12/21/2009
Wings
There is nothing more frustrating than wanting someone to understand me but not getting through to them. It’s ignorance, egotism, desire to be loved, or sheer incapability to comprehend trains of thought of other people. Although – thinking about it – that kind of sheer incapability doesn’t exist. In the end it does come down to egotism. Satisfying own desires instead of putting a loved one’s desires before the own. Who does that anyway? But some things are more important than others. When it comes to romantic love it is almost impossible for human beings to want to see the other one happy at any cost. We want to see ourselves happy. Not pretty, but true. When, however, it comes to – let’s say – family accepting each other’s lives I think it isn’t asking too much to want a little understanding and support. Romantic love is about holding on. Family love can – without fear of losing – be about letting go. Why, oh, why don’t people let go?
12/15/2009
Why I do what I do
You could say that there are two different kinds of sciences. Natural sciences deal with chemistry, biology, physics, or math. The humanities deal with literature, philosophy, culture, and art. I know that most people would say that today the computer sciences make up a third very important branch but I won’t even get started on that. The thing we gained from technology is electricity and that’s one.
The reason mankind engages in the sciences is to gain knowledge. The knowledge might be considered essential to our lives. It either makes it easier or it makes it more comfortable or it helps us be more sociable or it gives us the prospect of living longer.
From the beginning of time man has been obsessed with the idea of eternal life. With death being the only thing that can’t be cured, the outlook on eternal life is pretty pleasant. People think that eternal life will make them happy. we will be invincible.
Medical science strives to keep people alive who would long be dead under natural circumstances. People with fatal heart diseases and inner organ failure are kept alive more or less artificially. A great achievement, but it will only be a matter of time until someone will have to start to admit that death can’t be defeated. It may be noble as hell to fight for eternal life but that fight will not be won.
There is, however, a second point of view on eternal life. Do not the humanities just like the natural sciences search for eternal life? As already mentioned there is hardly anything as important to humankind. It doesn’t matter if we’re interested in pharmacy or in British literature we’re all human.
If one, however, studies medicine in order to find a cure for death than that is a hopeless mission. Death will never be defeated. We’ve been trying for millions of years; no one has ever come close to succeeding.
If one writes a philosophical piece on life and its meaning than that is a first encounter with the idea of death. Death will happen. When we start having an opinion on it instead of pushing it away we start defeating it. Looking at death without fear is equivalent to having defeated death.
These days more and more diseases are coming up. Medicine is reaching its boundaries. We have to learn to deal with it. We need to develop an attitude that helps us live despite the ever-present threat that death presents. That is how we have to fight death today. Natural sciences are over.
The reason mankind engages in the sciences is to gain knowledge. The knowledge might be considered essential to our lives. It either makes it easier or it makes it more comfortable or it helps us be more sociable or it gives us the prospect of living longer.
From the beginning of time man has been obsessed with the idea of eternal life. With death being the only thing that can’t be cured, the outlook on eternal life is pretty pleasant. People think that eternal life will make them happy. we will be invincible.
Medical science strives to keep people alive who would long be dead under natural circumstances. People with fatal heart diseases and inner organ failure are kept alive more or less artificially. A great achievement, but it will only be a matter of time until someone will have to start to admit that death can’t be defeated. It may be noble as hell to fight for eternal life but that fight will not be won.
There is, however, a second point of view on eternal life. Do not the humanities just like the natural sciences search for eternal life? As already mentioned there is hardly anything as important to humankind. It doesn’t matter if we’re interested in pharmacy or in British literature we’re all human.
If one, however, studies medicine in order to find a cure for death than that is a hopeless mission. Death will never be defeated. We’ve been trying for millions of years; no one has ever come close to succeeding.
If one writes a philosophical piece on life and its meaning than that is a first encounter with the idea of death. Death will happen. When we start having an opinion on it instead of pushing it away we start defeating it. Looking at death without fear is equivalent to having defeated death.
These days more and more diseases are coming up. Medicine is reaching its boundaries. We have to learn to deal with it. We need to develop an attitude that helps us live despite the ever-present threat that death presents. That is how we have to fight death today. Natural sciences are over.
How to become a Genius
There are a lot of people who graduate high school and then … many, many of you don’t know what to do next. Most probably you will go off to college and study something that has a fancy sound to it (philosophy, economics, sociology) or/and will have earned you a lot of money by the time your life will be over (medicine, law, engineering). That procedure is completely legitimate. Approximately 99.9 % of all people do it like that so why shouldn’t you, too?
