Maxims and adages infiltrate our lives in virtually every arena. A bird in hand is worth two in the bush. Idle hands are the devils work. The way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Common sense explanations for commonly encountered problems. An invisible religion to guide our actions with pithy suggestions with which we should augment our actions.
Encountering and utilizing these common sense adages is often involuntary...they inhabit our subconcious, and we adjust our actions accordingly. Insta-solutions for life's challenges.
Generally speaking, this is all quite harmless. Suggestions that guide our actions towards a commonly forecast conclusion that allow us to blend our actions into the monotonous moral infrastructure do not seem overly or overtly dangerous.
Yet a reliance on common sense, maxims, adages...or even consistently acting in one's self-interest, is symbolic of life as an automoton. Importing advice along with whatever stimulus encountered before exporting our emotions and actions. Neat solutions for problems encountered while we turn to concentrate on those things that instantly elate us...a feeling of lust upon seeing an attractive girl, a blissful chemical release upon the completion of a meal...or simply enough, the scent of something remarkable or not easily explainable.
I won't pretend to be all-critical of common sense actions or adherence to groupthink. More often than not I am critical of the innovative or creative components of society...if something is oft-kilter, it more often than not contains the feint stench of nihilism, or puts on display, in thinly veiled illusions, perfumed commonspeak seeking desperately lusting for our attention.
However, to follow a maxim or adage, or to subscribe to any religion, even that of free-thought, is to forsake one's basic independence. Independence of thought, feeling, and emotion. Though learning of any kind will lead to the loss of one's complete independence and is necessary to develop and grow, subscribing to commonplace advice will lead to the loss of something far more precious. The ability to make your own mistakes. And, better yet, to suffer because of them.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
The sensory compels that we have some choice on the matter, in living, and how we decide or act. Within the aesthetic lies our freedom.
ReplyDeleteOne might argue that our view of the aesthetic is directed and augmented by our inherent genetic predisposition to finding something pleasing to the eye. I don't see much of a personal choice as we are subconciously governed by our genetics to like/dislike things and rewarded or punished by chemical impulses pushing our actions towards one inevitable conclusion or another.
ReplyDeleteOne, I believe, is simply better off ignoring the possibility of free-will and simply enjoying oneself.