The power of thought

How do we know when our lives are changing? Technically speaking, our lives are always changing. However, how do we know when something important is happening? An event that will be forever marked in our personal histories. These things are usually easy to spot in hindsight, or when reflecting upon the course of your life or certain periods. But can we manage to pinpoint, even in retrospect, certain realisations, encounters, trips, accidents, people, or decisions that changed our perceptions or courses forever? Better yet, can we identify these things as they are happening?

As a species, one of the things that make us unique is the ability to reflect. We can reflect on certain situations, pieces of information, the passing of time, or future possibilities and we are able document and share our discoveries with others. I think that this reflection, as such, is one of the things that makes us human; a crucial element in our lives. However, many of us do not take the time to reflect on subjects much deeper than what TV show to watch next, or what to do this evening? And we are all guilty at some point in time of purposely trying to drive thought and reflection away rather than embracing it. But how do we ever really get to know ourselves, what makes us tick, why we are the way we are, what we want, and how to make ourselves happy, if we have never stopped and thought about it? Even more, how do we expect other people to make us happy, if we ourselves don't have a clue?

All that being said, right now it's just past 9am and I just finished another great novel at about 4am this morning. I never have been able to put a good book down once I start. The book itself has little to do with ramble above, but is rather a work of fiction depicting a dystopian future cause by human beings selfishness, lust for immortality, and disrespect for nature; Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. While the book does read as science fiction with genetically spliced and created species running a mock everywhere and the better off human beings living in artificially created and protected compounds, taking a look around, you realize that it might not be too far off. Just the other day, Salmon that has been genetically altered to grow at twice the rate was declared safe to eat in North America (link). Not long ago I found a few of the more famous ponds in Brussels, only to discover they were dirty, fenced off with warnings of bacteria and potential botulism. Most of the beautiful parks left here are fake and have been landscaped and dreamed up. The most depressing thing about all of this, is that the progression of things happens so slowly and "naturally", like our lives, that if we don't stop to take in to account what we've done, what we're really doing, and the possible future consequences of our actions. Things then simply progress and move on until we reach a point, good or bad, where there is no return. If such a dystopian future were to ever come to existence, there will have been ample books, articles, lectures, newscasters, and researchers, to sum up, warnings of consequences that we didn't follow.

What does it take for us to actually sit down and think about the greater good? To think about and reflect on how we arrived at the state in which we find ourselves, as a species and as individuals. Unfortunately, it usually takes the worst to happen. However, if we were to pay closer attention to details, to the events around us that shape our lives, maybe we'd be able to better understand ourselves as individuals and as a whole. Sometimes the most important thing we can do is to actually stop doing everything else, just sit down, and think.