Every human is a little war
August
Originally shared in Letters of Consolation, on August 25, 2024.
If we could open our minds with our bare hands, I reckon we’d touch a galaxy pregnant with contradictions. A concoction of emotions and points of view battling for power.
A war is a dance of bodies in disagreement. And to be human is to carry associations and emotions that are eternally in collision, fighting to remote who and how we are.
We are who we are because of our allegiances and experiences. We each belong to a nationality, culture, ancestral line, faith system, social tradition, learning institution, profession, and a long list of columns. We each witness the highs, lows, and in-betweens of life that color our moods, intuition, and consciousness.
When we zoom into the effects of these allegiances and experiences on our being, we find stardust of ideologies and emotions that make us a little dizzy, if not mad, for the drums they pound to own their place within us; beliefs that are incompatible and feelings that are at odds with each other, all in one human being that is meant to present as an i—as a singularity; reasons for our confusions of self.
But that’s okay.
Because none of these elements are insignificant. Because these elements are the pins that knit our identities.
A war is an explosive pursuit of survival. And to be human is to be in search of life in this unknown, uncertain universe.
Every human is a little war sparked by a desire to make sense of what it means to be human. We make art and practice science and join religions to form narratives for our existence. We build five-year plans and to-do lists to demystify the unknown. We enter relationships to share the burden of uncertainty.
And that, too, is okay.
Because knowing all this puts us in the palms of peace, a sort of okayness with our complexity. It also shears the footprints of the judge in our hearts—the one that tends to place our worldview as the only truth there is. Because realizing that the people we come across own lives just as complex as ours changes how we regard those we encounter.
Tea for relaxation
Music: Pomme, Sans toi
On being: How repressed emotions make us sick
Craft: Bring passion projects to life
Small dive: On ghost kitchens
Doing life: The morning after I killed myself
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@etashelinto