We are here to live and die. A life lived fully becomes unafraid of death. A full life is a u-turn from the collective reality. It is a deliberate and systematic movement towards what is meaningful to oneself. That movement demands courage and conviction but it instantaneously starts to usher in a quality of being that is direct, unafraid, unpretentious, settled and utterly unashamed to have effortless ease and fun.
Because we are not allowed to be happy, have fun, be silly and intoxicated with life, we develop a painful relationship with our mortality. This absence of full living taints the entire human experience with a sense of lack, loss, emptiness and tragedy. Even if life is lived in the shadow of mortality we are not reconciled with our mortality. The unlived life is the very core of all tragedy. That explains our collective obsession with tragedy because we have no meaningful relationship with life.
A fulfilled life, fully lived and enjoyed does not inspire or move us. Culturally happy, fun, joy are inferior to great tragedy, Greek tragedy! The play Oedipus Rex was in the course. I was 18. It was very impressive to me (or so I thought ). That impression stayed unchallenged for decades. A few years back, I leafed through it again. I was quite surprised that I had found it impressive. I was underwhelmed, to say the least. This time around the consciousness did not match
All our 'great' works of art, books, folklore, films, songs and epics are stories of deep sorrow, gut-wrenching loss weaved into a series of tragic circumstances, profound character flaws and ultimately abrupt and untimely death. These stories create an opportunity to shed cathartic tears, feel lighter for a few moments and pretend life is alright. That is our gravitas summed up. The consciousness is heavy, the 'great' art makes us feel heavy enough to shed tears as it resonates deeply with that tragic sense we already have within.
Our heroes, heroines are also folks that lost it after having it all! Elvis is still alive in the collective consciousness, It is not necessarily due to music but the great tragedy his life turned out to be. Titanic for the same reasons...
The successful, the happy, and the contented are boring and forgettable, while tragic people and events stick. It is the way we are ever since our time in caves. We are not collectively light enough to have a relationship with good fortune, fun, peace and harmony.
The consciousness is heavy and low. Our entertainment is full of sorrow, angst, discord, deceit, tears, heartbreaks, murder, bloodshed etc ...reflection of the consciousness. what else? People have tragic existence. It's Its written on their faces.
The collective can not unburden. Only an individual can. Only an individual who is committed to doing what is essential can escape the yoke of burdened consciousness. It is your turn to do the essential. The essential quenches you.