(no subject)
On my bike ride today I decided I believe in an historical imperative. Basically, the future is set by the past and nothing we do can change it in significant ways (unless you can singlehandly prevent nuclear war and thus the eradiction of history, and i don't know if even one person can affect this for long enough). Everything that happens to HISTORY is the result of probability. There are so many people and organisms that someone, even a person that historians look back on and say "(s)he changed the world", is simply the result of the circumstances that they grew up in. For example, the founders of the United States were simply the ones who had the ability to state a grievance that was felt by many. There would, given the number and sophistication of the people in the "New World", have been enough people to incite the rebellion. We now say that Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and others were pivotal to the rebellion. BUT THEY WERE DESTINED to be there! Maybe not the people with those specific names, but there would be people who filled their roles!
This is an incredibly interesting and powerful theory, and may have some elements of nihilism in it. However, I believe that it is still very optimistic in the fact that while HISTORY is basically unchangeable, the lives of INDIVIDUALS are all relatively random! That means we CAN control and affect elements that make up our lives. These lives will be buffeted by the forces of history, but, like a particle in a chemical system, we can't guarantee how any individual particle will move.
The end result of this is that we can focus on improving the lives around us and living our own life to it's fullest instead of worrying about trying to change the whole flow of history. So go out, have fun, and BE A GOOD PERSON! You CAN affect the people around you and make a difference in your immediate surroundings.
This is an incredibly interesting and powerful theory, and may have some elements of nihilism in it. However, I believe that it is still very optimistic in the fact that while HISTORY is basically unchangeable, the lives of INDIVIDUALS are all relatively random! That means we CAN control and affect elements that make up our lives. These lives will be buffeted by the forces of history, but, like a particle in a chemical system, we can't guarantee how any individual particle will move.
The end result of this is that we can focus on improving the lives around us and living our own life to it's fullest instead of worrying about trying to change the whole flow of history. So go out, have fun, and BE A GOOD PERSON! You CAN affect the people around you and make a difference in your immediate surroundings.