The Impossible Harmony
The highest mountains and the deepest valleys are breath taking in beauty and awe. In altitude, there is greatness and in depth, there is wonder. In the flat, there is fertility, stability, but also monotony, repetition and eventually boredom. Nature is telling us an unequivocal story…
What about humans? Are they leveled like plains or uneven like mountains and valleys? Do they roll quietly in the flat or keep moving from mountaintops to valley bottoms? Do they enjoy cruising on main street or are they thrilled by a rollercoaster ride? Do they evolve in a stable moderation or do they blossom in a chaotic passion? Some humans are majestic like mountains, others are mysterious like valleys, and the vast majority of them are like plains. They are fearful of the story nature is telling us, they are constantly undermining it and often fighting against it. They diligently seek stable moderation while deep down inside they know that they cannot really live without chaotic passion! Most humans live a deeply conflicted life, wanting something and doing something else.
If we take an objective look at the human race, then we will find that there are many humans who are passing by and very few who remain in the collective memory. There are many surprised people and few surprising ones. There are many content individuals and few in rebellion. There are many blind believers (in someone or something) and few perceptive doubters. There are many “moderates” and few “passionates”. So, if we try to place all humans along an axis, where the extreme left is “complete stability” and the extreme right is “complete chaos”, then we will end up with a natural spread over four categories. Starting from the extreme left you will find “The Protectors of Stability”, then “The Acceptors of Chaos”, followed by “The Promoters of Chaos”, and finally on the extreme right you have “The Creators of Chaos”. Now, depending on whether we take the “moderates” or the “passionates” point of view, we would qualify the same people, belonging to the same categories, in two different, and sometimes opposing, ways:
“The Protectors of Stability” are “normal” people in the eyes of the “moderates” and “sleepers” in the eyes of the “passionates”
“The Acceptors of Chaos” are “wanderers” in the eyes of the “moderates” and “seekers” in the eyes of the “passionates”
“The Promoters of Chaos” are “agitators” in the eyes of the “moderates” and “achievers” in the eyes of the “passionates”
“The Creators of Chaos” are “losers” in the eyes of the “moderates” and “leaders” in the eyes of “passionates”
You can draw this stability-chaos axis with the names of familiar people and with the names of some famous people you read about in the history books. I encourage you to do this exercise. Compare your distribution with someone else from your circle, who knows most of the people you know yourself. It is quite amazing whom you end up putting in each category! Where do you personally fit, in your chart and in the other person’s chart?
As you can imagine, it is not limited to stability vs. chaos. We can draw similar distributions, with at the extreme left “cynicism” and at the extreme right “enthusiasm”, also “negativity” on one end and “positivity” on the other, or any of the basic opposing attitudes, behaviors and ideologies of the human race!
Now that you are in the right frame of mind, and you can tangibly see how different are some of the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, could you try to answer one of the most recurring questions humanity ask itself: can we live all together in harmony?
It has become crystal clear to me that when you put two humans together there is at least a fifty percent chance that they will not get along. Imagine what the chances would be when you put together 20, 200, 2000, 2 million, 2 billion, 10 billon people. The chances are ZERO! So, unless I misunderstood the meaning of harmony (a situation in which people are peaceful and agree with each other), my answer to the question, can we live all together in harmony, is a resounding NEVER!
Some people would argue that I am ignoring the concept of inner-harmony and the fact that we could live in harmony with ourselves. My answer is: maybe we could, but only for a short while, simply because we live connected to people we care about, and sooner or later, one (or more) of these people will do something or something will happen to them that will disappoint us, from them or from life, and at that point in time our inner harmony will take a blow. The seriousness and durability of the blow will depend on who did what to whom and what happened to whom?
A potential way to enjoy a more stable inner harmony and a more permanent peace of mind is to become a hermit and disconnect ourselves from all material things and beings, including the closest people to us. Maybe this life style will bring inner harmony to certain people, but in all honesty, for most people, being alone and lonely, will bring more stress, boredom, and suicidal thoughts than it will ever bring inner-harmony!
Others would claim, but there is harmony in nature. To some extent this statement is true, but only under one of two conditions: the first one is stillness, the second one is instinctive compatibility.
The mountain and the valley are in harmony because, or as long as, the mountain doesn’t want to become a valley or vice versa. As soon as this stillness is in peril, like during major earthquakes, volcano eruptions, and tectonic shifts, the harmony gives way to chaotic movements, until stillness reins again, after some mountains have become valleys and some valleys have risen to mountains.
The gnu and the gazelle live in harmony because their instinctive compatibility allows them to. And for the opposite reason, as much as the lion believes that the existence of the gnu is bringing harmony in its life, the gnu definitely sees it from an entirely different perspective.
There isn’t an easy way to live in harmony with or without people… it is one of the biggest lies humanity ever told, and keeps telling itself (the other lies are discussed in separate articles, and there are at least twenty-two of them). It is definitely one of my favorite. Every lie can be argued not to be a purposeful one and living in harmony could be one of these. Let us then agree that it is nevertheless a strong and permanent illusion. Harmony, sweet and blissful harmony, gives the eternal comedy a beautiful twist of real impossibility, perceived by most people as a highly desired and sought-after possibility! Harmony glorifies the eternal comedy like few other states of being do!
Are you searching for permanent harmony? Good luck in your search! And please, do let me know when and where you find harmony that lasts long enough for me to see it in action. I promise I will write a new article on the “Unavoidable Harmony” and retract this one! I am all anxious with anticipation…