“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” ~ Albert Einstein
Nature is a powerful teacher, serving as an inspiration to humans to emulate its functioning as a solution to many of the world’s problems. Biomimicry, originating from the Greek word ‘bios’, meaning life, and ‘mimesis’, meaning to imitate, is a field that deals with exploring and learning from nature’s design to effectively formulate sustainable development plans for mankind.
Biomimicry was recognized as a field only recently, but we have drawn inspiration from nature for thousands of years. Like Leonardo da Vinci’s sketches of a flying machine was based on the observation of birds to enable human flight. Likewise, the Wright Brothers who did succeed in creating the first airplane in 1903, apparently gained inspiration from observations of pigeons in flight.
Whales fins, tails and flippers inspired the design of wind turbines, which turned out to be more efficient in terms of speed and energy. Modern biomimicry research has inspired adhesive glue from mussels, solar cells made like leaves, fabric that emulates shark skin, harvesting water from fog like a beetle, and more.
Researcher Wilhelm Barthlott examined the leaf surfaces of lotus and other plants. He found that the “bumpy” structure of the lotus leaf acts like a water repellent, so it cannot coat the leaf and simply rolls off, taking along with them all dust and dirt particles.
This property was mimicked by scientists with artificial material like dirt resistant additives in the paints used on cars, glass windows and so on.
In this fascinating Ted talk by Nicholas Sykes, you will get an insight about how Biomimicry can be worked in favor of sustainable development and how we can re-connect to the environment.
A study conducted by University of Bath in 2006, showed that technologies that mimic nature, reduce our dependence on energy. Man-made technology on the other hand consumes a lot of energy harming our environment in multiple ways. Another research showed that relying on nature will lead to a healthier planet.
What should we do in favor of Biomimicry?
Wind turbines inspired by whales fins, tails and flippers
One of the fundamental principle of Biomimicry is to let nature take its own course. But if natural resources are continuously exploited, how can humans, who are a part of nature, be on the path to development? Infrastructure, man-made technology, automobiles etc are an illusion of growth.
Nature inspired us but its tragic when we use this inspiration against nature. For example, birds inspired flight techniques and aircraft wing design, but unfortunately, after almost a decade humans were using the same planes to wage wars, throw bombs and destroy our ecosystem.
A Robotic Arm Like an Elephant Trunk
We have to get rid of our greed and preserve our environment. Nature is all around us and we should constantly observe and learn what it has to teach us. Around the globe, from students to biologists have come up with genius techniques using Biomimicry in the field of agriculture, architecture, human health and safety, minimal energy utilization, medicinal benefits, transportation etc.
Like the product designer who has developed an array of environment-friendly materials that perform like plastics but are made by mushrooms. The most popular architectural example of biomimicry is the Eastgate Centre Building in Harare, Zimbabwe, was built without any conventional air-conditioning or heating system, yet stays regulated year round saving tremendous amount of energy. The team of architects were inspired by the self-cooling mounds of African termites, who build their nest in such way that the temperature is maintained day and night, in spite of the varying degrees outside.
Biomimicry research has also inspired adhesive glue from mussels, solar cells made like leaves, fabric that emulates shark skin, harvesting water from fog like a beetle, and more.
Even nature’s numbering system, Fibonacci sequence, is present all around us. Like the young boy who noticed how trees grow based on the Fibonacci Sequence, and developed the idea to use solar panels under this pattern to maximize energy efficiency.
We must promote such ideas so that they actually come into practice. Biomimicry has huge potential to transform our world! All that is conceivable, is achievable.
We must draw our standards from the natural world. We must honor with the humility of the wise the bounds of that natural world and the mystery which lies beyond them, admitting that there is something in the order of being which evidently exceeds all our competence. ~ Vaclav Havel
Picasso’s Guernica is the most powerful political statement, painted as an immediate reaction to the Nazi’s devastating casual bombing practice on the Basque town of Guernica
“The opinion that art should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude.” ~ George Orwell
Art has always affected the political landscape. From George Carlin’s standup to Picasso’s Guernica, from Allen Ginsberg’s Howl to Banksy’s graffiti, from Avatar to Fight Club, art is a weapon in the battlefield of ideas.
