Life Is A Vague Word
I don't know, but sometimes I get this intuitive sense of understanding how life operates on a basic level.
Maybe life is a vague word and its subjective meaning varies from one individual to another.
For me, life is a vehicle for experiences, all kind of experiences, with no inherent meaning beyond what we ourselves attribute to it.
The beauty and terror of it is that we must be the ones to define what matters, what doesn't, and why we continue forward through the uncertainty.
From that sense, it's hard to pinpoint where the good or bad of life is located, so to speak.
Because experiences that we encounter are labeled good or bad depending on our individual perceptions and cultural conditioning.
What brings suffering to one person might bring joy to another. These qualities aren't intrinsic to experiences themselves. Suffering and joy could be merely constructs we've developed to navigate experiences, like maps that help us traverse terrain but aren't the terrain itself.
I think the right word is how the world works instead of how life works. The former is at least way less subjective and could be understood with basic common sense, even though one of its main drivers operates irrationally.
Of course, I'm talking about the majority cohort, who can be termed different names depending on the context.
Fish Swimming In Water
For example, the masses, the mainstream, the herd, or simply "most people". Those who follow established patterns without questioning their origins or implications.
They move through life with a peculiar contradiction, which is believing themselves to be autonomous while unconsciously mirroring those around them.
Usually, their choices(which may feel deeply personal to them) follows predictable trajectories that benefit systems rather than individuals.
Of course, I can't claim complete immunity from this pattern either, since awareness doesn't automatically grant escape.
The main point is that many people think and act alike, partly due to shared evolutionary programming, social mirroring, and the comfort found in conformity.
A biological imperative to belong influences us at levels deeper than conscious thought, steering us toward consensus even when that consensus contradicts our own experiences or intuitions.
As an effect or rather a cause in itself, this majority cohort has created systems and norms that perpetuate themselves, often at the expense of individual authenticity.
Success, happiness, morality. For the most part are concepts that have been packaged, standardized and offered as universal truths rather than negotiable constructs.
The result is obviously a society of people chasing goals they didn't choose and feeling inexplicable emptiness even when they "succeed."
Now, how does the world operate, really?
It Is What It Is
Well, through narratives and power dynamics.
Having constrains within boundaries can also be a way for meaning to emerge. Narratives act as a sense of meaning through the stories we tell ourselves, which end up shaping what we perceive as possible or impossible, desirable or repulsive.
A tangible example is money.
This abstract concept has no inherent value beyond our collective agreement that it does. And many people never question why pieces of paper or numbers on a screen can determine their access to necessities, opportunities, and respect.
The most powerful narratives are those we've internalized so deeply that we no longer recognize them as stories at all, but simply as "reality."
The power dynamics distribute resources, opportunities, and recognition unevenly. I'm not very sure the origin of these imbalances, does freedom have to be the absence of constraints?
The greatest irony of it all is that understanding how the world works doesn't automatically free us from its mechanisms.
Thanks for reading!! Share your thoughts below on the comments.