I agree reality is grounding. I am a flawed optimist. I have my bubble burst too often. But when extra is sliced off the top and I'm left with reality, I sink into it and find centeredness. I like it🪷🤸♂️
I read your stuff every day and I'm grateful for its gentle wisdom so I feel like an ingrate making my first comment--gently, I hope-- critical. In a "reality" that confronts humans with cancer, mass starvation, dementia and certain death, concluding, from a human point of view, that it is "harsh" is not entirely unjustified. That doesn't mean you shouldn't live your life with love, joy and connection--in fact, it's the only way that makes sense to me to deal with this elemental harshness. Someone once called me an intellectual pessimist and a temperamental optimist. Such a thing is possible! Thanks for all your good work in this harsh world
1. I'm glad you're here. Thanks so much for being part of FFOREST.
2. I am the worst at replying to comments within a reasonable amount of time.
3. You're right. I think I was enamoured with my provocative title and let that get in the way of precision in meaning. Also, on reflection, the title could have been better. 'Reality's not harsh' has a nicer flow. The point I was trying to make is that reality has no agency and anthropomorphising it does us no favours.
It's easy to understand that if I, while innocently walking through the woods am set upon by a pack of wolves and devoured, then picked clean by ravens and vultures, have suffered a sad, tragic and, yes, harsh death. But I'm not the victim of evil. Wolves gotta eat and I happened to show up at dinner time. When it comes to 'cancer, mass starvation, dementia and certain death', it's harder not to ascribe evil. But cancer has no agency, no mind, no ability to choose. It simply is. The fact that we wear out and die simply is.
What about the fact that humans have a great capacity for evil? As a species, we have agency. We can and regularly do choose to do terrible things to our world and to each other. This too simply is. What I mean is there’s no puppet master pulling the strings and manipulating us into doing the evil that we do.
I think a common initial response to this non-anthropomorphising approach is: so we just let cancer kill us and accept that humans gonna evil and call it all fine?!
Absolutely not! If I’m a researcher whose energy is directed towards curiosity about how cancer works rather than raging against how evil it is, I will be more effective at stopping it. When I see that humans will regularly choose evil, I can fall into a spiral of rage. It’s easy. But what does that lead to? Hopeless acquiescence, possibly even collusion, or thirst for vengeance that keeps the cycle of evil alive. But if I accept that humans will choose evil and approach that reality with curiosity, I’m in a much better place to understand it, resist it, help its victims and maybe even help the perpetrator to not choose evil in the future.
Now that you’ve prompted me think about it, I realise that a better word than 'harsh' in this context is ‘malevolent’. Reality is often harsh but it isn’t malevolent. Conversely, reality is often delightful and nourishing but it isn’t benevolent.
I agree reality is grounding. I am a flawed optimist. I have my bubble burst too often. But when extra is sliced off the top and I'm left with reality, I sink into it and find centeredness. I like it🪷🤸♂️
'flawed optimist' is great! I like that.
I read your stuff every day and I'm grateful for its gentle wisdom so I feel like an ingrate making my first comment--gently, I hope-- critical. In a "reality" that confronts humans with cancer, mass starvation, dementia and certain death, concluding, from a human point of view, that it is "harsh" is not entirely unjustified. That doesn't mean you shouldn't live your life with love, joy and connection--in fact, it's the only way that makes sense to me to deal with this elemental harshness. Someone once called me an intellectual pessimist and a temperamental optimist. Such a thing is possible! Thanks for all your good work in this harsh world
Hi, Bop
1. I'm glad you're here. Thanks so much for being part of FFOREST.
2. I am the worst at replying to comments within a reasonable amount of time.
3. You're right. I think I was enamoured with my provocative title and let that get in the way of precision in meaning. Also, on reflection, the title could have been better. 'Reality's not harsh' has a nicer flow. The point I was trying to make is that reality has no agency and anthropomorphising it does us no favours.
It's easy to understand that if I, while innocently walking through the woods am set upon by a pack of wolves and devoured, then picked clean by ravens and vultures, have suffered a sad, tragic and, yes, harsh death. But I'm not the victim of evil. Wolves gotta eat and I happened to show up at dinner time. When it comes to 'cancer, mass starvation, dementia and certain death', it's harder not to ascribe evil. But cancer has no agency, no mind, no ability to choose. It simply is. The fact that we wear out and die simply is.
What about the fact that humans have a great capacity for evil? As a species, we have agency. We can and regularly do choose to do terrible things to our world and to each other. This too simply is. What I mean is there’s no puppet master pulling the strings and manipulating us into doing the evil that we do.
I think a common initial response to this non-anthropomorphising approach is: so we just let cancer kill us and accept that humans gonna evil and call it all fine?!
Absolutely not! If I’m a researcher whose energy is directed towards curiosity about how cancer works rather than raging against how evil it is, I will be more effective at stopping it. When I see that humans will regularly choose evil, I can fall into a spiral of rage. It’s easy. But what does that lead to? Hopeless acquiescence, possibly even collusion, or thirst for vengeance that keeps the cycle of evil alive. But if I accept that humans will choose evil and approach that reality with curiosity, I’m in a much better place to understand it, resist it, help its victims and maybe even help the perpetrator to not choose evil in the future.
Now that you’ve prompted me think about it, I realise that a better word than 'harsh' in this context is ‘malevolent’. Reality is often harsh but it isn’t malevolent. Conversely, reality is often delightful and nourishing but it isn’t benevolent.
Thank you for your gently critical comment, Bop.