"The Unexamined Life Is Not Worth Living..."

There’s a tendency in mankind to imagine that He(we) is the be-all end all. We’re the coolest, the most enlightened, the boldest, the best, the smartest, etc. For example, this new administration is touting itself as the most moral, responsible, so much better than the last, etc.

Fine. Maybe that’s true. Maybe not. Taking that attitude completely blinds folks to the painful truth that no matter how good it actually is, it’s still not perfect. It might look nice and shiny, but there’s a dark interior. And it’s not only on our society, but ourselves as well. Are you following this one?

Let me explain a bit better. How much better do we perceive ourselves than the Roman Empire? We’re so far advanced, right? How much better did the Romans think they were compared to the Greeks, the Middle Eastern cultures running around, the Druids, etc.? They were the top of the heap, so they thought. They figured it just didn’t get any better than what they had.

Pretty shortsighted, isn’t it? Through the passage of time, we see the faults. We see the shortsightedness. We see the debauchery, the insanity, etc. At least, those of us who actually learn something from history do. And we’re all blind to our own faults, for the most part.

Man’s perspective on the whole universe is a bit shortsighted, honestly. We fall into the trap of thinking that we’re the best, the brightest, can’t get any better, etc. (Lots of etcs., in the post, I’m noticing. Oh well. You weren’t expecting Shakespeare, were you?)

We ignore our own faults, and have no idea of how bad we actually are until we see somebody that is better than ourselves in some area. Whether it be our personal relationships, our golf game, the way we treat our dog, etc. We’re not perfect by any stretch of the imagination.

What will a future society see when they look back on us? What flaws will they notice? What Achilles’ Heel will jump out at them as being what did this society in? We probably can’t even imagine it. What flaws does someone outside our own skins see in us that we can’t see ourselves?

No matter how good any of us think we actually are, there’s room for improvement. No matter how advanced we find ourselves in whatever area we choose to examine, there’s a greater perspective that we are unaware of, and a complete inability to appreciate how low we actually are.

Only time will tell, I suppose. But it’s something to think about.

Wow. I’ve got to lay off the C.S. Lewis.....