For those of you who want to try something revolutionary and new that will bring you respect, a great reputation, and loads of dough I have a different suggestion: Become a genius. Albert Einstein did it and he’s been dead for over 50 years now. People are still talking about him. What about Shakespeare? I know that most of you might think he was a boring doofus with no life but trust me, there is some reason why you are still being tortured with the analysis of his sonnets.
In order to get to the point where everybody will talk about you for a very long time and for an entirely positive reason you only need to follow four tiny steps.
First: Think of yourself as better than others. It does not matter at all what your field of “study” will be. You need to somehow come up with the necessary self-confidence that will catapult you right past all those dopey losers amidst the Gods on mount Olymp. It is essential that you are absolutely convinced that what you think cannot ever be thought by any other person. Only that way will you start to consider your ideas important enough to be written down and maybe expressed loudly.
Second: Set yourself very high goals. I’m thinking something along the lines of Ruling the World, melting the polar caps to flood the continents, or raising the sophistication of humankind to a level just above brain-dead. Only if you aim high you can be sure to hit something on your Odyssey to Utopia. Plus, aiming to the higher goal is going to ensure that you the only one in the pursuit of that truth. No worries about annoying sidekicks who want to achieve the same goal as you just to kick you out of the race at any convenient point.
Third: Become independent from money. I might as well tell you at this early point of the adventure that you’re probably not going to be swimming in money for the greatest part of it. Always keep in mind that your fellows are not capable of even coming close to understanding your genius. They will most probably not want to put a lot of money into ideas they can’t comprehend. You need to hang in there. You’re going to change the world. No one believed Columbus that he discovered the sea passage to India. And today every little child knows who Columbus was.
Fourth: Never lose faith. Chances are that people will think you’re a lunatic, out of your mind, or simply completely insane. They will insult you, belittle you, try to convert you. They don’t know what they’re doing. Who would have ever thought that Martin Luther would be right? The masses and – more importantly – the government wanted him shut up or locked down. No matter what happens you have to stand behind your idea. If it turns out be a good one in the end you want to be associated with it, right?
That’s how easy it is to go down in history. Be yourself. You can be absolutely sure that you are unique. Unique in your thinking, your opinions, your ideas, your revolutionary thought. It’s certain that you know a twist to the turning of the world that hasn’t occurred to anyone else, yet. Blurt it out. You can only hit the aim if you shoot.
For those of you who want to try something revolutionary and new that will bring you respect, a great reputation, and loads of dough I have a different suggestion: Become a genius. Albert Einstein did it and he’s been dead for over 50 years now. People are still talking about him. What about Shakespeare? I know that most of you might think he was a boring doofus with no life but trust me, there is some reason why you are still being tortured with the analysis of his sonnets.
In order to get to the point where everybody will talk about you for a very long time and for an entirely positive reason you only need to follow four tiny steps.
First: Think of yourself as better than others. It does not matter at all what your field of “study” will be. You need to somehow come up with the necessary self-confidence that will catapult you right past all those dopey losers amidst the Gods on mount Olymp. It is essential that you are absolutely convinced that what you think cannot ever be thought by any other person. Only that way will you start to consider your ideas important enough to be written down and maybe expressed loudly.
Second: Set yourself very high goals. I’m thinking something along the lines of Ruling the World, melting the polar caps to flood the continents, or raising the sophistication of humankind to a level just above brain-dead. Only if you aim high you can be sure to hit something on your Odyssey to Utopia. Plus, aiming to the higher goal is going to ensure that you the only one in the pursuit of that truth. No worries about annoying sidekicks who want to achieve the same goal as you just to kick you out of the race at any convenient point.
Third: Become independent from money. I might as well tell you at this early point of the adventure that you’re probably not going to be swimming in money for the greatest part of it. Always keep in mind that your fellows are not capable of even coming close to understanding your genius. They will most probably not want to put a lot of money into ideas they can’t comprehend. You need to hang in there. You’re going to change the world. No one believed Columbus that he discovered the sea passage to India. And today every little child knows who Columbus was.
Fourth: Never lose faith. Chances are that people will think you’re a lunatic, out of your mind, or simply completely insane. They will insult you, belittle you, try to convert you. They don’t know what they’re doing. Who would have ever thought that Martin Luther would be right? The masses and – more importantly – the government wanted him shut up or locked down. No matter what happens you have to stand behind your idea. If it turns out be a good one in the end you want to be associated with it, right?
That’s how easy it is to go down in history. Be yourself. You can be absolutely sure that you are unique. Unique in your thinking, your opinions, your ideas, your revolutionary thought. It’s certain that you know a twist to the turning of the world that hasn’t occurred to anyone else, yet. Blurt it out. You can only hit the aim if you shoot.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)