Recently I have been re-reading a book which I started years ago but never finished, nevertheless it made a big impression on me back then, it’s - the better angels of our nature, by Steven Pinker.
The author first lays out the gruesome history of humanity, which in itself is a great reminder of why we are all doing this thing called actualism. But then he demonstrates that there has been a consistent trend away from brutality and towards human flourishing. It’s a big book so there is alot of different transition points but the whole time I am left thinking exactly what Richard always stated. That actual freedom is the next stage in humanity’s development.
It’s interesting because more than a few times in the book the author suggests that it is difficult to explain this trend towards the ease of suffering by specific or single causes, and yet it has been happening, almost as if guided by some ‘divine cause’.
Somehow against all these handicaps humanity has been progressively moving away from brutality and towards happiness, as Richard wrote - it is amazing what has been achieved despite the human folly.
What I am left wandering at, with amazement, is that actual freedom is indeed our destiny, it is what we are all here for. And in a sense it cannot be stopped, this potential that Vineeto wrote about recently is at core our essential character, it will find a way sooner or later.
My choice then is whether I do what I can to ensure the spread of peace and prosperity sooner rather than later, it is not if it will happen, it is when will it happen.
The other thing that leaves me with such appreciation is the understanding that all through the human history there have been individuals who did what they could to elevate humanity out of this brutality, even if just by a little bit.
It is obvious to us now that burning someone at the stake is pure madness and yet there had to be the individuals who were able to somehow peek outside of the orthodox way, of what was considered normal back then. And these were not little things to accomplish, they were pioneers just like we can now be pioneers - with regards to ending sorrow and malice once and for all.
The ground has been getting laid down all this time, we are standing on the shoulders of giants. What we are doing now is a continuation of the human endeavour to end suffering, a progression which has been working away all these thousands of years.
This potential which has been behind it all, is pure intent, and now this pure intent is squarely within the human consciousness. Contemplating all this leaves me with this ‘call to action’, it’s not so much that I have the obligation or responsibility but how could I not proceed in light of all the above?
Yesterday heading to one of my hen party gigs I was contemplating all this in a state of excellence and it was quite astounding, the ramifications. I could see that what ‘I’ am is the product of all this confusion and madness which has been bubbling away for centuries, and that whatever boundaries ‘I’ have which set ‘me’ apart are ultimately arbitrary. They are actually meaningless as there is no separation in actuality. I could see then that ‘me’ dissolving would be a simple case of being seen for the illusion that ‘I’ am. It seemed this could happen quite easily and quite suddenly. When I got to the hen party though I came out of excellence, some petty worry about the group thinking I am weird did it. But I am not disheartened at all because there is no reason I cannot get back on that horse again, it seems more and more accessible now.
In fact heading back from the hen party I experientially understood what Vineeto referred to in her email to @claudiu. That being ‘me’ is experienced as a burden, I felt this burden viscerally as soon as I found myself slowly gravitating back to reality. This burden does not belong to just the lone ‘I’ though, it is carried by all of mankind, this burden is ‘me’ just as much as it is ‘humanity’. There was a choice made then, that I am done with it, that I cannot accept going back there.