Dust in the Wind

June 16, 2026June 29, 2026

A Tale of Two Cities

When WW2 ended with the defeat of NAZI Germany in May of 1945 the Allied forces gave in to the Soviet dictator Stalin’s demands to control most of Eastern Europe. This included the German province of East Prussia with its capital city of Königsberg and which gave Stalin something that he dearly wanted: access to a year-round ice-free harbour on the Baltic coast! The city was renamed to Kaliningrad, after one of Stalin’s political puppets, Mikhail Kalinin.

Baltic region showing the location of the Kaliningrad Oblast.

Today Kaliningrad is the administrative centre of Kaliningrad Oblast, an area that became a Russian enclave between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea and geographically separated from the rest of Russia following to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

More that 65 years have go by since the German city of Königsberg became the Russian city of Kaliningrad and one might well ask: how much is left of the original City of Königsberg?

Some people have argued that Kaliningrad is still Königsberg but now under a different name. But that would be true only if one reduces the meaning and substance of a city to a specific location on a map without regard to its origins, historical significance and ethno-cultural makeup.

Here, we clearly do have a tale of two cities, that – while located in the same place – they are different cities in terms of their history, culture and ethnicity, as well as nationality or country that they are located in.

The East Prussian City of Königsberg (1724-1945)

A brief history of Königsberg

The castle of Königsberg was founded in 1255 by the knights of the Teutonic Order in the course of their expansion in the Baltic region. From 1457 onwards it was the residence of the Grand Master of the Order, and the last Grand Master was Prince Albrecht of Brandenburg (1490–1568) who created the world’s first Protestant state in 1525. During the 1286-1327 period the three settlements which had formed round the castle of Königsberg (Altstadt, Löbenicht and Kneiphof) were granted the status of towns. In 1724, they officially merged into the city of Königsberg..

For centuries, Königsberg was the metropolis of eastern Germany. The city played an important role in Europe’s international relations and became a meeting point of diverse historical and cultural traditions. Poles, Lithuanians, English and Dutch; merchants from every European country; artisans and learned men of every nationality not only coexisted peacefully: they also respected each other and together they built up their city. Founded in 1544 as a purely Lutheran place of learning, the Albertina University of Königsberg became the center of attraction for men of science and culture from Poland and Lithuania. Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), the great philosopher, lived and worked here his entire life. It was in that city that the first-ever books were printed in Lithuanian.

The historical center of Königsberg with an architecture characteristic of the period was formed in the late Middle Ages. This includes the Konigsberg castle – or Schloss – that begun in 1255 and added to later, with a Gothic tower 277 ft. high and a chapel built in 1592. On Kneiphof island the Dom cathedral, a Gothic building of reddish brick, with a tower 164 ft. high begun in 1333 and restored in 1856, it adjoined the tomb of Immanuel Kant, next to the city library, the former University building in which Kant held his lectures. Altogether, there were some 730 historical and cultural monuments in the city which up to 1939 had a population of around 350,000.

Overhead view of Kneiphof Island and the Dom Cathedral

Königsberg was a beautiful, vibrant and prosperous city. It was a world trade centre for optical lenses, and a vital shipping port for the trade in cereals, legumes, timber and flax in Northern and Eastern Europe. Large freighters were able to access its deep sea port by means of an 8 meter deep channel that started at Pillau on the Baltic. Königsberg extensive warehousing district contained some of the largest grain silos on the mainland. As a result arts and commerce flourished here. Grand merchant houses, banking offices, palaces and opera houses were erected in the city centre.

The destruction of Königsberg

In 1944 Königsberg suffered heavy damage from British air attacks. Bombed earlier by the Soviet Air Forces causing minor damage, the Royal Air Force first attacked the city on the night of 26/27 August 1944. Fortunately for the Königsbergers, this first raid was not successful, most bombs falling on the eastern side of the town.

However, three nights later on the 29/30 August, the RAF carried out one of the most devastating attacks of the war on Königsberg at extreme range. As a result, the city burned for several days and the results were devastating, and in addition to the horrible death that befell thousands of its citizens primarily through incineration, the historic city center, consisting of the quarters Altstadt, Löbenicht and Kneiphof was in fact completely destroyed, among it the Dom cathedral, the castle, all churches of the city, the old and the new university and the entire warehouse district.