As it turns out, the most famous political art of all time, George Orwell’s 1984, is fast becoming a weapon that is backfiring. When I say “political” I’m not talking about bipartisan claptrap and pithy diatribes launched between leftist and rightist talking heads. I’m talking about the struggle for power in our culture. Art can effectively swing the power struggle. Yes, art can be persuasive. Art jolts us awake.
It declares to any and all modes of power: “When freedom is outlawed, only outlaws will be free.” And, have no illusions, all art is outside the law. Even that last sentence is a fragment of art that is attempting to persuade you that “all art is outside the law.”
In fact, this entire article is a piece of political art that is attempting to persuade you that art is a weapon in political warfare. And it’s meant to be persuasive. I genuinely want to persuade you. Why? Because I think it’s important, and I sincerely hope that you will think it’s important as well. Your mind body and soul is on the line. Here then are four ways that art is a weapon on the battlefield of ideas.
Polish illustrator Pawel Kuczynski cleverly uses satire to portray today’s social, political and cultural reality.
Art can Help us to Imagine what’s possible
“The function of art is to do more than tell it like it is; it’s to imagine what’s possible.” ~ Bell Hooks
Art can be both the ultimate purveyor of hope and the sad whisperer of despair. By encouraging us to engage with the real world in new ways, art takes despair and transforms it into hope, and vice versa. It puts things into perspective by forcing us to appreciate the fleeting impermanence of all things, most especially the impermanence of the self.
Much of the human condition cannot be put into words. And so art acts as a medium between our condition and our perception of it. We can hold up a book, or a painting, or a sculpture and simply say, “This is me.” Art stands between typical language and a “language older than words” and declares itself as a force to be reckoned with.
Within the maelstrom of political ideology, art asserts itself as a real symbolic energy that we can hang our hats on. The question is: are we hanging our hats on a healthy or unhealthy ideology? Art can be used as a tool for suppression (unhealthy) or as a tool for liberation (healthy). As artists, as human beings, it is our duty to decide which we will become: suppressor or liberator.
Thought-provoking illustration by Pawel Kuczynski
Art can be Divisive Propaganda
“The supreme mystery of despotism, its prop and stay, is to keep men in a state of deception, and cloak the fear by which they must be held in check, so that they will fight for their servitude as if for salvation.” ~ Baruch Spinoza
What is art? For the suppressor, art is used for brainwashing, consumption, and hoarding; it is something to be contained. For the liberator, art is used for thought, learning, and free expression; it is something to be liberated.
Human beings are not cut and dry, black and white, creatures. We are each a multiplicity in ourselves, an amalgam of sub-selves. As such, we are extremely susceptible to psychosocial influences. Art can be the ultimate balancing agent, or it can throw things out of whack.
It reveals to us, with unusual clarity, the full range of our abilities, and helps us to reevaluate our inner natures and direct us towards the healthiest, most promising version of ourselves. But art can also be oppressing.
There are unhealthy oppressors, usually systems of power vainly struggling to maintain their power, who use art (commercials, corporate news, TV programming, comics) as mind control to shape the cultural milieu and pacify the masses. This is done by forcing the masses into identifying with a particular political agenda and then repudiating those with differing interests.
Satirical illustration by Pawel Kuczynski
Art can be used for good (healthy), or for evil (unhealthy). But there is no doubt that it is divisive. One must create wisely, for there is power in art, and we must be responsible with that power.
Conversely, it is our duty to make those who would use the power of art in oppressive ways accountable for their actions. This too can be done through art.
Art can Serve the Cause of Emancipation
“If you would be a poet, create works capable of answering the challenges of apocalyptic times.” ~ Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Have you traded in your freedom for the illusion of security, or have you taken it upon yourself to daily justify your freedom in the face of all illusions? Under the current unsustainable system, which is creating unhealthy circumstances across the globe, anxiety and anguish is the rational and healthy response.
They are not signs of weakness, but of courage trying to burst out. Grieving over the effects of ecocide, tyranny and rape is the appropriate reaction. But instead of suppressing these emotions we must confront them. Grief can be transformed into righteous anger can be transformed into proactive courage can be transformed into art.
