Survival vs. Living

Wake up, get clothes on, grab a granola bar before rushing out the door. To work we go. Half hour to and from work. 8.5 hours at the job (half hour lunch break). Go home, eat dinner. By the time it's all done, approximately 12 hours have passed. 8 hours of sleep means 4 hours to myself each day. I could use this time to do things I SHOULD be doing. Things like cleaning the house, finishing my garden, taking care of the bills, perhaps working towards something that may offer me a better future. That's what I should be doing, but I don't. I'm tired. I've been working all day. "I'll do it tomorrow" becomes a familiar line.

Usually after a day's work in the coal mines (figuratively), I just feel like relaxing. I want to forget about my mundane life for a while. What are my options? Well, we typically relax via some form of entertainment. TV, video games, reading a book, hanging out at the bar, playing a sport every once in a while. Reading conspiracy forums. Drugs (legal or otherwise). You could sum it up with one word: Escapism.

This is life huh? No, it's not. It's survival. We plug away another day so that we can eat, work, sleep, consume, and then try to forget about it before waking up and doing it all over again.

If I wanted to, I could go a step further and start a family as well. But I wouldn't have much time for them. With only 4 hours to myself a day, would I then split that up into 2 for myself, 2 for the family? Realistically, if I wanted to keep my family, I'd take no time for myself at all. As a result, I'd be stuck with whatever career I had at the time, thereby locking away forever any unused potential not directly applicable to my job.

And who would be raising my kids? To survive comfortably, both parents must work. So the kids are raised by the state, church, babysitter, TV... frickin Barney the dinosaur. Those things would have more time with my kids than I would. I would be PAYING OTHERS to have the pleasure of raising my children. And for what? So that they can grow up and take their places in the assembly line of society? No thanks. I won't put another soul through that.

If it weren't for our ability to be creative, I don't think we would even be human. I often stay up into the wee hours of the morning creating artwork or coming up with new theories at the expense of my sleep and sanity. I often find myself neglecting my responsibilities just so that I can feel a little more alive. I arrive at work later and later, caring a bit less each day.

Living is being creative. It's experiencing new things, coming up with new thoughts and ideas. Yet survival always takes precedence. Shouldn't be a problem right? 21st century right? Hah!

You would think that after so many thousand years of civilization and technological advances we would have had it figured out by now. But no. We're still just building pyramids for the pharaohs, and we feel forced to do so based on our very survival.

Where's my exodus? Where's my promised land?

Beyond natural selection

When survival of the fittest means the "fittest" have arsenals of weapons capable of destroying the world many times over, it begs for a new interpretation of natural selection. It's not "survival of the fittest" if we destroy ourselves and our environment along with it... it's civilizational suicide.

Humans became dominant on this world thousands of years ago. Why then is our survival instinct still playing a starring role? Instead of battling for dominance with a competing species, we're battling against each other. Do we enjoy hurting each other? Or is survival really that difficult?

These instinctive tendencies tend to give rise to hierarchies and various systems of control. Humanity it seems is comprised of one pyramid scheme after the other. Get in early or start your own and you might have a chance for success. Otherwise, get to the back of the line (or the bottom of the corporate ladder).

From the country level all the way down to our families there are dominant figures in control who think that your survival or happiness isn't a right, it's a privilege. So if you slave your ass off, go to church, pay your taxes, and don't question authority... you might do alright. That is, if you don't mind playing the system as if it's just a big game. The "game of life" indeed.

It is of my opinion that if humanity is to evolve, the system needs to go. Not be fixed, but go away completely. Hierarchies and monarchies need to go. A new system with a focus on freedom and personal responsibility should take it's place. A priority should be on making sustainable survival possible, rather than something you have to work at your entire life.

Along with freeing up time and removing some dependence on money, it would give us more time to be creative. Whether it's art, music, writing, or coming up with new ways of making the world a better place. Less focus on weapons development would be a nice start. Imagine if all the money used in the Iraq war and the development of various weapons systems was instead utilized for development of our species and for making life more easy overall.

At the moment, most of our creative potential is going towards the development of various forms of escapism. Yet that same potential can transform our world... if only we had the time and the means. It's not that the time and means don't exist, but that those in control are holding us back.

One of the biggest conspiracies against humanity (the right to thrive) is the result of our own primitive nature and ultimately the result of selfishness. Which is ironic given the big picture... or at least what I believe to be the big picture which is: We're all one. The more we hurt others, the more we hurt ourselves. Only by realizing this can we evolve. And then we can REALLY start living.

reply to post by Kruel


I understand what you mean. I don't really have anything to add as I think you've summed it up quite nicely. I think just about everyone feels the way you do about subsisting vs. living - even the 'rich' people. The more money you have, the more money you need to keep that lifestyle going. That means more time at the office, more time away from the family and all the things you've worked to buy. At some point you'd think those who can afford it would choose to get off the treadmill...but for some reason they don't.