BUT WHY?

August 27th, 2019

This episode is an extension of Episode 498, entitled Artificial Hardship.  Be sure to check out that one first if you haven’t already.

In that episode a distinction was drawn between artificial hardships and natural hardships.  The modern world –at least for those lucky enough to live in a modern technological area of the world- effectively solves many of the natural hardships that our ancestors had to deal with.  Mass starvation is not a problem and many of the perplexing health problems that riddled the bodies of our forebears has some sort of treatment if not a straight up cure.

This phenomenal new reality employs solutions to such a degree that the solutions end up causing new problems, like obesity and heart disease. 

For the discerning and disciplined individual, it’s possible to walk a middle way in terms of this spectrum  of problem->solution->new-problem-caused-by-solution-on-steroids.

It’s possible to discipline one’s self to work out, fast, and regulate the type of food eaten.  To optimize schedule and lifestyle to take advantage of the best sleep, to mitigate stress and then purposely implement it for benefit.  Those on the cutting edge of what life has to offer today are generally aware of these things and constantly tinkering with the dials to find what is optimal.  

But why?

It boils down to one word.  This whole restless rolling snowball of busy people anxious to get to the next moment boils down to one word, one concept – a luxury really – that often requires many things to be in balance.

It’s curiosity.

At the heart of what moves us forward is a curiosity, about what is possible.

Certainly, needs and impending dangers drive us too, but when these are solved to an optimal degree, it opens up the wide field of the mind for a particularly delicate and beautiful phenomenon.

This is one of the grave tragedies of school.

For the most part, school kills curiosity and trains animal-humans to be well-regulated workers.  And school makes incredibly efficient work of this.

To be sure, all kids are born curious.  Quite literally.  This is why they ‘get into everything’, put everything in their mouth and constantly look around.

Sure they are learning.  Yes.  They are taking in the world and making sense of it.

But wait a moment.

Why does this stop?

Do YOU have the whole world and universe figured out?

Of course not.  But many people stop wondering and stop exploring.  We stop poking and prodding and testing.

We grow fearful and passive.

Today marks the eve of a special day for Tinkered Thinking.  Tomorrow episode 500 will be released.  500 days of writing, 500 episodes for all you listeners and readers.

And to take a moment, I just want to say thank you.  The growing support has been absolutely wonderful.

And that’s exactly what Tinkered Thinking seeks to give back to you.  More than anything, Tinkered Thinking seeks to fill you once again with a sense of wonder – to crack the modern case of fear and wake again that glinting eyed curiosity.

Tinkered Thinking has sought to swim around in our world of words and thoughts and investigate it from different angles with the hope that a reader or listener will simply pause, and go… “huh.  Hadn’t thought about it that way before.”

And that’s the point!  There are so many undiscovered ways to think that each and every one of us has the potential to explore.

Ultimately, Tinkered Thinking seeks to achieve this aim through the most visceral and powerful tool that we have at our disposal:

The Question.

Tinkered Thinking seeks to find those questions, that one question that lights a firecracker in the core of your mind, sending you soaring in the same way you once experienced as a child.

But why?

Because now you can do something about it.  As kids we all thought and spoke about what we’d do when we ‘grew up’.  Well, for the most part, all of us are grown up now, and because of that, we have the power and the opportunity to take that chance.

Ask yourself: if your 7 or 8 or 9 year old self suddenly met you, knowing you were who they were going to turn into…. how would that little kid feel?

Would that kid’s eyes go wide, would that kid pull a tight fist down and go: yesss! I can’t wait!

Or would that kid maybe look a little worried?

Is there a chance that kid would wonder: geez… I wonder where things went wrong.  This is grown-up me and they can do all the things that I want to do but just can’t because I’m just a kid….

So, on the eve of this most lovely little day, Tinkered Thinking leaves you with that question:

Have you honored the curiosity and wonder of the kid who couldn’t wait to be you?