Midlife Concordance

 MIDLIFE CONCORDANCE

"cuz when you know that you know... then you KNOW that you kno-ow-that-you know..."
     - Lydia Baik

"Song without a reason / cure without a cure / balance in the season / you gave me, only"
     - Smile

"Smokey, mark it zero or you're entering a WORLD OF PAIN." - Walter

    I feel like I have to write this down.  Curiosity killed the cat and whatnot.  The download is so clear to me now.  Like, if I ever forget, all I have to do is open this box.  This anti-pandora vessel of a lovely existence.  Free of so much trouble, chaos, risk, and yes unnecessary reward.  This is a mild resignation.  The world does not need another tortured genius.

Strange.  It's like I already know.  Why would this philosophical lockbox ever come into play.  But all the same, I will continue with this exercise.  There is no point in "trying to not try."  No, I'm not scapegoating curiosity in general.  Knowledge is power, yes?  Sure, why not.  But limitless knowledge IS NOT infinite power.  Power is finite.  Knowledge is limited.  So, one feature of this box of healing is this: the sum of human knowledge, the aphex and periphery of our development... is where cultural development is.  You cannot escape the *enclosed* atmosphere of progress.  The sky IS the limit.  Think about the human "race" and realize that you don't have to run it.  You can live peace-ably in the nearby stadium.  In the audience. 

Development will happen.  Yes, of course!  You are not quitting.  You are just ceasing the detrimental comparison to all-that-exists.  Finding a secret passageway to societal evolution is paramount to getting "the golden ticket" from Willy Wonka's.  It's one in a million.  One in a zillion! (So, but... we're all actively looking right?!  We're all buying those lotto tickets hoping to be the astronomical winner... um, right...? )  But think about this... it is a meta-reward.  Cuz this: the mere MIRACLE of existence.  Realize the insanity here.  It's so funny, you'd best know not to laugh at it, or you'll end your life with the laughing... you won't be able to stop.

It's tantamount to a crazy person who has the winning ticket in hand, but instead of cashing it, keeps buying more tickets.  It's that simple.

DO YOU SEE THE ABSURDITY???  THE IGNORANCE of THANKLESS DESIRE?!  OF HOPING against HAVING?!!!

But let's unfold it a bit more anyways.  This is a true statement:

HUMAN EXISTENCE in the 21st century of A.D. christian human history: it's a winning ticket. 

And it is the soupstock of the human comedy.  If you can realize it, like many a wildly wayward genius has (and has more-or-less tried to communicate to the rapt if confused populace) ...if you can get this download not just into your mind's eye and your brain's architecture, but into the living infrastructure of your miraculous (and astronomically unlikely) existence... of our constantly benificial activity of this glorious homo sapien lifespan...  If you can make this KNOWLEDGE your heart game.  You win.  
It's not giving up.  But it is a form of resignation worthy of some kind of dramatic DIAGNOSIS.  We should all have this basic knowledge.  Coming to it is beautiful, but only insofar as holding it and keeping it, and using it, is dramatically elegant.  More than beauty.  And just a pinch of tragedy (as in all comedies) because...

The Human Comedy.  All of our collective efforts to save ourselves from ourselves.  The vain desparation that happens on a global scale is just flat out ridiculous.  War and industrial competition and even that existentially creative drive ... they are all cheating us from the basic knowledge of the simple goodness of human existence.  The buddhists teach this.  And yet again: of the immediately accessible GRANDEUR of modern existence.  It is a winning ticket.  You and I have it.  Every successful First Worlder living above the poverty line has a Quality-of-Life that rivals the Kings and Queens of nations just one or two centuries ago.  To say the least about a few thousand years.  We've been around for the blink of an eye, relative to life itself, and things are just beginning to get good.

If you and I can realize this DEEPLY... and move forward SLOWLY... there is no reason why every tomorrow can't be just a little bit better than every yesterday.  And a life lived on the edge of history can't be, in sum, just the best little life any of us could possibly have imagined or asked for.   

...and if that's not enough, we can try to love each other and help one another.  Because some of us don't realize it.  And unfortunately, others might even have "real problems" ...

(the ones that are the hardest keep us from sharing with each other what those are.  I read that on a meme and I believe it.  Please pardon this chaotic post.  I still believe in radical sharing.  But let's also be gentle with one another.  This is life.  Sometimes it is good; sometimes it's difficult.  But it's worth it, I swear.)