Cogito ergo sum: a product of humanity, as are we all

As a response to Eric "the Anonymous":

First and foremost we will always be a part of Nature. This is referring to Nature not simply as instinct, flora/fauna, etc., but the phenomenon of the physical world collectively. This means all things that can be perceived are nature, no matter how synthetic they appear.

By taking everything as phenomenon, one must accept that all in reality is of Nature and that nothing is inseparable from it. Even when a person is in the most manmade of settings they are still fully and completely in Nature, because Nature makes up all that is and known in real life. Being in a human body makes one an animal, as an animal we are of Nature inherently and always.

The day one grows up is the day they realize everything is an illusion. One created by the mind for our own good, for our survival as an animal, at least. This growing up requires a complete surrendering of security. A full letting go. One must give up all they hold dear, un-grasp their clenched hands and accept all things, good, bad, and neutral. That person must give up: Security through money. Security through language. Security through government. Security through self. Security from believing that anything they know is true. The continuous goal of humanity and all creatures is security. Security in a chaotic universe is a wonderful thing, but one is never truly secure, and this is where the problem begins.

So let’s go back… to birth.

When was it that we felt the most secure? It was when we were in our mother’s womb. We felt complete warmth, complete protection, complete contentment. The outside world was far away, all things were provided, and we had not a worry in the world. Then we were thrown out. Out we flew! In seconds we went from complete creature comfort into the world. And there it was in all its cruel glory. Doctors with cold metal objects, bright lights, talking in a language we’d never heard, in voices we couldn’t comprehend. All was new. The counters, the instruments, the ceiling, the floor, the door, the peering eyes. We had been born, a new member of the human race. It was the first day of the rest of our lives on planet Earth. Of course we were too caught up in the moment to realize this. What were these hands and these arms attached to us, once hidden in the darkness of the womb but finally visible by the medical lights above? And what happened to that warmth we’d cherished for an eternity (9 months in human reality)? It was gone and we were left bare and naked, small and ignorant, to live or to die on the drawing room floor.

And so we learned. From the moment we popped out we learned. We don’t know why we did it – it was simply instinct – but we learned, nevertheless. We learned gravity and then touch. Walking and then language. Like a seed blasting upward, we looked up and imitated, absorbed everything. And for what? For survival, in hopes that that said survival would bring the security we’d found in a time drifting further and further off, our former home that is no longer. Religion, money, government, the notions of good and bad, the notion of self and the ego are all born from one large goal: security. A desire to feel the security we did in our first nine months. Drugs, sex, rock and roll… it can all be traced back to that one simple thing.

Advertisers promise it, employers promise it, the government promises it, religion promises it, money promises it, technology promises it, the justice system promises it, knowledge promises it. Nearly every single incentive is born from this notion of finding contentment and control. But there’s one problem: security doesn’t exist and never will. In a universe where entire planets can be absorbed by a black hole in a second, on an Earth where militaries hold the power to obliterate everything we know, in a body that can go haywire at any second, we are never safe. Life is chance. An animal play by play.

Human beings are very much animals. Humans are animals to the core. We’ve simply disguised our motives so beautifully so as to forget our lack of security, that we’ve thought ourselves something better, something above, something… divine. Humans are the most intelligent species on Earth, there’s no disputing that, but we are no less animalistic than the most beastly of beasts. At heart we are our ancestors. As we sit around the T.V., we are cavemen sitting in caves around a fire.

Food: Humans eat like every other species. Sure we don’t graze in fields or chase down animals for food (usually), but in the end we must consume to survive. And in that consuming we find security, another day to live. We have disguised this primitive aspect of ourselves greatly, though. From fast food restaurants to supermarkets, from diners to 5-star brasseries, we have completely separated ourselves from what food truly is. Food has become a pleasure, something to do, an opportunity to socialize, etc., but it is simply one of the most primitive aspects of being an animal. Take lunch away from someone for one afternoon and they’ll complain about being hungry the rest of the day. They’ll demand and suggest food because of that aching phenomenon in their stomach. We’ve turned hunger into a word, food into a thing. In reality hunger is impossible to define and food is survival. We treat it as an art or a profession because admitting it was something far greater would remind us of the brutal fact we’re in a mortal body that must constantly feed like a parasite off a flourishing planet to survive.

