Dear Friends,
It seems to me, every huge fall Mankind has ever experienced is due to our arrogant nature, especially when we envision ourselves, or some segment of us, as equal to God. The fall of Satan was from his arrogance and pride in trying to unseat God, Adam and Eve were tempted by the serpent into believing they could be equal to God, and today, many in the progressive, Marxist and atheist ranks believe they are indeed Gods. Such hubris can only lead to catastrophe and has throughout history. Many science fiction stories are all about people who consider themselves God’s equal, from The Island of Dr Moreau to Altered Carbon, the theme runs deep in most science fiction. All human hearted philosophies warn us of the danger of arrogance and pride. The Holy Bible itself says pride goes before the fall. Yet despite all the cautionary tales we still fall into the trap of believing ourselves God’s equal.
Arrogance inevitably leads to disaster since arrogance is by it’s very nature not self aware. Self awareness is a means to control our more foolish instincts. How many stories feature a villain who is utterly unself aware? That is the basis for so many comedies. The villain who lacks self awareness is easy prey, because their arrogance is without limit, and unlimited arrogance is itself comedic. Think about Dr. Evil in the Micheal Myers movies. He is the epitome of the arrogant unself aware villain. The arrogant villain always thinks he is a God. He or she attempts to change that which should not be changed and disaster results. That catastrophe can be humorous, as in a comedy, or can lead to tremendous suffering in the real world. In fact most comedy is based on ridiculing the arrogant and unself aware.
Mindfulness leads to humility and humility is the path to happiness. How many arrogant people have you met who are happy? Not one I bet. When we are aware of our faults and weaknesses, we are be humble, but when we believe ourselves Gods, we cannot recognize our weaknesses or faults. This inevitably leads to depression because those who believe themselves Gods, when confronted with the reality of our frailties, have their self image shattered. Arrogant people who believe themselves God’s equal, are angry all the time and cast blame on others for their own failings, since they are God’s “equal” and therefore unable to make mistakes. Which creates the conditions for nothing but mistakes. Meanwhile, the humble who fail at some endeavor can tolerate it, since they understand they are not god and mistakes are inevitable.
Those who lack mindfulness and are arrogant are the most flawed. Especially today, with scientists holding out hope that soon human beings will be immortal, that proves the insanity of believing we can be Gods is still alive and well. How many who are unable to run their own lives arrogantly think they can run the lives of the whole human race? The advances in medical science has made many doctors arrogant to the point of believing themselves Gods. Despite the fact that you and I are more likely to die at the hands of a doctor, than at the point of a gun, coupled with a tsunami of malpractice, all of which is based on the arrogant notion that doctors are Gods. Our society’s primary fallacy, that we are Gods or soon will be, is proof positive we are not and never will be.
With almost our entire legerdemain of lore showing us the foolishness of trying to usurp God’s role, we as a species knows full well what the consequences are of such idiocy, but many of us ignore the entirety of human wisdom and arrogantly seek to be God. The times we live in is nothing but a huge comedy and the joke is on us. Today we are living in Mars Attacks but we are the stupid Martians. We mix human and animal DNA, we seek immortality, we wholeheartedly believe the stupidity of the “rational” economy, and our professionals fall into the trap of unwarranted hubris. Most if not all the troubles we as the human race face, is due to our arrogance, in believing we are or can be God. Yes, we live in a comedy, that comedy is about a people so arrogant and unself aware they (we) have become abject fools.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
