Exothermic
Keeper of the Hammer
- 236
- Posts
- 15
- Years
- Mariana Trench
- Seen May 4, 2021
Note - This piece of work was originally published on July 1, 2013
(Please seek permission before reproducing any part of this article)
Today, there is this obsession with the apocalypse. Millions is being made on books that talk about the destruction of the world and the coming of a new one. There's something that all of these depictions have in common. It is that the world as it is is full of uncertainty and a world where we can't be satisfied. But in the aftermath of the apocalypse, we'll have a world where satisfaction is possible and happiness can be obtained. It's particularly interesting because in this vision, the one thing that remains is the way we desire. Everything is destroyed except for the fundamental way that we seek perfection and satisfaction.
Consider this too - Two things we want out of life are certainty and satisfaction. From when we're young, we believe that there's something that will make us whole and complete. We take on stories that help us feel like we have the right answer and that we have the truth.
Many religions try to offer an idealistic view of this desire. That's why if you want to sell people certainty and satisfaction, you're going to make a lot of money. This is why we can fill stadiums with people who want to believe, either to solidify what they already think, or to grasp hold of something because they feel adrift and lost at sea. Why? Because getting people to believe is easy! We all want to believe. In fact I used to do it, and getting people to believe was simple. We want to grasp hold of our beliefs because it tells us why we're here, where we're going, and it gives us security. To get people to question, to get people to ask fundamental questions about their faith and their life - now that's hard. To get people to interrogate that is profoundly difficult. You've got to be 10 times better to do that.
Some might now say that overthinking about these difficult questions can make people depressed. The trick is this - I'm not trying to make you depressed. I'm telling you that you already are depressed; you just don't know it. See, we're all haunted houses and we're all full of ghosts. People that we've loved and lost, people who've hurt us, people we've hurt. We all try to forget that fact, but late at night we remember. We encounter the ghosts in the car doors of our mind. In usual ghost stories, ghosts exists because they can't let go of us. But if you take reference from Ricky Gervais' film Ghost Town, you will realize that sometimes, the ghosts are there not because they can't let go of us, but because we can't let go of them.
We want to avoid the harsh confrontation of our brokenness. So we fill our lives with noise and abundance. We're terrified of being silent, even for an hour. Because when we're silent, we'll realize that silence is anything but possible for us. We can avoid this confrontation most of the time, but it seeps out in other ways (through frantic activity, health problems, self hatred, hatred of others, etc).
(Please seek permission before reproducing any part of this article)
Today, there is this obsession with the apocalypse. Millions is being made on books that talk about the destruction of the world and the coming of a new one. There's something that all of these depictions have in common. It is that the world as it is is full of uncertainty and a world where we can't be satisfied. But in the aftermath of the apocalypse, we'll have a world where satisfaction is possible and happiness can be obtained. It's particularly interesting because in this vision, the one thing that remains is the way we desire. Everything is destroyed except for the fundamental way that we seek perfection and satisfaction.
Consider this too - Two things we want out of life are certainty and satisfaction. From when we're young, we believe that there's something that will make us whole and complete. We take on stories that help us feel like we have the right answer and that we have the truth.
Many religions try to offer an idealistic view of this desire. That's why if you want to sell people certainty and satisfaction, you're going to make a lot of money. This is why we can fill stadiums with people who want to believe, either to solidify what they already think, or to grasp hold of something because they feel adrift and lost at sea. Why? Because getting people to believe is easy! We all want to believe. In fact I used to do it, and getting people to believe was simple. We want to grasp hold of our beliefs because it tells us why we're here, where we're going, and it gives us security. To get people to question, to get people to ask fundamental questions about their faith and their life - now that's hard. To get people to interrogate that is profoundly difficult. You've got to be 10 times better to do that.
Some might now say that overthinking about these difficult questions can make people depressed. The trick is this - I'm not trying to make you depressed. I'm telling you that you already are depressed; you just don't know it. See, we're all haunted houses and we're all full of ghosts. People that we've loved and lost, people who've hurt us, people we've hurt. We all try to forget that fact, but late at night we remember. We encounter the ghosts in the car doors of our mind. In usual ghost stories, ghosts exists because they can't let go of us. But if you take reference from Ricky Gervais' film Ghost Town, you will realize that sometimes, the ghosts are there not because they can't let go of us, but because we can't let go of them.
We want to avoid the harsh confrontation of our brokenness. So we fill our lives with noise and abundance. We're terrified of being silent, even for an hour. Because when we're silent, we'll realize that silence is anything but possible for us. We can avoid this confrontation most of the time, but it seeps out in other ways (through frantic activity, health problems, self hatred, hatred of others, etc).