Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Change

Beliefs, views and opinions are hardwired. To discuss politics with a right-winger is a waste of time. It’s also a waste of time to discuss ethics with a devout Muslim or a born again Christian. They know already what’s right or wrong. Many of them would rather die than admit that they may have misunderstood something.

We find this stubbornness everywhere. We find it in all other people but we don’t find it in ourselves. Isn’t this peculiar?

Maybe there is a biological reason for this pertinacity. Maybe only those who never gave in survived.

It’s good to be stubborn if we fight for something good. If we fight for something bad, however, then we will create nothing but troubles and misery. The problem is that we can never know for sure if what we are fighting for is good or bad. Everybody knows, deep in their hearts, that they are right. The Nazis in Germany didn’t fight for what they believed was wrong. Economists, politicians and CEOs of today don’t fight for what they believe will ruin the earth.

We are not able to solve the problems with global warming and environmental pollution. We are like drunkards who refuse to see that we drink too much. This is the reason why I don’t believe in a positive future for our global civilization. It will crumble and fall. All previous civilizations have perished. Nothing is strange about this view.

Nevertheless, it’s all very sad, because it’s indeed possible to realize that all thoughts and ideas are nothing but thoughts and ideas. It’s possible to see that thoughts and ideas are like ghosts and spirits - fantasies. We don’t have to fight so hard to defend them, if we don’t want to.

It’s possible to realize that one can be wrong about things. In fact, it’s possible to leave the thought dimension altogether, at least for short moments. Thoughts and ideas are not all there is in life. It’s possible to wake up from reveries and ruminations. It’s not even particularly difficult. In fact, it happens spontaneously many times every day. When you wake up from such a daydream you have a chance to say to yourself, “Oh, here was an idea again, a fantasy.”

It’s possible to discover that the sun, the wind and the trees are still here. The world is still beautiful. To be alive is such an amazing mystery.  

Why do we forget this so easily? What power pulls us back into the fog again? This is the big question.