Subsequent to the aerial bombardment by the RAF the city would become the target of the Soviet army, when as many as 1,500,000 Soviet troops supported by several thousand tanks and aircraft entered East Prussia in early January of 1945. The Russian assault resulted in the inevitable surrender of the defending German forces on April 9, 1945. By this time as much as 80% of Königsberg appeared to have been destroyed.

Out of Königsberg’s prewar population of approximately 350,000 Germans an estimated 42,000 died during the war while many had fled elsewhere to escape the fighting. The remaining population was eventually expelled 500 km westward across Poland to Germany between 1949 and 1950 as part of Stalin’s ethnic cleansing project. After the expulsion Königsberg’s bombed-out remains were repopulated with people from all over the Soviet Union.

The Russian City of Kaliningrad (1945 – present)

Some might still want to claim that Königsberg and Kaliningrad are one and the same city since enough bricks and mortar were left standing to claim a degree of physical continuity between the two to the extent that – if you looked hard enough- you would be able to find enough of the original to justify the claim. But the extent to which the bombed out remains of Königsberg were violated after the Soviets took possession in 1945 – and essentially left to rot until recently, or simply bulldozed away earlier, with the useful bits shipped back to the motherland – the unique and historic City of Königsberg ceased to exist. This was especially true after the last remaining ethnic German was expelled after 1945 to find their way westwards across the distant Oder-Neisse border.

Remains of the DOM Cathedral on Kneiphof Island,

Author Michael Wieck, a Holocaust survivor who grew up in Königsberg and returned in 1992, once wrote that: “Anyone who goes to Kaliningrad today shouldn’t expect to find Königsberg. There is a building here or there that recalls the past, but these leftovers from Königsberg’s existence are like finding bones in a cemetery.”

The following sets of pictures compare the same location in 2005, with roughly 60 years in between.

Rebuilding Königsberg as Kaliningrad

Following the Soviet takeover of Königsberg the new inhabitants – which came from all over the Soviet Union – faced the daunting task of rebuilding the charred remains into the new city of Kaliningrad. This included the inevitable introduction of typical uninspired Stalinist architecture such as the usual drab Soviet-style apartment blocks, further demeaning the tragic fate of the once great City of Königsberg. And since the Kaliningrad Oblast became a strategically important area during the Cold War, Kaliningrad was closed to foreign visitors when the Soviet Baltic Fleet was headquartered there in the 1950s.

The House of Soviets

Often referred to as the ultimate insult to architecture anywhere, the in 2024 demolished multi-story House of Soviets was built at the site of the destroyed Königsberg Castle. Intended to be the central administration building of the Kaliningrad Oblast, building began in 1970 in the Brutalist style, but it was left unfinished for over 20 years, when the exterior was painted light blue and windows were installed in July of 2005 at the occasion of the 750 year anniversary of the city. However, the interior remains unfinished and unusable and rumour has it that the building is structurally unsound after the discovery that its foundations were built over previously unknown underground caves dating back to the earliest days of the massive Königsberg castle over which ruins it has been built.

750th Anniversary Celebrations

Friday, July 1, 2005 marked the 750th anniversary of the founding of the city of Kaliningrad – and that obviously included the period prior to the Soviet annexation of the former East German homelands! Interestingly, the name Königsberg was not used at an time during the three days of celebrations that included a meeting between Russia’s President Vladimir Putin , German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac.

Restoration and Renewal

The civic rulers of Kaliningrad must be given some credit for wanting to pay respect to the rich architectural history of Königsberg. As recently as 2014 – and as part of a project known as “Heart of the City” – the “Kaliningrad City” Urban District Administration held an Architectural Competition to rebuild Königsberg City Center in the context of regenerating certain aspects of the historical part of the city and its longstanding Prussian heritage.

The Restored Dom Cathedral

It wasn’t until after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December of 1992 that work began to reconstruct the cathedral , and in the early 2000s the restoration appears complete. It included a new organ that Vladimir Putin is said have donated the funds for . Apparently, Germany contributed to some of the restoration costs.

The New Synagogue

On the left is the former Jewish Orphanage and all that remained of the adjacent 1896 dedicated Grand New Synagogue after it was destroyed in the Kristallnacht riots of November1938.

Nearly 80 years later, the grand New Synagogue has been rebuilt in 2018 as an exact replica at the very same location adjacent to the former Jewish Orphanage on what was then called Lindenstrasse, but is now Oktyabrskaya Street.

