Warning: This piece of writing is mainly just for myself.. Most people may find it boring and lengthy, but I had a blast siphoning it out of my brain.
I read a document
very recently that spoke about how marketers and salespeople manage
to plant ideas into the heads of others. The article didn't teach you
how to perform these tactics- they taught you how to detect and
protect yourself from them. I found it quite frightening to imagine
that people are trained and able to literally implant a thought into
your mind. Most of the time when this happens, you are completely
unaware and unable to even realize what's actually happening. If this
is possible, is it possible that all of our ideas have somehow been
instilled into our brains without our conscious self being aware of
it? I think it's entirely possible.
We're raised with
do's and don'ts. We are constantly being smothered by societal norms,
social and economic limitations, the law, public and private systems,
our peers, our friends and our families. All of these have an immense
impact on the way we live our lives and the way we view ourselves and
the rest of the world. As we grow up, we are surrounded by these
structures; these thoughts possessed by others, and all of them shape
who we will become. Is this a terrifying thing? Is it petrifying to
us that everything we have ever thought of has been fabricated and
extracted (not always replicated) from the minds of others? Yes, we
can exaggerate and build on things that we've heard, but I'm starting
to think that it is unquestionably impossible for the human mind to
ever come up with a thought or idea that has not initially been
thought of before. We are inspired by what our senses pick up- what
we see, feel, hear, smell and touch. Everything around us has been
imagined or experienced before by another being. To answer the
question; I'm not so sure it is so terrifying. I think it's actually
quite beautiful. To think that the entire human race has been
built upon the thoughts and imaginations of others.. to think that
every person alive is somehow connected to one another is a
spectacular contemplation.
Realizing that
you're completely unoriginal and nothing anyone hasn't seen before is
a thought that makes a lot of us uncomfortable and we end up denying
the possibility of the fact. As humans, we like to think that we're
all incredibly special and different in our own way; and that is true
to a point. To ourselves and most likely to the people who surround
us in our daily lives, we can be thought of as something exceptional
(in either a positive or negative way). The truth is, existentialism
is correct when it states that in the massive, grand scheme of
things, we are completely and totally insignificant. The Queen of
England, Bono, Lance Armstrong, Chuck Norris, Johnny Depp.. they're
all just unimportant, non-universe-altering beings. Every single one
of us is like this. Yes, kids.. even Justin Bieber doesn't
matter when it comes to the universe's harsh reality (and many other
things). This dark, depressing philosophy is one I believe to be
completely true and correct. We are all just simple little specs
within the entirety of the known universe. The thing is- who the
bejezus should actually give a flying whobird? Why should we care
to be known universally? As much as I agree with the
philosophy, I think it focuses a lot on things that do not
matter. Yeah, it'd be nice to think that my existence is significant
in the grand scheme of things, but the fact is that it isn't and I
can't change that. Oh well, boo-hoo. Shouldn't we as individuals be
striving to live a life that is significant to the people we care
about? Doesn't it mean more to make a smaller,
deeper impact on
those whom we actually give a crap about, rather than making a large,
w i d e – s p r e a d and shallow
impact on those whom we don't even know? Honestly, I think it's just
plain stupid to be genuinely upset by the fact that the whole world
will never know you or how amazing you are. I think it's way
more important for us to be striking and memorable to those of whom
we treasure. I don't care if “Vlad” from Russia living days away
from me knows who I am. I care that my grandchildren
and great-grandchildren
will someday know my name and acknowledge the fact that I once
existed and thought that the possibility of them being alive was
pretty rad. I care that my mum
knows I love her more than anyone and that my brothers
know that they're the most remarkable men I'll ever know. I do
not care about being
considered some kind of magic, special and “universally
significant” being. I just want to be loved and respected by the
people I love and respect, and I want to live a life worth being
proud of.
 |
| This is the Universe. Our Galaxy is in there somewhere. And somewhere in our Galaxy there is our Solar System and somewhere in our Solar System there is Earth. On Earth there are continents and then countries.. then you're there somewhere, but at that point, who really cares to dig that deep? But really.. why would it ever matter that anyone would want to or not? |
That's
my credo. Congrats if you made it this far.
...
P.S.
- I understand that you may have heard rants similar to this one
before, but that just supports the fact that we can't concoct
anything completely original. Why does that prove it? Well, because
as I wrote this, I believed everything was coming from my own special
little mind.