In the face of an apocalyptic scenario, we must ourselves become apocalyptic, not as isolated radicals but as an organized collective through the medium of art. The term “Apocalypse” isn’t limited to end of the world scenarios; it can also mean a revelation, a lifting of the veil, or a disclosure of something hidden.
Art can be the medium by which we accomplish this. Art lifts veils that otherwise cannot be lifted. It reveals secrets that could not have been revealed in any other way. Art itself may not be able to change the world, but it can inspire those who will. And that’s all we need it to be. The heart of emancipation is inspiration.
The Iconic Ballerina and Bull Occupy Wall Street Poster
Art can Transform Despair into Action
“The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.” ~ Stephen Binko
Revolutionary art has the power to propel history forward. We must be able to confront the world as it is, by apocalyptically revealing what has been hidden, and then imagine how we can go about doing things differently. Art can be the medium for such imagining.
Peeling back what has been hidden from us can be upsetting, especially when we realize how much we’ve been lied to. Pulling back the curtain only to realize that we’ve been bamboozled by a lying wizard can really suck.
Despair can easily creep in. For most people it will be too much for them to handle, and they will experience cognitive dissonance and then tragically suppress the discovery. But for those of us who have been set free and then angered by the truth, there is another way other than suppression.
There is liberation through revolutionary art. Don’t be a “potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor.” Be a liberator. You start with liberating yourself. Suppressing the emotions gleaned from the discovery of the bamboozlement is exactly what the oppressors want.
They want you to turn on the TV to drown out the truth. They want to placate you with mindless advertisements. Don’t give in. I know it’s hard.
You’ve been conditioned. But it’s your responsibility to recondition that condition. One way to do that is through the genuine self-expression of your own art. Create an advertisement of your own. Compose a meme. Write an angry poem.
Be like Eminem on that bus on the movie 8 Mile and write a passionate rap song. Paint a politically dissonant painting. Tag a Chase bank or a Wells Fargo. Get out there and express yourself. Blow off some steam in a healthy way. Just make sure you’re responsible with your power. Rebellious art can liberate your soul. And even if it doesn’t, at least you’re being creative.
“There is no holy life. There is no war between good and evil. There is no sin and no redemption. None of these things matter to the real you. But they matter hugely to the false you, the one who believes in the separate self. You have tried to take your separate self, with all its loneliness and anxiety and pride, to the door of enlightenment but it will never go through because it is a ghost” ~ Deepak Chopra
One of the final frontiers to conquer in the path to a spiritual awakening or enlightenment is the belief in the concept of right and wrong. This belief has such a stronghold on most of us, that to even fathom that there exists such a state of consciousness (one that transcends the illusion of right and wrong), is almost impossible for most to wrap their minds around. Therein lies the problem.
Anytime the mind is involved in processing a situation, it must put its two cents in. It must name each situation as either “good” or “bad”, “right” or “wrong”. These judgments are projections of our ego. The ego NEEDS to be right, so in order to be right, there MUST be a wrong.
Therefore the ego spends the day making comparisons. It compares political parties, it compares religions, it compares parenting styles, it compares cultures, everything…
The problem is that your ego, just like mine, just like everyone else’s on the planet is operating from the perspective that it is the “right” one… but with over 7 billion people living on the planet how are we to know who officially has the golden key to the “right” way to do everything?
Is there really a being that exists that knows the “right” way? The “right” way to cook a steak, the “right” God to worship, the “right” nationality, the “right” culture, the “right” reason that killing people is justified?
“People are doing the best they can from their own level of consciousness” ~ Deepak Chopra
In order for there to be an official right way to do things and wrong way to do things, is to assume that there is someone or something that is judging every single one of our thoughts, actions and behaviors against this supposed “rule book” of what is considered right and what is considered wrong. T
his is where those who believe in organized religion can chime in and say, “Well yes, that person is God. That book is The Bible, or The Koran, or the (insert religious text here).” But sadly, enough even those who believe in organized religion, can’t even agree with each other.
