They say when you are in your twenties, you worry about what people think. In your forties, you do not care what people think and, in your sixties, you realise that no one thinks about you anyway. This cannot be further from the truth, and it just indicates just how much of our life is centred around imaginary constructs. It also clearly indicates the fact that what we call reality is not cast in stone, but rather relative and subjective. We create our own reality based on our belief systems, self-concept, perception and everything in- between.
It would in fact be hard to imagine how one could be brought into this world without an operational manual from the maker. This is so that from the get-go, even one’s entry into the world and survival is at the mercy of those who have come before them. Long before you were even born, decisions and policies that will impact your life have already been made. Even if you were to have a different view of the world and could have had an antidote to humanity’s persistent problems, it is these decisions and policies that would eventually impede your vision and divine goal.
As one grows, especially when one intentionally works on expanding one’s mental faculties, the veil of reality begins to lift itself. One begins to see the many factors that influence the way things are and have been going about. It starts to become clear that everything we have called life, and all the systems; be they economic, social or educational, are nothing more than constructs with the highest stakeholder interest and investments. It becomes clear that the world can be a better place and heaven on earth, but there are human elements whose primary goal is to keep it the way it is, if not to make it worse. All the wars, famines and economic constraints are nothing more than a chess game, and the ordinary people are mere pawns.
Therefore, it would not matter how big one’s dream is to save the world because it would be met with either equal or even more resistance. To ensure survival, one must conduct themselves in the confines of the established way of doing things. This must be done even when one has finally realised that everything that one has once pursued was a set-up and a trap. However, one would be lucky to have met this realisation earlier in life than on their death bed. Because only then one can buy some time to change course away from the illusion and create a meaningful path for themselves and the like-minded. For they finally realise that everything they ever tried to accomplish outside themselves has brought nothing but fleeting moments of excitement, and nothing more than just another shot in the dark.
* Uncommon Sense is published in New Era with contributions from Karlos Naimhwaka. karlsimbumusic@ gmail.com