More of the Same is NOT Better

 In a previous time, it was thought that "more" was always better -- not realizing that things could be any "different."  It wasn't until the modern age when people began to realize that the transformation of more, was something different, almost entirely.  That happens when the critical mass is reached -- and so something entirely new and different becomes possible -- but not until then.  

Most of the time, we never get to that point.  The obvious one is wealth -- at which a sufficient amount, doesn't need more -- but realizes the imbalance with all other aspects of that life.  Then the rest has to get better -- or all that wealth is meaningless, and more, simply the lack of any better ideas for putting money to good use.

At that point, the wise will embark on a wholesale upgrade of their lives -- but as with everything in life, simply more is not enough -- they require something different, on a higher level of appreciation and functioning.  Thus, simply more food will not be better -- but the highest quality of nutrition becomes paramount.  What is more important than taste and generous portions, are the most nutritionally dense foods one can consume on a regular basis.  

Eventually, that's what builds the body -- and not the most enticing foods one can prepare and delight over.  It doesn't matter how visually appealing, or how insatiable the food makes one consume -- if baseline nutrition is not addressed and satisfied.  Not surprisingly, that will vary from individual to individual -- with a great deal of overlap.  But the ultimate reality, is each individual's actual experience.  That is not merely "anecdotal," but the actuality of their existence.

Thus the generalized notion of what is good for one must be good for all -- without exception -- is disproven time and again.  What works for some, will not work for others, but it is still important, to find out what works for any one -- as the purpose of their whole existence.  People who pride themselves on these generalizations miss this point entirely -- and think they must merely apply more force and coercion for their models to turn out "perfectly" -- as they perceived in their own minds.  But that is seldom, if ever, how things actually work.

It is the individual realities, that add up to the big number, and not the big number, that dictates the outcome of every individual -- regardless.  That is placing the cart before the horse, mistaking the cause for the effect, and never knowing the difference.  It is in knowing this difference, that determines the successful, from failures.  Often, that cannot be measured in money, or IQ scores -- or any other one thing, because it is the totality of everything -- and no longer simply one thing, no matter how prolific.

In fact, that is frequently how many successful people fail in life -- and fail to get it.  That is ultimately what it is -- that undefinable greater than the sum of its parts as viewed through the veil of half-truths, and partial understandings.  It misses the whole point entirely -- by its observation of only one small part of it.  Of course it is the ultimate presumption of the self-absorbed mind -- that regards itself as all that can be known, and knowable.

That is not just the way it was in a long-forgotten past, but the reality of everyday life -- however much we are in denial about certain aspects of it, and would wish to edit and erase certain parts of it.  But what parts of it?  If one knew that, then there would be perfect understanding -- and not the quest for it that the inquiring and intelligent mind has always been driven to.

It is that certainty -- that has always been the greatest calamity in human experience -- whether in this age or another.  It just comes in different forms in every era.  In this age of the technocrat, it is thought that they have the rights to the claim of the ultimate truths as their exclusive monopolies and jurisdictions, and others simply don't know any better -- or anything worth knowing -- rather than looking for that grain of truth in every particle of life and behaviors.

And so many have come to the erroneous conclusion that simply more of anything, is the whole truth that matters -- and not that there can be a qualitative leap beyond the quantitative "more."  Living forever in a vegetative comatose state?  Yet that is still how many hope their lives will play out -- not suspecting that better, if shorter, might be far better.  And that is how the story of life has played out -- up to now.  However, there are now those proclaiming that henceforth, no one should die -- for any reason because they claim that prolonging life is the only meaningful measure of it.

Denial of death is not exceptional -- and in fact, is the basis of many religions -- speaking figuratively, and metaphorically.  By that they mean, the one individual life merges back into the greater whole of it -- and that is the significance of life -- individual and otherwise.  It is important to think deeply on such matters because it is the depth of life that matters, and not simply the frenetic activity at the surface -- which many are entirely consumed by as the measure of their "success."  This is not just the spiritual side of life but the deeper meaning of it -- that modern people frequently think they are way beyond, and as such, they lose their mooring, anchorage and direction.

As a famous author once observed, "it is all sound and fury -- signifying nothing."  Is that what modern life has come to?  Many are "busy," but have no idea "why?"