Other Ramblings

As individuals we’re vulnerable to the world.

We can be killed in numerous ways. Ever since our species has existed we’ve had to find ways to make the world around us less dangerous, less scary.

Think of it linguistically. Words like.

• dis·o·ri·ent·ed [dis-awr-ee-en-tid, -ohr-] adjective
  • confused as to time or place; out of touch: therapy for disoriented patients.
  • Synonyms: distracted, mixed up, unstable, unhinged.

• dis·o·ri·ent [dis-awr-ee-ent, -ohr-] verb (used with object)
  • to cause to lose one’s way: The strange streets disoriented him.
  • to confuse by removing or obscuring something that has guided a person, group, or culture, as customs, moral standards, etc.: Society has been disoriented by changing values.

• be·wil·dered [bih-wil-derd] adjective [2]
  • completely puzzled or confused; perplexed.
• be·wil·der [bih-wil-der] verb (used with object)
  • to confuse or puzzle completely; perplex: These shifting attitudes bewilder me.

What that means is you’re in a landscape that’s unfamiliar. You can’t count on much or any of your knowledge to help you.

You have been removed from the familiar places and habits and now you can’t locate yourself on the map, even if you had one.

The most obvious example of this is when you are travelling around in a foreign country. Without signposts, you would have no way to find out where you are. It’s why tourists are always looking around, to locate themselves on a map they carry.

When you go on holiday to an unfamiliar place. At first, it’s all foreign, overwhelming.

But once you’re there you start to write stories and create maps. You refer back to them, the restaurant where you ate, the sights you saw, here you were chased by a cow, there you were drenched by a sudden downpour.

You write meaning into existence by being there. Weaving stories into the reality before us so it becomes familiar.

Like the ancient mariners, we create knowledge to help us navigate and this also has the effect of making the world seem less threatening.

Making maps allows us to place ourselves in them, and gives us the feeling of certainty and safety that comes from knowing where you are.

This is just one example of our Nesting Instinct.

Our Nesting Instinct

Just like birds craft their nests or some mammals create burrows, we have evolved to find ways of creating comfort and safety for ourselves.

These bodies of ideas, values, beliefs can be seen as Landscapes of belonging, or our nest.

I believe that culture is personal psychology writ large. Our own fears and hopes are collect together to form the fads, fashions, and building projects we see.

Henry David Thoreau wrote the ‘men live lives of quiet desperation.’, but I digress, our desperation is written into the world, the plastic, pollution is for products we consume to make us feel safe, to tear down the wilderness because it’s untamed and dangerous.

Our insecurities are the scars in the landscapes, the building we erect, the groups and institutions we organise.

Familiarity is what helps us feel safe. So we name things, connect things together creating a map. Religion, science, art, language, society, beliefs, and so on are man-made endeavours. A landscape or body of ideas that allow us to make sense of the world and ourselves.

Our self-identity is a bundle of these ideas that we appropriate from outside.

We describe ourselves in terms of our job, the clothes we wear, the things we own, the friends we have. Our dreams values, fears and so much more.

In this respect religion, philosophy and science have the same purpose. To allow ourselves to create our own identity and a sense of belonging.

The sciences tell us how the world works, and in so doing make us feel safe by giving us the idea we know whats going on and we are in control. (Even though it’s largely an illusion).

The humanities (philosophy, religion, anthropology, sociology etc) tells us how we work. These Ideas reassure us that we know who we are, and what to do. Or in the case of the art provide an escape from our finite and vulnerable lives, making us feel less alone. 

Humanity’s existence, the work we do and what we create is driven by a need to belong, to feel safe and secure. You could call it the Grand Project of Humanity.

Here are some ways we gather our nests to find security.

Language

Bodies of language so we can communicate and herd together through shared values. Words, but also art, imagery and metaphor help us describe and clarify, so language helps define ourselves and our place in this world.

Physical

Buying a house, cars, we use as symbols of our maturity. We own posession to make us feel more like adults, but also as symbols of identity, like wearing brand labels on clothes.

I’m not just talking about our physical safety. Having a home with heating, air conditioning, shelter from the elements etc.

In communities, it takes place through laws, codes of behaviour, and punishments to prosecute those who break them.

Conceptual

There’s also an intellectual aspect. We read books, gain knowledge about the world in order to avoid making a mistake that could cost us.

In society it’s the same, we conduct science to learn and spread ideas around.

All in an attempt to convince ourselves that we have a good handle on the world, so we’re less surprised by the unexpected.