Kaliningrad Today

A few images of present day Kaliningrad showing former central Königsberg sites that have been preserved or restored in their original configuration:

Former Hansaplatz – Now Victory Square (Google Image)

Former Police Headquarters (Google Image)

Above the burned-out ruins of the building housing the former Kreuz Apothecary that were left untouched until the late 1990’s when the were incorporated into a new building in 2021 as seen below.

The City of Königsberg is part of history now, its fate largely forgotten if not outright ignored. But even today – and every year since the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989 – many German expellees or their descendants originally from that ill-fated city and surrounding area undertake a trek back to their former homelands to look for that which was forever taken from them: their place of birth, the history of their families, their culture and communities they grew up in.

March 6, 2026June 14, 2026

A Species in Search of its Soul

The title of this post is based on Swiss psychologists Carl Jung’s “Modern Man in Search of a Soul” , first published in English in 1933.

The book explores the psychological development of individuals and humanity as a whole, delving into the concept of the soul and its search for meaning. My take on this is that, in the current context, the search for a “soul” can be translated as the search for a reason d’ê·tre ( a reason for being), and the answer to the question as to what are we about?, or, for that matter: why are we here?

In this context I want to define a human being as a stage in the evolution of the world and the instantiation of an idea or concept that began to materialize when the world came into being.

This would appear to be a progressive process in the sense that it resulted in ever higher levels of material organization and complexity to the point that the human brain can be seen as the most complex functional entity in the known universe due to its intricate structure of billions of neurons connected by trillions of connections.

Some might want to think that this astonishing level of organizational complexity is merely the result of an accidental or random process, but I would hold that it is more reasonable to believe that there is a plan or intention – somewhere, in the heart of matter – that shapes the course of evolution in the direction that we find ourselves at the receiving end off.

But as much as we embody that plan or intention with every atom in our being, we are as yet unable to express and articulate the meaning or purpose of it beyond recognizing our unique status as creatures with an advanced level of consciousness such that, while knowing that we know, we don’t t necessarily know what we know given that knowledge isn’t necessarily understanding.

While knowledge provides the raw material, understanding is the ability of making sense of and appropriately using that information, and therein lies the rub. Sadly, we are just are not getting it, and as a result we continue to stumble around in the dark, feeling our way around, and in the process hurting each other and the environment that nurtures us to the point of self-destruction.

Here, ignorance is definitely not bliss, as we are damaging the very environment that sustains us physically simply because we do not grasp our role in this world as an evolved entity that is clearly capable of so much more. I’ve suggested earlier that we will likely be superseded by a superior version of ourselves. Superior in the sense that we will be smart enough to avoid actions that are clearly against our own interest as opposed to being mutually beneficial to ourselves and our planet: i.e., by recognizing that our relationship with the earth is one of interdependence, that in essence we are one entity, and that the distinction between it and ourselves is one of functionally in the continuing evolution of the world.

And when we accept that and live our lives accordingly we have found our soul. …

Until that moment we will likely continue to act against our own interest and our well-being.

I believe that deep down we know that, but we appear to not have sufficiently evolved yet to understand that to the point that we are able to live our lives accordingly and I can’t help but think that any other route will lead to our self-extinction.

Another way to look at this: The world – we! – have been given to ourselves as a challenge, but to date we seemed to have failed this miserably to act in the interest of ourselves as an evolving species, capable of living in the harmony of having a united vision of what it is that we are and are trying to accomplish individually and collectively as a species. To that end we must overcome our current selves …

Until we reach that united vision the world and everything that it represents and stands for it shall remain a mystery, seemingly beyond out comprehension.

May 31, 2025June 13, 2026

As The World Turns

Following the title of a once very popular daytime TV soap opera by that name that first aired in 1956, and that produced almost 14k episodes until it ended in 2020, the title remains appropriate today since, yes, the world is still turning and continues to present a soap opera by any other name: the daily drama about the lives and problems of a species called Homo Sapiens on planet Earth.

Less applicable, however, is the entertainment factor since the events playing out on planet Earth continues to be the pathetic and dreary tale of a once promising new species not being able to live up to its full potential. In short, as opposed to acting as an evolved species that was able to take full advantage of the unique intelligence and incredible creativity they were born with, they descended into the suffocating void of selfishness, small-mindedness and other self-destructive traits, preventing them from being able to see beyond their immediate self-interest and grasp the larger vision of being a successful species at the forefront of an evolving world.