Sex: Is everywhere. On magazine covers, on T.V., on the internet, in movies, in books, in art… all forms of media. And once again we’ve de-animalized ourselves from it. By this I don’t mean that people don’t admit that it’s an animal instinct that they feel the need to act on, but that through colloquial language and culture we have turned it into something entirely different than what it actually is. Human beings don’t look at the big picture. We’ve created a sort of pseudo-synthetic culture out of sex. We’ve accepted it as inevitable, as innate, but we’ve never truly come to terms with the fact that the only reason it exists, the only reason there is desire, etc. is because we are mortal, because in our animal minds we must procreate ASAP for reasons we can’t know for sure. By phenomenon; By nature. All we know is we must. It is nature. We are animals. And animals are always at nature’s whim. Sex is there and we act on it, because we are animals, because we are not above it, but of it. Posters on walls of supermodels aren’t posters on walls of supermodels, they’re pieces of printed paper with an animal on it, worshiped by another animal that sees that other animal as the ultimate means of survival, of all that makes up what is, a necessary component to continuing life, consciously and subconsciously.

Shelter: We live in it and we give it names: “home sweet home,” apartment complex, projects, dorm room. In reality they are feebly built natural structures a few levels above the Neanderthal’s cave. They have a lifetime (if lucky) of about 75 or so odd years and then they fall down, or are demolished. We need them to survive yet once again we completely distort the reality of what they are. They become a place we frequent instead of a place necessary for our comfort and ultimate survival. We believe we’ve evolved and come somewhere over all these years, but we’ve come nowhere, we’re still using the Earth – Nature – and thus haven’t made it very far at all. In making them our places of fixation and comfort, we separate ourselves from Nature, but we don’t rise ourselves above it. It is true that living in the woods doesn’t make much sense when we live in a world where we’ve created such rich/comfortable artificial habitats, but I have a feeling we’d feel much closer to Earth, a lot less artificial and nearer to what we truly are if we did live there.

…The list goes on and on, but the simple message is: mankind, through its own creation (government, borders/countries, language, economies, etc., etc., etc.) has created a completely artificial world that is present in every single individual mind, as well as the collective mind-whole that makes up the entire human race. Even physically, the human world is visible all around us, we’ve made the blueprints for a world entirely different from how it was originally presented to us. However, we are still entirely of it, everything we can touch came from Earth, we are made of Earth, entirely and completely. We manipulate it, but if we manipulate it enough, it will destroy us.

And this is where security comes into play again. Our mind seeks survival and in doing so has created a human world that constantly seeks to depersonalize us from what we truly are. Many people claim to know that they are mortal, that they are completely of Earth, natural, organic… but do they truly realize it? I’d say less than one percent of the world truly is aware of their mortality, especially in the Western World. Our minds have created a society that constantly seeks to make us believe in forever, in security.

Promise after promise in the end will not fix the fact that we are all going to be dead in 100 years, that we are simply paving the way for a future generations that will also be dead in 100 years after that and so on and so on. Human beings are not above animals. We have evolved more, at least with regards to intellect, but we are not above. This is a truth. But ask most people and they’d disagree. Why? Because we’ve created a world where we’ve inflated our own importance, where we’ve made ourselves believe that there’s a heaven waiting for us and nothing else on the planet, that our art holds higher significance and is important, that sports games actually matter, that we are unique. That being able to manipulate the world, to destroy it, to kill off its animals and plunder its land means that we are above it. That somehow our intellect makes us superior. But who are we to judge that intellect is what makes a species tried-and-true? Who are we to claim or dominion? We are no more beautiful than a butterfly and its colors. We are no more unique than a dog with all its shades and markings. We are no more powerful than an ant that can carry 50 times its weight, no more mighty than a bird that can fly miles into the sky. We believe we are, because we seek purpose in our lives, because we like to think we’re here for something more. That we mean something. But we don’t. We are beautiful. We are unique. We are powerful. And we are mighty. But we are not above Nature. We are not above other animals. Our minds have told us so, but our minds have deceived us. We’re on an ego trip that’s going to send us crashing down eventually.

