Yesterday’s post on You=tube and being all DaDaDandy needs a follow, and although I’m far from growing wings and going chirpy I may possibly have something percolating between synapses that offers other than gloom for a Tuesday.
When in discussions with folks who subscribe to Life is Short and Then You Die and That’s All She Wrote line of thought, one question that pops into mind is: Why?
Not, “Why do you think this is all there is?”, because that actually makes a lot of sense, but “Why?” as a broader issue.
Although I do understand the biological imperative we carry to find meaning to life in our efforts to figure out what’s going on and therefore somehow protect ourselves with the result being we stick around longer, that doesn’t feel quite enough to get us to the point of doing so so well.
In the course of evolution, changes in species arise because something new and different works, and works well enough and is repeated often enough to have those with it make more others than those without. Many new adaptations are very costly involving trade-offs in expenditures of energy.
Bright coloring in male birds, for instance, takes more energy, but results in breeding opportunities, so it works and is worth it.
Humans stand rather than crawl after developing big ass muscles, an improvement on mobility allowing us to use our hands which led to tool making and a decent living for manicurists. The ability to use tools made killing big stuff possible so we starting living in groups … which spread the cost a bit as the society as well as individuals anted up … and talking to each other so we could manage to deal with mammoth leftovers.
Fine. DadaDandy, even.
Where the evolutionary sense runs off the rails for me, however, is where we got so bloody smart.
Where is the biological imperative in moving from beating on a log while blowing through a reed to Mozart? For that matter, why did we start blowing on reeds in the first place? Chimps have been around as long as we have and done well without making music, so what is it in us that needs it to soothe the savage breast?
What good has it done our species to build extra brain making it possible to turn completely effective grunts to poetry, to develop compassion to the point of giving the shirts off our back to help another in need and the determination to go where no one has gone before even when we well know there’s a dearth of fruiting trees in them thar hills?
Big brains need a lot of calories to form and to work. Why go that way when longer arms or wings or bigger lungs may have served better?
If there’s one thing going on making me suspect there’s more than one thing going on, it would be that we’re over-engineered for what’s needed for survival in this world. Because that over-engineering is so expensive, it seems there must be a better reason for it than simple process of effective mutation explains, and because of that there just might be more to us.
So, from a Monday to a Tuesday, and from Kierkegaard and Nietzsche to a philosopher of our time, Yoda …
Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter.
Perhaps …
A collection of my short stories:
I'm in this one, too ...
And I'm in here, as well ...
Paradise Preoccupied 
Complex pattern recognition is a valuable survival skill, perhaps music augments our ability to recognize patterns. Creativity can help our life, make things more comfortable.
Maybe anything that enhances or promotes community, collaboration, invention, group behavior, is valuable for survival. Music can be a group behavior that promotes group cohesion, banging on those drums.
Anything that can be used to learn/understand/use complex systems helps the group to grasp things that will aid in survival. Creative activity is a good thing for survival.
I watched an interesting conversation last week at:
Elaine Pagels, Jennifer Hecht, and other people talking about “The Evolution of God(s)”
It seemed one of the major topics of the very long conversation was group behavior and survival. Lots of things talked about, a bit of a ramble, perhaps it might seem too tedious for some. Listening to Jennifer Hecht was worth the slog for me.
But then again – maybe we’re all just doomed, random, bored, dipsh*ts trying to escape boredom. Damned if I know. Maybe you’re on to something with that wine…
Yeah … wine …
i have migrated to sims position on this over the years. symmetry, pattern recognition. it creates sensation and all that jazz!
but then. . . i LOVE Sandra’s question. Its so dam provocative! and besides. . . when I climb mountains and i talk to dragons, seagulls and snakes. . . . I sleep well that night and it all goes down well with red wine!
Happy to hear you’re sleeping well, Eben!
Everyday I learn something new and everyday I change my mind about something 🙂
Flex thinking! Good on ya, Bobby!
also, why are there so many different types of flowers? birds? a zillion different varieties of tomatoes? we all have the same basic body parts, but each face is unique! and then there is the miracle that blends two people together and produces an entirely new person who looks like both parents! why is every single snow flake different?
Sounds like you’ve been doing some pondering, Amy …
me? never!
🙂
Interesting questions, Sandra. “More to us”…. I think so. But can we answer ‘what’ with our limited selective thinking patterns. And can we answer if we are not the ‘more to’ part. Do our brains serve as receptors or generators of thoughts. Is there a one mind beyond our individual brains. Is there something to energy healing and who, what, where does it come from. I could go on. It keeps me busy.
I’ve come across some interesting comments in a few places about what you speak of in your post, Sandra.
Authentic Kabbalah at http://www.kabbalahlearningcenter.info/
And a book titled, “The Holy Science” author Swami Sri Yukteswar.
I haven’t read “The Evolution of God” yet, but have heard good reviews. It’s on my books to read list.
“Hang in there baby”. Do you remember the poster with the cat? Or was it a kitten?
I think I need a read of something completely off-topic … a literary equiv to Calgon.
Nice!
Hi from Port Alfred South Africa! Good luck with the sale of your house Sandra – the view from the bedroom should do it! I recently read a fascinating book The Language of God by Francis Collins, a genetic scientist. Through his personal testimony he shows that faith and reason can and do coexist peacefully – he certainly convinced me! He was an atheist but became a Christian through his research on DNA.
Thanks, Jane.
I’ll look for that one on my iPad, since it’s not likely to appear in my local library!