A case in point is the tragedy currently being played out in the United States of America, that once great country and former leader of the free world that is currently at the receiving end of a dire prediction come true as it was once made by an American newspaper columnist by the name of H.L. Menken (1880-1956)

“On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”

Enter Donald J. Trump, the 47^th President of the USA, elected on November 5, 2024, by 49.9% of the popular vote, versus 48.3% for his opponent, the hapless Kamala Harris.

A moron is sometimes described as “a person who is notably stupid or lacking in good judgment”, and based on what he has demonstrated during his previous term – and even more so after 6 months in his current term – DJT excels in both categories. This concerns the leader of a country who is actively trying to demolish his country’s international reputation, trust and prestige while ignoring its constitution, undermining its democracy and decimating its governance. Aided and abetted by his hand-picked flock of toothless sycophants masquerading as federal officials and who’s only qualification is their blind fealty to their lord and master – I can’t think of a better way to describe the chaotic wherewithal of the person currently in charge at the White House.

The real issue of course is not D.J. Trump, a pathological narcissist with the mental disposition of a 5-jear old toddler (The world is about me! me! me! Nothing else matters!) and the personae of a carnival barker; he simply can’t help himself. The problem lies with the people who voted him into office (again), as well as the roughly 1/3 of the US eligible voters who did not vote because they were either too lazy to vote or just could not care less about the state of democracy in their country.

So here we have the MAGA crowd, a so called “populist” movement at the core of his support. They have shown themselves to be essentially a xenophobic anti- immigrant movement with the stench of racism that blames many of the things that are problematic in the US – e.g., crime, illicit drugs, cost of living, lack of affordable housing etc. – on people that are not native to their country, and even more so if they are there illegally, as well as being non-white, non- western or- in particular – of the Muslim persuasion.

The less said about MAGA the better, but if I can draw one conclusion from their collective prowess to Make America Great Again it is the suspicion that education did not figure prominently in their individual ability to think for themselves and make an informed decision about what kind of person might be the best choice for serving the interests of their country as their president.

As it is, this quote by Thomas Jefferson might seem appropriate:

“The government you elect is the government you deserve.”

The most amazing thing about this political tragedy is that – after having endured the first 6 month of his farcical reign as their country’s president – there isn’t some massive national protest brewing to turf him out of office at earliest opportunity – and before it is too late and the dictatorship he is actively trying to estalish will prevent any such action with the maximum of brutality.

Be afraid, be very afraid …

December 10, 2024

Liar Liar, Pants on Fire

As reported in the NY Times of December 8, former Republican representative Ms. Cheney responded to comments Mr. Trump made in an interview aired on Sunday on “Meet the Press” on NBC where he had threatened to imprison her and other members of the Jan. 6 select committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. She said the incoming president “lied about the committee destroying evidence” and that there would be “no conceivably appropriate factual or constitutional basis” to prosecute its members.

Ms. Cheney also said:

“Here is the truth: Donald Trump attempted to overturn the 2020 presidential election and seize power,” she said in a statement. “He mobilized an angry mob and sent them to the United States Capitol, where they attacked police officers, invaded the building and halted the official counting of electoral votes. Trump watched on television as police officers were brutally beaten and the Capitol was assaulted, refusing for hours to tell the mob to leave.”

She continued: “This was the worst breach of our Constitution by any president in our nation’s history. Donald Trump’s suggestion that members of Congress who later investigated his illegal and unconstitutional actions should be jailed is a continuation of his assault on the rule of law and the foundations of our republic.”

(Now here’s what I think: How far out to lunch must you be to choose a desiccated clown and a proven pathological liar such as DJ Trump for your next president? It defies all logic that a convicted felon and a confirmed charlatan who only ran for office for his own aggrandizement – and to get even, apparently – will be assuming the highest office in the country once again because a majority of US voters could not see past his fake and bloviated personae to give him the definite heave-ho he so richly deserved. Nausea should have been the primary response to the mere fact of him opening his mouth to bleat his mindless blather, but apparently it struck a chord with enough Americans lacking common sense to get him elected on the assumption that he will look after them. HA! This unreasonable facsimile of a human being doesn’t give a pig’s fart in a windstorm whether you live or die, so long as you are willing to vote for him. However, he is on record for caring enough to call you a loser should you die on the battlefield for defending the rights and freedoms of your country. God –or somebody – help America.)

