I’m realizing something at this stage of life. Living a long life gives one the opportunity to see things in the “big picture,” to have a different perspective on life than was possible earlier because we were all caught up in the hustle and bustle of life, making a living. This is a time in life to reflect and think on the meaning of life and all that goes on, day-to-day.
One realization that I have come to is that so much of life is B.S. So much… I’m thinking maybe up to ninety percent of life is really just B.S. (baloney). But we have to put up with it in order to get through it all and have the life we are meant to have, the good life that we want. And I do not mean to be negative, necessarily. I absolutely believe in being positive about life. It is truly a blessing, full of goodness if we look for it, see it, live it.
But when you look at things in life you can see so much that is stupid, baloney, manipulative and controlling by others. What got me thinking about all of this was the number of telemarketing calls I get every day. Yes, I did get on the “do not call list” years ago, but did that make a difference? No, that didn’t stop them. Then I started thinking about all the other things in life. I saw all the fraudulent emails I get daily. And the fraudulent activities on the internet. And having your identity stolen and all of that kind of stuff. I’ve learned that once you get on a list, watch out! Or give some money to a charity and every charity on the face of this earth is bombarding you with requests daily.
I just wish I was aware earlier in life of this fact. Yes, life would still have been ninety percent baloney, but I think I could have handled life much better, had a more detached perspective, a more Zen and stoic approach to everything. Perhaps I would have disregarded the unimportant and damaging situations and events that daily life entailed.
At this stage of life, I just don’t care about so much of what life seems to consist of. I only want at this point the ten percent of the positive, the good, the wonderful of life. I do believe we can conclude our life adventure with an upbeat, joyous, contented feeling of our life story. There are good activities, good people doing good things in this world. I’m interested in finding out about these people and the good that is happening around the globe. I know it exists. The news outlets may not report it. Our society and culture may deny there’s any good in the world these days, but I know better. I search out the books and articles of the good occurring in our day, in our world.
So, yes, there’s a pessimistic and an optimistic theme in this blog. Ninety percent of life may be crap, as I call it. But the ten percent remaining of life. I want to live in that realm. I need to carefully choose what I think, what I listen to, what I react to, or rather how I react. If I just “drift” along with our culture, with the extremists, the wacko conspiracists, the cultists and rigid religious authoritarians, I’m sunk. I’m depressed, I’m hopeless.
So, just after I wrote this, being curious if anyone else thought that life is ninety percent B.S., I got quite a surprise. Here I thought I was being so original in my thinking, so creative. Well, it turns out there is a law covering just this topic I’m discussing. It’s called “Sturgeon’s Law, which states that “ninety percent of everything is crap.” It was coined by Theodore Sturgeon, a science fiction author in 1957.
And Rudyard Kipling’s “The Light That Failed” (1890) used the adage “four fifths of everybody’s work must be bad. But the remnant is worth the trouble for its own sake.” Also, in 2013, philosopher Daniel Dennett championed Sturgeon’s law as one of his seven tools for critical thinking. “90% of everything is crap. That is true, whether you are talking about physics, chemistry, evolutionary psychology, sociology, medicine – you name it- rock music, country western. 90% of everything is crap.”
Well, I say that sounds a bit extreme, but I agree in general terms with where he’s coming from. A lot is crap! Perhaps you agree, perhaps you don’t. But that’s how I see it. I have to work hard to stay in the ten percent positive part of life. Hard work. Just drifting along won’t work for me. Didn’t work earlier in my life, won’t work now. The difference is that now I am aware. Bring on the GOOD, God (universe, or however you see the ultimate of existence)! The cultists, conspiracists, doomsayers, MAGA’s, stay away from me. Even you telemarketers and obnoxious salespeople, Stay away. I want to live out my life in an upbeat, positive way. No civil war, no apocalypse, No buying and stocking up on guns and ammunition as some friends and family have suggested. Have some faith, yes, the faith you claim to have and live!
Wally