Panta rei

BetterFailling

March 1

Tao, Karma, Future

Janus offers us an insight into the worldview of the Romans. He was worshipped because he helped them to control changes and transitions and allowed them to understand time and the nature of the world. For the average Roman, the god personified important forces that that he wanted to control.

Time, like everything else human, has two sides. Like a coin.

A 'base' and an interpretation.

There's no interpretation without a base - even hallucinations are based on 'something' - and there's nothing which has penetrated human conscience and ever managed to evade interpretation.
In fact, human conscience needs to interpret, to assign meaning to, everything it 'sees'. Everything it perceives.
Anything which is uninterpretable, which has no meaning, cannot be controlled. It is, hence, dangerous.
If you don't know what's going to happen next, you can assume anything. And since assuming the worst - and preparing for it - is far more useful towards survival than sleeping over it, we are biased towards erring on the side of caution. And towards relentlessly searching for meaning.

Time, like everything else human, is both a phenomenon - it happens - and a concept.
The difference between the 'time' of a star and the human time being that ours has a name - given by us - and that the star cannot do anything about it. While we do!

We can do things to/about time!

We named it, we measure it, we atempt to interpret it.... and we try to do the best of it!
We try to do, while alive, what we consider to be 'the best'.

The best (?!?) for whom?

Tao.

The 'road'.
If everything flows, it has to flow 'somewhere'.
Not only from the start/spring to the 'end' (?!?)/never tranquil sea. Everything flowing needs a 'riverbed' to flow 'through'. A plant needs soil to sprout, grow, bear fruit and 'return to nature'. Even a star needs an Universe in order to shine... besides enough 'fuel', of course!
I have started this post by saying that there's no interpretation without a 'base' and that we, conscious human beings, need to attach meaning (a.k.a. interpretations) to everything of which we become aware.
Same thing here. For anything to happen, a venue is needed. Some wise people in our past have used 'Tao' as a name for THE venue. For the venue where everything takes place.

Karma.

At first, when conscience had dawned on us, we were alone in the 'dark'. And afraid about what was going to happen to us. To assuage that fear, we have identified God. As the 'the meaning' of the world.
At first, when both the world and time seemed to be endless - to us, consequences came from God. We had to behave. Or else... God was there to punish each and every transgression. Sometimes using one of us as his proxy.
After a while, some of our ancestors have learned to write. To reliably transfer information over generations. Very soon, those ancestors of ours have learned the link between cause and effect. Between behavior and consequence. Very soon God had become an outside observer. Or was out-rightly forgotten. But Karma survived.

Future.

I keep hearing that 'evolution has no purpose'.
Like many other human utterances, this one conveys far more information about the utterer than about the phenomenon described by the utterer.

'This wooden table has 4 legs'.
We learn about the table that it is in front of us, that it is made of wood and 'has' 4 legs.
We learn about the utterer that:
It was conscious when uttering those words. Only conscious agents are capable of 'speaking like a human'.
It has, at some point, learned to speak. English, and possibly other languages.
It has, at some point, learned to count. At least up to four. And it had conserved that ability up the moment when it uttered those words.
It was capable of identifying 'wood' as a material.
When uttering that phrase, it was in a 'casual' state of mind. A 'scientifically minded person', a 'grammar nazy', for example - when in that mood, would not attribute human traits to a table. Which table is a mere object and objects cannot posses other objects. Tables cannot 'have', hence that person was speaking colloquially.
Or, given the current 'technological' developments, those words might have very well been uttered by a statistically 'minded' AI application.... A man made 'parrot'!

See what I mean?

Let's go back to the presumably purposeless evolution.

Evolution is a phenomenon. Like a thunder. It takes a lot more time to unfold than a thunder, it's about as hard as a thunder to predict the exact point where it will 'strike' but we know enough about both to be able to point out, quite reliably, a few 'rules' about how both phenomena take place. About where, when and how they will unfold.
What's the purpose of thunder? To 'close the circuit'? To discharge the energy pent up in the cloud?
I'm afraid that attributing purpose to thunder is akin to allowing tables to 'have' legs. What we have here is a 'figure of speech'. An 'implicit' figure of speech... so implicit that it's not even considered as such...
Same thing when it comes to evolution.

Which evolution is paramount to survival.
Just as no cloud can accumulate ad infinitum electric energy - hence thunder - no living thing ever - no species, more exactly - has yet been able to survive 'everything'. Everything mother nature has thrown at it.
Hence 'evolution'. Which is a mere process which makes life possible. In certain conditions - in a certain Tao - after it had sprung up. And, again, attributing purpose to evolution is akin to allowing a table to own legs.

Then what about 'future'?
If God no longer decides for us - the God we have identified - and if evolution is 'pointless'... then 'future is blind'?!?

Not so fast!

Question: Where was God at Auschwitz?
Answer: Where was man at Auschwitz?

Could any of those present at Auschwitz have done anything to fundamentally change the outcome?
Probably not.
Could we, as a species, have done - have behaved, actually - in such a manner as to avoid Auschwitz altogether? Specially after the Armenian Genocide had already taken place?
Should we, as a species, have done differently when so many Tutsi had been killed in Rwanda?
When 8000 Muslim Bosniak men and boys had been murdered in Srebrenica?

See what I mean?
About the future?
About our future?