Empowered?

Here is the thrust of my depression, the reason it has been so devastating in recent memory: I've lost interest in sex. That may, to some, seem trivial; to others it may seem dramatic, even shocking.

Before I continue, I need to explain a few things for my own reference.

What is "culture"? According to an online dictionary, it is everything from "the quality in a person or society that arises from a concern for what is regarded as excellent in arts, letters, manners, scholarly pursuits, etc." to "a particular form or stage of civilization, as that of a certain nation or period."


What is "civilization"? According to the same dictionary, it is "an advanced state of human society, in which a high level of culture, science, industry, and government has been reached."

Here's what started my depression tonight, what got me feeling The Doubt (similar to The Fear, but not as manic): to the best of our knowledge, culture and civilization are a uniquely human phenomena. The remainder of the animal kingdom has scarcely surpassed the most basic of instincts. We as humans seem to be the only creatures in our awareness to display organized societies, arts, and ideas. Lions don't have fashion magazines, they haven't mastered the art of capturing images with reflections of light by mimicking the operation of the eye, indeed no other animal has developed such unique characteristics.

This put The Doubt in heavy, because if we are indeed the only creatures with these traits, that's a big point for Creationist thinking. How could we be the only creatures capable of such immense introspection and exploration of our environment? How did we arrive at a level of comfort in which we could move beyond our survival and procreatory instincts and actually form theories about the world around us?

Here's a sobering thought for you: We haven't strayed from these instincts at all. What sets humanity apart most from all other living creatures is memory, introspection, and communication. Our society is built around these three qualities.

There is one more: Misanthropy, specifically of our bodies, specifically the reproductive and digestive/excretory systems and organs, but that's something I'm tired of soapboxing about. Our bodies are not obscene; that idea is. End of discussion.

Back to society, back to culture. Bear in mind that those two words are just that: words. Words that describe the same basic function all living creatures follow: procreation. I've mused before on our society and how every emotion we have identified eventually evolves from the procreatory instinct; even the survival instinct is in place so that we may continue to procreate without fail. We have built such a monstrosity, this "culture" thing. It is as vast as the oceans and as varied as the forms of life on this planet, and yet we are no different from any other form of life. Everything we do is done to attract a mate. That is culture: the attraction of a mate. We treat our bodies with care, toning them to perfection to attract a mate, we explore appealing sounds to attract a mate, we take pictures of beauty we witness to attract a mate, we even fight and kill one another to attract a mate. We are hard-wired to procreate and we have found many many ways of appeasing that instinct. Now if only we could understand why...

That's why I've been so depressed: I don't want to procreate, and there's nothing else on this planet to do that has meaning to me.

***



For the record, I think it's high time we stop placing those that excel in doing harm to others atop our society's pedestal. I'm beginning to understand why in our society the greatest thing one can be in life is an athlete, but I do not condone the idea. The athlete is one that does not question why, the athlete is one that follows rules, the athlete is of sound body, healthy, and fit, making for more prosperous offspring, because what is procreation but the entwining of DNA in the hopes of creating something new and better? Our society glorifies the athlete more than any other possible function, the rest are all failures to some degree. Hollywood has attempted to make an alternate society, where a great actor is the greatest thing one can be, to be beautiful and to appear capable of all manner of things. I don't buy that either. I do understand the desire to create a society of athletes: they would be a society of soldiers as well. But this is no longer a warring states era, indeed we as humans have come so far in the comprehension of our condition that violence is no longer a necessary evil but an outdated, primitive, and selfish action, emphasis on the last. Of all athletes, it's time we stop the glorification of those that do harm, it's time this MMA fascination dies, because I am not impressed by violence, I am disgusted. And what use is a mate that finds you repulsive? This prepubescent obsession with martial arts, with weapons, with war needs to stop. We need to understand it, but we do not need to glorify it. It is not the greatest thing we can achieve to be killers and rapists, but that's the current state of our society. It's not the athletes and the actors that deserve all the wealth, attention, and comfort this world can offer, it is the teachers, the volunteers, the scientists, the doctors, those that dedicate their lives to a greater cause: protection and evolution of the human race.


Let's start being better to one another. Let's start being selfless.