the stories we tell ourselves

[Peter Kropotkin]

Think of your own existence as a story...

think of our existence as a story...

"It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
signifying nothing"

And here lies the entire existentialism movement...
all existentialism flows from this one statement from
Macbeth...

and what other stories can we tell?
The American dream is another such story we tell our children, in hopes
of providing them with a path into the future.. a story to follow, as it were...
and we give our children the story of god... as a telos in our existence,
a goal, a purpose to why, to why we exist and suffer and face the trial
and tribulations of existence.. and many do follow this viewpoint,
this whole the universe has only suffering in it.. we are born,
our initial suffering... and as we grow older, we discover other
aspects of suffering.. we face disease, old age, and finally,
death...not to mention the many, many losses we face with every
single passing day...in death from pets we love to parents we have lost to
siblings and friends and children.. all deaths are final but some deaths
stay with us our entire life...

but this is not the only viewpoint that is possible... we can see the other side
of life.. the love we experience from our parents and family and friends,
and we can find love with another, hopefully a lifetime love that allows
one to survive all the passings that we see in our life...

and there is another viewpoint.. that of the Aesthetics.. where
find our meaning, our telos in seeking out the beautiful in the
universe...these moments, these fleeting moments often can
be enough to change our lives... the sunset, a beautiful person that
can set our hearts aflame with desire, a play that brings us to seeing
that our existence can be a positive, fulfilling one....

is the universe a dark meaningless place of existence or is
this existence of ours full of light and beauty?
and the answer is yes, to both points..

it all depends on which viewpoint you subscribe to..

or which story we choose to believe or even which story we tell ourselves
in the dark of the night...the telos of our story depends on which
story, which tale we choose to hear, or which idiot we vow
allegiance to...

when Nietzsche said:

''It is not enough for the courage of our convictions,
but for the courage for an attack upon on our convictions''

What he really meant was for the courage to explore and engage
with the stories of our childhood, of the stories we are educated with,
with the stories of the state, the society, the church, the society...

The stories we believe in, creates the reality we live in....
different stories hold us to different realities...so what
reality do you want? Then find the stories that allow you
that reality... it is the stories we believe in, the tales told by
an idiot, that creates our reality... not the other way around...

Kropotkin

[Peter Kropotkin]

now some stories are political in nature, and some stories are
religious and some stories are social or philosophical....

and example of this is the MAGA world ''story" they tell..
dystopian and dark are the stories of the MAGA world...
full of hate and anger...

and some stories are religious, "and god created the heaven and the earth"

and some stories are scientific, "in the beginning was the big bang"

Which stories do you believe in and why? and which stories you deny
and again, why?

Kropotkin

[Walker]

Think of your own existence as a story...

... then write the story of your life before you live it.
Broad strokes avoids obsessing over details.

Looking into the future
We can see the beginning
Children living in peace and harmony
That is the way it will be!

(Sure enough, that is the way it was).

[Walker]

The Voyage of Life – Youth (Cole)