May You Live in Interesting Times…

As we find ourselves careening towards either the Singularity, Collapse, The Second Coming or The Age of Aquarius what better quote to frame these uncertain times than a quote that seems like blessing, is meant as a curse, and isn’t even from the ancient lineage it claims to be.

May you live in Interesting Times is oftentimes quoted as a Chinese Curse- in that Interesting times are most often filled with strife and struggle and political upheaval. See the 1960’s.

It would seem that we find ourselves again in Interesting Times- as the Internet, Changing World Orders, a rapidly changing Biosphere as well as various other destabilizing factors press down upon us forcing our collective evolution, or extinction.

The amount of change we as a human species have endured over the last hundred years dwarfs what our ancestors would ever experience. And move forward to the 21st century and that pace of change has gone hyperbolic- our small mammalian brains were never meant to take in this much change so fast.

And because of it, we are losing our grip on reality and grasping for any sense of meaning that can explain what is happening to us.

Interesting Times Indeed!

In times like these, it’s easy to get sucked up into the various entertaining distractions, political movements, trends and gurus who falsely claim to have the answers – all goading us towards their own specific view for the future. Trying to get us to play along with their games- instead of searching inside asking ourselves the most meaningful question one can ask in these “Interesting Times”.

The question that I ask over and over again in these times of great change, is the same question philosophers have been asking since time immemorial.

That Question is – ‘What makes for a Good Life?’

Because in Uncertain times, in times where things are changing and evolving quicker than we can catch our bearing- looking outward will not help us – we must make our own game. Learn to Live our own lives. To make our own meaning to keep us centered as all around us changes before our eyes.

For if we don’t know what we want to get out of life, of what it is to live a life worth living- a life we can stand to bear out despite the ‘Interesting Times’ we are sure to experience over the next decades – we will be swept up in the maelstrom of these manipulative games – to turn our time, attention, and energy towards goals and agendas that are not our own- and do not have our best interests in mind.

And so again I ask, “What makes for a good life?”

The answer I don’t yet know. I have my inklings, my hunches and my intuitions and they should, and have steered me well so far. And yet- all around I see lost people- people running through the motions of a bygone era- playing games they have not yet realized are long since dead.

And if you feel into it, if you talk to people beyond the shallow sports talk or popular culture chats- and get down into it – you’ll probably come upon something that I have when having these conversations- that we are in the middle of something. A transition. A liminal space between ages, or systems, or modes of being in the world.

And what will come forward out of this is directly related to reassessing what sort of world do we want to live in? For our children to grow up into. What world do we want to pass on to the future generations?

But more importantly, how do we want to Live in this new world? Do we want to remain cogs in a machine that cares not for our hopes, dreams and desires? Or should we start seriously asking ourself this question.

This question that has been running through my mind over and over, taken me to places to meet and connect with people I never would have met if I stayed safe in my comfortable old life.

‘What makes for a Good Life?’

And it has been a guiding force to drive me through these changing times. And maybe my version isn’t the same as your. I don’t imagine it is- well not exactly.

But my bet is that the substratum of them are the same. That the underlying principles are the same. That under the differing preferences, particularities and pleasure principles – there are basic human needs and desires that we all share- and, while how we get there and how we choose to execute accomplishing them may differ- still we are kindred spirits in this quest.

And so, with that in mind, that is what I am setting out to do- to take a survey of sorts. To collate a mass of responses to this question and several other related questions.

And to share them with you.

Not from famous people, well known people, or anything of the sort. But from salt of the earth people, elders before they shuffle off this mortal coil, young people not yet perverted by this world, and those who are right in the mist of that perversion. Because my bet is that while all the world seems to want to divide us from each other- to pit us against each other and stoke our fears and base desires to steer us towards their vision of a future they see fit, we are all much more similar than they would want us to realize.

I’ll leave you with the quote that made the title of this post famous in its most recent iteration. It comes from a speech from Robert Kennedy back in 1966 from a speech in Cape Town:

There is a Chinese curse which says ‘May he live in interesting times.’ Like it or not we live in interesting times. They are times of danger and uncertainty; but they are also more open to the creative energy of men than any other time in history.

And so I ask myself, and to you as well if you choose to accept it, what are you going to do with this creative energy we find ourself with? And what small thing can you do today, to help bring forth a better tomorrow? For yourself, and for All of us.

Because at the end of the day, call me crazy, but I would prefer Interesting times to Dull times any day- we need only to take this Creative Energy and build with it, instead of letting it pass us by.