It's interesting to ponder how many things we take as simple concepts that turn out to be not so simple in their fundamental form. Take, for example, the word deserve. One of my favorite quotes I've heard is something along the lines of, "Deserve is Satan's favorite word." and I tend to agree. It is. It's not a concept that is reflected in nature. A plant doesn't deserve a flower. A bird doesn't deserve to fly. These are fundamental things that are part of the existence of each of them. But for humans to deserve? No. It is a human creation as part of the tug-of-war of power and entitlement (another human creation). All of these things come with the higher brain, the ability to think in the abstract. Unfortunately, we have tried to turn that abstract into reality and build concepts, pillars in the building blocks to humanity, and we have ended up with a great deal of things that supposedly mean everything, but in reality, mean nothing. We have also ended up with things that are powerful, or "terrible" if you will, that are dangerous, and yet, they are tossed around as if they mean nothing too. Terrible is an example of this. The things we often say are terrible in nature aren't. Natural disasters are part of the ebb and flow of life. Nature is indeed vicious, but it is all part of the ecosystem and structure of said nature. Human nature, on the other hand, is a mess. Humans are given free will, the ability to think with the abstract, to use that abstract to build morals and be guided by them, and to choose among options and act accordingly. There are steps in this process that require the higher brain. And yet, despite these, the capacity for terrible is still a viable thing. I am not talking about mental illness, necessarily, but more so, the sinister calculations that go into birthing massively terrible things. Take, for example, the Holocaust, or any genocide for that matter. It may have been one persons, or a group of peoples, idea to take these horrible actions. But, it was another group of people who often did them, who didn't agree, but still did. This capacity for terrible is the one I speak of. The fact that humans can choose to do this, despite the red flags going off, and continue on with life. This exists because of the way the brain was designed, it was designed with this in mind. These things in our brain allow us to act in such a way with minimal effect. Cognitive dissonance allows us to think one thing and act another. Belief perseverance keeps us going despite facts that prove us otherwise. The just world phenomenon keeps us believing in some sense of cause and effect, and the terrible being caused is being done to those who deserve it's effect. Do you see how many human concepts I have to use to explain this? These things that are not reflected in nature, but must be used to explain human nature; it highlights just how far humans have gone. We have gone far in good and bad ways, but I tend to believe the bad is more predominant. We have the capacity to be terrible, and we choose to be. Now, don't get me wrong, this is not to say that we don't always want what is good -- I do believe we do and no one wants bad, but this is a matter of choice in a different perspective. This is one of those things where you know second guessing was happening, but still, the brain activated the defense mechanisms to allow it to happen. The calculation that goes into it is astounding. And it is scary to think, this, this is just a part of the human nature. This is what comes with awareness and obliviousness at the same time. It's maddening.
I need to refine these thoughts, but here they are for now.
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