The World Is Not Solid.
Maybe that’s the reason we’re fucked up. Everything in the material world is an illusion. And part of us knows it. But we still have to navigate it as if it weren’t. As if everything we imagine to be solid weren’t really 99.999% not solid. We hurl through space in metal boxes at 60, 70, 80 miles an hour, and we pretend it is normal. We put it out of our minds that any little misstep we -- or someone else -- would make could remove us from the planet.
We stand in crowds and ignore the fact that we are sharing molecules with each other. We breathe the same air as ancient poets and explorers. We live as if death were not certain. When we are young, we believe we are somehow exempt from aging.
We have discovered quantum physics, but we still believe nonsensical religious dogmas and fantastical tales of an old man rounding up two of everything on earth and herding them onto a boat. We’re fed the same lies over and over. That trickle-down economics works, that tough-on-crime policies make our communities safer. Even though there is no proof of either. Even though the evidence tells the opposite story about these things.
Giving tax cuts to billionaires actually serves no one. The billionaires won’t even feel it, and everyone else suffers because of them. Locking people in cages does not help them be better people. It mostly makes them worse, more dangerous. And it destabilizes families and communities, and causes large negative economic ripples. The data is consistently clear that every dollar we spend on the front end, in social services, saves us three dollars on the back end, and actually stabilizes communities. But people continue to believe the lies over the truth.
Maybe we believe the lies, because they give us an illusion of certainty. Just like the illusion that things are solid. Because so much of the world doesn’t make sense. Because to look beneath the rug is too much. We’re just trying to get through the day. To do the work and buy the groceries and put gas in the car and take the kids to practice or piano lessons or the doctor. We’re trying to remember our passwords. To keep our lives organized. To not drop anything important.
And somewhere we know that the new rug or iPhone or the next glass of wine or bite of chocolate cake are not going to make our lives make sense. But we will keep doing it anyway. Because uncertainty is hard for most people. Acknowledging that we really don’t know anything is too scary. And anyway, there is an abundance of illusions to keep us from having to think about that.
Understand that I love iPhones and wine and chocolate. And beautiful sunsets. I live in the physical world. I embrace it. I drink too much wine. I imagine the story on the movie screen is real. What I am saying, is maybe give yourself a little grace. The world doesn’t make sense. We’re all doing the best we can. We all find the anchors we need to keep us here. We all believe Rumi when he says, When you walk on the way, the way appears. We’re all operating on faith almost all the time. Faith in love. Faith that life has a purpose. Faith that we’ll figure things out. Faith that the stars will align. I think these are illusions worth keeping.
