Ranting & Raving Regarding Revolution

Ranting & Raving Regarding Revolution
Enlightenment Equals Earned Evolution

The Evolution Revolution has already begun. By now, many people are hip to the fact that humankind's current state is not the intended final result of the evolutionary process.
What many people derive from this idea is a strong sense that our evolution now depends entirely upon our abilities to become more intelligent, more knowledgeable. I do not doubt that this is part of it, even a big part of it.

However, I don't think that enough people apply some of evolution's most basic tenets to their theories concerning where we're supposed to go as a species. Evolution arises as a result of genetic mutation, usually mutation that occurs in order to satisfy a need, or put more simply, to help the species pursue whatever it is lacking or to help it get rid of something that hinders its progress.

Everyone alive on this planet is lacking something, probably many things. For instance, every time that we lose our temper, it is because we are lacking something (usually the ability to maintain our delicate neurochemical balance in the presence of adverse stimuli or situations). Yet not everyone is lacking in this area. We all know at least one person that never seems to get upset, no matter what happens to him/her.

When it comes to this Captain of Tranquility, however, the adjective that one will seldom see used to describe this person is "passionate". Meanwhile, bring me a room full of people who are very temperamental, and I'll bet that this adjective could be applied very easily to a large percentage of the people in that room.

As much as many of us prize calmness as a personality trait, we also prize being passionate, even though these two traits rarely seem to coexist. Then how would Mother Nature (feel free to substitute God here, or any of the other versions of The Hero with a Thousand Faces that you prefer) like for us to pursue these two ideals at the same time in order to add to our evolution?

Have you ever heard the term "animal magnetism"? It is used to describe the kind of pull that two people sometimes feel towards one another without being able to explain it objectively.  This feeling does not arise from thinking about that person. The feeling comes from deep within our core.  

Anyway, one will find that the words that we seem to "randomly" put together to describe things are not usually paired by happenstance. They are paired by a collective understanding of something that is not easily put into words (at first). The explanation comes later, sometimes much later. I like to say that such phrases are the result of A to D thinking. In A to D thinking we have come to understand something, but we aren't sure exactly how or why, because the only things that we are certain of at first are the start of the thought (A) and the end of the thought (D). The B and C escape our consciousness for a while.  The phrase animal magnetism was definitely such a pairing of words.
Sorry about the tangent.

Back to my point. When it comes to the phrase "animal magnetism", the B and C of it lies in the use of the word magnetism. What is one of the most basic concepts that needs to be understood about the way that magnetism works? Opposites attract. Have you ever heard the phrase "Opposites attract" applied to people? If you're from my generation, the phrase conjures up unfortunate images of Paula Abdul dancing around with some ridiculous animated feline. It should make us think of much more than that.

For instance, if on the surface a couple doesn't appear to be compatible, what draws them together will often be described as animal magnetism (or stupidity, I'm not saying we should ever rule that out). These two opposing forces are attracted to one another, but why? I posit that despite the fact that we are the Great and Powerful Human Race with our technology, our increased capacity to reason, and our "free will", we are still animals bound by the same laws and foundations of Nature by which all the other animals are bound. One of those foundations is evolution, and, free will or not, it will continue no matter how much we drag our feet. At our very core, there is something that draws many of us to that which is nothing like us (by animal magnetism, if you will).

I believe that it is the will of Nature for us to seek out those people, those things, and those ideas that we absolutely do not understand, so that we may grow to understand them. We should spend almost as much time doing this as we do pursuing that which comforts us (i.e. the things that we understand well).

Evolution was meant to be hard. Do you think it was easier for the creature with the webbed hand instead of a fin to swim? Do you think it was easier for the creature to make good use of the fingers on that hand with all that inconvenient webbing in between them? Only if Nature's ultimate intention was to produce a species that could play baseball without a glove. Of course it wasn't easy, but it was a necessary step.

The moment that we began to develop our ability to reason, we began to pursue things that made life more comfortable, easier. Was fire a positive step? Absolutely. Was the wheel? Absolutely. Was the microwave?
Allow me to rephrase that before you answer. Was the device that cooks our food using RADIATION a positive step? Was it one of many steps toward ridiculousness by a society that overstresses itself by placing such a high value on time until time begins to lose all of its intrinsic value?  Technology should no longer be seen as the primary answer to Nature's evolutionary call.  It is currently destroying us faster than it helps us. 

We have lost our focus. Many people will spend their entire lives living in an imaginary world that they will never be a part of (like one that never runs out of fossil fuels), and in the process they will leave behind a damaged ecosystem filled with subsequent generations where each one feels more clueless and hopeless than the next. Only the enlightened few will see through this illusion and keep their eyes on the prize. We need to stop narrowing our focus on particular types of science and technology. Better yet, we need to stop narrowing our focus to only science and technology. We have an incredible understanding of the world around us, along with an ability to manipulate it (and unfortunately, to ruin it). Yet, as evidenced by the never-ending hostility around the globe, we have not put nearly as much effort into understanding different people, different existences, different views, etc.

The time to do that is now. The next time that you find a person who makes absolutely no sense, who couldn't be less like you, who makes your blood boil, DON'T HATE. Hate is a simpleton's answer to a complex puzzle. Hate is like a person cheating at solitaire just because he/she so desperately needs to win.

TOLERATE. ACCEPT. LEARN. GROW. EVOLVE.
The Revolution is waiting...