You’ll Get Over It, Not Completely, But You Will.

I feel a tinge of sadness as I type these words because for some reason, there is a disconnect between the parts of me that thinks these things and the part of me that acts. In short, I don’t follow my own advice. But we move nonetheless, because wetin man wan do? If I feel compelled to put words down, I will. One day, when I’ve had enough of my own bullshit, I’ll listen more closely to myself.

So today, I read an article titled: Ecolate Objectivism. One of its premises is that life is a highly intricate and interconnected learning ‘system of systems,’ and each system (including the system that connects all other systems) has an objective function (ruling principle). Everything that exists, from molecule, to mountain, to elephant, to human, is the universe’s attempt to learn what is possible/sustainable, both within the bounds of the demands of each system’s ruling principle and the bounds of the super-ordinate ruling principle (the universe’s ruling principle).

Anyways, I’m quite certain that none of that interests you, and that’s not what I’m about to discuss either. My major concern here is a portion of the article:

“You drink more caffeine and within days your brain has counter acted it. You abuse drugs and soon your brain has counter acted it. You buy a house and are euphoric… for a few days. But soon you return to business as usual. Every attempt to circumvent our instinctual desires appears to result in subversive backlash.”

At this point, the author was attempting to illustrate how the human psyche is an ecological system, by describing how it obeys each of the four laws set down by Barry Commoner in his book ‘The Closing Circle.’ The law being described in the quoted portion, is the Law of Equilibrium - the tendency of every ecological system to always return to its base/equilibrial state. If you want to see how the human mind obeys the other laws you can check the full article out.

Moving on, why is this interesting? Because it’s a reminder of a truth we’ve experienced over and over, but tend to forget:

No matter how sad, angry, happy, despondent, suicidal, or euphoric the events of your life make you, you will eventually adapt and return to your equilibrial mind state of being ‘just there.’

The only exception to this rule is if you’re mentally ill, or there are biological factors involved, in which case, you can be said to have successfully shifted your base state- an immensely difficult thing to do, based on experience.

You may still be unsure why this should matter to you, well, for me, it’s a free pass to no longer worry about the things that prevent us from living in the moment and taking necessary risks, and the things that keep us anxious about the future. Things like fear of heartbreak, career failures, losses, betrayal, loneliness, starting over and so on. Why? because we’ll get over it. Sure, we’ll have scars and experience irreplaceable losses, and may never be quite normal again, but we will eventually find a rhythm and our lives will once again return to monotony. It’s a really fascinating human feature: the ability to change so drastically and yet feel so ordinary; to experience heaven and hell, and yet be able to return to a state of cyclical everyday ‘just there’ living.

It’s also quite revealing in that it shows how every goal you long for will eventually become just another item you’ve ticked off your bucket list once you’ve attained it, and the excitement of life is really in the chase for our dreams, rather than the dreams themselves. According to a theory I read somewhere, most people are more interested in the act of chasing than in their self-proclaimed goals, and thus, always self-sabotage themselves when they see that they are close to achieving their goals. That, though, is a story for another day, I have to find my reference material first.

So my fellow males and females, don't worry about the future or whatever it has in store for you, you’ll get over it. Doesn’t mean you won’t get drastically hurt, or that you won’t want to die at times. It may also take years to recover from your Ls, but you’ll get over every single one. Recognizing this, will give you something to look forward to in your very dark moments. In essence, this article is an extended version of the saying: “This too, shall pass.”

Namaste.