The way my mind works sometimes even freaks me out. Then again the human mind in general is one bizarre little creation. Today I want to write this totally world-changing piece based on the strange patterns that I am finding in seemingly unrelated things … and my brain stalls before I even get started.
Because the patterns don’t actually exist? Or maybe recognition that my words are not all that world-changing? Or some combination of both. Or maybe I am just trying too hard! Or wanting too hard?
The power of belief … what is real? What is not? Who determines the reality of fairy tales. Is humanity a creature of reason? Who determines what exactly IS reasonable?
This is where my mind is right now. Prompted by my sister’s recent delving into the power of a child’s mind; by the sad ending of a modern-day fairy tale (at least our culture’s warped version of one); by the holiday past and the holidays coming; by the movie I watched the other day; by the beams of light shining through a cloud.
Over millennia, we have shaped the human world by answering some seemingly simple yet ultimately extremely profound questions. Why? How? Who? Our answers create beings of power. Or magnificent heroes. Fearful monsters and playful creatures that love mischief. Some of our creations are the essence of benevolence, other the building block of nightmares. Most somewhere in between!
And what determines if these beings are real or not? Supposed rationality debunks some, yet with others this rationality doesn’t stand a chance against faith. The arrogance of the now that we live in (whenever that NOW is and whoever WE are) determines once and for all what is “myth” and “legend”, and what is “real”. Well at least until the next generation of NOW comes along with a new WE. And the average human meekly accepts what the loudest shouters declare because it is so much easier to be sheep.
Sadly the NOW WE are in is very superficial. Thanks to the “advancements” of technology, we denounce all the wondrous creations of the past as “not real” with a wholesale approach. If it can not be proven by science, because WE “know” all, then it cannot be real. The only manmade creations that actually stand up against this wholesale debunking are the ones that provide the best scapegoat for the truly undefinable. Instead we create our own versions of mystical beings (called celebrities), and somehow believe in them despite “reason”. Yet as far as I can tell they actually have less reality then the “myths” and “legends” of the past. Those past at least explained things; gave reasons for the seemingly unexplainable.
What exactly does a Kardashian explain? Why does it even exist?
I honestly think that children not only see the world for how it really is, but create it because their power of belief is unmarred by “knowledge” and “reason”. As I recently commented to my sister:
Sure you can still believe! Belief is the foundation of creation! By the same token loss of belief destroys. Continue to believe and that makes it real. Isn’t that the foundation of religious belief after all? Faith is yours to bestow. Believe lil sis! Otherwise the world is a dreary place!
Is it real because we believe? Or do we believe because it is real?
That is the real question.