Human beings want to believe that the human race is something special, but it is not. We cannot truly understand the social compounds of other species, we can never truly understand what it all means, and yet we think ourselves above it. We think because we can send a plane from continent to continent we’re worth something. But were has it really gotten us? What have governments brought us except war, separation, and death? On top of that very few truly democratic governments exist, most are owned by the rich and by the powerful, not by the people (U.S. included). What has money brought us except luxury for some and complete poverty for others? And what is luxury but temporary security and satisfaction? Language is a great thing, it helps us to communicate and is essential, but it too has harmed us. It has separated us from what we truly are. Most animals live much shorter lives than us, but in those lives they live 10 times longer, because they’re not caught up in numbers and words, worries and superficialities. Humans will destroy themselves through their own institutions, through their own farfetched inventions and ideas that promise them everything but deliver them nothing… in the end, that is, when they’re six feet under. Ask a dead man what years of investing in this and that does for him now.

We are not above other species, but we do have a strong power to reason. And what does this mean? It means that even though such things as ownership and competition are natural, so are feelings of injustice and offense. I’m not simply asking us to shed these things as a country or a community, but as a world, because these things are unfair in the current human structure on our planet. The money system and the current economic set up of the Earth were not developed “naturally” or by some process of evolution. Some places/countries/people were simply at the right place at the right time and had manipulation and power on their side. And now others are paying for this while they soak up the benefits. Why is it that a factory worker puts out 10 times as much physical exertion as say, a CEO, yet gets paid 10 times less money, possibly even less? How is it that a sweatshop worker in Bangladesh makes 10 cents an hour and will never travel outside of her home country, and yet a T.V. show host wearing the clothing she made makes loads of cash traveling the world for a show where he gorges on food and bears a wave and a smile (no offense Andrew Zimmern)? That is not natural, or reflective of some sort of evolutionary imparity, it is the creation of the human mind, and it is wrong, it does not work in accordance with Nature.

There is one thing that seems to think itself better than Nature, and that is the human mind. The human mind is wrong. Want to know the meaning of life? It is this: the human mind is wrong. Wrong. In Nature he who works the hardest gets the most. Everything is of nature, but if anything isn’t, it’s the human mind, the things man creates are of Nature, but those ideas are something flimsy and deceptive. They have the power to form something powerfully beautiful, but are often used to satisfy brutal, animalistic aims. Only Nature is perfect, man seeks to emulate Nature in this respect and by his own devices, but he has forgotten that he is of it, that he cannot create something apart from it that will work effectively. Only it works effectively. And nature knows not capitalism or communism, nation or border, law or currency, language or numbers. Nature knows only harmony and the current system is anything but harmonious. It will fail, and we could take the easy way out and accept this, or we could realize and embrace our potential and live by Nature, harmoniously with it and of it. There needs to be no creating of systems. Embrace Nature and learn from it and equality, justice, and harmony will follow. Guaranteed. There is a reason mankind suffers greatly today. It has always suffered, but there’s a new sense of isolation and angst today, and it is because we’ve fallen to our own devices. Wealthy and fortunate people have an artificial happiness that is deeply rooted in denial. Why is it that depression is so common in the developed world? Poor and less fortunate people are living miserable lives, especially physically. Everyone seems to be unhappy in one way or another.

Ownership and competition are natural, but because man has the power to reason, because he has been given that evolutionary gift (remind you, he is still not above other animals, simply a step ahead if you will, for some good, but mostly bad; the strongest example of good being reason, bad, the mind), he has the ability to acknowledge ownership and competition but to also acknowledge giving and surrender. This can be seen in Nature. A tree gives. One animal surrenders a mate to another. We can learn from Nature, but we must not be led astray by our minds, we must accept reason, because mankind is the struggle between mind and reason. Mind is not natural. Reason is. Things are created in the mind that are completely absurd and have no relation to Nature. Reason, like conscience, is natural. Good and evil are simply these two things brought down to their metaphorical core. The human race can use its gifts of mind and reason towards good – where reason dominates mind – or towards bad – where mind dominates reason. Saying simply that the ills of today can be brushed off by accepting that it’s simply the will of evolution is giving in to the mind, it is accepting that reason is irrational, and that must never be accepted. We have the power to change this world. Whether it is by divine order, evolution, whatever, we will probably never know. All we do know is that our mind and our reason give us power. Now comes the question: do we use the two for a higher good, or for animal injustice?

Life may seem good, especially in the Western World, but on a global scale something is wrong.