There are Christians who believe in picketing in front of people funerals, or the ones that believe invading other countries and killing their citizens is ok (as long as they’re doing it in the name of Jesus, of course).
And it’s not only Christianity, but all the religions who have dissent among the ranks, so even then, how are we to know which way is the right way to follow God and which is the wrong way? We can’t. We can’t know because there isn’t only one way.
Yes, human beings have spent thousands upon thousands of years fighting for what’s “right”, when in all actuality, every single person on this earth is operating from their own level of consciousness. Which means, everyone is operating from the frame of mind that they are doing the “right” thing.
We have spent so much time pointing the finger at everyone else under the guise that we were right and they were wrong, but all the finger pointing and judging and comparing has never really solved anything.
If everyone, including ourselves, is operating the best they can from the level of consciousness they are existing at, can anyone really be blamed for anything? Technically no.
For example, we’ve all heard the phrase “hurt people, hurt people.” This sums it up, people who don’t have unconditional love for themselves go around treating others the same way they feel towards themselves. They are literally acting in the only way they know how to from the level of consciousness that they exist at.
So yes, there will be times when people exist at a level of consciousness that tells them that anger, or fighting or even worse, killing is what they need to do and in these instances if people become a danger to themselves or society they will have to go to jail or be punished in court etc.. but it is not our duty to come up with a million “what if” situations, we must deal with life as it happens in the present moment, as it is presented unto us and we must trust that perfect action will always be taken.
This may be hard for a person’s ego to process. The ego needs to blame, it needs to blame OTHER people, because if it doesn’t have other people to blame for all of its problems, fears and upsets, then that means it has to look back at… GASP… itself as the problem. The ego’s perception of reality is what is shaping our judgments about the external world.
However, the thing that is coming up with the judgments IS the ego, so basically what is happening is the ego is calling that group of people ‘wrong’, and then blaming THEM for the judgment it came up with on its own accord. Seems silly, right?
“Hurt people hurt people. That’s how pain patterns get passed on, generation after generation after generation. Break the chain today. Meet anger with sympathy, contempt with compassion, cruelty with kindness, greet grimaces with smiles, forgive and forget about finding fault. Love is the weapon of the future.” ~ Yehuda Berg
Transcending the judgments of good/bad, right/wrong is not an easy task. Although those who can feel the rise in their level of consciousness will tell you they can feel their ego’s grip on reality slipping away slowly, it’s rare to meet someone who is existing in this level of consciousness 100% of the time.
What is important to realize is that we cannot force a higher level of consciousness on ourselves, we can only bring more presence into our lives and find the connection to our spirit which will cause our consciousness to rise naturally.
Intellectually we may know that there is no right or wrong, but if our ego is still at the point where it is in fact using these judgments on external reality, we must only be aware of it, not judge ourselves because of it.
The new evolution of our consciousness will eventually transcend the duality of the mind, so until we exist solely at this unity consciousness where we see all as one, all we can do is show unconditional love to ourselves, which will eventually spill over to other people.
Loving people unconditionally is the only way to change them, and loving ourselves unconditionally is the only way to change ourselves.
Like Yehuda Berg said in the quote above… “Love is the weapon of the future.”
Since the beginning of time, global awakening has been a gradual process. We’ve heard about consciousness and human evolution but on a slightly different paradigm – usually in context of a particular kingdom or nation.
From 14th Century onward, a lot of literature and paintings were produced to make humans understand that we are all created by the same universe and we all are connected at a cellular level; we must awaken ourselves to realize the same.
Many of us have lost ourselves in the process of being an image-based-entity and it is obvious that at some point we would want to leave the superficial world behind and create a world that is more human to us. We would want to connect to our higher sense of being, where our concept of peace isn’t limited to few hours of sleep but is limitless in nature as serenity cannot be measured in time and space.
I have encountered many souls who realize this feeling of setting themselves free, but do not know how to discard the old notions of life. You will face multiple challenges for good but there will be times when you might feel helpless because your idea of self has disappeared in thin air and you don’t know who you are.
