tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6272246.post-40586668033517411132007-03-27T02:08:00.000-07:002007-05-05T22:51:37.910-07:00Quick note: After 3 years of having the Babel Fish translator on my site, I've switched to a new one; it's that big purple thing in the sidebar. I chose it because it has 10 languages instead of 8, allows you to select format and color, and has a more compact design; if you want it, and you really SHOULD have a translator to assist foreign visitors, you can get it here:<br /><br />http://www.appliedlanguage.com/trans/free_quick.aspx<br /><br /><br />Scott Adams made an intriguing point on his blog:<br /><br />"When you serve a purpose larger than yourself, you experience the sensation of having meaning. There are plenty of larger purposes from which to choose: You can save the whales, feed the poor, shelter the homeless, march for peace, serve your notion of God, whatever. The details don't matter.<br /><br />If your reaction to my explanation of larger purposes was 'none of that sounds interesting to me,' then you haven't finished fixing yourself. When you do, you will automatically look outward. It's how humans are wired. We survive because, on average, the people who manage to satisfy their personal needs are changed by it. They become seekers of meaning. They ask, 'What's next?'"<br /><br />http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2007/03/the_meaning_of_.html<br /><br />When I read that, I saw that it'd explain how so many famous people end up following gurus, studying Kabbalah, or joining fashionable (and usually wacko) New Age "religions," and how cults that committed group suicide because they thought Jesus was coming to get them in a spaceship always had members with successful careers; I hadn't been able to see the psychological pathway which would lead to people who had everything and could do as they liked seeking these sorts of things out, not to mention sticking with them after the leaders made outrageous demands or generally demonstrated that they're out of their minds, so I was glad to have this idea to get me thinking.<br /><br />The 1st point that needs to be made is that there are plenty of folks who've "got it all" who're perfectly satisfied to care for their families, work in their gardens, play video games, etc, and never yearn for "more"; I'm sure that SOME of them might secretly need "fixing," eg be depressed or have other emotional issues that don't show, but we can't insist that they ALL must be that way without proof.<br /><br />The next point is; why would ANYONE have the urge to "look outward"? What survival value did it have to our primitive ancestors that made it part of our programming? What could a caveperson have even DONE to create "greater meaning," and why would they have expended precious energy to achieve it? The only thing I can think of is spirituality/religion; every human culture has come up with the concept of beings or forces greater than themselves that run things, and that's GOT to be significant... but whether it indicates that many of us are actually perceiving beings/forces or that we're just used to attributing the unexplained to "something invisible and powerful" is open to debate. And how would any of that lead to a non-religious person whose body, mind and bank account were all healthy wanting to save the whales? Is it an innate urge as Adams suggests, or an extension of embryonic spiritual feelings that make us want to reach out and embrace SOMETHING... or, is it the result of societal programming to "give back" and "get involved," or simply that it feels good to DO good and/or to be seen by others as a do-gooder... OR, as is often the case, can there be a variety of causes?<br /><br />I'll be making a conscious effort from now on to notice if people who haven't "looked outwards" even though they seem to have it all turn out to have problems that weren't immediately obvious; wouldn't it be slick if that ended up being a useful way to detect folks with "issues"?<br /><br />I examined my own process of "looking outward"; it's probably not a coincidence that it began after I left my mother's home, married, and found myself in control of my life for the 1st time. The change didn't come right away; it took a while to adjust to home ownership, husband ownership (lol), being responsible for everything and having total freedom of action. Then, when someone I was close to betrayed me in a particularly ugly way, in response to my soul-deep scream of "WHY?!!" came answers... and not just the ones I was asking for. It was at that time that the word "karma" started coming out of my mouth; I hadn't consciously thought about it, I could just suddenly see the basics of how it worked... and thus my spirituality was born.<br /><br />Has this given my life meaning? I don't know; I've never understood what having meaning, or not having it, is supposed to feel like. It's certainly given me whole new levels of understanding, though, and ideas to share with you; that's more than enough.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6272246-4058666803351741113?l=omniverse.blogspot.com'/></div>Omnihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01535142570254270177noreply@blogger.com