✅ Brush teeth
✅ Have a coffee
✅ Urinate
✅ Post on Hive
These are things that I have done every day of the year so far, and there are only three days left to close out the clean sweep. However, I am only pretty sure I have brushed my teeth every day, and I think I might have missed a coffee or two - but I am certain I have urinated daily. When it comes to posting on Hive though, there is immutable evidence to prove it.
If I make it another three articles, I will have completed my 8th yearly sweep in a row. And in January, I will complete my ninth year on the blockchain. Consistency is key to building habits and skill, but it is also a way to anchor ourselves, which is something I have needed to rely upon over the last few years. And when it comes to writing consistently, it is a way for me to reflect on my daily experience, and actually give attention to what I have faced. Most people think they are paying attention, but then wonder where the time has gone.
If we were aware, we'd know.
I think a lot of people think they are paying attention, but I don't believe most of us are. We like to have this view of ourselves that we are the driver of our experience and the core decision-maker, but I reckon most of us are acting on autopilot most of the time. We are acting robotically by default; going through the same actions, same thoughts, and feeling the same feelings.
The more we do it, the more right it feels.
But having a habit that feels right doesn't mean we have the right habit. Familiarity isn't an indicator we are on the right track, because what it generally means is that we are going around in a circle. We keep seeing the same landmarks that we recognise on our journey, and believe that the recognition means we are heading in the right direction.
Heading the right way, but keep seeing the same thing.
Even though I believe we have huge potential as a species, I don't have a lot of faith in humanity anymore. Unused potential is worthless, and we are wasting more of our potential at an accelerating speed. And this is happening at a time that we can't afford to waste our opportunities as a species, because we are running out of time to make things liveable into the future. We are losing the window to create consistency in our world that allows us to survive. And this is just survive, not thrive as a species.
We have the potential to thrive as a species.
Mostly wasted.
And I don't see a sudden awakening happening that shifts society into a direction where individuals will take responsibility for their experience and the wellbeing of humanity, and do enough positive. I suspect that if we were to tally up the positives and negatives, most of us are a net cost to the world and to society, not a gain.
Is the world a bit better because you are alive in it?
Be honest.
We think that because we have a life, we deserve some kind of prize. Instead, we should probably see life as a gift that has generated a debt, and we have to spend a good deal of our time paying that debt forward, by making the future better than the past. But instead of doing that, we spend the time looking to maximise ourselves as individuals, trying to fulfil our hedonistic and often childish desires, at the expense of humanity, and the world in general.
The world doesn't care.
At this point, it is a good reminder that humanity isn't destroying the environment, because the environment can't be destroyed. It is what it is, no matter what it is. What we are destroying are the environmental conditions that we need to survive. Earth doesn't care if we nuke ourselves into oblivion, or release a virus that kills us all painfully - it is unconscious. It just keeps on being, undisturbed by our presence, or lack thereof.
Nut what people have forgot in their sleepiness, is that the conditions we need to survive as a species are not limited to the environmental factors, changes in temperature, access to food and water and whatever else - we also need a society. We are interdependent, not independent.
Independence is a fallacy.
But we keep finding ways to keep the illusion alive, by replacing relationships with alternatives that mimic them in some way, but leave us unsatisfied long-term. But we do not realise because we favour the present moment feeling, and we are asleep. We are not aware that what we are doing us harm, that avoiding building relationships with people might be easier, but will ultimately cost us. As long as it tastes good now, we will eat it.
A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips.
Humanity is consistently getting worse in my opinion. Yes, there are some technological advances that might be pretty incredible, but when it comes to us being humans, us improving as a species, we are degrading. All the technological advancements are useless in a world where humans are no longer humane.
humane
/hjʊˈmeɪn/
adjective
Having or showing compassion or benevolence.
Society today is in general, neither compassionate, nor benevolent. It is about point scoring to satisfy the immediate personal desires of feeling important. It is a game of fighting for what each of us want, no matter the cost to others. It is about causing suffering to our many adversaries, even if it ultimately costs us our own happiness.
Do unto others before they do unto you.
Everyone is fighting for their relevance in a society that has become irrelevant. Relevance today is in how much attention one gets, no matter how one gets it, no matter how one behaves, no matter how much harm is inflicted on others. People no longer do good because it is the right thing to do, the right way to be, because it doesn't get enough attention. People act on their incentives, and the largest driver is wanting to have their on desires satisfied. More attention, more money, more stuff, more attraction, more time.
Give the gift of all the time in the world, and most will waste it on nothing of importance.
But no one cares about any of this, because to change any of it requires attention to be paid to what we don't want to pay attention to, which is our own inactivity, incapability, and unwillingness to do what isn't convenient for us, or do what feels uncomfortable. We want to be safe, we want to be protected, we want to feel good, we want to get what we want, we want....
But we do not want to give anything.
Only take.
And in a society of consistent takers, eventually, there is nothing left to take.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
Be part of the Hive discussion.
And you may be rewarded.