Spiritual

Science can’t tell us why we’re here or what we should do with it lives.

So here we invent religions, spiritual and philosophical traditions to help us live in a cosmos that we don’t fully understand. These beliefs give us meaning and provide guidance.

They comfort us by telling us that we’re important special, that we matter.

There are also moralistic landscapes, what is right and wrong, what to value what to aim for.

Vocational

Defined jobs with rules and routines giving us the safety of a regular income.

Artistic

Sometimes as an escape, but also to transmit ideas and meaning.

Even our bodies can be seen as keeping us safe through protection, immune system for example. Our minds give us emotions to keep us safe, disgust, anger, fear

In each case, the purpose of these possessions (ideas, values, beliefs, job etc) is that it helps insulate us from the vicissitudes of life. Helping us cope with the uncertainty we face.

If we look at humanity as a whole, what is it that unites us?

It’s hard to find an answer, but we all share in our fate that life is uncertain and ambiguous. Because of this, we all have the desperate desire to feel safe and secure.

We often think this desire to feel safe is hidden, but I see it all around me.

Looking at humanity as a whole you can see that so much of what we do is about our safety and security.

We wrap around ourselves these comfort blankets of beliefs, knowledge, and society through trust. Because facing the storm alone is difficult even impossible without them.

The Illusion of certainty

However, there’s a problem. It only works up to a point.Certainty remains elusive because we can never be sure about what we know and believe.

We can feel safer, but the basis for that safety, upon closer examination becomes suspect.We can’t really know reality beyond our ideas of it. We can’t predict the future so our fate is unknown.

A further point is change takes place. We have to change as well. To continue to grow and adapt in order to remain safe in our nest. Knowledge changes, old ideas are lost new ideas emerge. Adaptation is the method.

So all we can do is keep building these nests to gives them the appearance of safety, even as they fall apart beneath us.

To make the wilderness appear a little less wild.

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All the knowledge, the work, the ideas. The striving, searching, creating, building is one big effort to feel safe and find meaning. We like to know who we are and what’s going on. This endeavour seems to involve every facet of human existence, which is why I call it the Grand Project of Humanity.

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[1] disorientate. Dictionary.com. Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper, Historian. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/disoriented (accessed: August 09, 2014).

[2] bewilder. Dictionary.com. Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper, Historian. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bewilder (accessed: August 09, 2014).

For the past few weeks have been frustrated by the monotony of my life. The same routine each week. I was desperate for something to change.

Last week it happened when the snow fell. Not just a light sprinkling but several inches. Enough to disrupt transport and getting to work so much that I had two days off work.

Rather than do what I usually do. Work and keep ticking of stuff on my to-do list. I decided that this extra time was a gift. So I would concentrate on my painting almost exclusively.

In amongst watching DVDs and Youtube I manage to complete several small works, most of which I’m happy with.

Now that it’s all done I kinda miss that unstructured, spontaneous time I had.

I wanted and probably needed it.

For the most part how we live our lives is focused on the routine. Getting things done, ticking the checklist. That’s tiring after a while because there’s no let-up, the work never ceases.

Last week was a chance to relax and enjoy the time I had of. It just goes to show how important the occasional break is.

Like a weekend away, or a holiday we need those days when we put everything aside, with no other purpose than to enjoy ourselves.

No agenda, no lists, no timetables and no goals.

Just chilling, playing, or passively accepting.

We often think or we are told that such time is laziness. Yet I managed to-do more painting during those days than I would have if I was following a todo list.

It demonstrates we can get things done if we allow ourselves the time to do so. By putting other concerns aside the time left can be spent on something specific. Something that maybe we don’t get to do as much as well like.

It shows that we need to set aside time for tasks, or when opportunity strikes to take advantage of the unexpected. Erect proper boundaries around that time so that we’re not interrupted. To allow ourselves to go at our own pace. To let our minds wander and foster creativity.

It also shows that paradoxically we need interruptions. Routines need breaking, habits need to be disrupted. It’s partly a test, showing us how well we can cope, or not. But it also provides opportunities to try new routines or activities.

When something goes wrong it’s not always a negative. Better ways of working can be discovered because we had to find new paths, new methods..

Change and growth come from this marriage of destruction and creation.

I’m going to miss the snow. It was a welcome break. It gave me time to do what I wanted the most. To paint.

These upsets are necessary to get us out of those habitual ruts we get stuck in.

Next time something does go wrong, see it as an opportunity to try something new. A dream, a task or even a new routine. Put aside the typical day to day concerns where possible and use the time doing something you have postponed for far too long.