I have been shocked! Under the false presumption of my own will becoming actualized in the world, I was naive in thinking that the re-election of Donald Trump was impossible. How this picture has come crashing to an abrupt halt, any semblance of hope I had for our government has suddenly escaped me. This already absurd state of affairs has now become something of a fiction of itself, if only it were fiction, then we could stand idly by, watching the bloodless soldiers of the right and left continually disregard their own humanity for the sake of what are sorry excuses for ideologies. If only this fiction were to be isolated from us, if only the step we took back from this absurdity was justified, however it is all too apparent that our very lives are at stake. We can ignore it no longer.
How did we get here?
I am far from a political scientist, so I cannot comment on the specifics, however the presumption that I feel has been most subverted in myself is this: the security that we feel in removing ourselves from the world will always be a lie. If we ever sit back with idle hands, resting our minds in a state of disregard for the circumstances that have allowed for this comfort, we are doomed to lose it! How terrifying is this, that in comfort we still must struggle. This is a paradox that seems irreconcilable, yet, there is also a simple answer. THERE IS NO COMFORT! This is where the beginnings of existentialism find their root, authors like Nietzsche and Camus have long since identified this inherent struggle in the world, that peace will always be a lie. How we have failed them by continuing to seek it, losing ourselves in religions that preach the ability to be saved from this human condition, or more recently, an abject denial of our own humanity, our power. How many times can I hear discussions of “if only…” and “wouldn’t it be great if…” before I rebel against these blank idle faces who understand what is valuable and what is wrong, yet disconnect from any hope of actualizing the change they desire.
This is a dangerous future I see us heading towards, one where too many absolve themselves of existence, rest in the finitude of life, a pervasive and unquestioned nihilism that underlies everything. I hear them cry “why does any of it matter, it is only life”, “it is only the world”. There is something of a fundamental disconnect between so many of us and our place in the world, maybe we have been too long beaten down, maybe all that used to be done by people is now in the hands of corporations, these abjectly inhuman entities. How we have arrived here is irrelevant to this current discussion, the question at the center of my being, and I hope yours as well, is: “what do we do?”
Well my insightful reader, I will offer my current answer, but please, embark on this journey yourself, using this in any way you may please, a port to jump off from, a guide boat, a lighthouse, a life preserver, or even just a collection of inconsequential ramblings.
I was asked today, “What if we are God, we have just forgotten?”, an amazing idea that deserves further justice, however in this critical view of modern humanity I say we are so absurdly far from being God, that a much more pressing question must be first asked, “At what point did we forget we are human?” When did these aforementioned “What if’s” fade to being fleeting ideas instead of the impetus of greatness. Our current state of being divorced from desire is one of the greatest modern tragedies. At bottom, our desires are irrational, subjective and often conflict with comfortability. Instead of connecting with these, we have shied away from them in order to cope with the pain of them going unfulfilled.
This is where I call into question that fundamental belief of our failure to actualize desire. It must be our duty as humans to try, in spite of any fear, to make real what could be but a fleeting thought. This could manifest in so many ways, a challenge to our social order, a boundless thirst for knowledge, beautiful artistic expression, in short, changing the world. Thus, I beg, please do not let yourself go to waste, let your desire become real, I cannot imagine a valuable future if this is unfulfilled. Please, read, write, talk, organize, play, laugh, create, anything except give up. Remember, you are human.