Esnesnon 28-10-09

Good morning.

There are a couple of things I'd like to write a few words about. They are rather unrelated and I haven't put them on the right place in my mind yet. The first issue I'd like to address has to do with the picture of a zebra left of the text. Please say hello to the zebra, zebras need a lot of food and attention to be happy. Second point will be about three things I encountered yesterday evening, things of power and of drama. I have a bit of a problem with coherently explaining them. Third will be about the question of what drives human beings in their life, what drives all humans, and if I happen to stumble onto something else on the way to the last sentence, I'll incorporate it as a point four. Can't guarantee the fourth thing though, I'm only leaving some room for myself to go crazy. Actually, I don't have to make room for myself to go crazy, I can do it whenever I want. Well, let's hold that thought. In the spirit of freedom to be barking mad: the Zebra.

Equus Zebra. Stripes, four legs with hooves, tail. Herbivore, mostly harmless. It's a distant cousin of the horse, who is indefinitely inferior to the noble zebra because it isn't striped. The zebra is a savannah dweller, but occasionally he can be found in urban environments, although those are rare occasions. The picture of the zebra has been on the left of my posts for months now if I'm correct, and pretty rarely anyone wonders what it's doing there. Well, in a certain way, the zebra is me. In my life there are just two people who actually call me Zebra, not in the complete literal meaning of the word, but as a name as well. They are not exclusively the only ones using that title for me of course, okay, but consequent use is quite rare. This name, Zebra, describes not me, but a part of a greater personality. Zebra is a facet, formed by corresponding character traits, which has the tendency of presenting itself when its name is used. Facets like Zebra, emanations of a complete personality, are neccesary for everyday social life since the whole of personality combines a number of traits that contradict eachother in practical matters. Selections are made to represent a rather diverse and divided self without complications. Since these facets are small combinations of traits that reinforce or overlap, the other end of contradicting personality traits, the character emanations like Zebra are shallow and one-sided. The result is a simplified form of social contact, easy and often amusing. Why a zebra? The reason is silly. There is a distance between the Zebra that was named and the eventual Zebra, a result of a personality leading its own life. The latter overshadows the first to such an extent that it doesn't matter where the first got its name or what it actually was.

Yesterday evening, I encountered three immaterial entities. The first was truth, the others were envy and parting. All three refer to trivial, particular occurrences, but loaded with a very heavy negative connotation from my part. The negativity stems not from the particular cases but from the universal meaning of the entities. Yet I am trying to defeat the negative part from the particular angle. That means reasoning from particular reasons and consequences, placing these factors on the level of universality, instead of reasoning from meaning and from idea towards reality. The first method of reasoning is better because reality is either always correct, or it is incorrect but always more relevant than the matters of mind. The mind can contain incorrect information from the perspective of reality, as I know all to well. It is for that reason that rational knowledge must restrict its field of influence to other purely rational subjects. Better said, what is made in the mind must stay there. Truth is according to my rationality negative because the human doesn't wield power over it. The human can hide truth but cannot change it. Being an unchangable force, truth must be avoided as it threatens human liberty and the happiness derived from happiness. Envy is wrong according to my rationality because happiness is derived from content with one's possessions, material and immaterial. Envy creates unhappiness because it places the requirements for happiness outside of human possession. Parting is wrong because it's always combined with sadness or anger for the loss of something one is attached to. If one is not attached to something, no parting is needed, the thing or person in question simply disappears. Attachment is broken by parting, and this is a painful action, thus it opposes happiness, which makes it wrong.

Yet, from particular examples, I have come to realize the positive meaning behind each of these three powers at work. The truth can be a good thing; a good person or a good friend (two terms I will not further clarify here) opens his heart to the truth and appreciates it. Even the negative side of truth, the side a wielder of virtu will combat or evade, has value in the eyes or ears of a good person or friend. To find and know a good person is one of the greatest fortunes one can encounter. Encountering a good person was a particular case. Envy is not a bad thing; in the very least it's neutral. It's a law of nature that dictates that water flows to the lowest point in the landscape, the air flows from the area with the highest pressure to the area with lower pressure. When the grass is greener at the neighbours', it is a natural reaction to be attracted; the flow will be in that direction. Envy is a motivator. It is a struggle, a conflict, born from the flow, and struggle brings out the best in its participants. Perhaps that's a bit too militaristic, though. Let's restrict it to 'struggle brings out some of the qualities of a person.' Parting can be good. That which is irreplacable cannot be promoted either, you know.

As for what drives all humans; my dentist told me all humans are driven by the desire for money, power and sex. I disagree. Money, after all, is just a form of power. Humans are only driven by the desire for power and sex. So there. Not that this means humans can easily be figured out. Perhaps you've realized that somewhere along the way in your life. I think I have.

Hugo Maat.