If there is no world without ugliness, one must either learn to accept ugliness, or go mad. And to be clear, failing to see the world as it is is a form of madness. In my own view, and only slightly oversimplifying the issue, most of what passes for higher wisdom in our universities consists in a combination of the two. They no longer have any room anywhere for any other world.
This is a pity. It remains open to them, and the best empirical explanations we have of who we are and how we got here, and what we are supposed to do can be grounded in learnings which are accessible to all, but pursued by few.
These questions really are too important to attempt to answer from a position of sloppiness, unwarranted assumption, arrogance, and emotional need. Failure, obviously, is inevitable. Certainly, it has been.
But this need not continue. No evil must proceed indefinitely.
Part of this comes from watching the disappointingly disjointed movie “Children of Men”. I certainly got the sense when the crowd walked by shouting Allahu Akbar that it might have gotten some aspects of the future of Britain and Europe correct.
But I could not help thinking of all the poets and writers who killed themselves thinking the future was hopeless. Games are played to the end, because the ending is sometimes a surprise. I am making my own peace with my death at some point. We may as well. It comes whether we want it or not.
But for the time being, life is interesting. There is much to see and learn.
I had a feeling, too, watching this movie which I have never had before. I felt that even though the movie was gloomy and oppressive–and inaccurate in that the surveillance state in 2027 will be perfect–that it was the product of human minds, human creativity. That even the worst, most pessimistic movies still represent the human spirit in some sense. Perhaps they are using art to wrestle demons. Whether they win or lose, this is an eminently human and thus beautiful act.
This will prove a helpful insight, I feel.