59 words – snakes – civilisation and barbarians

THURSDAY, 11 MARCH 2004

59 words

A big house and a big car? Not my style. A three-bedroom house in a quiet suburb or a large town, and a life devoted to family, charity, study and creative works (specifically the Written Word). This is who and what I am; where and how I want to live; and what I want to do with my life.

(59 words – a decade to sort it out among all the possibilities)

SATURDAY, 13 MARCH 2004

Snakes shed their skin

To develop – to evolve – is to some extent similar to a snake shedding its skin (already said, I know).

What this means in practice is that opinions change, as do aspects of identity, hairstyle, and clothing style.

Sometimes it also happens that dysfunctional relationships are left behind, relationships that no longer are what they were at first and that no longer have the value they had at an earlier stage of your life. Sometimes it is a necessary consequence of personal development, and must be accepted as such by the person who is serious about not inhibiting his or her development as a human being, and who wants to enter into and maintain relationships in an honest way.

MONDAY, 15 MARCH 2004

On civilisation and barbarians

Some argue that one should do whatever you need to do to make your life worth living. In practice, this amounts to a conflict of interest, destructive rivalries, and sometimes mutually destructive eye-for-eye action and reaction. Constructive ways in which thousands, even millions of individuals in one geographic area manage the highest principle – to make one’s own life worthwhile – is called “civilisation”.

[The world, or worlds that qualify as “civilisation” in a common understanding of history and society were built and are still being built on “agreements”. In many cases these agreements mean that one person exploits another to the former’s advantage, an exploitation that sometimes leads to the destruction – directly or indirectly – of the life of the exploited person. Judgment may also be expressed in no uncertain terms against groups, communities, businesses, and political and religious institutions that exploit people for the sake of the survival of a more powerful minority.]

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