Society: If all people knew these things, the world would be more pleasant

Considering that we largely shape our world and society ourselves, it can be a real mood killer here and there. Is it because too many people just don’t know about these things?

Our world is pretty great. In order to recognize and feel this, you only have to walk through a street with many cafés once in the summer, where people sit outside together, talk, laugh, enjoy the sun and are happy. Or watch a documentary about sea otters. Or listen to music. Or read a good book. There is so much wonderful and beautiful in our world that we could be touched and fascinated non-stop.

On the other hand, sometimes we fabricate things that just make you wonder: Why? Why do we make life so difficult for ourselves (for each other) in some places? Okay, mistakes are positive and there is no good without bad, free. But why do people hurt others with nasty comments when they could just keep scrolling? As a jogger, why is a father yelled at (“You would have come by there already”) when you stop to avoid knocking over your snaking toddler on your bike? Why do people blame and berate each other for being vaccinated or unvaccinated? Why do many people think it matters how they and others look? Not to mention the really bad things like racism, homophobia, fanaticism and the like.

So many inconveniences that are not imposed on us by nature, God or anything else, but that we create all by ourselves. Would these inconveniences still exist if all people knew the following things?

If all people knew these things, the world would probably be a better place

1. Our life is a highly unlikely event.

It is quite a coincidence that our parents met, fell in love and had sex in the moment in which we could emerge. A coincidence which, in turn, could only have happened because both of her parents met, fell in love and had sex at the very moment when our parents could emerge. And so on, and so on, generation after generation. Mathematically, it’s highly, highly unlikely, almost impossible that we’re alive. To live is something very special. And: Given our own existence, which shows us that even the most unlikely is possible, we have good reason to believe that nothing is impossible.

2. People have their reasons for what they do.

We may not always understand what other people are doing or saying, and we may not always think it’s right. But for them it is. They have their reasons and their behavior makes sense to them. That doesn’t justify everything. But it excuses some.

3. We simplify. Always. Everything.

We never see the world and the circumstances we find ourselves in as they are, but extremely broken down and simplified to what we are able to comprehend. And mostly that’s what we know, expect or want to see. Thus, the likelihood that we are wrong about what we believe to be reality is usually extremely high.

4. Nobody has it easy.

All people have their problems, pains, sore points and insecurities. Just as our ballast sometimes stands in our way or makes us act differently than we actually want, our fellow human beings experience it with theirs. Even that doesn’t justify everything. But it explains a lot. And it’s up to us to make it easier for each other.

5. Intelligence is not our greatest strength.

We tend to think of ourselves as tremendously intelligent, but firstly, we’re not the superbrains we sometimes think we are (in fact, we’re not much superior to our Stone Age ancestors), and secondly, we have abilities far greater than ours Intelligence – for example, the ability to love or empathize with other people. Some of our physical processes are also far more ingenious than our arithmetic skills. Being able to solve an equation is no reason to feel superior.

6. As human beings, we have more in common than divides us.

We are all unique and differ in shape, color, feelings, world view and much more – but essentially we are all very similar. In fact, from the point of view of a tit or a star, we are almost identical. In principle, therefore, there is nothing for which we should be ashamed of one another. And by the way, there’s no reason not to be kind to one another either: because from a wide-angle perspective, we’re all in the same boat (e.g. we’re all going to die, get sunstroke if we don’t wear a hat, don’t know what we’re going to do with our lives should and so on).

7. Right and wrong are just guesses.

Centuries ago, it was still true for parents to leave their daughters in the responsibilities of a husband with a dowry, and it was wrong to have sex before marriage. Right and wrong are not fixed, absolute quantities or concepts, but our own creations. What we perceive as right and wrong is also subject to our interpretation of the world, which, as I said, is always simplified. We can never be sure what is right and what is wrong. Curiosity about views that differ from our own and openness to admitting we are wrong would therefore be the right course of action. Allegedly.

8. If you want to explain everything logically, you’ll miss most of it.

We can calculate, reason or explain some things, but not most of them. At least not for sure. For example love. Or music that touches us. Or why we feel comfortable with some people and not with others. Or why deceased loved ones visit us in dreams when we need it most. Or why sunrises are so beautiful, even more so when you watch them together. The world is full of wonders that we can experience – but only if we are not too busy looking for explanations.

9. We are no better than other living beings.

Every creature, every species, has its strengths and is wonderful in its own way. Just because we wear clothes and build rockets doesn’t make us better than wasps or tuna. That doesn’t necessarily mean that we all have to be 100% vegan and not eat any animals, because other animals eat other animals too. But there is no reason for us to be self righteous and feel better than other living beings and treat them like things. No other creature has destroyed as much as we have. That doesn’t make us any worse than the others, intelligence isn’t our greatest strength. But it might be a subtle reminder that we’re not the superior species we sometimes make ourselves out to be.

Sources used: Matt Haig: The Humans, Milan Kundera: The unbearable lightness of being, Kevin Dutton: Schwarz. White. Think! Why we tick, how we tick, and how evolution makes us manipulable

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Bridget

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