96. Evolve

Evolutionary theory entails that we have yet to reach an end point to what we can become. There might come a time when humanity has evolved to a higher plane of existence, where we shed our physical coil as we have no need for it, and all that is left is the mind.

If you were to strip away all our attachments to material things and our dependence on technology, all we have left is our humanity, and our inherent affinity for one another. Perhaps that this all we need. And maybe in that sense, mankind has actually regressed in the evolutionary process.

But rather than think of what we are to become thousands of years from now, let us have a think of what we could become, starting today.

How do you spend most of your days feeling? Are there feelings of bitterness and hate? Perhaps a bit of spite or jealousy? And what of arrogance and hubris? Do you really think you are better than any of your fellow man? If so, in which way? Was it because you were better educated? Smarter? Richer? Stronger? That you belong to a certain race? Your history? Your culture? Your friends and family?

We each of us have our preconceived notions of who we are and it is those same notions we us to view others. Be it with a sense of self-importance or loathing, be it unspoken or assertively demonstrated. And in it, we feel comfortable and protected. Because this is how we perceive our own sense of self-worth in the world, and how differentiate ourselves from others.

Maybe it is only when we experience great loss that we are filled with this great sense of humility that perhaps should have never left us from the day we knew how great and wide this universe was as a child. When everything has been stripped away, we become altogether human in our vulnerability. There and then, do we feel the essence of how who we are, in the face of overwhelming grief. And we are confronted with the only emotions that matter; sorrow...and compassion.