Humanity's Riddle

 

"Everybody says these are the skills you need in life - social-emotional skills and problem-solving and perseverance when you fail, and creativity - and schools are doing a lot to promote them but no one recognized them," said Annie Kidder, executive director of the research group People for Education, which is spearheading the campaign, called Measuring What Matters in Education.

 

"We can tell what a society cares about by what we measure."

 

 

Social-emotional learning, emotional regulation, innovation, imagination, communication - sociology is on the rise, as it has been in fits and spurts since the first bread and candles.  Whatever you think the first profession was, I guarantee that the first act of altruism came first.  In fact, we know this already - why else have we evolved into a species whose young are so dependent on their parents for so long?

 

Yet sociology-committing (in some circles) is viewed as so bad and harmful to the individual as to be almost sinful.  Even those who feel otherwise will hold people able to overcome personal or societal barriers to succeed in high esteem - they are clearly more independent, have more grit than the poor souls more reliant on others.

 

There's this age-old trope about the Enlightened Hermit - an individual grander than society who has removed themselves from the white noise of humanity to seek deeper truths.  It's a myth we cling to, even when it manifests itself in the real world.

 

People are the problem; the truth lies beyond us.  Those who are able to be beyond humans must surely have brushed against The Meaning of Life.

 

Yet we feel that humans are superior to all the rest of God's creation, right?  We have fire, we have consciousness - we stand above.  Why does it make sense that for a man to retreat from that which we deem superior to that which we deem inferior would have a better bead on meaning?

 

Flip this around a bit and an interesting notion emerges - we may feel, at one level, that we are homo superior - but at the same time, we know that we are frail, mortal coils.  The idea of a person able to survive separate from family, friends, business partners, perhaps even social infrastructure - they're the ones that will endure no matter what apocalypse comes our way, right?  Therefore they must have recognized something that the rest of us are missing.

 

Meanwhile, the social catalysts in this world are often dismissed, patted on the head - or exploited.  That they are willing to give, not take, is indicative of frailty.  Left on their own, they wouldn't have a hope in hell of surviving - often they don't, or at least never leave a big brand-mark on the world.

 

These aren't the wise - they're marks.  Valued for what we can take from them, not what they are offering.

 

Despite how many faiths and parables we have that suggest the exact opposite.

 

If you're looking for the meaning of life, look no further - it's free.  If, however, you're looking to put meaning into life, I'll tell you what - I know someone you should chat with.  I know you'd get along famously.

 

In fact, I can only begin imagine what you could create together.