FOR the peacemaker, only in death be there peace. The world
can make like a nightmare as we grow to experience it. We think back to when we
were ignorant, fish swimming in a pond who could not comprehend wet or dry.
Ignorance is bliss. If our fingers stuck from the heat, we had ample
imagination to curve a situation to our liking. The world was new and ready for
exploration, not an abstract tug of war with the Demiurge. There's a world
somewhere we simply dream of. Perhaps be it for hours or days, or even a
minute, however the thought crosses our mind much as the existential calamity
of life and death. Perhaps if the choice were even to present itself, we would
choose innocence and futility over misery and responsibility.
To these thoughts I answer that we should account for the
totality of our situation. We sit down and make varying assessments, dependent
often on our emotions at a given time. With banal and unpleasant premises come
similar conclusions. We have a predisposition towards reductionism. To have
such doubts come upon us, we must see a bit of the world as it is. At least in
the sense of what ails us most, we meet with a dire and painful fate. But at
the same time, it is a gift to have the culture and the freedom necessary to
appropriate a model to the world in front of us. When the world was seemingly
new and ready for exploration, we were only projecting our minds – as we do
best. As we forge on in our journey of exploring our world, we should remember
that any cognizable model will not oversimplify the difficulties and the
profits implicit in doing so.
While this world marked by innocence and futility likely
never existed, it surely can. We perceive what it is and we somewhat
unambiguously define the clues as to what this state entails. Recognize the
strengths experience has given us. And also recognize the matured aspects of
innocence and futility. Shine a degree of light upon all the virtues, good or
unacceptable, and they may become useful indeed in living an independent and
just life. For enlightenment is the key to goalmaking and achieving.
