The Worst Thing You Can Do, is to Stop Being

For most people the opposite is true - the best thing you can do, is stop being, because that way you will not contribute to the global disaster that is forming. This is caused by people, and if you are not a person yourself, you will not be responsible, for anything that happens.

Perhaps I should have started this essay, by speaking of the Global Disaster. Is there such a thing? I can only speak for one country, the USA, and my experience in it. But that experience was so horrible, I go into shock, just remembering it.

And that one word, shock, summarizes the whole situation.

We are a social species, and we became successful by helping each other. Benevolence is part of our nature. We lived in small social units, of not more than a hundred people - where everyone knew everyone else. And where the bad guys did not prosper. This way of life, that lasted for a million years, or so - became part of our human nature.

When we became civilized, we lived in much larger units - where the strong, ended up on top of the social structure - and had ample opportunities to be bad - to take advantage of the weak.

We became a highly conflicted society, where our basic, benevolent nature - struggled with the power structures we were in. This, in short, was the Ancient World - that lasted until the collapse of the Roman Empire.

This was replaced by the Medieval World, that lasted for a thousand years. And was replaced, in turn, by the Modern World. I am saying nothing new here - but this is something contemporary people, cannot grasp. They live in a lifespan of a hundred years, at most - and these historical periods lasted for thousands of years.

Part of a liberal education, was being able to take the long view, and think in terms of thousands of years. But today, few have this kind of education - and are completely baffled by what is going on. And end up, wanting to have no part of it.

As is often the case, supporting views plop into my inbox, just in time. This morning it is The Failures of Anti-Trumpism.