Truth Decay

Sometimes it seems as though the world is on fire, and nobody is paying attention. It’s awfully hard to blame people for turning their heads to the flames, given that there is an unimaginable amount of suffering and pain in this world and very little any one person can do to change any of it.

Why not, then, hide from the pain, the hatred, and the cruelty that has become ubiquitous with humanity? Have we not proven, time and time again, that we are wholly incapable of changing for the better? Our self-destruction is inevitable and our struggle seemingly meaningless. To bear witness to what humanity is truly capable of is nothing short of traumatising.

But be that as it may, we are still here… and it is not due to sheer dumb luck, nor divine intervention. It is due to the choices we humans make and the hurdles we insist on overcoming. We persevere even through the darkest times and find ways to thrive that nature never intended. The machines of our invention help us adapt to this ever-changing world, tackling new threats as they appear on our horizon like a universal game of Whack-A-Mole.

And although we are only a tiny blip in the vast, sprawling network of galaxies that make up the universe, each holding hundreds of billions of stars within them, and relatively newborn when compared to the age of the universe, our achievements are countless, and our collective experience and consciousness invaluable. From this tiny speck of dust, we have birthed entire worlds of our own through artistic expression and forever shaped the one we were born into.

When one generation dies, and another is born, we are not set back to zero, nor forced to rebuild ourselves from ashes. However small we are in the grand scheme of things, however limited our potential is, humankind has a way of setting its own pace, making its own rules, and turning the forces of nature that once dominated us into powerful, lasting discoveries and ideas that ripple throughout our future and affect those that will one day call us their ancestors.

If they could, our ancestors would smile upon us, friends. They would see our pain in this world on fire and know not to fault us for our ignorance or closed-mindedness. They would see the systematic oppression and cycles of destruction we insist on calling a civil society and know that they, too, could not simply elect to stop the blaze from engulfing us whole. But they would ask us, no, implore us, to try anyways. If for no other reason than perseverance being in our very nature.

However terribly unfair the world may seem, it may very well be that things will one day change. It is our most basic necessity, the one that triumphs over all of our corporeal needs, to thrive, and not to be extinguished, even if this comes at the cost of our own personal wellbeing or the survival of any one individual. In this way, we are not so different from the fire. We, too, cannot keep ourselves from growing or from indiscriminately tearing the world around us apart.

It is unwise to explore the dark, twisted corners of this world without some form of light to guide us. In our search for purpose, it is far too easy to tumble down a long, dark chute into a nihilistic, cynical state of apathy. Only by first accepting that which we can and cannot change can we fully understand our role as individuals in a world so fragile and unpredictable.

That is why, given the apparent pessimism with which I often describe the future, I find it increasingly important to underline that this does not mean any effort to change it is in vain. In fact, it is quite the opposite. Apathy and nihilism are not necessarily mutually exclusive with empathy and existentialism, because we are ultimately vulnerable to both sides of each of these coins directing and influencing our impact on the world around us. We may not be able to stop technocratic billionaires from playing with our livelihoods like toy soldiers in a game of Risk, but if we allow ourselves to be forced into a dystopian nightmare where resistance is futile, they will only accelerate their domination over those of us who are powerless.

If the future seems bleak, we need only look backwards, and see in humanity’s history just how little has really changed. Perhaps it is the human condition itself that guarantees a certain level of dissatisfaction and uncertainty with regard to the world at large. But this alone will not determine our future. Whatever it is you feel, whatever it is you think, will either one day change or vanish completely. Our job, as individuals, is not to direct or shape the forces that are thrust upon us and threaten our lives, but to resist them and to inspire those who one day may very well hold the power to do so.

So please, use your brain. Listen to your body. Find purpose, then abandon it, and find purpose again. Create, destroy, and grow, as humanity has done so many times before. Exist. When you’re finished, when you’re done living, you will not regret choices you never made, nor will you understand thoughts you never had. It takes all kinds, when it comes to humanity, as we constantly push and pull against each other, to shape what we call the world we live in. Do what you can, aspire to what you can’t, and above all, persevere.

There is nothing else worth doing.