We didn’t become the crown of creation because evolution was particularly kind or an all seeing God was bent on gifting us. We got to the top of the food chain because we could perform a function that other creatures could not… we could think and think about our thinking. Short on claws, fangs, body armor or natural camouflage we became the most dangerous creatures on the planet. We also possessed a rage to control the chaos that is inherent in nature.
In this endeavor, we failed. We are good at imposing control on small things from musical notation to myriad data systems and this seems to work until nature- in its love for chaos- intervenes. At east one major religion is entirely dedicated to the one thing we can control- our minds. As our lives unfold and the arcs of our destiny become more defined we realize how little control we have over anything.
Every day we make and/or renew a contract with life. a series of dos and dont’s emerges from these contracts. There are things we will and will not do. We control our thoughts in the spirit that Charles Darwin once said that, ” the highest possible stage in moral culture is when we recognize that we ought to control our thoughts.”
I salute the optimists. They teach me to control my natural tendency toward negative interpretations of life’s events. They suggest heaven’s generosity and in the face of things most dire they respond positively. I don’t know how they do it. Jack Kerouac said it all, ” my fault, my failure, is not in the passions I have but in the lack of control of them.”
Today, I search to control my anger regarding the killing of Jews while they are about their worship. I want to control my anger about people so willing to believe lies. I am tired and disheartened. I must control my thoughts. I can only hope that we use our ability to think about our thinking on a global scale.
I am hoping for a dose of optimism.
Olio Folio 