Incredible Machine

2007-09-07 1:34 a.m.
I had a grandmother who lived until she was 97. She was active until she was 90 and then her knees began to give out, but although she didn't walk much, she still cooked, cleaned, helped raise her children and grandchildren, kept our family together and inspired all of us to be better people.

The Human Body is an incredible mechanism. We make it to about 80 years without surprise. But show me a simple machine that lasts 50 years without fail. How about a semi-complex one that survives more than 10 years?! Sure, you can find cars here and there that have been kept up by their owner who was sure to replace parts when necessary and rub it down with a diaper every few days. But they don't self-maintain. And they are a large minority with little to no use. We talk every day. Walk and run a maneuver other machinery from point A to B. Most of us think 24 hours a day. We work until a few years before we expire. We breathe and eat and masturbate and fuck and read newspapers and recite poetry and perform all kinds of strange activities without any special attachments.

Some say this beauty is the proof of God, but I disagree. It's only the proof of fine craftsmanship. We're not even close to proof of God. Proof of God requires a perspective I'm not sure we're capable of obtaining - even as a collective. Not just as one race. Maybe as another kind of collective.

The first steps to getting an idea of what I'm talking about is to redefine your idea of beauty. If you cannot recognize the absolute artistry of humans, you've missed the point. If you haven't taken the time to contemplate a sun rise, or waves crashing or a tree swaying in the wind or ants building a nest or anything natural , you're missing the point. If you think that which created us gives a fuck if we lie to one another or steal things or kill each other, you've missed the point.

Stop what you're doing for a moment and think about the difference between a grain of sand and a mountain. Go out one a clear night and spend a couple hours to peer deep into the galaxies and consider that you're looking at an exact replica of everything around you. Contemplate the relationship between a galaxy, a rock, a human hair, a table and a molecule. All one in the same. All building blocks of one another. All models of each other.

The universe gives exactly as much of a fuck about human beings as it does concrete, horse shit, meteors, sewer rats, entire galaxies and dinosaurs. All members of a great big gene pool sharing atoms and energy.

Staying alive and continual coexistence with the world around us allows us to continue contributing to this great machine. Once we kill each other off, or kill off that which lives around us, that's it, our contribution is over. The universe will go on as if we never existed. It'll sneeze us off, wipe it's nose and go on about it's day.

And if you don't see this... If you still think your dirty thoughts will make you burn in some oddly conjured idea of damnation, you're missing the point. If you're against science, you don't even Want to know god. The study of ourselves and the world around us is exactly the search for god. There's no deviation. It's our only shot at actual self-awareness. Look at the whole picture. Think about how you affect your surroundings, how they affect you and how to nurture that contract.

I don't pray because the idea of 'something' listening to my intentions baffles me. My intentions are reflected by my influence onto that with which I coexist. I help my fellow man because it strengthens my positive influence upon our world. That's all we have. That's our team. We are a team of well-built fleas interacting with an eternal amount of equally well-built fleas and it's our responsibility that we continue to contribute to the entire beast we happen to live off of.

I used to believe the fact that "we have no specific purpose, but to exist" was a reason to be an asshole and do whatever I wanted, but it's the exact opposite. It's the ultimate assignment of responsibility. Well built, self sustaining cogs in an incredible machine. Bugs have purpose. Fish have purpose. Air has a purpose. Fire and Water have purpose. Every molecule has a charge and hence a direction - a purpose. WE have a purpose... To continually contribute to an incredible machine that we'll never actually understand.