*Magnify*
SPONSORED LINKS
Printed from https://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1950376-Life-in-general
Printer Friendly Page Tell A Friend
No ratings.
Rated: E · Sample · Other · #1950376
My thought process in general
I sit thinking this afternoon about life and the general competitive nature of humans as a species and as I sat looking around the room my eyes spotted an unusually small standard house fly. He looked normal and even healthy for his size but above all he looked happy. He sat there at the bottom of an empty dish eating, cleaning himself and even on occasion running in circles and looking generally at east. Pretty soon a really big fly came along and with aggressive flying technique took over the bountiful bowl leaving my little guy without a home or place to stay, eat, clean himself or do what ever it is flies do. I am not sure what a pouting fly exactly looks like but he sure didn't seem to be overly concerned about it. Once the bar fly fight was over he flitted off to the glass next door and continued his normal behavior as though the move down town had no consequence. Now he had tasted the residue of that bowl and I can assure you it was better than what he had in that glass but I didn't see him try to get back in there again. With limited intelligence I can only assume it was because his basic needs in life were filled and so he was, at least at that moment, satisfied. Possibly it could be that he understood his size, that he had been bested and would be again if he were attempt to regain his pervious prize and his current circumstances allowed him to regress. I am actually unsure, but I think that fly ego and general greed had nothing to do with it.

I had to compare so many things to this string of events. I started with the fact that it is a living creature's nature to compete to better oneself. This is necessary for survival on the primal level and all creatures are hard wired to this fact. Living creatures WANT life and so strive to survive. Depending on their current circumstances, their attitude in favor of a more competitive nature or aggression weakens or increases on a case by case basis according to their condition and lack of resources at that time.

I then had to compare my notes on what life meant. "Taking of ones life" (or living) in some instances could mean the taking of actual life, or it could mean taking the enjoyment or the meaning of one's life from one by force or discounting it for other personal necessities. Now..Why someone would give anything willingly that is a necessity for life is something only an addiction councilor should address. After I realized what I had just said I wondered exactly what makes each of us, as humans, so competitive in so may ways and in so many forms. It seems though that competition between individuals is considered healthy behavior and required in order to survive and "live".

I had never really given the beastly desire of killing, in the broader since of the word, much thought or how it applies in such depth to us as humans but this statement weighed heavily on me. It seems in every aspect of life, as a race, humans hold true to this and we just can't seem to help it generally. But why.. exactly do we take every form of competition to such extremes? I understand that shows of physical strength are how the male of our species "displays" himself in order to better himself in life. Stronger man means protection, better provider.. can fix the broken washing machine.. and so on to the female. Even spectators of their sex will live vicariously through their in order to gain a date at the local sports bar on Monday night.

I keep wondering where, in the process of evolution in the human race, will finally admit that we already have the power to survive without "killing" each other, and I mean this in any form.

Going back to these two flies. I don't see the big fly guarding both the dish AND the cup. Mr. Big fly was larger, stronger and took the better of the two opportunities but he didn't decide he should take the other flies "life" away by guarding both items. Once he had obtained what he knew he could obtain he was satisfied and allowed Mr. Little fly to move next door. I would bet that if food was scarce, and with gained tolerance, he may even have allowed Mr. Little a spot on the edge of his dish. I have seen it before. But why?

I can't imagine that there is some deep understanding about sharing and the value of life that flies can actually understand. What I do think I understand is the concept of being unaware of ones self and the absence of ego. Greed in humans is rooted in survival but flamed by only ego to the point where we only want to show what WE as individuals can do, who we can kill, what a survivor we are and how much we have or are worth. We want to compete with the Jones's. WHY? That isn't survival at that point. Can't we all just make sure we have our own dish or a cup? DO we have to take them all? That is the "Circle of Life" or the "Survival of the Fittest" but here we are doing it and this has nothing to do with survival for most of us. The two flies have more to lose than we do from my standpoint but I don't see them pulling out their Glochs.

What is wrong with us as a race? Greed and ego. It's as simple as that. We just can't seem to help it. I'm not a religious person and with that I am not going to say I am "spiritual" either. I have dabbled in many forms of religion trying to find the right fit for me but the honest truth is I just didn't fit in anywhere. With my limited amount of knowledge, to say there isn't a "Greater Force", is something I will confess. To look around at our world and say it was all even a 1 in a trillion chance that we are here just isn't a bet I am willing to take at this point. The same goes for creation. Poof... here we are! No that doesn't fly with me either and so in my mind there has to be some workmanship between the two, Initial life and evolution working together to create. Humans have the ability to create situations of grandeur. Heaven is a perfect example but so is the thought that our own self awareness is from "God" also.

