What feels good
August 24th 2007 13:14
What feels good. Some say that what makes you feel good is something to do with something universal. Perhaps they link universal morality to the actions which make you feel good inside. You might have heard arguments like giving to needy people is objectively good, this is why it makes you feel good inside. Some people link these inner feeling to something spiritual, maybe even to god. Even those new agers might link it in this spiritual way, but not in a dualistic sense, refering to the universe or the unity of existence.
but in the least metaphoric way of looking at it, what makes you feel good is a character in an evolutionary story. That story is vast and detailed, but it contains many great trends. Think of all those animals living in the wild acting randomly and out of pure impulse, no reflection. Surely the animals who, for some freak of nature, felt good when they partook in acts which just happened to be beneficial for their survival to have offspring, were bound to do that act, and thus survive better than those who did not do that same thing. Surely those animals would be the ones to persist over great spans of time. The kind of staying power required to remain around for hundreds of millions of years is phenomenal. No room for animals likely to make mistakes. Only those animals who only do the best thing for survival, straight down the line, no messing around in this dangerous world.
So what then are our feelings. Us. Those who live to tell the story of 4 billion years of survival. Are we an aborration? A brief lapse into creativity? One of those animals who decided to take risks and are soon bound to carreen of the cliff? If we can manage to survive then we truly are clever animals, but now it is getting to the test to see whether we are clever enough to deal with our own cleverness. We have been judging the world and drawing a suppposedly clever path around our obstacles. But now we realise that some of the biggest obstacles we have to steer around are those created by ourselves. Are we making it any easier for ourselves? Or would we have a far less treacherous journey if we had never started ducking and weaving in the first place? History will be the judge. So let us at least attempt to ride the wave which we have stirred up in this pool of existence, for if we can ride it, it will be the ride of a lifetime.
If we are to ride it we need to know what role our feelings play. It would be a mistake to go on our feelings when it comes to the question of feelings. Stephen Colbert put it this way: "We go straight from the gut, right sir? [to Bush]. That's where the truth lies. Do you know you have more nerve endings in your gut, than you have in your head? You can look it up. Now I know some of you are gonna say "I did look it up and that's not true." That's because you looked it up in a book. Next time look it up in your gut. I did. My gut tells me that's how our nervous system works."
If we are on a ride towards global consciousness, then there is no doubt that we can hear it's whisper in our feelings. It makes sense that those who get around the world by feeling have said to those who get around the world by thinking that there is something divine in the feelings that thinking cannot grasp. But soon both shall bump into one another in the dark, and they shall both realise that both their methods were exactly the same. At first those who felt about thinking, and those who thought about feeling, disagreed about what thought is and about what feeling is. Now they shall realise that it is the same thing. Neither need sacrifice any of its characteristics to get back up from our fall.
The synthesis of thinking and feeling is called Creating.
In this vain, the future shall be paved by making creativity our central moral value, our central philosophical value, our central political value, our central economic value, our central social value, our central personal value. It shall be THE value. It is the meaning of our existence.
Is my head to high up in the coulds? Well here's what I'm saying expressed in a language that is guaranteed to grab the heart of anyone and the mind of anyone.
If you have twenty minutes the full version is well worth it. If you only have five then go for the second edited version.
My edited version:
but in the least metaphoric way of looking at it, what makes you feel good is a character in an evolutionary story. That story is vast and detailed, but it contains many great trends. Think of all those animals living in the wild acting randomly and out of pure impulse, no reflection. Surely the animals who, for some freak of nature, felt good when they partook in acts which just happened to be beneficial for their survival to have offspring, were bound to do that act, and thus survive better than those who did not do that same thing. Surely those animals would be the ones to persist over great spans of time. The kind of staying power required to remain around for hundreds of millions of years is phenomenal. No room for animals likely to make mistakes. Only those animals who only do the best thing for survival, straight down the line, no messing around in this dangerous world.
So what then are our feelings. Us. Those who live to tell the story of 4 billion years of survival. Are we an aborration? A brief lapse into creativity? One of those animals who decided to take risks and are soon bound to carreen of the cliff? If we can manage to survive then we truly are clever animals, but now it is getting to the test to see whether we are clever enough to deal with our own cleverness. We have been judging the world and drawing a suppposedly clever path around our obstacles. But now we realise that some of the biggest obstacles we have to steer around are those created by ourselves. Are we making it any easier for ourselves? Or would we have a far less treacherous journey if we had never started ducking and weaving in the first place? History will be the judge. So let us at least attempt to ride the wave which we have stirred up in this pool of existence, for if we can ride it, it will be the ride of a lifetime.
If we are to ride it we need to know what role our feelings play. It would be a mistake to go on our feelings when it comes to the question of feelings. Stephen Colbert put it this way: "We go straight from the gut, right sir? [to Bush]. That's where the truth lies. Do you know you have more nerve endings in your gut, than you have in your head? You can look it up. Now I know some of you are gonna say "I did look it up and that's not true." That's because you looked it up in a book. Next time look it up in your gut. I did. My gut tells me that's how our nervous system works."
If we are on a ride towards global consciousness, then there is no doubt that we can hear it's whisper in our feelings. It makes sense that those who get around the world by feeling have said to those who get around the world by thinking that there is something divine in the feelings that thinking cannot grasp. But soon both shall bump into one another in the dark, and they shall both realise that both their methods were exactly the same. At first those who felt about thinking, and those who thought about feeling, disagreed about what thought is and about what feeling is. Now they shall realise that it is the same thing. Neither need sacrifice any of its characteristics to get back up from our fall.
The synthesis of thinking and feeling is called Creating.
In this vain, the future shall be paved by making creativity our central moral value, our central philosophical value, our central political value, our central economic value, our central social value, our central personal value. It shall be THE value. It is the meaning of our existence.
Is my head to high up in the coulds? Well here's what I'm saying expressed in a language that is guaranteed to grab the heart of anyone and the mind of anyone.
If you have twenty minutes the full version is well worth it. If you only have five then go for the second edited version.
My edited version:
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Comment by Miswanderlust
Killer Beats
Ramble On
Hipnotherapy
Excellent post!
Mis