THINKING ABOUT SAD THINGS – Part Two: Darwin, Utopia and Peace

7/28/2019 THINKING ABOUT SAD THINGS Part Two: Darwin, Utopia and Peace

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THINKING ABOUT SAD THINGS Part Two: Darwin, Utopia and Peace

Contrary to my original comments on thinking about sad things, this time Iknow much better where and how my sad thoughts started. Some of thethoughts and ideas have been growing within me from the time when I was in

junior high school. Other ideas first originated while I was traveling in therugged countryside of the Patagonian region of Chile. Specifically they came tome while on a boat tour to the Balmacena and Serrano Glaciers in O'Higginsnational park in January 2013. Finally, these thoughts and feelings continued toresurface in a very forcible manner during and after a recent visit to Hiroshima

in May 2013.

Before going on though, I would like to make it clear that I m writing this in amost personal manner, and that Im doing so to try and stimulate further study(mostly mine) into various, possibly conflicting concepts. My original sequencewas planned to study individually and personally, various concepts such asutopia, peace and sustainability a lot more thoroughly before trying to writeanything down, and only then throw it out onto the internet. However, maybein an immodest manner, I have come to the moment where I just had to writedown some of my more important thoughts, even if they eventually prove to beunfounded, simplistic or irrelevant.

The desire to write down these reflections and considerations first started whenit became clearer to me in Chile that the struggles and suffering of the variousforms of life, both the flora and fauna, seemed similar in many different and

a ied places Fo e ample one can isit and compa e the Califo nian dese t o


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varied places For example one can visit and compare the Californian desert or

UTOPTIA: Since my school days and later during the hippie movement, I havehad an interest in reading and studying about various kinds of groups who triedto live in peaceful and utopian value centered communities. Here too mystudies were rather superficial and never very formal. These studies seemed to

follow an internal curiosity of mine and focused mostly on differences amongsome of the principal religions, in addition to various aspects relating to peace,economic and personal equality. The information gained and reflections onthese studies contrasted significantly from my life style at the time. From earlyon, I was raised within the culture of the times, such as middle class "WASP"social values that were included in not only the formal educational program, butalso in programs such as church school, the Cub and Boy Scout programs and

even the high school Conversation club.The resulting contrasts or conflicts that developed in me over the years not onlypersonally and but also due to the external changes in my social environment,leaded to my better understanding of utopias.

It is not my intention or desire to go into details here on what utopias are andare not. This can be readily found in many reference books and sites. Again, areasonable place to start might be http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopia. One of

the more interesting and recent ongoing attempts to form a utopian group (atleast in my opinion, the word "utopia" seems pertinent to this group) can befound at the site: http://2045.com/about/. What I find worthwhile emphasizing

here is just two thoughts:

First: it seems easily evident that utopias involve interactions amongmany human beings with their varied, complicated and mutablepersonalities; independent of how strong and "perfect" the personalitiesi l d t th b i i Thi t t t b
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopiahttp://2045.com/about/http://2045.com/about/http://2045.com/about/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopia


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Peace,peace will,peace will come,and let it begin with me.

We,we need,we need peace,and let it begin with me.

Oh, my own lifeis all I can hope to control.Oh, let my life,be lived for the good,good of my soul.

Let it bring peace,sweet peace,peace will come,and let it begin with me.

And this is what I wish for: for friends, my family, and myself and yes why not,for the world.

Yet, from my readings and studies over the years, more and more I think that amore peaceful time locally or generally seems far away. I am becomingconvinced that continued violence and war, both on a personal and geopoliticalperspective, come from not only from the inherent conflicts of a utopian dream,but also from what seem to me, more scientific studies in the area of

Evolutionary Psychology


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THINKING ABOUT SAD THINGS – Part Two: Darwin, Utopia and Peace

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