The Professor...

[The following was deleted from a comment on Lasu's MySpace blog. I wanted to keep the comment short, but still wanted to expound on the idea.
The topic was "What if people were simpler?" cognitively. 'They would have fewer problems...' and so forth. However there was a dual acknowledgement that we must also appreciated how far we've come. A few people agreed. I responded "What if people were smarter? We would have fewer problems." I explained how I defined "smarter" as exercising the ability to acknowledge futility, especially when setting goals for contentment. The simplicity of this is usually hindered by yourself and your relationship to society...]

Pride is a very dangerous thing. Apparently, it is one of the seven deadly sins. Too much pride can get you into trouble. Too little pride may not get you anywhere. Unfortunately, one person slightly deficient in pride often jabs at another person as a twisted form of therapy (sometimes consciously). Even worse, our society easily allows for people to feel worthless. Doesn't have to be this way, but it creates a pecking order that makes some people feel better. It is similar to the adage "Life is simple; it's the people that complicate it". If people were 'smarter' more of us would acknowledge the absurdity of the 'pecking order'. We each could feel more content about the lives we carve out for our selves because it would play out on our own scale, as opposed to the scale we interpret from society.

The best thing Lasu said [in my opinion, of course] is "it's unfortunate that humans have to live in a society driven by economy and monetary profit." It was the line that kicked off his blog and it is the first step (I believe) in making people smarter; which is to think outside of society - to step out and look at our absurdities as a whole. The line acknowledges the inevitability of an economy, whether it meant to or not, but suggests a longing for more than the monetary measuring stick. Meaning Lasu can then move in society with a new perspective.

Now I just wonder the futility of my response. Hopefully it came off less existentialist than it could have, because I have yet to hear what I mean properly conveyed in philosophic text. However, I don't really look to them to shape my view, but that is because I can never really get past the first chapter without feeling there is something more productive I could be doing with my time. (For everyone who questions how long I spent writing this blog, shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!)

Meh, essentially what I want to express is that ALOT more of your contentment rests on you claiming it that it does in your possessions, relationships, career, or beliefs. Evaluate your goals with the question that I used, "then what?" You have set all these goals for yourself, but "then what?" If you found contentment in all the aforementioned popular quantifiers (job, possessions, relationships, etc) where would you go from there? Does the lack of those really stop you from being content? What if you never reach them? Can you be content with having lived at all? Do you feel like you are "living"? Why/Why not? Do remember that someone will always have it worse than you, and you didn't have to exist, so...

peace!
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A rough idea to help grasp the point as not to misinterpret the message.

He's smarter than he lets on. Which is why he hasn't been assassinated! Making it sound like a joke helps too (i.e.> 'The Reparations Sketch' or 'Black Bush').