It occurred to me the other day that much of the discourse in this Vivaldi blog revolves around the idea that dramatic worldwide, near-term, social change will be required to deal with potentially lethal issues that confront us in the 21st Century. Now, one of the main advantages of getting old is that you have a vast vista of personal time from which you can data-mine your experiences. You obtain a perspective that is available in no other way. So, being ‘experienced’, I’ve been hurtling invective and making rude observations from my high moral ground, and I suspect some of my readers think I’m an American elitist. Frequently, it is a valid observation, although I do my best not to spend much time looking in the mirror. Managing one’s ego is a full-time job, and I’m very lucky to have been born in this country.
Be that as it may, I wonder if this blog is worth the effort. Even if many of my premises prove to be valid, can anything I say or do truly motivate change? Does my vote count? Do I really matter? Now, there is the fundamental issue: If I don’t matter, how can anything external to my mind/body matter? This leads to a sort of ugly hubris, a psoriasis of the brain, and impedes any effort to take action on issues of ‘importance’. Worse, it leads to morbid speculation about the nature of the personality.
Well, I’m here to tell you that it is a scientific fact that you are a unique individual in the universe of humans. Since the beginning of time, through all the generations, there has been no one exactly like you. Your gifts, talents, quirks and interests are uniquely yours. How can I say this so confidently? Because Carl Sagan put the issue to rest in his book ‘The Dragons of Eden’. In it, Sagan made some simple calculations that showed that the sum total of possible neural wiring schemes in the human brain exceeded by orders of magnitude, the sum total of sub-atomic particles in the known universe. Now, that’s a big number. In the 1,000 or so generations of Homo Sapiens, we have tapped far less than 1% of the possible variations as individuals.
So, if you’re unique, then your existence has significance. No one will ever again have your thoughts and ideas, or feel your emotions. Sure, you’re still an electro-chemical event, but its characteristics are uniquely yours. As much as any other electro-chemical event in the universe matters, so do you.
If you find the forgoing logic appealing, then you must admit that individual action and behavior aggregates into social movement and can therefore cause change. You do make a difference, and what you do, or refuse to do, matters. If you can convince yourself that your personal, individual existence is worthwhile, then you have the power to effect change, or reinforce the status quo. Do nothing or do something. Either way, you’ve made a choice.
For me, I chose to buy a new car this week, and I plan to break it in by driving down to my favorite place to regain much needed humility and get away from civilization for a few days:
Southern Utah’s Colorado Plateau
Ironically, your thoughts parallel some of my recent ones. I’m 72, so I have a long perspective of what works and what doesn’t work. Invectives don’t work. Kindness often does. This week, I let go of the things about which I can do nothing: the news, Twitter, angry blogs. Back to basics: write, think, look for inspirational places and people, then write some more. I was an alcoholic for a long time. One day, I put that away. It was hard, but I did it. I expect that laying aside things about which I can do nothing will be hard, too. But I will do it because it’s the right thing to do.
Best of luck on your adventures. Thank you for your inspirational thoughts.
Hi, liam, thanks for your visit to my blog, and your kind and thoughtful remarks. I will be 74 next month, and I know exactly where you are coming from (lots of water under the bridge, etc.) I think that the best thing we can do is to take comfort from surviving the hard lessons of life, and to pass along valuable insights to those who are starting out on the journey of adulthood. This is the best kind of ‘giving back’.
Agree! You know, in so many ways, we’re so very lucky. If I were 27, I wouldn’t know what lies ahead. But at 72, I know one thing with certainty that younger people can’t know: I will live to be 72.
It’s good to talk to someone who understands the value of age. Thank you again.
Thanks, liam, and thanks for the offer of friendship! 🙂