OUR HISTORY and THE LAST WHY

from incredible conception to credible collapse

Apparently before the beginning there was a void. About 14 billion years ago we think there was a “big bang” that created the material of the universe. From it some time later Nature began conceiving and filling the earth with life. One conception was the ‘fetus’ of humanity. Like all conceptions our predecessors were inspired to reach out to the limits of their capacities, to others and to Nature’s God. They continued this natural activity exclusively until about 200,000 years ago. With it they created our present physical form, acquired natural knowledge and realized the level of mental capacity that, according to one bit of creative nonfiction, enabled ‘Eve’ to ask “Why am I?”, the question of meaning that gave birth to humanity. ‘Adam’ didn’t know the answer, and instinctively fearing the unknown he reacted by making up a response with which he tried to fill the void, the first bit of unnatural activity added to our existence. His reaction failed but ‘Adam’ did discover there is no answer so even though “Why am I?” was the first why, it will also be “the last why”.

Despite the massive amount of knowledge acquired over the millennia, accepting the  void can’t be filled requires another increase in mental capacity humanity has not yet realized. So the fear of the void remains, but not unchanged. When ‘Adam’ discovered it, the void was the size of, and in evoking fear, had the effect of a pinhole. But by nature his successors continued to question and as facts diminished the number of physical unknowns around the void, this metaphysical unknown seemed to increase in size and effect from a pinhole to a black hole. Hence, fear of it and reaction to the void increased accordingly.

For most of our history ‘Adam’s’ successors continued trying to fill the void. But rather than starting with the first why, each succeeding generation inherited their parents’ why of life which they lived without question until, if ever, they lost an aspect of it and unwittingly discovered what they lost was part of a try to fill the void. When they felt the “hole in their life” they mostly reacted by intensifying old responses. They also made up new beliefs and unnatural activities or converted to the beliefs and unnatural activities of others. More recently and to a lesser extent one of our ancestors decided “giving up”, which is unnatural inactivity, could be a third reaction to the void.

Each increase in unnatural activity or unnatural inactivity added to life decreased by that amount inherited natural activity and thus was created our increasingly complex existence. Figuratively, our natural activity is ‘white’. It discovers natural knowledge, generates inspiration, is self-creative, apparently ideal, and essential. It is our common natural human right. Being its opposite, unnatural activity is ‘black’, creates artificial knowledge, suppresses inspiration, is actively self-destructive, the antithesis of ideal and optional. It is an individual, unnatural human right. Though also opposite to natural activity, unnatural inactivity is colourless, creates nothing, drains inspiration is passively self-destructive, the antithesis of ideal and optional. It too is an individual, unnatural human right. 

One of us can’t engage in entirely natural activity unless we all engage in natural activity because it requires “reaching out to others…” Nor can we engage in exclusively unnatural activity or inactivity since both are self-destructive. As noted though, we blend in a fixed amount a measure of natural activity with a complementary measure of either unnatural activity or inactivity, meaning the more natural the less unnatural or conversely.

I locate our blends on a vertical continuum of activity that ranges from a blend of almost completely natural activity and its unnatural complement at the top, to a blend of almost no natural activity and its unnatural complement at the bottom. Since our natural activities are ‘white’, our unnatural activities are ‘black’ and our unnatural inactivity is ‘colourless’, our blends of natural and unnatural activity can range in colour from just off white at the top of the continuum through shades of grey to almost completely black at the bottom; or our blends of natural activity and unnatural inactivity can range in colour from just off white at the top to colourless at the bottom

If we could engage in exclusively natural activity there would be complete peace within us. Since our capacities are unique, with natural activity we “reach out to our limits” along parallel lines, so there would be peace between us. And when engaging in natural activity we’d be at peace with Nature’s God. Unnatural activities conflict, and both unnatural activity and inactivity conflict with natural activity. So to the extent we replace the natural activity in our blend with either unnatural activity or inactivity we create conflict within us, between us and with Nature’s God; we change their colour from white to black or white to colourless, and their location on their continuum from top to bottom.                

Our individual blends of activities combine to form the resultant blend of humanity and place it on the same vertical continuum. Since inactivity is colourless, by our choices and addition, the resultant activity of humanity can only be any shade of grey between the ‘white’ of self-creation and life at the top, and the ‘black’ of total self-destruction and death at the bottom. At the birth of humanity the resultant blend of activities was figuratively just off white. Judging by all levels of conflict between us and the complementary scarcity of peace that now characterizes our existence, and our increasing conflict with Nature that is changing Her life sustaining climate, we have clearly become an extremely dark shade of grey that is getting darker every day. 

Our situation is obviously grim. The good news is it’s not black yet. Though we can't quit asking the last why, for wondering is natural activity, we can choose to accept the void can't be filled. With this expanded realized mental capacity we can simplify our existence by emptying the void of money and the life it buys; religious/philosophical responses; drugs, sex, games, food and other anesthetics; information overload; love; family; jobs; preeminence and all combinations. When freed from unnatural activity we will be left with our inherited, self-creative, inspiring, natural activity that we might find is the answer to “Why am I?” and thus the ideal reaction to the void. 

The bad news is we’re quickly running out of time. A growing resource deficit; an increasing, unsustainable population; a degrading environment; a fatally changing climate; conflicts of all degrees and definitions, and the rest of the existential risks we have created with our unnatural activity, are closing in on us at an accelerating rate. To diminish the risks we must change the course of our history by ending our self-destructive, unnatural activity and inactivity and replacing them with our self-creative, natural activity. There won’t be anyone to care if we don’t change directions and soon complete what will be our self-destruction. Until then however, it will be the measure of our artificial intelligence that we let our unnatural reaction to nothing destroy everything.

AGE of ASININITY (rhymed reason)
ABORTION (rhymed reason)
ANALYZING CONFLICT (rhymed reason)
NATURE’S NUTRITIONAL IDEAL (reasoned prose)
RACISM (rhymed reason)
COVID-19 vie er US (rhymed reason)
ARRESTING CLIMATE CHANGE (rhymed reason)
KNOWLEDGE and ESSENTIAL FACTS (rhymed reason)
CLIMATE BREAKDOWN (rhymed reason)
LIFE: a reaction to the void (rhymed reason)
DEMOCRACY: the death of us (rhymed reason)
ECONOMY (rhymed reason)
THE LAST WHY: the poem (rhymed reason)
DEMOCRACY: a debacle (rhymed reason)
AGE of ENTERTAINMENT (rhymed reason)
DONALD TRUMP (rhymed reason)
MY POETRY (rhymed reason)
TOGETHER (rhymed reason)
LAW of HUMAN NATURE (rhymed reason)
ALCOHOL, DRUGS, SEX and other anesthetics (rhymed reason)
RELIGION (rhymed reason)
SEX (rhymed reason)
AFTERLIFE (rhymed reason)
HAPPINESS (rhymed reason)
ALONE: an anthem for humanity (rhymed reason)
WAR on PEACE (rhymed reason)
SOLDIER’S LAMENT (rhymed reason)
LOVE