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Thousands of things go right for you every day, beginning the moment you wake up. Through some magic you don’t fully understand, you’re still breathing and your heart is beating, even though you’ve been unconscious for many hours. The air is a mix of gases that’s just right for your body’s needs, as it was before you fell asleep.
You can see! Light of many colors floods into your eyes, registered by nerves that took God or evolution or some other process millions of years to perfect. The gift of these vivid hues comes to you courtesy of an unimaginably immense globe of fire, the sun, which continually detonates nuclear reactions in order to convert its body into light and heat and energy for your personal use.
On this day, like almost every other, you have awoken inside a temperature-controlled shelter. You have a home! Your bed and pillow are soft, and you’re covered by comfortable blankets. The electricity is turned on, as usual. Somehow,
in ways you’re barely aware of, a massive power plant at an unknown distance from your home is transforming fuel into currents of electricity that reach you through mostly hidden conduits in the exact amounts you need, and all you have to do to control the flow is flick small switches with your fingers.
You can walk! Your legs work wonderfully well. Your heart circulates your blood all the way down to replenish the energy of the muscles in your feet and calves and thighs, and when the blood is depleted, it finds its way back to your heart to be refreshed. This blessing recurs over and over again without stopping, every minute of your life.
Your home is perhaps not a million-dollar showplace, but it’s sturdy and gigantic compared to the typical domicile in every culture that has preceded you. The floors aren’t crumbling, and the walls and ceilings are holding up well, too. Doors open and close without trouble, and so do the windows. What skillful geniuses built this sanctuary for you? How and where did they learn their craft?
In your bathroom, the toilet is functioning perfectly, as are several other convenient devices. You have at your disposal soaps, creams, razors, clippers, tooth-cleaning accessories — a host of products that enhance your hygiene and appearance. You trust that unidentified scientists somewhere have tested them to be sure they’re safe for you to use.
Amazingly, the water you need so much of comes out of your faucets in an even flow, at the volume you want, and either cold or hot as you desire. It’s pure and clean; you’re confident no parasites are lurking in it. Someone somewhere is making sure these boons will continue to arrive for you without interruption for as long as you require them.
In your closet are many clothes you like to wear. Who gathered the materials to make the fabrics they’re made of? Who imbued them with colors, and how did they do it? Who sewed them for you?
In your kitchen, appetizing food in secure packaging is waiting for you. Many people you’ve never met worked hard to grow it, process it, and get it to the store where you bought it. The bounty of tasty nourishment you have to choose from is unprecedented in the history of the world.
Your many appliances are working flawlessly. Despite the fact that they run on electricity, which could kill you instantly if you touched it directly, you feel no fear. Why? Your faith in the people who invented, designed, and produced these machines is impressive.
It’s as if there were a benevolent conspiracy of unknown people who are tirelessly creating hundreds of useful things you like and need.
There’s more. By some improbable series of coincidences or long-term divine plan, language has come into existence. Millions of people have collaborated for many centuries to cultivate a system for communication that you understand well. Speaking and reading give you great pleasure and a tremendous sense of power.
Do you want to go someplace that’s at a distance? You can choose from a number of ways to get there. Whatever mode of transportation you pick — car, plane, bus, train, subway, ship, helicopter, or bike — you have confidence that it will work efficiently. Multitudes of people who are now dead devoted themselves to perfecting these machines. Multitudes who are still alive devote themselves to ensuring that these benefits keep serving you.
Let’s say it’s now 9:30 A.M. You’ve been awake for two hours, and a hundred things have already gone right for you. If three of those hundred things had not gone right — your toaster was broken, the hot water wasn’t hot enough, there was a stain on the pants you wanted to wear — you might feel that the universe was against you, that your luck was bad, that nothing was going right. And yet the vast majority of things still would be working with breathtaking efficiency and consistency. You would clearly be deluded to imagine that life is primarily an ordeal.
You can see! Light of many colors floods into your eyes, registered by nerves that took God or evolution or some other process millions of years to perfect. The gift of these vivid hues comes to you courtesy of an unimaginably immense globe of fire, the sun, which continually detonates nuclear reactions in order to convert its body into light and heat and energy for your personal use.
