A Brief Evaluation

Lately I had an interesting conversation with a friend. I was trying to let my thoughts and ambitions to come forth and debate upon them. A strange thing happened though; while summarizing my thoughts as always, a sudden twist in my perception, as if the strings were loosen and moved a bit further from the core, surfaced a kind of vanity in which I struggled to avoid.

Growing up to this day, and day by day for the last thirty years, and after so many efforts to get ahead in life I’ve come to realize that the average man lives for 75 years. The sum gives me a total of 45 years of remaining life; and so I asked myself, ‘What can I do in these remaining 45 years, how many things can I achieve, what do I want to achieve, there’s really not so much time’. The question seemed unexpectedly funny for some reason, even now when I think about it, I realize that I’ve never thought about anything that could last for such a long time period – although we all make plans for the future. I was 18 and people in their thirties seemed too old for me, now they don’t; and look how fast those twelve years have passed by and I am still looking for answers, locked in my tiny celled brain. It’s as if those moments never existed. The only clues of their existence are the emotions raised when I think of them but really, as I get older those emotions faint. So, what am I doing about it now?’ There are no particular reasons for having such thoughts, they just pop up when there’s a questioning of purpose and life path. In any case they’re disturbing and silly. It’s a part of a usual process called self-assertion. It happens at a point when one is able to view the world from afar, beneath their feet, below the mountains, as tiny figures wandering in the open fields as if they’re ants stocking for the winter.

The truth is that 45 years can be either too long or too short of a time. Too long when you lack of so called fundamentals, like dreams (people with no dreams don’t have much), ambitions and personal targets able to sustain youth’s high energy levels. As a result, the absence of the above turns one into passivity sucking us up in a world of standard procedures and repeated actions. Too short when you are balanced and able to enjoy what life has to offer. At this point time fly’s away and never affects the progress.

So, what are the main aspects one should acknowledge as important for further evaluation to re-approach and make something useful out of them?

Job for instance; we spend approximately 10 hours per day at our working environment, if one can’t enjoy those hours, there will be consequences; instead of being creative, energetic and generally a use the job as form of self-expression, we become inefficient, bored and slaves of own lives. Money, which is the main reason of getting a job, is able to soothe the consequences of not feeling fulfilled. It’s as if we accept paying the price physically and emotionally to compensate for our inability to do what we are ‘destined’ to do.

Why should we keep being accountable to others (employers) if there is no personal satisfaction?

It’s not so bad being accountable to others. After all, we can’t have and be everything but I would love to wake up one morning in a positive working mood and smiley for having to do so, and maintain those feelings until it’s time to go to bed; instead my morning reactions –especially on Mondays- are between bursting out in tears or giving in my resignation (which is absolutely not a bad idea).

I often feel that within the working environment humanity is lost and we think in numbers and charts, cursing against soulless objects, fighting with cranky people. There is no real communication, no contact, no understanding and no respect. I have no suggestions however. A lot of people I know have a good and enjoyable work to do, so I guess I must be doing something wrong. Nevertheless, each and everyone are working towards their own goals irrespective of the goal’s superficiality and flatness.

Friends; we can’t be socially isolated with no consequences to our health and prosperity; we need people to share moments. A familiar voice, a gentle touch, a warm smile and a feeling of affection will always be able to resist the negatives sides of life when they occur, and have the power to give strength and confidence to the individual. Well-connected people do live longer, happier lives.

Love; we seek love from the day we were born; love is warm and its warmth an incentive to help others, as the one thing able to provide a deep connection with the people around us. Unfortunately, not all of us can see this connection to others until some kind crisis suddenly appears, but when it does,’ this psychological crisis represents the breakthrough of a metaphysical realization, which is that you and that other are two aspects of the one life and our apparent separateness is but an effect of the way we experience forms under the condition of space and time’ (The Power of Myth with Bill Moyers, by Joseph Campbell). As such, our true reality is in our identity and unity with all life which is according to Schopenhauer the truth of our life; as such our unity with all life needs love at its foundations. The concept of love - your neighbor - is to put us in tune with the realization of this fact.

Additionally, love in its various forms acts as a major facilitator for interpersonal relationships and the basic ingredient of commitments such as marriage and children. Family is the greatest creation anyone can reach up to –it doesn’t require special knowledge or skills (it requires for other things but that’s beyond the current subject) but it does require this basic ingredient.

Regardless of the opportunities one may have had in his life, men have always struggled to learn, achieve or gain something of importance to oneself. Through this progress there’s a chance for us to realize that being calm in heart and spirit in an event sequence called life path and acknowledge our part and unity in the order of things, offers a feeling of security and sovereignty in the way we live and take decisions. Of course, I’m not writing something new here. Most have probably read about spirituality and transcended religions, positive thoughts and theories of mere existence and development. As a friend once said, when things go wrong we tend to believe that metaphysics and religion can give answers and solutions to problems that require only of our own intervention in a suitable manner. Difficult situations may sometimes appear to have simple solutions but we forget, we ignore their composing complexities and that’s because we are going through periods when the spirit is concentrated, the energies are focused, the mind is balanced and the wallet is full.

I’ve been told a few times I am a fool to believe that anything beyond proof can do any good in my life. I happen to disagree. All around me, I notice symbols; I see connections and references that mean something to me, random events that affect me in a positive or a negative way. One decision leads to another, one event to another and at some point everything unfolds like a chain reaction bringing into light what was once smothering under the moonlight.

I’ve been on a road trip with a dear friend a month or so ago and from the time we headed ourselves in the highway everything seemed to be in their rightful place and in perfect perspective. The surroundings, the woods and the blue skies, the sun shining and just accepting the fact that everything was where it was supposed to be was enough to soothe mind and soul. We were tuned all the way to our final stop (a lot of noise, cars, etc) which reminded me of the contemporary world we live in that is preoccupied with noise, expectations, hard work and unhealthy environments.

There is no recipe for achievement. We do what we wish within the limits of our imagination and the boundaries of common sense.

On my part, from my experience, I can only say that through time we find the necessary tools in our way and acquire a sense of duty-call able to provide the strength to proceed. There is a reason why most people enjoy beautiful sceneries in the woods or at the sea or a beautiful sunset, sundown at the beach or at an exotic island and others prefer the life of the busiest capital in the world.

So where do we start from? Which is the one aspect most dreadfully handled so far?
Which of the above (there are more) has room for development and what can we do about it?
Are we ready to sacrifice our luxurious life to tip the scales on our half?