Humans are a recipe...

Humans are a recipe that often fails, but when the recipe is just right, Awesome happens.


Being a human is what we are, ingredients added to a basic mix, a touch of this and a smidgen of that, a pinch of such, a cup of whatever, add a quart or 2, stir it up, mix it just right, bake it let it sit, add some sauce or icing and some whipped cream on top, add a cherry or sprig of oregano, different tastes satisfy, some tastes just won't go down, sometimes the desire to immerse one totally overcomes the bitterness that follows, the regret, the shame, the indulgence, the guilt or the satisfaction.

No recipe is ever exactly the same, even if the ingredients on the package or the specific portions suggested are followed to the exact measurements, the level of care or attention to exact details is from individuals, humans, that cannot be measured the same way. Different ingredients can be in different ways, added to the mix at different times, mixed for different measures of time, at different speeds, by hand or machine, whipped or beaten.

What makes a recipe perfect? Nothing. There is no such thing to achieve. No matter the recipe we all want to season to our own taste, add salt, pepper, hot sauce, more sugar, a little honey, some recipes can be made a specific way to specific measurements the exact same way each and every time and still not be exactly the same, even machines can be mis-calibrated, one machine can be off by a millisecond and still be wrong, changing the outcome for that batch made on that assembly line.

Striving for perfection and demanding perfection are 2 very different aspects of humans, when dealing with expectations, striving for and demanding are a matter of perspective and objective, one can strive and demand, one can demand and strive, based on motivation, on circumstance, and outcomes can be good or bad, with a lesson just the same, what goes in the recipe and what is left out, what taste good and what comes back up.

Some recipes can be followed exactly, 2 different times at different times of the day and the temperature will be different, atmosphere and ovens can vary because of altitude, what is supposed to be 350 degrees is actually 325, or 400, leading to a need to cook longer or allowing to be overcooked based on the time, the consistency, the type of instrument used to cook in, glass, aluminum, cast iron or foil, leading to a result.

Most recipes turn out just fine, give or take a little salt or sugar, but there are times when file number 13 enters the picture and the whole thing gets discarded, file number 13 is the trash-bin where things go to be hauled out to a larger dumpsite far far away, where the stink and the decay are left for the birds of prey.

Even bad recipes get recycled somehow, the cycle of life is a wonderment to all, there is no end to it, every human recipe has a value to it, just some more so than others, the Universe and all her dimensions never ceases to exist or search for the perfect ingredients, humans are just one facet, one part of a recipe for achieving a perfect mix, striving but not demanding, allowing for choices to be made and actions to dictate the outcome batch being made, that day, at that time, in that atmosphere, at that temperature, for that amount of time, overcooked or under-cooked, but never perfect, not today.

Yes you are "getting it" now....wonderful job of helping everyone visualise an important part of our Humanitarian Reality.

a reply to: spiritofsoul
I thought this was going to be a cooking thread. Oh well.

Reminded me of The Twilight Zone - To Serve Man.



"Don't get on that ship, the rest of the book, To Serve Man, it's..... it's a cookbook!!!"

Not the thread I was hoping for......

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

You too? I was hoping ti would be a cookbook like To Serve Man.

a reply to: spiritofsoul
I liked your analogy. It's nice to be able to consider our existence from varying standpoints, that yours is very relatable.

But interesting to me as well was that incredible little segue you left off with. ''Not today''.

A nice analogy, a little spice from the daddy, and a little spice from the mommy and voila, it's baking in the oven.

I just wonder if men and women have different ingredients?
As the nursery rhyme informs us, girls are made from "sugar and spice" and "all things nice", whereas boys are made from "puppy dog tails" and "snails" (today we call it "escargot", but it's still essentially snot).
Flip, no wonder we have an explosion of guys who identify as transgender women - who wants to be made of that?

And to think, if just one of our ancestors refused to cook, going right back to the worm, we wouldn't be here.
But I guess at that stage it was more raw food, or "nature", rather than real cooking, or "culture" (thinking of Claude Lévi-Strauss' binary).

a reply to: halfoldman

But I guess at that stage it was more raw food, or "nature", rather than real cooking, or "culture"

Bacteria has culture too. I've produced yogurt before. Actually, the culture produced it. I only put the ingredients together.

I better look up Claude Lévi-Strauss now.

ETA

"certain categorical opposites drawn from everyday experience with the most basic sorts of things — e.g. 'raw' and 'cooked,' 'fresh' and 'rotten,' 'moist' and 'parched,' and others — can serve a people as conceptual tools for the formation of abstract notions and for combining these into propositions."
- Claude Lévi-Strauss, The Raw and the Cooked

Humans are a recipe ... evidently for disaster.

a reply to: one4all
Thank you, I think...

originally posted by: Skid Mark
a reply to: spiritofsoul
I thought this was going to be a cooking thread. Oh well.

It is a cooking thread...Sorry for the slow reply, I was cooking...

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

Not the thread I was hoping for......

Sorry to disappoint, considering all the effort I put into the meal...

originally posted by: TerryMcGuire
a reply to: spiritofsoul
I liked your analogy. It's nice to be able to consider our existence from varying standpoints, that yours is very relatable.

But interesting to me as well was that incredible little segue you left off with. ''Not today''.

Have to have something to strive for...

originally posted by: halfoldman
A nice analogy, a little spice from the daddy, and a little spice from the mommy and voila, it's baking in the oven.

I just wonder if men and women have different ingredients?
As the nursery rhyme informs us, girls are made from "sugar and spice" and "all things nice", whereas boys are made from "puppy dog tails" and "snails" (today we call it "escargot", but it's still essentially snot).
Flip, no wonder we have an explosion of guys who identify as transgender women - who wants to be made of that?

And to think, if just one of our ancestors refused to cook, going right back to the worm, we wouldn't be here.
But I guess at that stage it was more raw food, or "nature", rather than real cooking, or "culture" (thinking of Claude Lévi-Strauss' binary).

Transgenderism is a biological fact, we all have female and male chromosomes, so I suspect the ingredients are similar in all dna, what those chromosomes do is the the difference, and culture plays a huge role in how we are nurtured or stifled, still as a male I identify with my feminine side quite comfortably, I am not afraid to reveal my true self to anyone, I am capable of exhibiting my male characteristics and maintaining my sensitivity towards females. Perspectives.

originally posted by: halfoldman
Humans are a recipe ... evidently for disaster.

Every meal can't be complete without a little drama...usually it is the mother in law...occasionally the gravy...too much salt, needs a little sugar, sometimes the cookbook just sucks and sometimes the cook sucks...

a reply to: spiritofsoul

Enjoy your neighbor.