you get relief? After escaping a stressful situation. Our culture has incentivised a cycle of stress and relief rather than a baseline of neutrality and happiness. The relief, hence, is sold in the guise of happiness. Similarly, on a more global scale, we continue to abuse the environment because we feel that if we don’t industrialise as fast as possible, some other global power is going to enslave us once again. Thus, we trade beauty, aesthetics, appeal, and love for constant competition, i.e., stress. Only when our nation comes to the top and is in a position to enslave others will we get the sweet relief of the end. But guess what? Even then, it won’t stop; the stress remains the same; it is just the why that changes. We were competing to get to the top, or we are competing to stay there. On an individual scale also remains the same, the only difference being small wins contributing to a fleeting sense of relief, namely when you get an online deal, when you have hustled your friend into doing something that you wanted, when you have faked your way to the top of your organisation without creating any substantial value. These small wins can never match the happiness one gets from standing up for an innocent against a cruel man. Since the global order is so messed up right now that no one has time to think, I am quite pessimistic that we, as a species, will ever recognise this.
