Thursday, September 12, 2013

Direction

Let's start with the sun. It creates all the energy we use on our planet. Sure, add background radiation; I guess. And, add the heat from the core; ok. All the energy.

Next, we have life on Earth, which, over time, works toward using all the energy in the most efficient manner possible.

Where do we fit in this pattern? Where does our consciousness fit?

A pattern of the universe is to become increasingly better at predicting itself. The beings that are better at prediction – predicting where food will be, or how to get food while saving energy, or how not to get hurt – are more likely to survive over time.

And, with chaos, the unpredictable, a species must be ready with different behaviors, conscious or not, to continually succeed, as a species, over time.

Where does this leave the individual person? His role is to survive, to increase the diversity of the group. But how should he survive? He could act naturally. He could question his nature, to consciously increase the diversity of the group. Or perhaps his natural way of being is enough for this purpose.

His consciousness has the ability to affect the behavior of the group, in the present and in the future – possibly for many generations. And what is his duty? Is it to make things the same, or different? Is it to increase complexity, to increase the diversity to a point where integration becomes necessary, while preserving the original diversity within the integrated group, at which point diversification becomes necessary once more, to increase complexity again?

At what point does our ability to predict the future cause the universe to become more unpredictable, and is there an end pattern, one of cyclical balance, eventually becoming a dance between prediction and chaos? This is a problem for our children, perhaps.

With our consciousness, the universe is experiencing itself. Our diversity of thought moves the universe toward experiencing itself in every possible way. What is our role in this, as individuals? With our energy, is it best to do what feels natural? Is the natural way the most efficient way of thinking?

As we learn the complexity of our subconscious minds and how we can shape our autonomous behavior, when do we purposefully move our consciousness out of our non-conscious way? Is it more efficient, over time, to purposefully question and disrupt the natural way of thought? And to what end? Is there a need for chaos in our thought process? How much chaos should exist within one individual?

What role does boredom play? Boredom feels undesirable, yet we need to predict our future, and as our ability to predict increases, so does our boredom. If we accept our boredom as our experience, are we doing the universe a disservice, content in the way things are, and thus more susceptible to death by chaos? If we reject our boredom, do we leave behind a wasteland of discarded projects and lives? Should we apply our boredom to improve what we have while keeping what we had?

The universe wants us to consider the long view – we can, after all. With age, this idea becomes dangerous for the conscious individual. What do we make of it? What are the roles of chaos and prediction? And in each moment, which do we choose? Do we choose? And is there a difference between each choice?

We have our morality, which was given to us by our ancestors, the ones who survived the droughts. We have different sensitivities. If one's sensitivities are too different, the group will limit the choices of the one. Does this limitation make a difference?

If one's writing becomes too strange, erring on the side of chaos and the unpredictable, will the writer be silenced by the group? Will the silence make a difference? Or will the writer silence himself?

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