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It Might Well Turn Out Differently
Sep. 10th, 2021 11:38 am"Down the centuries it has been happening again and again. People have been tortured for their own sake, killed for their own sake, destroyed for their own sake. The do-gooders have been one of the greatest calamities upon humanity. They have proved the most mischievous of people. The world would have been far better without them." -- Osho
A question that often arises is: how to cope with the madness? How to cope with the coming years? Obviously I can't give a definitive answer but want to give some advice that helps me.
The first thing that helps me is going for a walk. And make a point of listening and watching the surroundings. This way you can look past the clot of madness blocking your sight and have it dissolve. There is still a life to live, there are still swans in the pond, the birds don't give a damn as ever, the trees rock in the wind. The world keeps spinning and on we go.
Another thing that helps is to remember that most of what men of power attempt turns out differently than planned, if it does not end in defeat. Even the Soviet Union fell appart, even the American Army got handed a humiliating defeat by a bunch of medieval war lords, etc. When you see things progressing a given direction, yes, it's worth of notice but at the end something completely different might actually happen.
Then there are the cracks in the system. The world is vast and complex, it is not trivial but not that hard either to find a niche of one's own where you and your loved ones can sit out the storm. Or find an arrangement with the local powers that amounts to a cludge but gives you freedom. Your space can be kept.
And then: try to understand the mechanics of what is happening. Everybody is either looking at the numbers or engaging in the morality play. Take a step back and try to understand what is happening as if this was a novel and you a literary critic. The baddies are about as deluded and lost as they always are, and unfortunately the good are also deluded and lost. And all of them are humans trying to do good and being deluded about what it means.
The world in ten years will not look like it did two years ago, that is at this point certain. What is also certain to me is that it won't look like the visionaries want it to look like either.
A question that often arises is: how to cope with the madness? How to cope with the coming years? Obviously I can't give a definitive answer but want to give some advice that helps me.
The first thing that helps me is going for a walk. And make a point of listening and watching the surroundings. This way you can look past the clot of madness blocking your sight and have it dissolve. There is still a life to live, there are still swans in the pond, the birds don't give a damn as ever, the trees rock in the wind. The world keeps spinning and on we go.
Another thing that helps is to remember that most of what men of power attempt turns out differently than planned, if it does not end in defeat. Even the Soviet Union fell appart, even the American Army got handed a humiliating defeat by a bunch of medieval war lords, etc. When you see things progressing a given direction, yes, it's worth of notice but at the end something completely different might actually happen.
Then there are the cracks in the system. The world is vast and complex, it is not trivial but not that hard either to find a niche of one's own where you and your loved ones can sit out the storm. Or find an arrangement with the local powers that amounts to a cludge but gives you freedom. Your space can be kept.
And then: try to understand the mechanics of what is happening. Everybody is either looking at the numbers or engaging in the morality play. Take a step back and try to understand what is happening as if this was a novel and you a literary critic. The baddies are about as deluded and lost as they always are, and unfortunately the good are also deluded and lost. And all of them are humans trying to do good and being deluded about what it means.
The world in ten years will not look like it did two years ago, that is at this point certain. What is also certain to me is that it won't look like the visionaries want it to look like either.