Here are couple of ways to deal with the challenges to continue being on an awakening journey –
1) Positivity is Contagious
There is nothing as cliche, it is simply a state of mind. Anyone who tells you that your positivity comes across as corny and you have started to become boring isn’t actually aware of the fact that one day they would need the same kind of positivity to find their true selves.
Once you begin to see yourself as a spiritual being, don’t let anyone else make you think otherwise. Positivity is highly contagious, and it can amount to a positive outcome, if you allow it to.
“There are two ways of spreading light: to be…The candle or the mirror that reflects it.” ~ Edith Wharton
2) Discarding Ideologies Needs Courage
We’ve been conditioned since birth; exposed to multiple perceived notions of leading a good life. In our head, we have created mental blocks towards anything that doesn’t go with our ‘ideologies’ and to break that block we need clarity, which comes with courage.
Have the courage to let go of the familiar and not hold on to it.
“Comfort is your biggest trap and coming out of comfort zone your biggest challenge.” ~ Manoj Arora
For example, religion and caste fall under ideologies and to think that one religion or caste is better than another is a mental block. We are all humans with skin and bones, blood and flesh, and we all deserve to live.
The world is in dire need of understanding the same; we are humans first. Since you have understood it, don’t fall in the same pit again.
3) Being Sensitive to Energy
Being sensitive to energy means being sensitive to what you ACTUALLY think, feel and say. A way to align with the divine flow of the universe is to overcome the false self or ‘ego’ and all it’s inherent limitations.
Ego is nothing but clogged up energy in your body, and you have to shun your ego to channelize yourself to the abundant universal energy. Imbibe it in your subconscious mind to be sensitive to your energy and experience a shift in the paradigm of consciousness.
4) Illusion of Self-Image
Self-image, again, is the brain-child of the ego. In the awakening process you have to know that there is no image. You can indulge in activities which make you happy but at the end of the day you are not defined by it. Because it is not permanent.
You can connect to jazz one day and to soul-funk another day. You might enjoy staying in a city today but one day you might give up everything to live in the mountains. Keeping a self-image limits your experience and potential to lead the life you want. It blocks you from looking beyond possibilities, and receiving what the universe wants to give you.
5) Dare to Dream to Change the World Through Yourself
Dreaming has never been difficult for mankind, and all that which is in the realm of dreaming is within the realm of achieving. Don’t think that you are too small to make a difference in the world. Know that you are a multi-dimensional being where the universe is constantly asking you to raise your vibrations, help others in knowing the same. Spread love and compassion. You will experience a gradual transformation in the world.
“Never forget that you are one of a kind. Never forget that if there weren’t any need for you in all your uniqueness to be on this earth, you wouldn’t be here in the first place. And never forget, no matter how overwhelming life’s challenges and problems seem to be, that one person can make a difference in the world. In fact, it is always because of one person that all the changes that matter in the world come about. So be that one person.” ~ R Buckminster Fuller.
“There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide.” ~ Albert Camus
In the wake of the immortal Robin William’s suicide, many of us may be scratching our heads wondering how someone so funny, and happy, and full of life could suddenly just decide to punch out.
Could it have been a fall from grace, age, depression, anxiety, all of the above? Is it ever so simple?
Perhaps no other scholar has captured the suicidal mindset like Princeton university psychologist Roy Baumeister did with Suicide and Escape from Self. He explains suicide in six not-so-simple steps.
Let’s break these steps down using a little satirical humor in honor of the late great (Captain, My Captain!) Robin Williams.
Step 1: Falling Short of Standards
“It is apparently the size of the discrepancy between standards and perceived reality that is crucial for initiating the suicidal process.” ~ Roy Baumeister
Imagine you are king of Whereveristan. And you’re a damn good king too. You receive accolades galore and everybody loves you. The kingdom is prospering and everybody contributes it to you. Indeed, you are kingly material if ever there was a thing.
Now imagine your throne (high horse) collapsing right beneath you. Everything starts to go wrong. The kingdom is in disarray. And suddenly you are usurped and left to twiddle your thumbs along with the peasants. Depressing, sure, but no suicidal ball ever got rolling without a little depression.
