I look around these days and find that so few people are happy with their lives. People talk about how things are getting worse and worse. What's going on? Where is humanity's mistake? Is the mistake in "family management"? - "There's just not enough support from parent these days" - "Industrialized countries should have never left extended families" Is the mistake in how we "fucked up the environment"? - "After dumping so many chemicals, we have screwed up our biology, which in turn has screwed up our nature." Did the "aliens do it"? Is this just placing blame? Is it "not having Jesus in our lives"? Is it the economical systems? - "Capitalism sucks!" "Communist infiltration, communist indoctrination.... (...to preserve and protect our precious bodily fluids Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! )" Is it government (gummint)? - "not enough democracy" - "too much democracy" Is it too much materialism? - "Humanity has become alienated from itself." Is the mistake in thinking there is a mistake - "Humanity has always been screwed up, just in different ways". Is this statement just rationalizing? Is it a combination of these? None of these? Is this all just placing blame? Is it our past and present choices? Some of you may say - "Well, I feel good about my life." All the time? Most of the time even? Is this true? Is this just a dellusion? Well what do you all think? Have fun, Xenu.
Humanity has never been perfect. We have always had to try. If we did not have to try, I doubt there would be much point to doing anything. Some have always tried harder than others. Some have always taken the easy route which often involves gaining gratification (in whatever form) at the expense of others. I doubt there has ever been a point in our history when these things were not true.
Humanity has never been better. People continue to learn mistakes from history. If we discover intelligent life forms on Mars, I don't see us enslaving them or killing theml like what we would have done two centuries ago. That is why I believe if Aliens do exist, they should be peaceful.
It is the worst of times, and the best of times ... And it all depends on your geographic location, your social status, your economic status, and your age. For myself, I can't think of any other time or place that I, a sort of average joe, would prefer. It has been relative easy to survive and an awful lot of interesting stuff has been going on. Take care.
the extended family wasn't really all that extended. Often, due to different common illness that wasn't cured so easily.... one or two children of the family would die.. and/or a parent. and while an extended family would all live together, most people died before they were 40. Didn't make for a very big family.
I don't think humanity is screwed up. I think that our enviroment has changed faster than we have evolved to deal with it. This puts unnatural pressures on us that we do not have built-in defenses for. This causes strain and stress to occur in our lives. Having good tools to deal with these strains and stress allows you a good bit more comfort than being without those tools.
What you seem to be doing here is placing blame to something that humanity is responsible for. Isn't this fast paced environment a creation of humans? I agree that such an environment causes strain and stress, which cause anxiety, which causes what we define as psychological disorders.
There are a lot of extended family communities today, some in industrialized countries. They can be quite large. You'd be surprised how many babies you can make in a 40 year lifetime despite disease, famine, deaths, etc.
Re: It is the worst of times, and the best of times ... Yes I agree, the culture where you have grown up and socialized is probably what you are going to prefer (provided you weren't scarred); you're comfortable with it. For example, hunting for your own food probably sounds like a lot of a pain in the ass and a lot of work, but other cultures wouldn't have it any other way. I find it interesting that you equate humanity progress with "easy to survive". I guess I'd take an opposite approach. I think Nietzsche said something like "If you're comfortable, you're dead." A growing human being is an active one in my opinion.
Awesome, this is what I was talking about with my response to Chagur above. Yes times are tough, and I think that is a good thing. It challenges the organism and allows it to grow. Nowadays in industrialized countries things are still tough, but in different ways. Things aren't tough because of the actual environment, but because of the created environment. But going back to this fast-paced environment thing (see response to wet1) we have added all kinds of things to worry about. I'm speaking from a USA perspective especially. Credit. Hair. Clothing. Automobiles. Shaving. Bad Breath. Etc. Watch commercials, they'll tell you all about what you "should" be worrying about. I notice that here in the USA at least, people have intense anxiety (not excluding self) over the most non-survival things. "Unnatural anxiety" so to speak. If this anxiety becomes too extreme full blown disorders develop.
The humanity is screwed up in order to learn the meaning of being screwed up. Btw, I have a cat named Nemesis.
But it will change in how you deal with it. If one places blame on the environment, one can play the blame game, take the back seat, and be passive in working with the problem. Have excuses such as: "I can't do much to change things, the enviroment has to change first" If humanity were to take responsibility a more active approach can be taken. "I see what's wrong, we did it, let's fix it".
