I have no time for
everyday platitudes
unreflected blurtings
spewed opinions
shallow observations
unthought-through comments
ambiguous meanings, and
short-sighted insights.
I have no time to
waste on prejudices
deal with inanity
wrestle with obscurity
take nonsense seriously
fight against stupidity
accept obscurity or
eschew obfuscation.
I have no time,
nor interest
nor desire
nor will
nor longing
nor yearning
nor hope
that much will change.
There was a time that Shakespeare was a mandatory part of the curriculum. I don't know if that still is the case. At that time -- in my time -- it was considered mandatory, as part of a well-rounded education, that one would be exposed to "classic" literature. My parents never, ever suspected how dangerous that was. I don't think any technocrat or bureaucrat has ever pondered literature as the well-spring of subversion. But good old Bill knew and told us more than most people ever want to know.
I'm partial to Macbeth, I'll admit it, not because it the shortest of Shakespeare's tragedies, but because it is, as I see it, the most intense. To me, Macbeth is tragedy with all the fat cut off. There's not a lot of philosophical speculation of "maybe this" or "maybe that" options. Macbeth, as I like to think, is Shakespeare's most "down and dirty" play: you can want what you want, regardless of what reasons, but in the end, you have to make do with the consequences of your actions. Yes, at bottom, we're responsible for what we do. All the magic, all the witches, all the noble and other aspirations mean nothing. When all is said and done, reality takes its toll.
Of course, Lady Macbeth plays her part. Behind every successful (or doomed) man, there stands a woman. This isn't belittling to women, far from it. A man without a woman is a mere shadow of a human. It takes two to be one. (And if you don't know what I'm talking about, maybe in a future post, I'll get around to explaining it.) Of all the characters in this particular play, I have to say that Lady Macbeth is my absolute favorite. Without her, we don't have a tragedy, no, we don't have a play at all.
But, literature always tells us something about life. Macbeth, like all Shakespearean heroes is doomed. And, in this case, his accomplice, is doomed as well. It is Lady Macbeth who, long before her husband even suspects it, knows that it is all going to end badly. Most literary scholars like to think she simply loses her mind under the unbearable pressure of her guilt, but it would seem that she is the only one who really knows that her own motivating actions set the switches for the route to perdition.
What Shakespeare shows us, clearly and vibrantly, is that while we think we're doing one thing, in truth, we are doing something else. When we, further, believe, we are doing good (i.e., what needs to be done), in truth, we are undoing ourselves, we are undermining our own ambitions. Why? Because, just like Lady Macbeth, we confuse our personal ambitions with those of the general populace, of the masses, of, well, everyone else.
Lady Macbeth implodes not so much because she can't bear her own guilt as that she breaks under the burden of ego-centrism. She wanted more. She encouraged her husband to want more. But the desire for "more" is an insatiable desire. We can want what we want, but we can't have it all. At some point, the individual implodes.
There are those who would say that Shakespeare is not longer relevant to us today, but I disagree. We're living in an age in which some folks want it all and, like Macbeth and his Lady, are willing to do whatever's necessary to get it. What's different today is that it is a system (in a manner of speaking), not a person that is making the decisions, but, in the end, the results will be the same. Unlike then, there's going to be a lot of collateral damage, death, and destruction this time around.
My last post got me thinking. I haven't changed my mind: I still think we're more than capable of not only suppressing ourselves, but of holding ourselves back and getting ourselves into situations and circumstances that we'd much rather avoid. What is more, we're species that seems to delight more in fixing the blame than fixing the problem, and that gives me pause for thought as well.
Putting aside whatever beliefs that might comfort us and merely looking at the facts as they present themselves, it would appear that our circumstances are strange enough. One day, without knowing really how or why we find ourselves, well, really just kind of thrown into the think of things, just kind of thrown into life. (For you philosophers, this is what Heidegger calls Geworfenheit, and it's a big part of his whole mode of thinking.) We're just here, and by all appearances for no apparent reason at all. It's just a matter of happenstance. One day we simply wake up and here we are. Yippee!
We're not given any kind of operator's manual or book of instructions. It takes us years to develop even the crudest of theories as to why we might possibly be here. And through a lot of trial and error (whereby I personally think I had more of the latter than the former), we sort of figure out how things work, and try to get through the best we can. At least I'm ready to give everyone, at this point, the benefit of the doubt. How strange is that? What? The benefit of the doubt? No, that we simply try to get through life the best we can. There's not much more than that.
We find out quickly that there are some things we absolutely need (food, clothing, shelter, attention, help), there other things we want (recognition, something meaningful to do, security, friends), and there are some things we would just like to have (oh, shiny or pretty things, extra things, maybe things others don't have). What is more, if we take a moment and look around, no matter where we are in the world, if we think about others in these terms, we just as quickly realize that we all pretty much have this much in common.
Stripped to its essential core, every single human being on this planet is really confronted with the same requirements (needs, wants, and desires) and the same point of departure (not knowing why we're really here or how we got here in the first place). Yes, every single one of us, without exception. Every single one. This is what we share. This is -- in simplest terms -- what we are as human beings.
But, there is something else that all of share as well, namely the nagging suspicion that there must be more to it all than this.
Regardless of what we think that "more" can or should be, we would do well to simply recall to mind that when you get right down to it, we have more in common with our fellow human beings that traits that make us different. It is really worth keeping in mind.