* The phrase “liar, liar, pants on fire” is said to have originated from William Blake’s poem “The Liar”. The poem begins with the line, “Deceiver, dissembler. Your trousers are alight. From what pole or gallows. Shall they dangle in the night?”

December 5, 2024

Too Late for the Gods and Too Early for Being.

This statement once made by the German philosopher Martin Heidegger about the human condition was one of the few concepts I was able to take away from his writings since not much else he wrote I was able to get exited about to the extent that I could either relate to it or inspire me to continue to study him in more detail.

Heidegger said this in the context of his concept of “Being”, as in “Being in the world” which he named “Dasein”, a term that refers to the unique way humans are the world, when they are able to confront their existence with questions about mortality, meaning, destiny and the like. This as opposed to merely just being in the world as one of many different species”.

When it comes to raising various questions concerning the meaning of life, its origin, purpose etc. traditionally it has been the purvey of organized religions to provided all the answers. But we have since grown up and learned to think for ourselves such that we are no longer able to accept the fabricated fables of their imaginary metaphysics.

And while we have been clever enough to see ourselves as the outcome oft of an evolutionary process, as much as this tells us about how we came about as a unique humanoid species: this does not tell us anything as to the “why”, as in “why are we here?”. So when it comes to being able to account for our presence here on earth beyond being merely another creature on it we are definitely left wanting.

Physics cannot give us the answers either: as renowned physicist and Nobel Laureate Steven Weinberg stated in his 1977 book “The First Three Minutes: A Modern View of the Origin of the Universe” The more the universe seems comprehensible, the more it also seems pointless. … “.

Just because you can explain how something seemingly very complex is put together does not give you the “why” for compiling and launching a particular process in the first place. What is required is a sense of intent or purpose to be able to connect the dots and complete the picture.

The conclusion has to be that we simply do not appear to have the intellectual acumen that can take us from the questions we have about our place in the world to an intelligible framework of facts and explanations that would give us a sense of purpose within the context of a destiny able to inspire and motivate us. Right now we absolutely do not grasp the reason for our being here, on this planet, in this universe: we likely require a significant upgrade in the grey matter department to get a sense of what is being played out here, on this earth, and what our role in this cosmic venture ought to be.

And so we can’t get there – yet … we are too early for being able to accept our unique role in the world because we cannot see beyond the event horizon of our current perception as being just one more species amongst many and grasp what lies waiting for us at the center of all that is the world as we find ourselves immersed in it.

If this means anything at all – and that is the point I am trying to make here – it is likely that evolution clearly isn’t done with us yet – and that , in all likelihood , we will be superseded by a superior version of ourselves and that is able to put itself as an integral entity into the picture of a meaningful “being in the world”, in harmony with the interests of this magnificent cosmic venture we refer to as “the World”.

And let’s be honest: based on our collective actions to date we clearly aren’t the species to safeguard the future of this magnificent creation called Earth. Just look at our current destructive efforts which – to date -have resulted in making this planet less habitable for many forms of life: human induced pollution is poisoning the atmosphere (carbon emissions), the oceans (garbage) and the landmass (pesticides).

In addition, the often careless ways in which we go about about our business on this earth can be absolutely devastating for our fellow creatures. To give just one tragic example: the North Atlantic right whales should live well past 100 years, but threats to the endangered species – including entanglements in lobster and crab fishing gear, and strikes by commercial vessels – have cut their lifespan to a fraction of that and now they’re dying around 20. Their troubles already compounded by the historic whale hunt, their population has been left with almost no older whales — and little inherited wisdom for the younger generation, such as how to navigate the ocean to find food as the climate changes.

Beyond that – and if we excel at anything – we are experts in killing each other en masse with our clever weapons of mass-destruction specifically designed for that purpose. As a consequence, ALL forms of life on this earth are under duress and less likely to prosper, if not driven into extinction, and all this the result of a species ruled by mindless ambition and greed as opposed to a thoughtful mindset guided by empathy and compassion.

But this living planet – which I believe is a living, conscious organism – will defend itself and evolve the next iteration of our species hopefully in time to save itself and the millions of creatures and other forms of life that are being nurtured by it.

September 20, 2023

What Drives Us From Within?

This is a very large question, and depending on how many people you ask, you will get as many answers that might or might not be in agreement with each other. In addition, not everyone has a clear answer, and opinions will vary around such things as ambition, success and the pursuit of happiness to name but a few and likely a myriad of other objectives depending on an individual’s personal circumstances related to their station in life, age, health and what they have experienced in life to date.