(Note: being “King” is a metaphor for anything from gang leader to top comedian, from professional athlete to president, from good parent to good student. It could even be a metaphor for an ideal self that never even existed.)
Baumeister argues that suicide risk is actually heightened by such idealistic predispositions as perceived wealth, power, and privilege. Of course it’s all relative.
But he explains how an emotional fragility arises in people with such a disposition, due to their already unreasonable standards of happiness, and when setbacks occur –and we all know how life is chock full of setbacks– their over-fragility leaves them shattered without knowing how to put the pieces back together again.
Like Humpty Dumpty, only imagine Humpty is your heart. But the fall from grace is only the tip of the suicide iceberg. It just gets things going.
Step 2: Attributions to Self
“I can’t deceive myself that out of the bare stark realization that no matter how enthusiastic you are, no matter how sure that character is fate, nothing is real, past or future, when you are alone in your room with the clock ticking loudly into the false cheerful brilliance of the electric light. And if you have no past or future which, after all, is all that the present is made of, why then you may as well dispose of the empty shell of present and commit suicide.” ~ Sylvia Plath
So there you are, King Nothing, trying to figure out what went wrong. Sure, you still have money, but so what. Nobody looks at you the same anymore. It must have been something you did.
You must be rotten is some way. Feelings of worthlessness, shame, guilt, and inadequacy wash over you as you eat your fish head soup on the corner of Poor & Poorer. You feel exposed, humiliated and rejected by everyone and everything. You feel trapped, stuck between yourself and yourself. There is no hope.
According to Baumeister, self-loathing and self-criticism is a common denominator in most suicides. Suicidal people tend to dislike themselves in an existential way, typically due to unrealistically high expectations and irrational beliefs.
But in a way that cleaves them off from what they perceive as an “ideal humanity.” Confidence is shattered due to the emotional toll that the setback took, and a state of despair creeps in.
Step 3: High Self-Awareness
“I don’t want to live. . . . Now listen, life is lovely, but I Can’t Live It. I can’t even explain. I know how silly it sounds . . . but if you knew how it Felt. To be alive, yes, alive, but not be able to live it. Ay that’s the rub. I am like a stone that lives . . . locked outside of all that’s real. . . I wish, or think I wish, that I were dying of something for then I could be brave, but to be not dying, and yet . . . and yet to be behind a wall, watching everyone fit in where I can’t, to talk behind a gray foggy wall, to live but to not reach or to reach wrong . . . to do it all wrong . . . believe me, (can you?) . . . what’s wrong. I want to belong. I’m like a Jew who ends up in the wrong country. I’m not a part. I’m not a member. I’m frozen.” ~ Anne Sexton
After you finish your soup, you receive a letter from your mother. She goes on about how much she “loves you anyway,” but so what. She is only two towns away, but she might as well be an ocean apart. She’ll never understand you anyway.
You’re so cut off from the person she raised, so beyond that. And in light of recent events, that person is irrevocable, just as all future preferred selves are now unreachable caricatures, like cartoons in the brain.
According to Baumeister’s Escape theory, it is this incessant and merciless comparison with an ideal self that fuels the fire of suicidal ideation. The feeling of being irredeemable is crippling, like your soul just barely made it out of an existential crash but is now a quadriplegic.
The impact is soul-crushing because of the high level of self-awareness coupled with the emotional fragility that comes with comparing the current self with the past self that “had it all” or with a future self that “could have it all.”
Most suicide notes have self-references and first-person pronouns, thereby linking high self-awareness, although aversive, to most suicides.
Step 4: Negative Affect
“Sometimes even to live is an act of courage.” ~ Seneca
Everywhere around you, the Kingdom is moving on, prospering even. It’s a big shiny bright light that just makes your dark light seem even more poignant. Sure, people notice you, say they love you, and even thank you for your past contributions to the kingdom, but it all feels more like a slap to the face than anything else. Your social exclusion and ostracism trumps all.
Your shame, your guilt, your self-blame, is all a multi-headed monster called Anxiety, a viscous Hydra that just grows and grows. You just want to wipe the slate clean. Yes, a complete and total loss of consciousness.
That would end the psychosocial pain. Sleep? Only temporary. Drugs? The same thing. There must be another way to escape.