In the bible it says that Eve made a bad decision and told Adam to do the same and from that point on God gave us the ability to make decisions between good and evil. Wow... that was the moment a human stood up and realized he was self aware. Flies with an attitude I imagine. Before that point we went about our daily business not knowing about greater power, greed, sharing, true opinions and just lived. Not saying it was any different really than the flies on my plate and cup but again, they seem pretty happy. Then the day came when we could CHOOSE to take from our fellow man for reasons more than survival and that is what we decided to do. Take it anyways and that was the beginning of the ego. This probably all happened at the same time but in the end the statement is the same. Our egos are evil. I honestly and truly believe that.

I think that religion, in general, was a very useful tools for evolving humans as it gave you a list of what is right and wrong, told you a horrible story about what would happen to your soul if you didn't obey and that kept us all in line. It said to share with your neighbor and be kind. Don't take what was his, which included his possessions and his wife, and just "Be a Good Person". Anyone that went against this was burned, banned, tarred and feathered, quartered, stabbed, beheaded, hung and the list goes on. What can you think of other than religion that has caused more deaths? In the long run, even if you came up with a valid answer for that last question, you can't deny that it is a very very large number. This is primarily taking Christian religions in to consideration as this is what I have the most experience with and a larger knowledge base on.

In any event, I not only learned about the many forms of Christianity but did some research and personal "soul" searching. I studied about various religions including Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Satanism, Wiccan and this list also goes on. What I found in all is a basic life's owners manual telling us how to live. The rules put forth are for our own protection to keep our ego's in line (if need be) and keep ourselves, our families, neighbors and general community happy and at peace. You may be surprised that Satanism is on my list but I have to admit that most things that the average person thinks are true about that religion are absolutely not true at all. Their primary belief system is closest to how we are living our lives today but they don't take it quite as far as we have. They, as humans, do not want to be alone in life either. They want to belong to a group of people who love, care and connect with each other. That, just as our ego is, is built into us as humans. In order to form relationships they can't just run around killing and stealing. Nor do they want to. It would be destructive to them as individuals and their ability to rise in the community and succeed. Succession is an allowed goal in Satanism and it is an expected goal in our culture today. As long as you do not harm children, animals or innocents your primary goal is to simply be happy. They simply live to be their own person and live life to it's fullest. Just out of curiosity, how many wars do you think Satanists were responsible for? I am not in any way supporting the full belief system of the Satanist, or any religion, but I thought it would be imperative point to bring up for the sake of understanding.

Once you read this over I think you will understand some of my concern. The majority of our communities in the United States are supposed to be Christian based but here we are allowing every aspect of our life to resemble more of that of a Satanism than Christian. We can blame it on God, say we are weak, pray to him and if that gives you comfort than so be it. In the end our greed and ego take control once Mr Big fly learns he can own both the cup and the dish and there is no consequence. Let me give you an example that most will relate to.


The standard American small business is started on the concept that a certain amount of overhead is needed to start a business and keep it running for a certain period of time. That man is only reaching out to better the life of himself and his family. He purchases a moderate quality product from a moderate quality material base, sells it at an adequate mark up and it either succeeds or fails. if this business succeeds what is his next step. GROW BIGGER. Not saying that growing is a bad thing. It can be a very good thing but here greed and ego step in. He decides to purchase the lowest quality production materials, mark the products up well past what is reasonable for that product and possibly even ensure it has a limited shelf life ensuring re-purchase. Offer the lowest wage possible to promote to these jobs to the struggling, retired, desperate or just the down right underachieving and his bottom line grows. His pockets get fatter, he makes some influential friends and a new level of "compete with the Jones's arises. The people he employs are not doing well and would appreciate a better wage but he doesn't care. He has a large home, his kids are now going to state college and his wife has the latest Louis Vuitton handbag. He goes golfing with his high end clients, eats at the most elegant places, drives a fast and flashy car and has little care in the world for anyone below him. He thinks them stupid for taking the worthless jobs they are offered, docks their pay if they are late and hates paying them overtime even when on the clock. I won't even go into detail about how promotion works. Survival and even



Is that survival?

What about if they take it themselves? addiction








How did this compare to human basic nature even taking into consideration our vast differences? Does God see us as flies? Do flies see us as Gods?
© Copyright 2013 Lane Rae (lanerae at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
Writing.Com, its affiliates and syndicates have been granted non-exclusive rights to display this work.
Log in to Leave Feedback
Username:
Password: <Show>
Not a Member?
Signup right now, for free!
All accounts include:
*Bullet* FREE Email @Writing.Com!
*Bullet* FREE Portfolio Services!
Printed from https://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1950376-Life-in-general