Something is wrong with money if the majority of the world lives in poverty. The life expectancy in Japan is 81 years, yet in Swaziland it is 32 years. There is something wrong here. One could brush this off as simply natural selection or evolution, but that would be irresponsible. Why? Because as humans we are intelligent – we aren’t above Nature – but we are intelligent. We are intelligent enough to know of injustice and to feel indignation. Yet we are also selfish animals that seek only our own survival in the end. So we may say we care about the people of Swaziland, but in reality we could care less. Yesterday world hunger hit 1 billion (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8109698.stm). There are people relaxing on beaches, sipping martinis, living in penthouses, ripping their teeth into juicy meat with all the gusto in the world and yet 1 billion people are starving to death. We are of Nature, and it is something of Nature, our conscience, that tells us this is wrong. Yet why does it persist? Because we’re living in a world that has been created entirely wrong. If you read that BBC article you'll find that they blame the rapid rise in hunger on the current global financial crisis, which is the result of a failing system of money, debt, and credit. Our mind has created a money system that is vastly abhorrent. It may work – for some – but for billions (the large majority) it doesn’t. The problem? The rich minority runs things and could care less? Why?

Because it THINKS it has found SECURITY.

Back to security, what it all comes down to. That awful desire to be back in that comfort of the womb.

The rich people of this world (you, I, the Western World) have forgotten one simple thing – we’re all going to die. The televisions, the warm homes, the fine dining, the good education, the cars, the technology – everything – is going to eventually disappear completely, entirely, and forever – at least with respect to this earth and this life. And yet the disastrous system that we’ve created constantly tries to distract us from this unpleasant fact. So what do we do? We shiver warmly like cowards in our false-security and pretend the rest of the world doesn’t exist, while acknowledging with all our might that it does. It is only when we are willing to give up everything, when we are willing to go back to Nature, and accept our place in it, when we do away with the systems we so proudly proclaim are working (because denying so would be denying everything we’ve come to live for) will we find peace. Mankind must face the reality that is death and other inevitabilities in Nature before it can make the next leap to true security, which is security in the acceptance that there is no security, not artificial security which has bred government, the money system, religion, etc.

The world is a deeply troubled place. People talk of respect for cultures. I say to hell with them. It is culture that has us so deeply rooted in a past that is dead. People talk of respect for religions. I say to hell with them. Religion based on false promise is better gone. People talk of respect for institutions. I say to hell with them. We must constantly change our way of thinking… institutions seek to ground us, life is always flowing. People talk of respect for the government. I say to hell with it. Government is an illusion of security, we must build mutual respect so that governments are not necessary. People say we must respect the military. I say to hell with it. The military’s sole purpose is to kill, and murder is wrong, whatever the reason.

Respect each other, nature, and everything that positively connects the two, and life will eventually get better for every person in the world. It will take time to destroy the system we have, but if we live in the Present, time is on our side.

Most of all we must shed the notion of security. Government is not security. Military is not security. Home is not security. Norton Antivirus is not security. Break-in alarms are not security. Car alarms are not security. Traffic lights are not security. Channel 3 Investigates is not security. Airbags are not security. Money is not security. Laws are not security. Price sales are not security. Banks are not security. Guns are not security. Heart transplants are not security. Vaccines are not security. Prescriptions are not security. Mind is not security.

Only love, Nature, and humility breed any true security. Man has the ability to shed all else and accept these three. He is already of Nature, is already endowed with a conscience (love), all he must learn now is humility. To accept the fact he is mortal, that money doesn’t matter, that government doesn’t matter, that separation isn’t real. He must shed the illusion of his own importance for the acceptance of the collective whole, his ego, and all that he thinks he knows. Accept these and gap between love and Nature will be filled and the three will live in harmony. Mankind will live harmoniously through humility with love in Nature.

Security is an illusion. And no human will ever feel as safe as he did before being born. Those days are over and until each and every person accepts this and is willing to shed their perceived life and accept this notion our currently held worldwide false sense of security will persist, the mind will control, Nature will be distant, and mankind will be doomed. Earth is too good for this. Mankind is too good for this. And the interaction of the two is too beautiful a thing for it to end so soon. Sure it could come crashing down at any second, but then again, that’s what makes it all so damn beautiful. “And so castles made of sand fall in the sea, eventually.”