Thursday 26 July 2012

Falling Down


At the end of the day, no matter how complacent you get about the world, it still has the capacity to shock you. Billions of people interacting on a a daily basis, all just trying to get on with their lives, and the worst of us will often drag the others down.

Understanding two concepts gives you a better perspective of this situation.

Firstly, decades ago a scientific theory was proposed for something called Orgone energy. This was, for want of a better word, a "bio-field" that permeated all life on the planet. Positive and negative emotions and actions would have an effect on the creatures around you, for humans often in a subconscious fashion. This would show that happiness breeds more happiness, but contempt also breeds more contempt. It was also established that the more base the emotion was, such as fear, the stronger of an effect it applied.

Secondly is a much more mundane image. It is the principle of the Crab Bucket. This is where  if a large number of crabs are placed into a bucket, the will fight and squirm around, desperately trying to escape. The notable part is that if one crab is able to elevate themselves, they will instantly be dragged back down by the others around them, making escape impossible.

By appreciating these two ideas, you start to gain an understanding of why it is that on some days the world seems too dark to tolerate.

Sartre had it almost right. Hell isn't other people, it's just having to live around them.

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