Methodical Musings

This may, quite frankly, be the most arrogant, forward post I will ever write in my life. Enjoy.

I figured out life. Let me explain.

People have talked for thousands of years about the “world’s problems” and how to solve them. Every single person invents some notion of their own about how to eliminate the world’s problems. Religions, theologies, ideologies, science, philosophy – in short, everything you can possibly think that humans have done can be summed up in two words “problem solving”.

We are problem solving creatures. Furthermore, all of our problem solving relates to reducing perceived harm. Whether we refuse to now eat chicken because it gave us salmonella last time or we invent a theory about how to eliminate war from our planet we are intending to reduce perceived harm.

Fun, games, laughter, jokes – all of these have to do with reducing perceived harm. We tell jokes to lighten the mood – reduction of harm. We play games to practice our problem solving or to build up communities – reduction of harm. Kids practice fighting, playing house, and increasing their agility and strength – why? So they can reduce future potential for harm.

Hell, all of our strivings in life are about reducing harm. We seek to achieve in small things so that others will notice us. Why? So we can reduce the potential for the harm of loneliness or not finding a mate. Or perhaps we work so hard in life to impress a parent or guardian. Why? So we can reduce the potential of the harm of their loss in our life.

Laughter itself is the release of energy at discovering the solution to a problem. When a person tells a joke, it is the creation of problem in our minds. The punch line is the solution. We laugh because our minds are working to find the solution or meaning in that which is being communicated to us. When it is presented to us, its elegance – or unexpectedness – causes us to feel the tension released at not being able to see the solution. If the punch line does not provide a solution or provides a bad one, we don’t laugh. Or, we laugh because not laughing introduces the potential of harm because others might think we are stupid for not getting the joke. Or maybe we don’t laugh intentionally because laughing would signify that we agree with the other person when we do not and this could potentially harm our reputation.

The human condition is fundamentally tuned to solve problems to reduce perceived harm.

Now. Here’s the kicker.

Every now and then an individual comes forward with grandiose ideas of solving all the world’s problems. After all, we think we know what the solution is, right? We just have to eliminate all pain and suffering.

Wrong. This is an illusion and impossible. If we eliminate the potential for harm, we eliminate any need for any human to ever solve a problem. If we eliminate need, we eliminate all human drive to do anything. A world without a potential for harm would be the most boring, lifeless, unambitious, stale, stagnant, joyless, pitiful place to ever exist. Our conception of a perfect world are impossible and only a trick of our minds. The perfect world is our minds solution to our present world. But if we entered the perfect world, it would only be perfect because it was the solution to our present world. Therefore, our present imperfect world must exist in order for the perfect one to even be… well… perfect.

But you know what this means? It means our world is perfect. It is only our local world… our little habitation… our little world that we inhabit on a daily basis that is not perfect.

It is our natural human drive to solve problems by seeing that our world has harm that gives us the solution in our imagining a perfect world. But if we inhabited this perfect world, we would eliminate the natural human drive to solve problems because there would be no potential for harm.

Think about this! If we solved all the world’s problems our entire capability for enjoyment would be eliminated. Why? Because enjoyment in life comes from the elimination of potential for harm. We can’t enjoy something unless we perceive there is no harm in it, and in order for us to perceive that there has to be a potential for harm.

We enjoy the things that keep us from harm.

Think about something simple, like… say… driving a car very fast through the mountain. Who are the people who enjoy this? The ones who perceive the potential for harm (risk) and their ability to avoid it. If you could not get hurt driving a car fast through the mountain, it would lose all of its pleasure. So, taking this to the next level, the perfect car would be one that can keep us from crashing and give our bodies the least amount of perceived harm (i.e. comfort). Unless, of course, that bores you. Then you might like to go jeeping, where getting hurt makes you feel better about yourself because driving on a boring road seems almost painful to you.

It is about perceived harm, not actual harm.

The opposite is also true. Some people like driving slowly and carefully through the mountain, soaking up every moment. Why? Because they are enjoying the good weather (a reduction in harm), they are driving slowly (reducing the risk of crashing and getting hurt), and filling their mind with good memories (reducing the potential of feeling guilty later for wasting their time indoors, etc.)

If there were no problems to solve, there would be no need for art. Why? Because art is the elimination of ugliness. If everything was beautiful, art would be worthless. If there were no problems to solve, there would be no need for engineers or for creating anything. Hell, food itself would be useless. Why? Because food is a necessary solution to eliminate hunger and the potential for starvation. A man saturated with food loses his ability to enjoy it.

There is no solution to the human dilemma. There is no perfect world. We are in it. The only perfect world is making the one we live in a little less harmful than it is now.

Somehow, that discovery makes me smile.

And now, for more practical dilemmas. Would it cause more harm for me to post something that others could perceive as being fundamentally arrogant or for me to hide what I am actually thinking because I am afraid of what others think if I say it? And the problem for you to solve is whether I am only acting arrogant to get attention or whether I am genuinely arrogant, because if you make the wrong call…

Haha! I’m enjoying the thought of getting myself in a fix with this post so that I can dig myself out of it, so feel free to tell me how wrong I am. Just be careful because you wouldn’t want to hurt my feelings, unless my arrogance is a potential harm. Then you can hurt them because hurting them might actually reduce more harm in the long run… Secretly (hell, I don’t think anything is secret with me), I do hope that at least one soul sees the beauty that I am actively living what I have discovered. After all, its not like I can really contradict anything I’ve said. At least I don’t think I can. Can I?

;-D

- Josh

P.S. 42 was a good guess.