Xenu ... "the culture where you have grown up and socialized is probably what you are going to prefer" (emphasis added) Born and raised in NYC, got out when I was 18, never went back unless absolutely necessary - Enjoy the rural life far more (including hunting). "I find it interesting that you equate humanity progress with "easy to survive" What criteria do you prefer? Aren't you the guy that started this thread with: "I look around these days and find that so few people are happy with their lives."? Where are you looking? Finally, Nietzsche? That weirdo? Pleeease! Take care Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Assigning blame does nothing for fixing a problem nor does it give one relief. Understanding why gives you tools to develop a relief strategy. Fast paced life is not conducive to long life in most folks because they do not learn how to deal with it and repair the damage it caused. They have learned no method of relaxing or changing their viewpoint as to divert the effects of modern rat race conditions. This leads to a build up of stress that eventually leads to shorting life. The worries of the industrialized life are far different than the worries of the caveman or agricultural styles of life. In industrial life we see not so much the kill or be killed but rather what is acceptable or how you should behave. Catching food is no longer the problem but obtaining enough wherewithal to acquire it is more the worry. Infection in the agricultural days spelled the equivalent of a death sentence in the modern day infection is not so much the problem as obtaining health care is. You have a different set of conditions replacing what once was. These conditions are more intangible than in the past. For that they are no less real.
Re: Xenu ... I was thinking about a broader scale and a more drastic culture difference than just within the United States. My point was that it's easy for a person to be comfortable with when and where they are at, because they haven't experienced many other places (and can't time travel). I was also talking about hunting on a daily basis for survival, but even that is only one aspect a person would have to adjust to. Sorry, I was unclear. A lot of it is detailed above and I'm sure will be detailed following. Yes. Everywhere I go.
I think my mistake was the word "blame". Yes assigning blame and pointing fingers does nothing to fix a problem. What I meant is "responsibility". We as a human race must take responsibility for the environment we've created. When you take responsibility for something you are more likely to fix it, than if responsibility were shifted. The rest of your post I agree with. adding.... Like you stated wet1, stress can come in many different forms. And for the most part stress is stess no matter the source. Stress is good in ways that it allows the organism to evolve and grow - It causes the body to release energy. This is all good. It's when this energy isn't used however, this energy becomes anxiety. Most stressors in this fast-paced (once again USA centric) don't require physical effort. They are, as wet1 said, "intangible". So this energy builds up and becomes anxiety because it has nowhere to go. Anxiety builds up and people start becoming "screwed up". -Xenu
Humanity is not screwed up - our thoughts about it are. It has never been perfect and I don' t think it' ll ever be. The problem is that our technological evolution is faster thn our moral/intelectual. We destroy the world we live in and know it is wrong, but we have no idea how to live dfferent. That is- the idea there is, but most people are to lazy to do anything. The answer to nowaday human screwedness is lazyness and ignorance. We ignore the facts tht are perfectly visable and live in our little dream world. Humanity is not aware of the consequences of its actions. It has always been like it, but nowaday technology makes tht a real threat to everyone. Down with technology? No way!, I' m a nature loving technocrat. We have to get smarter, but people in general are stupid. What we really need at the moment is one world government. one world parlament, with all countries having equal quantity of deputies. We need organisation, but the problem might arise tht smone seises power and then we' ll have a world wide civil war. conclusion- humanity is screwed up and it has always been , but we live such a time tht we need to evolve with our personal will, not natures laws to survive and progress. When the saying "humans are stupid in general" will be false, then it is time for one world government, later- who knows.
and... both in the same response! This is a good thing however. Look at the first quote, you are separting mind from humanity. This is just like what I was talking with Wet1. You are separating humanity and mind to distance humanity from the problem. Again not showing responsibility for the problem. By the end of your response you have merged the two together again, forming a whole. "Humanity is screwed up". Responsibility has been taken and because of this you even suggest a solution! Now I don't agree with your solution however. "One World Government". That sounds like something Anakin Skywalker said in Episode II. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! -Xenu
Yes, during my posting I actually think, and I got this chain of thoughts. A dinamically created post, though harder to understand to someone , because of the mixup, but this is how I think. Come and join my side. Together we shall shape the GalaxyPlease Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
