Treatise on Survival

This treatise is my personal opinion on survival and what it means to the human race as a whole. I will go into a bit of my personal history with survival and then conclude with an essay on the subject . All comments are welcome and I look forward to a civilized discussion.

Surival

For many people survival conjures up an image of disaster and violence. A mad max like world in which you compete for shelter, water and food. Stress and fear are your close comrades and death is never far away. While this may prove to be a correct telling of the future, I wish to speak of survival at its core. What is the root of this feeling, this response, this state of being? And is this condition and mind set crucial to mankind as we progress or is it a deterrent to our advancement as a species.

As a young child and teenager I gravitated toward acts of bravery in the wild as a means to validate my manhood. Days of fasting in the desert, four hour hikes barefoot thru cactus fields and other general stupidity was my lashing out at responsibility. Months of searching out ways to survive disaster and planetary annihilation were my obsessions. Thinking of all the ways this world could end were my daily thoughts. "We must return to the earth or we all will perish!" was my usual rant. An apocalyptic future was my wish and a return to a more primitive life was a dream for me. What was I searching for? Would I ever find it? I can thank the people close to me for snapping me out of all of that. For giving me what I craved the most, human intervention and the human connection. The intensity of another human being telling you that you are way off is vital. The act of you letting them in is even more so vital.

Which leads me to the core of this treatise. The ultimate survival is not being in survival.

The human being is the most powerful being in the universe. We are still here after who knows how many disasters. People say that is because of our will to live and I agree. But not because somehow we survived better or knew more. It is because the human being at its core wants a better life. A more civilized life. Out of the jungle and in to a more respectful and caring way for the body. Not to struggle for existence but shine in our power. We have powers that have not even been tapped into but it won't come from you having the most whole wheat stored away.
The wilderness cares nothing for the sacredness of the human form. Out there you are just another creature. Hoping to survive. We can not want a return to any way of life that has been in the past. How dare we want this! What then was the purpose for all the advancements we have made? What is the purpose of anything if just to sulk away when the going gets tough. To retreat in the eye of your own adversity is to commit suicide. Who am I or who are you to stop the advancement of the human race as a whole. To return to huts and foraging. We must step out of this survivalist mentality to embrace our own future. The loner never gets the input he needs.
Vulnerability. Deep down this is man's insecurity. This is the root cause to survival. The fear of the unknown. Not being in control. When you are no longer trying to hide your vulnerability and you say I will confront what I must confront. That I will walk with my people and we shall overcome any adversity. That is to step out of survival. That is to say I am a human being and I won't be subject to anything. I mean something in this world. Damn it, I'm here for a purpose. I'm not some number. Things don't just happen to me. I'm here to make your life better. I'm anointed.I walk with purpose. I won't die. My inner core, my body, my spirit won't allow such a thing. The power of the universe is inside of me. Billions of people won't die because those billions of people have a say.
I refuse to believe that that means nothing. That we mean nothing. When you mean something, you STEP OUT OF SURVIVAL.

Thank you

Treatise On Suvival: Part 2

In my introduction to this treatise I layed out my general feeling about survival and what it means for mankind. I opened up a bit about my personal history on survival and my ultimate realization on survival in the modern world.

In this next installment I will discuss the natural world as a whole and human history as we know it up to this point. I will discuss how survival has effected our entire history and our very nature up to this point. I will not be giving any links or sources to my conclusions in the treatise. If there are demands for the information and studies that have informed my opinion that I can provide them at my discretion.


Natural History And Survival

Survival has been a close companion since the dawn of the single cell organism. Survival in my opinion is mearly knowing the action of systems upon systems. In knowing the way these systems interact you learn to play the game or fight the fight. This fight started from the beginning and has been going ever since. Its nothing that could be avoided. It was vital that the cell developed and proceeded to evolve. The cell's very nature in the beginning was to procreate and advance the species. That was the cell's purpose.
As the cell evolved, the systems became more complex. Systems upon sytems upon sytems. Leading up to the human being, the most complex organism on the planet.
Our past as a single cell would effect our entire chemistry. The fight continued and different species of humans interacted with each other.
This interacting led to the modern man or "us".
Yet that deep ingrained survival pattern that had dictated the very course of life on the planet is still an all consuming force in people's lifes. Conscious or unconscious it stirs the breath of human life on the planet.
Why is there war? The first answer would be greed. But let us look deeper. Why is there greed? The need to control all assets and resources. And deeper? Where has this need come from? The millenia long fight for survival. The want of control and the fear of vulnerability has led to all war and death.
But you may ask if you remove survival and the wanting of such then what of overpopulation and the ultimate exctinction of the race thru the over consumption of said resources?
Fear. Our lovely little friend that has been with us from the beginning. There are many different kinds of fear. From the immediate threat of say an armed attack on your person to the long term threat of a failed business venture or love relationship. Either way fear effects you and no one is immune. It's builds a cancer in the body until your very thought process is poisoned.
So back to overpopulation. I totaly agree that overpopulation is a real threat and I have no disilusions about that fact. But the shedding of survival from the human race is a must if we are to solve any of these problems. We can not take old relich patterns from the past and apply them to our future. We must expand and seek out the highest form of movement for ourselves. How can we move and advance if we are so worried about filling our bellies? Or battling the elements?
Now with all this being said and me opening up all of this there is one thing I must make very clear.
I do not in any form support passivity. This treatise is not a shot at this forum or any of the threads in this forum. Most of these threads are great and contain a wealth of information. And I would most certinatly use all of my skills if say sit/x where to happen. I would not sit around and say "how could this of happened?" But this treatise is delving into the deep waters of survival and what it truly means. The core of humanity and these old patterns that have served us well up till now. But they must be discarded and buried in the rise of a more civilzied man.

In my next installment I will explore the ultimate reason for survival. The fear of death

Thank you

Thank you, op for putting so much thought into this.

The Ultimate Survival is to Not Be In Survival... good point.
You seem to have come to the conclusion that quality of life or lack thereof makes the difference. I agree.

I think there is an overpopulation issue as well, but- I think it's a matter of perception, not physics. In other words, there's ( IMO ) room enough for twenty billion or more... well, who knows how many... people on this wotrld who use their heads. Sadly, it looks as thogh there are already too many apes with car keys here now.

Still, people manage to have some culture and dignity amid what you would ( I think ) call survival. There's hope.