You can't teach an old dog new tricks...a leopard can't change his spots...these cliches are but a few examples of what humkankind has known now for millenia--try as we might, there's no escaping the human factor. That's why things like vampires and zombies are now so popular in our arguably popular culture. You can look human. You can even act human. But you get to escape the human factor.
And what a relief it would be! Now that's a great escape. Instead of the constant disappointment by other humans, for other humans, we would be free. Free to do whatever we wanted. To think whatever we wanted. The human factor is our proverbial prison without walls; we are walled in by vulnerability, or, our mortality. We put up with unbearably hard things, uncomfortable things, nasty things, because we're vulnerable. Because...we have to. But what if we didn't, have to, that is? What if it the "have-to" was all in our collective unconscious?
Do you have to be a monster to escape the monstrousness of humanity?
Buddhists say no. Buddhists say you can become enlightened by embracing the inevitability of impermanence. And of course, that's true. But if you're human, it's hard...close to impossible. Definitely improbable.
But let's just imagine for one moment, a tiny second, that we could, and, that we did. How would that change who we are? Would you stay with a spouse that drove you crazy? Would you put up with the challenges your children brought forward? Would you ignore the rude individual in the grocery store...or my personal favorite from recent experience, the couple who pushes in front of you in line...even though you're visibly handicapped, perhaps even because you're visibly handicapped? All of life's little annoyances, and some annoyances that aren't so little, wouldn't have to be tolerated anymore. By accepting impermanence, you yourself have no attachments. In many ways, you've disconnected yourself from the human factor in the same way so many of us fantasize about when it comes to those beautiful yet immortal creatures Anne Rice revived for the abjection (and objection) of the pop culture gaze in the 1970's.
You wouldn't feel the sting of rejection. Being held by another human being would hold no meaning. Rich experience, like good food, wine, travel, would be equally meaningless. Nihilism would be our reality. And we see that in vampire pop culture. We see such nihilism develop, and then be tempered by a return to humanity through humanity. We both revile and cling to our vulnerability--we are co-dependent on both resurrection and mortality. Joseph Campbell spoke of the duality in the human condition saying that one becomes "master of two worlds" through a transformation of consciousness. But what is this mythical transformation? We cannot become what we are not. Humans can only perform conditional acceptance on a limited basis...at least, the humans that have existed on this planet.
I tell you, there are no answers--only more questions. And that is the essence of being vulnerable, being human. We are blinded by it...but only as we are today. If we could adjust our shared perception of the linear nature of human existence, we may be able to free ourselves in future from such limitations, thereby decreasing our vulnerability to the mortal coil, as well as all the fears that go along with it.
Until next time, dearest readers....
And what a relief it would be! Now that's a great escape. Instead of the constant disappointment by other humans, for other humans, we would be free. Free to do whatever we wanted. To think whatever we wanted. The human factor is our proverbial prison without walls; we are walled in by vulnerability, or, our mortality. We put up with unbearably hard things, uncomfortable things, nasty things, because we're vulnerable. Because...we have to. But what if we didn't, have to, that is? What if it the "have-to" was all in our collective unconscious?
Do you have to be a monster to escape the monstrousness of humanity?
Buddhists say no. Buddhists say you can become enlightened by embracing the inevitability of impermanence. And of course, that's true. But if you're human, it's hard...close to impossible. Definitely improbable.
But let's just imagine for one moment, a tiny second, that we could, and, that we did. How would that change who we are? Would you stay with a spouse that drove you crazy? Would you put up with the challenges your children brought forward? Would you ignore the rude individual in the grocery store...or my personal favorite from recent experience, the couple who pushes in front of you in line...even though you're visibly handicapped, perhaps even because you're visibly handicapped? All of life's little annoyances, and some annoyances that aren't so little, wouldn't have to be tolerated anymore. By accepting impermanence, you yourself have no attachments. In many ways, you've disconnected yourself from the human factor in the same way so many of us fantasize about when it comes to those beautiful yet immortal creatures Anne Rice revived for the abjection (and objection) of the pop culture gaze in the 1970's.
You wouldn't feel the sting of rejection. Being held by another human being would hold no meaning. Rich experience, like good food, wine, travel, would be equally meaningless. Nihilism would be our reality. And we see that in vampire pop culture. We see such nihilism develop, and then be tempered by a return to humanity through humanity. We both revile and cling to our vulnerability--we are co-dependent on both resurrection and mortality. Joseph Campbell spoke of the duality in the human condition saying that one becomes "master of two worlds" through a transformation of consciousness. But what is this mythical transformation? We cannot become what we are not. Humans can only perform conditional acceptance on a limited basis...at least, the humans that have existed on this planet.
I tell you, there are no answers--only more questions. And that is the essence of being vulnerable, being human. We are blinded by it...but only as we are today. If we could adjust our shared perception of the linear nature of human existence, we may be able to free ourselves in future from such limitations, thereby decreasing our vulnerability to the mortal coil, as well as all the fears that go along with it.
Until next time, dearest readers....
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