the human condition

[Avery L. Breath]

So I've been working in the trenches, doing emergency medical services for five and a half years now.  On an ambulance, 911 emergencies, over a wide and populated area.  I'm put in contact with a the entire spectrum of northwest united states society, from the homeless to the filthy stinking rich.  I've seen the best and the worst of people, seen them toss away their life as if it was nothing of consequence or fight for every breath.  I'm of the opinion there is nothing like the sureal moment of an immediate event in which you are confronted with a life threatening situation or personal crisis.... or just in need of urgent help.  At those moments a person is the most real.

I'd have to say, my opinion of humans has really gone down over the years as of consequence.  I'm often offended how people choose to live.  I mean, I do my best to approach every scenerio I'm presented with, from every possible angle in as non-judgemental fashion as possible (although, that is the job, to make decisions i.e. judgement calls for people.)   I actually gush with what I can only call empathy in an most human fashion for people and will bleed turnips even for the people I percieve as offensive, never casting a judging eye or  forcing the world according to me sermons on anyone.  The job gives me great personal satisfaction in such respects as I get to help people in those moments and make a difference in their lives hopefully.  Although I can't say a little of me doesn't bleed through in everything I do.

That all being said, I just don't think people in general are very smart.  Myself included of course.  I think we (the greater we) lack a greater awareness.  I guess thats what I'm saying.

Now if I could only remove myself from the equation, perhaps I'd have something.

What says you on the subject of the human condition?

[dendro]

I favor the Buddhist explanation. Desire is the root of suffering. People choose to desire. So they suffer.

Ego-identity is delusion. People choose to identify with the ego. So people are deluded.

But I appreciate the sentiments expressed in the Strawberry Alarm Clock's classic sixties pop song, "Incense and Peppermints". 

to wit: "Who cares what games we choose, with little to win,. and nothing to lose."

[judih]

a timely comment, Avery and your response is thought-provoking, dendro.
me? i work with mostly special ed kids, teaching them English as a foreign language. i get kids who have given up on education, who find it way too hard to try past the first few times. they see themselves as immune to learning.
i have to work with empathy and endless patience to show them some reason to push their brains.


after 16 + years, it's hard to mine endless compassion from my soul. but that's my lot in life at the moment. i have a roof over my head and a place to point my bicycle every morning. i have challenges and personal struggles. i believe my ego shows up enough to give me tools for inner growth.
do i choose to suffer? no, mostly not.
but it would seem that choosing to suffer is the point when i feel like quitting. When i back away from that choice, it's all a laboratory for human connection.


another year blossoms over the hill. this day exists every second. perspective is my option.


on the other hand, why do people choose to eat food that poisons? why choose to let our bodies get stiff from non-use? you'd think we'd learn a little bit. maybe 2012 will bring undeniable evidence to show that there is a choice!

[Avery L. Breath]

Hey!  Thanks for the replies.... and well said.  Love you guys for your insight.

you have me moved toward that old line of thought about compensatory mechanisms.  About how people tend towards bolstering there weak spots.... Or rather, the big truck theory.  Along those lines I worry that my bleak thoughts on humanity are merely reflection of whats inside me.  Like, why do I feel the need, think I can afford to have such a poor spin.  What part of me am I protecting from critisism.

  I disike cliches, but there's something to being the light you wish to see.  but along with it comes the curse that whatever finger is pointed, you have at least two pointing back.

[judih]

the best cure for wishing to see the worst, is to disconnect. whatever it takes. a few minutes of utter nothing. laughing. singing. dancing. making love. a few minutes. more if possible.


re-connection always then recurs at a different node.


and yes, pointing that finger is a boomerang gesture. right back at me!

[amrad]

Its timely that you should bring this subject up Avery, its one my partner and I discussed a while back.  Why people make the choices they do, when they know from experience what the consequences will be. 
  I have friends that make terrible choices, I myself do the same at times.  It uses to piss me off to no end, but something happened, and I dont know how, or from where the light got in, but now I find it so endearing that my friends are so human, so fragile, so beautifully flawed.  I love there ridiculous little foolishnesses.  The one that wont leave the house without her crystals, my buddy that refuses to eat anything warmed in a microwave.  What beauty, in such a small package, this human body.

[Avery L. Breath]

It's like one big cosmic game of hide and seek...... with only one player...... who's really good at hiding.

[gwalchgwyn]

Insightful & thought-provoking topic.

My take is that we've been given a story that serves as a corruptive jading & callousness ... for life!  The demonizing renouncements of the reality of life on Earth.  The walk in the woods that is delighted in a strangely beatific version of nature, careless of the real danger of the Puma.

I submit that is in the honoring of the Jaguar, not slaying the dragon, that apes can then appraise and enjoy the wonder and awe of our existence, as likely our psyche, formed of millions of years of living on this planet instead of against it.  What good is a centenary life if it is caged in an antiseptic story, an enduring infantilism, a square life that says you are not of the earth? 

Thus when faced with the reality of dying come seconds of gratitude, the possibility of an engaged livity, before crashing headlong onto the rocky shore ...

[chiefbtflapflaps]

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