Blind Humanity

We look at animals and wonder what it's like to be led blind by instincts; what degree of consciousness they must have - and even use our guesses to justify harming them.

Yet with ourselves it is not much different. We believe ourselves to have free will, but how many of us truly lead our lives with true conviction and deliberate, free movement every moment? We are just as blinded by our instincts for pleasure, languor and fear as the crabs are in their migrations to the ocean to release their eggs. The latter is clearly not done out of rational thought, but neither is much of what we do throughout our entire lives.
 

A Poised Vulnerability

It is trendy now to laud open vulnerability as the answer to our questions, but perhaps there is such thing as too much of a good thing. Vulnerability is not the panacea to our multitude of interpersonal and communication problems - when one discovers his neighbour to be just as much of a rascal as he is, he may feel less alone, which is a beautiful thing; but that alone does not contribute much to the creative and dynamic vitality that makes connections so fulfilling and empowering. Only when we are confident individuals with much to offer unto our own selves can we be genuinely happy to share our inner selves with others in a productive manner that benefits ourselves, the other person, and mankind overall. As we often find, it is the development of the inner self that is the true panacea from which all other worthwhile endeavours begin. Otherwise, when both sides become fully naked with one another, yet have nothing to offer, we may well be just as alone as we had been in the first place, for the value of company is in the value of our differences and first and foremost in the value of ourselves as individuals independent of company.