On this day, like almost every other, you have awoken inside a temperature-controlled shelter. You have a home! Your bed and pillow are soft, and you’re covered by comfortable blankets. The electricity is turned on, as usual. Somehow,
in ways you’re barely aware of, a massive power plant at an unknown distance from your home is transforming fuel into currents of electricity that reach you through mostly hidden conduits in the exact amounts you need, and all you have to do to control the flow is flick small switches with your fingers.
You can walk! Your legs work wonderfully well. Your heart circulates your blood all the way down to replenish the energy of the muscles in your feet and calves and thighs, and when the blood is depleted, it finds its way back to your heart to be refreshed. This blessing recurs over and over again without stopping, every minute of your life.
Your home is perhaps not a million-dollar showplace, but it’s sturdy and gigantic compared to the typical domicile in every culture that has preceded you. The floors aren’t crumbling, and the walls and ceilings are holding up well, too. Doors open and close without trouble, and so do the windows. What skillful geniuses built this sanctuary for you? How and where did they learn their craft?
In your bathroom, the toilet is functioning perfectly, as are several other convenient devices. You have at your disposal soaps, creams, razors, clippers, tooth-cleaning accessories — a host of products that enhance your hygiene and appearance. You trust that unidentified scientists somewhere have tested them to be sure they’re safe for you to use.
Amazingly, the water you need so much of comes out of your faucets in an even flow, at the volume you want, and either cold or hot as you desire. It’s pure and clean; you’re confident no parasites are lurking in it. Someone somewhere is making sure these boons will continue to arrive for you without interruption for as long as you require them.
In your closet are many clothes you like to wear. Who gathered the materials to make the fabrics they’re made of? Who imbued them with colors, and how did they do it? Who sewed them for you?
In your kitchen, appetizing food in secure packaging is waiting for you. Many people you’ve never met worked hard to grow it, process it, and get it to the store where you bought it. The bounty of tasty nourishment you have to choose from is unprecedented in the history of the world.
Your many appliances are working flawlessly. Despite the fact that they run on electricity, which could kill you instantly if you touched it directly, you feel no fear. Why? Your faith in the people who invented, designed, and produced these machines is impressive.
It’s as if there were a benevolent conspiracy of unknown people who are tirelessly creating hundreds of useful things you like and need.
There’s more. By some improbable series of coincidences or long-term divine plan, language has come into existence. Millions of people have collaborated for many centuries to cultivate a system for communication that you understand well. Speaking and reading give you great pleasure and a tremendous sense of power.
Do you want to go someplace that’s at a distance? You can choose from a number of ways to get there. Whatever mode of transportation you pick — car, plane, bus, train, subway, ship, helicopter, or bike — you have confidence that it will work efficiently. Multitudes of people who are now dead devoted themselves to perfecting these machines. Multitudes who are still alive devote themselves to ensuring that these benefits keep serving you.
Let’s say it’s now 9:30 A.M. You’ve been awake for two hours, and a hundred things have already gone right for you. If three of those hundred things had not gone right — your toaster was broken, the hot water wasn’t hot enough, there was a stain on the pants you wanted to wear — you might feel that the universe was against you, that your luck was bad, that nothing was going right. And yet the vast majority of things still would be working with breathtaking efficiency and consistency. You would clearly be deluded to imagine that life is primarily an ordeal.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-11-25 04:01 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2005-11-25 04:15 am (UTC)From:Sometimes I'm overwhelmed in a grocery store by the sheer abundance of food and goods available to us.
no subject
Date: 2005-11-25 04:53 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2005-11-26 03:45 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2005-11-25 05:30 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2005-11-25 04:24 am (UTC)From:People take a lot for granted in our daily lives. And we do complain when things go wrong. However, some of us also are grateful for the luxuries of our first world lives, and not just at Thanksgiving but at odd (according to others) times throughout the year.
As I've noted before, what others really remember hearing are our complaints rather than our appreciation. I've been branded a complainer - and it's true, I obviously do complain! But I also express wonder and joy and gratitude more than most people do. I guess I'm just more expressive than the average bear.
What I really wanted to say was that I love Rob Brezsny.
no subject
Date: 2005-11-25 05:32 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2005-11-25 07:30 pm (UTC)From:Most people think I'm too serious (which may be true, I don't know), but some think I'm actually quite funny (which may be true, I don't know). Maybe the former just don't notice the good humor amidst the seriousness...
no subject
Date: 2005-11-25 11:38 am (UTC)From:*hmph*
no subject
Date: 2005-11-25 01:51 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2005-11-25 03:37 pm (UTC)From: