"The being of
human beings
is a
mechanism,
the end of which, the purpose, the design function of which is
survival. You see now, you can't
hear
it because you know it's going to
work
out. You're just sure it's going to
work
out. It isn't going to
work
out. Really! It is not going to
work
out. This is all there is. This, this what you
got,
is what there is - never
mind
the
fairy
tale.
This is it!
It is not going to
work
out because it has already
worked
out! This is
the way
it
worked
out. You don't like that? Too bad ..."
I am indebted to Jan McHenry who inspired this conversation.
The age-old riddle "Which came first: the chicken, or the egg?"
provides a wonderful, thought provoking enigma which has engaged and
entertained
millions
and
millions
of people around
the world.
It could be the one ... or ... it could be the other. The
chicken must have come first to lay the egg ... but the egg must
have come first to hatch the chicken ... And
who we are
in the matter, is the
context
in which our
inquiry
into the riddle's
answer,
goes on.
That's one kind of riddle. Here's a different kind of riddle: "Which
came first:
real
life, or our hopes, expectations, and
dreams
about
real
life?". What makes this kind of riddle different is
who we are
in the matter, is our hopes, expectations, and
dreams
about
real
life. In other
wordswho we are
in the matter, isn't the
context
in which our
inquiry
into the riddle's
answer,
goes on. Rather,
who we are
in the matter is inside the riddle itself. And until there's an
interruption to this process (which we could call the advent of
transformation),
it's our hopes, expectations, and
dreams
about
real
life, which comprise our
context
for
real
life without us realizing they do.
One possible direction in which the
inquiry
posed by the second riddle could go, would be to try to determine
analytically
how
and
why
we inherited hopes, expectations, and
dreams
in the first place, and who put them there. I submit a more useful
direction would be to simply notice how living in a
context
comprised of our hopes, expectations, and
dreams,
is not only unsatisfying: it also blinds us to the
true
nature of
real
life.
We're
die-hard
romantics.
We're convinced it's going to
work
out
the way
we hope, expect, and
dream
it will. It's more than that actually. It's we know it's
going to
work
out
the way
we hope, expect, and
dream
it will. No, it's even more than that. It's we know
hoping, expecting, and
dreamingis
the way
to make it
work
out
the way
we want it to
work
out.
There's
the way
it
worked
out - which is
this.
And then there's the
actions
we take, now that it's
worked
out.
Imagining
it'll
work
out different than
the way
it
works
out because we hope, expect, and
dream
it will
work
out differently, is a
fairy
tale we inherited, having a credibility rating matching reported
sightings of Santa Claus, the tooth
fairy,
and Yeti, the abominable snowman.
At some point in the course of a mature adult life, it becomes
abundantly
clear
there's simply no more use for it. Then, like nicotine and alcohol,
we're wise to drop it.