According to Baumeister, negative suicidal states are generally acute rather than prolonged experiences. Shame is perhaps one of the most crippling human experiences. It gives rise to a plethora of other issues: guilt, self-blame, and multiple anxieties.
They can come on like an avalanche. Acute anxiety and depression seeks unconsciousness, and so suicide, unlike sleep or drugs, can feel like a permanent fix to a negative emotional state that seems unbearable. It just so happens that you’re the one experiencing the anxiety, and so you are the one that needs to end it.
Step 5: Cognitive Deconstruction
“If I had no sense of humor, I would long ago have committed suicide.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi
As your crown melts in the fireplace, you systematically begin to shut down the world inside you and all around you. You begin to simplify things to their base elements. Meaning is squeezed out of everything, and you slip into a kind of idle mental labor, thereby avoiding the flood of shameful anxiety.
Even time slows down. All humor is lost, crushed between the sandwich of time. You decide to write a letter of clear self-expression, pouring your thoughts onto paper so as to fill the void. It’s written to your mother, but it’s really written to everyone and everything.
At this stage cognitive rigidity sets in, all meaning is rejected, and everything is constricted to immediate goals. Temporal narrowing, according to Baumeister, is a defense mechanism that prevents a person caught in the throes of suicidal ideation from dwelling on the painful past or the bleak future.
This narrowing of time is a way to avoid the suffocating, unhealthy feelings attributed to the downward spiral.
Baumeister speculates, “Thus suicidal people resemble acutely bored people: The present seems endless and vaguely unpleasant, and whenever one checks the clock, one is surprised at how little time has actually elapsed.”
Step 6: Disinhibition
“To run away from trouble is a form of cowardice and, while it is true that the suicide braves death, he does it not for some noble object but to escape some ill.” ~ Aristotle
Everything is nothing. The void is an infinite Now swallowing all things. Your kingdom is not a kingdom. Everything is burning in the fireplace right now: all pasts, all futures. This final act is the culmination of all acts. Nothing can stop you. You tip your mug and drink to the dregs. You settled on hemlock, a suicide fit for a “king.”
Another tragic consequence of cognitive deconstruction (and usually the last) is disinhibition, where one overcomes the intrinsic fear of death by acquiring a temporary loss of inhibition in regards to meaning.
This disinhibition temporarily disallows self-preservation. It also overrules any thoughts of how others will feel, or how “wrong” it is to kill oneself. But the gulf between suicidal ideation and full-on acts of suicide is constantly in flux.
Up until the very end, there is always a chance to turn back. Most people snap out of this cognitive disinhibition. But very few do not. And it’s tragic.
Conclusion
“What’s wrong with death sir? What are we so mortally afraid of? Why can’t we treat death with a certain amount of humanity and dignity, and decency, and God forbid, maybe even humor. Death is not the enemy gentlemen. If we’re going to fight a disease, let’s fight one of the most terrible diseases of all, indifference.” ~ Robin Williams, Patch Adams
In the end, suicide is no joking matter. Or is it? Would Robin Williams agree? I think he would be the first to make a joke out of it. Humor can be a suit of iron, or it can be a way to soften the blow, or it can even be both.
It is one of the few truly flexible dispositions of the human condition. It is far-reaching, both inner and outer. It can even save us from disinhibition, but not always. Sometimes even humor isn’t enough to drown out the pain of depression and anxiety.
But humor is always a buffer. It is always a safe haven for the perplexed. And, have no illusions, we are all perplexed. Every time you’re able to find some humor in a difficult situation, you win.
Like Rumi wrote, “The cure for pain is in the pain.”
Indeed, a healthy sense of humor can get you through just about anything. But even if it doesn’t, at least you’re laughing. Robin Williams’ wisdom and sense of humor will live on in our memories.
Even if it wasn’t enough to save him, it could very well be enough to save one of us. Rest in Peace, Captain, Our Captain, and thanks for all the laughs.
So there you are, King Nothing, trying to figure out what went wrong. Sure, you still have money, but so what. Nobody looks at you the same anymore. It must have been something you did.
