On Losing One's Way

"Store up treasure for yourselves in a heavenly account, where moths and rust do not consume, and where thieves cannot break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there you heart will also be." - Jesus of Galilee, Source: Q1.

The trick is not to lose your way, to become something other than what you are, to trade a more immutable treasure for something that rusts after the first heavy rain. It is quite a trick.

The pressures of daily life - whether in current times or the distant past - tempt us to forget the difference between that which lasts and that which doesn't. Evolution, it seems, has a focus.

Though we fancy ourselves to be quite advanced, in fact we are undoubtedly still strongly influenced by the basic instincts that drove our cave dwelling ancestors.

In fact, if you equate the estimated age of the earth (4.5 billion years) with a 24 hour clock (starting point 00:00, current point in time 24:00), homo sapiens made an appearance about 4.8 seconds ago (250,000 years). Homo erectus? That ancestor made an appearance 32.6 seconds ago.

What is astounding is not that we exhibit our most basic instincts (though we are clever enough to disguise them with our religions, politics and nationalism), it is rather that some (not as many as think they have) have risen above these instincts to point to a different way. By the way, those that have are not just the figures held up to us as spiritual heroes.

Men and women in every walk of life, in every socio-economic layer, of every color skin make decisions daily to rise above their instincts and emotions. However, if you see someone appearing on a talk show to essentially profess their enlightenment or accepting an award from their peers for behavior that seems to suggest a higher quality of human - they aren't amongst these few. Using your "goodness" to achieve position, power, money, prestige - that's been done to death across the millennia. Even our cave dwelling ancestors knew of that ploy.

Thursday night in Charlotte, NC I witnessed the fact that we are still just cavemen (and women) in suits (and skirts). There in a city shell shocked by the failure of its marquis financial institution (Wachovia), I watched drunkards and the lecherous (mostly one in the same) of both sexes determine what might make the best mating strategies in these strange times.

I saw the equivalent of chest pounding, butt sniffing and worse. Here's the kicker - I was there amongst them not participating directly in the behavior but playing the game. I was there to try and raise money for my startup alternative energy company. I came away wondering if I had lost my way.

Maybe we never lost our way. Maybe we just haven't found it yet. The question is will the species survive an environment where our base instincts are applauded and amplified - that is the modern world where fear is used to capture political position, keep parishioners in line and foster ignorance. The whole matter may hinge on whether we wake up to the fact that we are what we are. That has to precede any hope of being more.

By the way, for all those who believe the Flintstones are a true story, don't let such ponderings as these disturb your sleep.