In these tumultuous times, we often forget to
reconnect with who we are……
who am I and where do I want to go?
being and becoming…
these turbulent and rocky times shall soon pass into
night and we will still be faced with the existential
questions of existence……….
as they say, keep your eyes on the prize…
But in light of the times, we can make some
reevaluations…
we have been reduced to basic necessities…
Here in California, we have no place to go…
bars, restaurants, movie theaters, gyms, everything
is closed down… the only thing that is sure to be open
are pharmacies and supermarkets…food and medicine…
we are beginning to see how we are connected to
the pyramid of Maslow… the lowest level is about
the basics of existence… food, water, shelter,
education and health care………
we are reduced to existing on this bottom level of
existence… those higher levels of esteem and love
and belonging are set to the side…put off till tomorrow…
we begin to see how we are engaged in those higher levels
of existence…with safety and love/belonging and esteem…
they are something above the bottom level of existence…
and given the times, what do things like promotions
and titles and wealth have to do with us, given our current
situation? does having a title or that promotion, protect
one from getting the CV?
Does having that title protect one enough to leave the house?
We must ask ourselves in these times of troubles, what is
really important? To us, both individually and collectively?
We are faced with an almost unprecedented situation and what
will we learn about being human in this crisis?
It is not enough to respond to this situation but to think beyond it
and wonder what it means to be human in any situation?
what am I to do? what am I to hope for? what can we know?
the Kantian questions of existence should become our questions
of existence…the Kropotkin questions of existence should also
be asked of ourselves…
what should we spend our energy on? what values should we hold?
as Newton and Einstein showed us, it often isn’t the answers we
should be working on, but the questions we should be asking…
the greatness of Newton and Einstein was about the questions they
asked, not the answers they gave…
anyone who says, I have all the answers, is a fool…
because answers given are the answers needed at this second…
in another second, those answers are often the wrong answers…
or they are irrelevant answers…….
answers often have the problem of being time sensitive and of the moment…
we must keep re asking the questions in hopes of asking the right question
at the right time………
when I was 21, I ask questions and my answers were right, at 21…
when I was 31, I asked questions and my answers were right, at 31…
when I was 41, I asked questions and my answers were right, at 41…
but those same questions and answers have no meaning, given I am now
61……
and are the questions of my youth, appropriate given the current status
of the world?
I don’t see how…
our age and experiences create a new set of questions that need to be
answered… as I age and become a victim of entropy… I
know that I cannot become that young man of vitality and strength
that I was 20 or 30 years ago…… so, who am I now?
we spend our lives redefining who we are, given our current
situation in time… I cannot define myself as I once did when I
was 21 or 31 or even 51…
What am I to do? what should I hope for? what can I know?
What values should I hold? what should I spend my energy on?
my answers are different today then they were 20 or 30 years ago…
and given the crisis we are in today, are my answers any different, given
what is happening today?
What am I to do? What should I hope for? what can I know?
It seems to me, that given our tumultuous age, the answers
to those Kantian questions are, today, different then they
were say, at the beginning of the year…just 2 and a half months
ago…
every new experience requires, demands a new accounting of
the basic questions of existence… What am I to do?
what should I hope for? what can I know?
the answers changes every single day…
it is not enough to set our beliefs on cruise control
and never think about it again… no, we must engage
and reengage with the basic questions of existence
every day because every day is a new and different day…
What am I to do? had another answer yesterday and will
have another answer tomorrow……
but we cannot exist “ad hoc”… which is to say created to met
a particular purpose and in a particular place…
when necessary or needed…
we must somehow have an overall understanding of our existence…
and that answer lies in our using philosophy or values that are used
to have a “way of life”… in other words, we use philosophy as
a “way of life”
and in doing so, we can create an overall understanding of existence
and we can also, if need be, adapt to the changing circumstances
that we find ourselves in…
What am I to do? if I hold to a “way of life” then I can find my
own answer to this vital question……
what are you to do?
is your answer “ad hoc” or is your answer, part of an
overall understanding of who you are and what is your
place in the universe?
Kropotkin