But that is not the question I’m asking. Instead, I would like to know about wat lies at the bottom of all of these various motivations, for even if we consider something as basic as the need to survive as a primary motivator to affect our actions, it is not clear what that encompasses beyond saying that the need or will to survive and thrive is a basic feature of all living organisms.

When the organic rose from the inorganic, it was more than an advanced arrangement of organic molecules that came about when life made its presence, as eventually, when we came about via the subsequent phylogenetic tree, that jump from the inanimate to the animate introduced and enabled the prime motivator for all our actions.

Now we cannot infer a cause from an effect, but it would be logical to assume that the seed of this process – and the entire evolutionary history of living matter – must have been present prior to the emergence of life. As well – and unless you believe that there are such things as magical metaphysical beings waving a magic wand on occasion – whatever gets and keeps us going is an expression of what must have been determined when the world came into being and forms an intrinsic aspect of the very reason it and all of us are here.

Another way of putting this would be to say that we are an instantiation of the very reason the world is here: we cannot be separated from that reason, no more than we can be separated from the world that brought us about.

And so the following question should loom large for all of us: where are we going with this process – if that is the right word for it? What – in fact – are we surviving for after all that effort to bring us about? When I ask a question like this, I am once again reminded of Shakespeare’s “ Life’s but a walking shadow; a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

The thing is, this “nothing” might not seem that much of an issue if everyone was having a good time with it – something along the lines of Goethe’s “For what end is served by all the expenditure of suns and planets and moons, of stars and Milky Ways … if at last a happy man does not involuntarily rejoice in his existence?”

However, it is abundantly clear that – since the beginning of time – not much rejoicing has been going on for too many people unable to escape varying degrees of pain and suffering, and frequently during an entire lifetime and through no fault of their own, to the point that a philosopher such as David Benatar believes that the world would be a better place if sentient life disappeared altogether, i.e., no remaining life-form capable of undergoing pain or suffering. (But then there is a Nietzsche who believes there is value in suffering: “To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering”, but I guess opinions will vary greatly on that matter.)

So where am I going with this? Nowhere in particular other than to say that we have to keep believing that – while it does appear that humanity appears to be an exercise in futility and despite our apparent efforts to bring about our own extinction – we have it within us to make it a meaningful enterprise if only we started acting on that assumption by valuing the sanctity of life – the cosmos’ greatest accomplishment – and do everything in our power to nourish and protect it.

In return, the world, this planet, will allow us and our future generations to flourish into a future we cannot even begin to imagine what that might look like. I’m thinking about the absolute and worldwide absence of poverty, starvation, exploitation, slavery, discrimination and war and, instead, communities centred on such higher human values as compassion, empathy and mutual respect. All reasons – I might add – to celebrate life as opposed to having to endure it, as is the case for so many of us across this earth today.

And so it is my belief – as naive as that might be – that the answer to the question as what to what drives us ultimately from within is to get to that state, when the very fact of finding oneself alive on this planet is a reason to celebrate. It would mean that individually as well as collectively, as a species, we have overcome all the negative and self-induced aspects of our existence that stood in the way of getting to that point, i.e, all the deception, delusion, dishonesty, ego, envy, greed, hatred, immorality, lying, selfishness, unreliability, violence and whatever other self-destructive tendencies that prevented us from living in harmony with ourselves, our fellow human beings and the earth. It means that we will have found the true value of life, at the summit of creation and at the core of the cosmos, and – I suggest – the very reason the world is here today.

Never in a million years you might say? And didn’t I write a post not all that long ago that suggested that we were a defective species and that the planet would likely get rid of us if we didn’t already manage that ourselves? True enough, the situation seems absolutely hopeless as we continue to witness the tragedy and ongoing plight of millions of refugees fleeing their homelands across the various continents because of poverty and starvation, ethnic , religious or political conflict, including such recent and outright criminal acts as the bombing of civilian targets in Ukraine by a member of the United Nations Security council.

But then you witness something positive, such as a simple act of compassion, kindness and generosity, or when others rush in to help save lives in the case of natural disasters, even when they might be putting their own lives at risk. Then, the mere fact of a child’s smile , or people genuinely enjoying themselves being out in nature experiencing its spectacular beauty, all suggesting that, yes, many of us are getting the message, and that in spite of all the largely self-induced misery, murder and mayhem around us the human race deserves saving, But then there is the realization that we can only save ourselves.

