(no subject)
This is an experiment, wherein the first thing I do when I roll out of bed is do some writing: specifically, a dialogue between the weirder function-wholes of my understanding. I give them a thing to talk about, and theoretically they will do so. Sometimes they may say the same thing. They will more often have different valuations.
That's the fun part. I'm liable to revisit a thing so whatever happens happens.
why are we here?
D:
It's said that in the very beginning, the Great Emptiness-- a notion that both has and does not have form, that has and does not have mass, or volition, or spirit, or that does not even exist as we understand how things exist-- for a timeless duration. Then, for whatever reason, the Emptiness became Yang and Yin, positive and negative, flowings-towards and receptive, giving and answering, and from there became the five elemental states, in the process creating the world and cosmos we know. Through the processes that Yin and Yang and the five elemental states gave rise to, myriad beings took shape, leading to the rise of humans as... well, not the noblest, but certainly one of the stranger, more contrived beings.
Humanity is not particularly special in our origins. We are one of a thousand billion possible shapes: socially, physically, and psychologically, the end result of processes that have been working since the beginning of time. We are, perhaps, unique in our ability to screw things up-- the way our heads work constructs egotic tendencies, and the notion that we are somehow separate from and thus can master the world. The energy/spirit/meaning flows that Yin and Yang/the Phases started are still existent, still have purpose; the euphemism about sand slipping through one's fingers as one grips harder on the handful retains relevancy.
But what is the purpose of human beings? Why were we made? Put that thought out of your mind-- it will not help you understand. Asking questions as to human purpose is to attribute human values on the cosmos. Human beings were not made; conditions were such that the species and its ancestors came to being. Conditions are likely to be such at some point in the future-- provided we don't contrive something else-- that we are eventually flicker out.
All things that are born shall die. There is no shame in this, nor is this thought meant to be a source of despair-- for human suffering will cease to be when humans do, and we do a whole lot of suffering. We came into being through no great cosmic achievement effort of our own; these bodies and minds are borrowed, without lasting substance in and of themselves, so why contrive a forever-after existence for them?
Ask not of human purpose. Ask of human function. And be prepared to hear strange answers.
That's the fun part. I'm liable to revisit a thing so whatever happens happens.
why are we here?
D:
It's said that in the very beginning, the Great Emptiness-- a notion that both has and does not have form, that has and does not have mass, or volition, or spirit, or that does not even exist as we understand how things exist-- for a timeless duration. Then, for whatever reason, the Emptiness became Yang and Yin, positive and negative, flowings-towards and receptive, giving and answering, and from there became the five elemental states, in the process creating the world and cosmos we know. Through the processes that Yin and Yang and the five elemental states gave rise to, myriad beings took shape, leading to the rise of humans as... well, not the noblest, but certainly one of the stranger, more contrived beings.
Humanity is not particularly special in our origins. We are one of a thousand billion possible shapes: socially, physically, and psychologically, the end result of processes that have been working since the beginning of time. We are, perhaps, unique in our ability to screw things up-- the way our heads work constructs egotic tendencies, and the notion that we are somehow separate from and thus can master the world. The energy/spirit/meaning flows that Yin and Yang/the Phases started are still existent, still have purpose; the euphemism about sand slipping through one's fingers as one grips harder on the handful retains relevancy.
But what is the purpose of human beings? Why were we made? Put that thought out of your mind-- it will not help you understand. Asking questions as to human purpose is to attribute human values on the cosmos. Human beings were not made; conditions were such that the species and its ancestors came to being. Conditions are likely to be such at some point in the future-- provided we don't contrive something else-- that we are eventually flicker out.
All things that are born shall die. There is no shame in this, nor is this thought meant to be a source of despair-- for human suffering will cease to be when humans do, and we do a whole lot of suffering. We came into being through no great cosmic achievement effort of our own; these bodies and minds are borrowed, without lasting substance in and of themselves, so why contrive a forever-after existence for them?
Ask not of human purpose. Ask of human function. And be prepared to hear strange answers.