Of goodness and badness and all the pointless things that do not exist.

Past few weeks have been crazy. The company we founded had its first public appearance (you can check the show here) and preparing it consumed most of my day, so there had been a little time left for thinking about other stuff than dresses. However, there was a lot of observation made, but in a way, I would not like to talk about fashion and its whims here, I will however post photos in one of the following blog entries. I wasn´t actually sure what I would like to talk about in this one, but then this morning my yogi master (yes, I have one) posted a video (on the bottom of the page) on facebook that got me all emotional and caught in thinking about us, the people.

 

It is this time of year, when the end - in many aspects - is drawing near and that makes us think about the past we lived, the past we co created and the past we shared. So excuse me for being a little more personal in this entry, I am helplessly caught in the web of reminiscing, memories and plans for the future. This year is special with the supposed end of the world, the regular birth of Savior and inevitable end of the year, they are all pushing us down the alley of self evaluation and the assessment of the year behind, as if “the end” would bring us a completely new and clean start with an empty page to scribble down our daily endeavors to make sense of the continuum we call life. It is needless to say that I do not think world would end in a spectacle we can watch first hand in the front row, however, I do believe things are about to change. Not in a drastic way, that is, rather I imagine its progression in a smooth transition of the human awareness, that I sense present for quite some time.

I am not sure if I have ever mentioned The Brownian motion, I talked about many things here, but I believe Brownian motion is worth mentioning twice and more, for it gives the exact explanation of how we are connected. What is more, it has a lot to do with what that video I mentioned above is about and even more so, it talks the language of the company we founded titled TheCollective, and its philosophy and vision. 

So bear with me for a little analogy. If you imagine a big stadium fully sold out and all the visitors sitting on their chairs and you add to this image a big, no, a really big and really light ball that every single person in the arena can put their hands on at the same time, like they are supporting it, then you have just the right setting of understanding life. Then add action to it. Let every single person tapping the ball with both their hands and in their own rhythm. Completely random. At first the ball jiggles a bit, not even that, it wobbles, the surface is trembling and the ball seems to have no purpose or sense of direction whatsoever. Then again, in some case or another, those random rhythms join in unison causing two or even more people pushing ball in the same direction. That jiggle suddenly becomes less random, it gets direction. And so it happens more and more often with statistical possibility that this big ball suddenly moves in some direction more than the other appearing as if it has a sense and logic to its movement. That´s it. That is the analogy and therein I found the needed explanation about everything that considers life. Destiny, connectivity and life´s seemingly chaotic behavior (all the stuff I already spend hours talking about), but what I also found in it, is a reason for Goodness.

You see, I do not believe in Badness. Sure, bad things happen, but I believe that is only a matter of perspective of human´s point of view, to be more precise, human´s wish for and definition of happiness. I believe from nature´s point of view, nothing is bad nothing is good. Things just are what they are – things, moments, happenings, occurrences, events, etc. They do not belong to anyone. What we feel when events occur and how we respond to them is an entity exclusive to humans. We define. No, we need to define. We are actually obsessed with definitions and analysis. We are servants of judgment. We want to put things together that seem close enough to call them “something”. Tell me, on a scale from white to black, where you define grey? It is an area, not a clean cut. Where does white end and black begin? So, on the same scale from good to bad thing, where does one end and the other begin? And then again, if you are able to point out one thing that you perceive as good, what does it become in relation to other things that are more on the good side of the scale? Compared to them, that same thing is less good. Does "less good" make it "bad" already? And let´s not forget about the fact, we took into consideration a point of view of one single person. Put two people together, and you get a mess, you get disagreement, you get fight, you get war, you get suffering. Well, you do not get it as much as you cause it. 

Does that mean every single person has its own scale about events? And let´s remember, things/events do no not belong to anyone. We may cause them, but our actions were predetermined by the actions of all the previous actions of people before us, and they will influence the actions of people after us. But still, they belong to no one, they actually belong to everyone. There is not a single action that has no effect whatsoever. All actions are the consequence and the cause at the same time. You are the cause and the consequence. There is not even a slightly pointless action, because it always leads to another one that might have a bigger effect then the one that caused it. It is the same as with the ball and the stadium analogy. We are active, we do things, we cause more or less noticeable events, but we do not make pointless ones. And so it happens that from time to time two or more people are doing the same thing and they make a change. A change, still, that can be perceived as good or bad, but that does not concern me. There are always people who oppose and there are the ones that support. So how does one know what thing is good? The answer in fact is hiding in the only scenario where selfishness is purposeful. One perceives good in what one wishes to happen to him. Or as Buda said it: “Do what you wish others would do to you.” Simple.

I believe, the sense of good is inherent to human nature. And to make good, does not need a wise person. It needs a person who is selfish enough to realize what makes him happy and altruistic enough to make it for others. And that makes him selfless.

So what does all of this have to do with change, reminiscing and TheCollective? Everything and nothing at all. And herein lays the magic of life. In the end it all comes down to reflection of your actions on the world that surrounds you. A world you are a part of and the sense of worth in the game we call life.

So, when I look back on this year, what are those things that made a selfish act altruistic? Is it my father´s tears, when he watched me defend my thesis in front of a commission? Or my niece´s laughter, when she watched my models walk the show, she attended for the first time in her life? Maybe my great aunt´s gratitude, when I chopped her wood? Or my friend´s appetite, when I cooked her dinner? Is it my aunt´s cry, when I gave her public thanks for all the support she offered in my studies? A stranger´s relief, when I helped her carry her baby stroller downstairs? The cashier´s smile, when I took a moment to acknowledge her kindness? Or does it all come down to a hug, when I take my time to listen and reassuringly say that everything is going to be O.K.? May it be whatever of the above or all the things I have not even mentioned, what matters is, I act according to my selfish ability to make others happy. Just for a moment. Just for a chance that it might cause a kinder act for someone else. When we lose the feeling that a simple act can make a change, we lose everything. We cannot afford that.

And there is that!