For this to happen we must first overcome our current confused and scattered selves by redefining ourselves as the creature that we are from ourselves: Others cannot tell you who or what you are, or what your existence should mean to you. Only you can determine what you can be for yourself, as opposed to what others want you to be. And to repeat something from the very first post I made on this blog:

For this you must look at yourself not through the eyes of others, but from yourself, from the inside out – from within the acute reality of your own cognitive and spiritual existence. But this is no easy task – it means assuming responsibility for all your actions as you attempt to recreate yourself from the subjective contents of your stream of consciousness. It will require courage – the courage to re-invent oneself without being plugged into a god, a scientific assumption or the beliefs of society at large for confirmation that you are doing the right thing.

January 19, 2023

Language and the Natural World

According to linguistic anthropologists Homo sapiens developed a capacity for language between 100,000 and 30,000 years ago. Opinions will vary as to how the capacity developed but it seems likely that it was the result of an ongoing evolutionary process using natural selection to enhance the species chances of survival through improved inter-species communication and collaboration when dealing with the challenges of a potentially hostile environment.

Grunts and gestures became gradually more nuanced and specific, and refined to the point that they were reliably and consistently linked to the content of shared experiences and so form the basis for a unique form of communication that we now refer to as language.

Most importantly, the introduction of language enabled our species to create an abstract version of the world, and what Schopenhauer has referred to as “The World as Idea”. As a result, the natural world as encountered by our sensory experiences of it would now no longer just be “there” – as would be the case for any other living creature that is immersed in it – but also as a conceptual model for discussion and analysis by means of linguistic symbols that stand for some aspect of it, and which together constitute the world as it exists in our thoughts and understanding.

But as much as language allows us to analyze that conceptual world in whatever shared framework of understanding we bring to the discussion, e.g., cultural, scientific, metaphysical, philosophical, l at the same time we are very much limited by the fact that the natural world is clearly so much more than what we have been able to capture of it by having a vocabulary to describe it in as much detail as we are able to bring to the fore.

And for any description we have of the world – as complete we would like it to be – it would be a matter of trying to read between the lines what it is, exactly, that lies behind the idea of it, i.e., what is the intent of the natural world, as well as what role we are supposed to play in this cosmic event and why.

January 10, 2023

Homo Ignoramus

In as much as a dog cannot get beyond being a dog in terms of how it behaves and interacts with the world, similarly, when it comes to human beings – Homo sapiens -we cannot get beyond ourselves in the way we are in the world. In that sense we will always be limited by our ability to perceive the world and interact with it as well as with each other. Those limitations are determined by what we are; they define us and are a function of our genetic disposition as determined by our place on the phylogenetic tree.

Science tells us that Homo sapiens, the first modern humans, evolved from their early hominid predecessors between 200,000 and 300,000 years ago and began moving outside of Africa starting about 70,000-100,000 years ago.

And so I have this simple question: Preceded by Homo erectus and Homo neanderthalensis, do we have any reason to believe that we, Homo sapiens, are the end of the line when it comes to the evolution of the humanoid species?

To answer this in the affirmative is a little presumptuous, don’t you think? I can only speak for myself when I say that I don’t believe we are the finished product that evolution had intended us to be – and not by a long shot – and that it is entirely conceivable that we will be superseded by a superior edition of Homo sapiens . And they might well look back at the current edition of the species as Homo ignoramus or perhaps Homo perniciosus – given the amount of planet-wide environmental destruction our iteration of the humanoid species is leaving in its wake.

December 6, 2022

A Defective Species

“I wish that I could say I was optimistic about the human race. I love us all, but we are so stupid and shortsighted that I wonder if we can lift our eyes to the world about us long enough not to commit suicide. (Isaac Asimov, 1920-1992)”

Lets face it: we can’t help ourselves, collectively, as a species. When I say “defective” I mean to say exactly that, in that we appear to be unable to do what should come naturally, easily and fruitfully should we apply ourselves to our vast potential as an intelligent, innovative and creative species with the realization that it is absolutely essential that we live and work together as one, in harmony with each other to the benefit of everyone without exception.

Instead, we compete, we fight, we destroy – each other and the place that nurtures us – without regard for a future that we must necessarily share together. But no one should be that shortsighted, that thoughtless, that self-destructive, or, simply put: that stupid!

