After a morning rethink, rather than going to an animal farm with Smallsteps, we decided to head to the grandparent's cottage, which is in the forest a couple hours north. This is likely to be the last year they are here, as they are getting older and the workload is too high for them to safely maintain, so they will sell.
They aren't happy about this as they love it here, but this is part of aging - losing what you love. Everything ends and that includes put abilities.
I was talking with my father-in-law about life after he asked about my father's recent passing. My Finnish isn't up to this kind of conversation, but I try and he tries to be patient as I struggle to find words.
I was trying to explain how so many of the younger people I know have all kinds of issues and while they constantly advertise that they are living the best version of themselves - many are depressed, out of shape and disconnected from the world around them.
There seems to be a lack of meaning in their lives and because of this, they latch onto anything that they believe will give them some meaning, any platform to stand on.
As I was saying to my father-in-law, many are unhappy with their lives and want things to change, but don't want to take agency for themselves. Instead, they want someone to save them, someone to change the world for them. We spend our time blaming others and demanding they change for us, while avoiding looking in the mirror and seeing what we need to change in ourselves.
He asked me of I was satisfied in my life and I questioned what that might look like. I think that many believe that contentment comes from having what one needs, but I tend to disagree, I think it is about the attempt to make a life, even if failure is the result.
I used the example of if he gave me all of the things I needed in my life and how unhappy that would make me. Having what one needs is great, but when it is given rather than earned, it is empty. I value ownership of experience, which is probably why I am so attracted to Hive and I wonder if my life was provisioned by someone else, is it my life at all.
I think a lot of people live a provisioned life, but not one they have necessarily worked for. I think it is no surprise that people are unhappy, want change and will vote and support anyone who promises it. Anything to avoid looking in that mirror and finding out what is actually wrong in this world and actively making a change or, actively avoid it. The lack of reflection gives our ego immunity, as we can feign ignorance. Bliss.
My daughter is collecting pinecones from the forest floor around the cottage and she is taking her job seriously. Five euros for a full bucket and she just traded the five she got for the first, for a ten for the second. She can count, she knows ten is larger than five.
The job is meaningless for her, but she also knows that her grandparents like to have the area pinecone free and she lives to help. The reward isn't the money as that doesn't have meaning for her - the reward is doing something her grandparents appreciate and value. This is being part of a family, a part of a community.
And I think this is why so many people suffer life looking for meaning to attach themselves to, they have gained a sense of individualism, but lost family and community in the process. For two million years what we did was valuable because what it provided to the community, and our bodies haven't forgotten the importance of this, even though our culture has.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
