Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Wishful Thinking

Sometimes, I see things that I want. Expensive
things. And of course, I can't afford those things.
And then, while I turn away, I can not help but
think "one day, when I when the lottery..."

Of course, that's absurd. The odds of thats are nil.
Especially considering that I don't play the lottery.
Still, the thought remains. Because it is comforting.
Because it warps my perception of reality in a way
that makes it more bearable to me.

That's stupid and it is human.

It is also something that I see in people every day.
Not just pertaining material desires. It's far more
common in the "deeper" matters of life. Life, death,
love, hate, fate... Self-deceit rules the world. A man
is mistreating his wife, but she stays with him
because she clings to the thought that he'll change.
Business is down, but the boss keeps going like be-
fore because the market will probably recover. A
woman is diagnosed with a deadly disease, but she
just prays to get better.

Praying. Belief. Religion. The biggest deceit of all. It
is something the people uphold even in the face of all
the science in the world. And why ? Because it is so
damn comforting.

Evolution has programmed us to avoid death at
all cost, but our damn brains have grown to an
uncomfortable capacity. We now know that sooner
or later, we will die. And we can't stand that thought.
It goes against our prime instinct. The solution that
our poor, confused species has found for this dilemma
is simple: We made up a life after life. We don't really
end ! We just go on to the next place. It doesn't get
simpler than this, and it could hardly get any more
absurd. And this is the way we, as a species, seem
to approach all uncomfortable realities. We can
change everything if we just belief hard enough.
And what when things go wrong, after all ? 

The ways of the lord are mysterious.


Even in the face of evidence to the contrary, belief
prevails. It empowers. And power is something that
is hard to give up.
We made god because we want to be god.
We want to have control over all things.

Guess what ? We'll never have it. And the sooner we
can accept that, the easier it will be to deal with the
things we actually can do something about.