And have we not all been hewn from the same piece of rock – this planet, this earth, so why are we fighting each other? When we fight each other, we are fighting ourselves. What is the origin of the conflicts within us?

It seems such a simple choice to make, doesn’t it: working out differences through negotiating solutions peacefully, with the understanding that these must always a matter of give and take. This as oppose to getting your way to the detriment of others, even going as far as the wholesale slaughter of those who are absolutely helpless to do anything about it. History shows that time and time again we haven’t been able to make the right choice in such matters.

And so here we are, seemingly helpless to get our act together. No, God won’t help us all; no figment of our imagination can be conjured up to protect us from ourselves. In the end, we are the only ones that can help ourselves. But the whole of our history tells it all, and sadly the conclusion has to be: we are a defective species, akin to a rudderless ship about to wreck itself on the shores of ignorance, arrogance and self-deception.

I can’t imagine that this is what the cosmos had in mind when it brought us about, and my guess is that it will likely do away with us – or, more likely, allow us to do away with ourselves – before giving it another try: to evolve a creature worthy and able to make use of the incredible creative powers that have been instantiated by it to achieve its raison d’etre, whatever that might be. All I know is that we are definitely not that creature.

November 3, 2022

Absurdity and the Meaning of Life

French author and 1957 Nobel laureate Albert Camus once wrote:

Accepting the absurdity of everything around us is one step, a necessary experience: it should not become a dead end.

When I read this the first time many, many years ago I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it, i.e., I was unable to identify with “the absurdity of everything all around us”. Most of the things going around me seemed to make reasonably good sense most of the time and if there was something going on I didn’t quite understand I was quite confident that it made sense to someone else.

However, over the years I have come to the realization that this is all a matter of one’s point of view, and that – yes – life, existence, appears to make little sense when you take a step back and consider the human effort as a whole, including its history, when seen from the vastness and complexity of a seemingly infinite material universe. And as it has been said, the universe remains absolutely silent on these matters: it fails to provide the very reasons for its existence and everything that can be found in it, including our lives.

By way of a simple analogy, accepting this is a lot like waking up one day and discovering that you are travelling on a train with an unknown destination and having absolutely no prior knowledge from where it departed from or how you ended up being on board. With little choice other than accepting the fact of the matter your options are going to be limited in terms of what to make of it.

When I write this I am once again reminded of Kafka’s short story The Passenger that I have written about elsewhere, about being confronted by an existential disconnect, the acute realization that the immediacy of the moment is unable to account for whatever situation you find yourself caught up in, e.g., what am I doing here, or: why am I here at all?

It is in this context – or more likely in the absence of any kind of context that would be able to account for it – and what I have frequently referred to as “the greater context” that some have deemed life or existence an absurdity, and a seemingly worthless exercise that is essentially without meaning.

However, it is once thing to conclude this about life, but – as Camus suggested – this should not be an end in itself. To contemplate one’s existence this way would be very much like staring down into the void – the realm of infinite nothingness. And to paraphrase something Nietzsche once said: if you stare into the void long enough, the void will look back at you, i.e., it will vacuum out your soul, and you might as well end it all right then and there.

Interestingly, to consider suicide as an option is according the Camus the one truly serious philosophical problem we face in life: Judging whether life is or is not worth living. But while this might be an interesting question for philosophers, one doesn’t need to be overly presumptuous for suggesting that the vast majority of people do not consider their existence a waste of time, and an absurdity which must be endured one way or another. Instead, they experience life as meaningful given that meaning is always relative and a function of what one is experiencing within the context of the here and now. Even in the darkest of times it is within the human spirit to try to make sense or look for meaning in what one is experiencing at the moment. “Hope springs eternal in the human breast” as Alexander Pope once said.

The bottom line is that we remain challenged to provide the meaning of life beyond the immediacy of finding ourselves immersed in it. As to the suggestion that there is no meaning beyond it was a consideration for Austrian psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl who suggested that “Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather he must recognize that it is he who is asked.” And that “In a word, each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible.”

Finally, I believe that – as a species – we are initially prevented from looking beyond the immediate substance of our lives and seeing the apparent absurdity of it, as we remain preoccupied by the trivial and perhaps not so trivial. But that doesn’t mean that we are unable to encounter it and be challenged by it as a means to gain a greater understanding of the predicament we find ourselves in, e.g., why is it that we are here and what is it, exactly, that is expected of us?