it may take a little longer, but I know how to find my way back
I suppose I've been wandering in the wilderness. How can you tell the difference between wandering in the wilderness and whatever the opposite of that is? Maybe we're always wandering in the wilderness.
It's linear and recursive; you get older, and every once in a while you take a step back and make corrections -- see where you've been and decide how to keep going. You notice that you've been wandering in the wilderness and say, hmm, how can I wander in the wilderness better? (How can I be a more effective wanderer-in-the-wilderness? How can our organizations synergize and maximize our wilderness wanderings?)
Why aren't people ever talking about the important things?
I've been doing a lot of watching people tear each other down recently. It's very entertaining, and can be very funny. People are fucking nuts, man. I've learned a lot about conflict.
Yes, that's it - I've learned a lot about conflict. People are defensive! People don't read very well. People take things personally, judge without knowing, take cheap shots, have to have the last word. People get excited, riled. People phrase things poorly and don't know anything about anything. Fundamental attribution error everywhere.
Conflict is recursive, too. It follows much the same path. Comment; affrontery; saying of things you probably don't mean and wouldn't say to someone's face; more affrontery, application of logic and ad hominem attacks; turning of attention elsewhere.
Conflict flares up like life does. That's kind of how I metaphorically see existence, in a sense - we are flareups of energy, flareups of consciousness. Blips. The waxing and waning of blossoms on a plant nobody understands. Sophisticated organizations of particles. Up we come, down we go. Bodies go back to the ground.
So: the wandering. At the same time as I've been taking more baby steps along this path (a True Calling!) and slowly refining my understandings of important things (How Ought One Live?), I've been watching people tear each other down (Drama!) and learning about where I come from (Where Ought I/We Live?).
It has been a lot to take in.
What I have put my finger on: I am tired of the tearing-down. Recently, Other and I both read Snark, which has helped me think about this. People have been tearing each other down in the same kinds of ways for centuries. And we still haven't figure out how to move past that.
For everything there is, there is a voice saying "it sucks." A lot of stuff sucks. People should have the right to say that something sucks. Someone saying something sucks doesn't mean that I have to agree that it sucks. But it still kind of hurts to hear about how something you like sucks; you start to feel like you need to preface everything you think, say, and believe with "I know probably some people think this sucks, but..."
Or you could say nothing and pull your head and all your tender, fleshy limbs into your imperfect shell. Huddle buffeted by accusations of sucking.
Or, or, or, a third path? There's no reason to go where the chorus can be heard. There's no reason to wade through waist-deep discussions of suckitude.
Live and let live. Let live over there. Concentrate on the important stuff. That's the direction I'll wander in.
It's linear and recursive; you get older, and every once in a while you take a step back and make corrections -- see where you've been and decide how to keep going. You notice that you've been wandering in the wilderness and say, hmm, how can I wander in the wilderness better? (How can I be a more effective wanderer-in-the-wilderness? How can our organizations synergize and maximize our wilderness wanderings?)
Why aren't people ever talking about the important things?
I've been doing a lot of watching people tear each other down recently. It's very entertaining, and can be very funny. People are fucking nuts, man. I've learned a lot about conflict.
Yes, that's it - I've learned a lot about conflict. People are defensive! People don't read very well. People take things personally, judge without knowing, take cheap shots, have to have the last word. People get excited, riled. People phrase things poorly and don't know anything about anything. Fundamental attribution error everywhere.
Conflict is recursive, too. It follows much the same path. Comment; affrontery; saying of things you probably don't mean and wouldn't say to someone's face; more affrontery, application of logic and ad hominem attacks; turning of attention elsewhere.
Conflict flares up like life does. That's kind of how I metaphorically see existence, in a sense - we are flareups of energy, flareups of consciousness. Blips. The waxing and waning of blossoms on a plant nobody understands. Sophisticated organizations of particles. Up we come, down we go. Bodies go back to the ground.
So: the wandering. At the same time as I've been taking more baby steps along this path (a True Calling!) and slowly refining my understandings of important things (How Ought One Live?), I've been watching people tear each other down (Drama!) and learning about where I come from (Where Ought I/We Live?).
It has been a lot to take in.
What I have put my finger on: I am tired of the tearing-down. Recently, Other and I both read Snark, which has helped me think about this. People have been tearing each other down in the same kinds of ways for centuries. And we still haven't figure out how to move past that.
For everything there is, there is a voice saying "it sucks." A lot of stuff sucks. People should have the right to say that something sucks. Someone saying something sucks doesn't mean that I have to agree that it sucks. But it still kind of hurts to hear about how something you like sucks; you start to feel like you need to preface everything you think, say, and believe with "I know probably some people think this sucks, but..."
Or you could say nothing and pull your head and all your tender, fleshy limbs into your imperfect shell. Huddle buffeted by accusations of sucking.
Or, or, or, a third path? There's no reason to go where the chorus can be heard. There's no reason to wade through waist-deep discussions of suckitude.
Live and let live. Let live over there. Concentrate on the important stuff. That's the direction I'll wander in.
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