It’s quite a rarity that I would find a song in mainstream media that was applicable to my life situations, but this one makes exceptional parallels (both literal and figurative) to what’s going on in my life right now (both past and present). It’s almost scary the relation I can make with this song.
Oh, Gnarls, what other fortunes doth thou predict?
I packed a few of my belongings,
Left the life that I was living .
Just some memories of it,
Mostly the ones I can’t forget.
Whenever you need me, I’ll be here.
Until then, my dear,
I’m going, I’m going, going there.
Don’t ask me to make time
To travel back and forth,
Let nature take its course.
Maybe I’m open from all this ocean air.
And if it weren’t for you,
I’d be without a care.
Setting sail to St. Elsewhere.
Anywhere you sit you can see the sun,
Unfortunately on this island I’m the only one.
Same rules apply on a rainy day,
And it’s not such a pretty place to be.
It just rains and rains and rains on me.
Send a simple sign I can understand.
Then a flower grew out that sand.
Before you know it, I was back out on that sea.
Now I don’t mind it so much because as long
as I’m not there,
Anywhere, St. Elsewhere.
Way over yonder there’s a new frontier.
Would it be so hard for you
To come and visit me here?
I understand.
Well, just send me a message
In a bottle then, baby.
I find it fascinating and exhilarating how resilient, and yet oh-so fragile the human psyche is. It can be both an impregnable wall, withstanding tidal waves of emotion and burden, or a delicate glass figurine, easily shattered when tipped from its secure position. More interesting still is the ability with which it dances back and forth between the two, like a drunken ballerina, unsure of where it wants to go. Or perhaps a better visualization would be like that of an amoeba. Devoid of actual form, it is constantly in a state of change. Perhaps it is stretched out, elongated, but moments later it is wide and flat, ready to absorb a tiny morsel of sustenance into its translucent form. Which leads me to ask the question, am I an amoeba, or am I a wall? But more importantly, what are you?
I read today an interesting piece from the book (of science!) I’m currently engaged in. It stated that humans actually have three “different” brains that compose what we have lodged in our noggins. At the base of the skull, above a lump of cerebral tissue, we have what was left over from our reptilian cousins many millennia ago. This basic, and primal brain is what urges us on to survival, and provides us with instinctive impulses for self sustainment. Upon adapting to the environment and growing fur and becoming warm-blooded creatures, the primitive brain evolved again wrapping itself around the reptilian brain, adding to it, and adapting to the need for mammals to gestate and raise young inside their bodies. The advancement was the ability to live in close knit communities, and facilitated playing, maternal instincts, and emotion, as well as to protect and care for the young that would one day grow to reproduce and carry on the species.
Much, much, later on, with the advent of bipedal mammals, the mammalian brain would once again adapt to a mind that could now understand the concept of “future” and “past.” It allowed the primates to grasp actions and consequences from those actions, and from it language, reason, and culture stemmed (and, consequently, would flourish later on). But, this adaptation was the youngest evolution in the brain, with the reptilian and mammalian impulses still heavily ingrained deep in the subconscious.
The ultimate conclusion I have derived from this is that no matter what the circumstances are, even today, we still follow those basic needs (sometimes with even realizing it!). The basic need to survive, thrive, and reproduce. Those instinctive natures are beyond just human impulses, but remain seated from millions of years ago, when our most primitive ancestors roamed the earth. How fascinating! Although we try to remain independent and pave our own way through life, these basic and primitive “brains” still impact our lives greatly. They influence the choices we make, from what we want to eat for lunch, to the mates we select in life, to how we raise our children. The most interesting facets of our existence lies from how we existed many, many years ago! Anthropology certainly is an interesting subject, to say the least.
But, while these instinctive natures were put in place to help us survive, they can also work against us, as well. Take the overzealous, successful business woman. She wants so badly to survive that she creates a pillow of wealth to do so that she wraps herself up in her work, crippling her emotionally and turning her into a success-driven, but bitter, person. Or let us look at the typical club-going, binge drinking, college guy. His deep, intrinsic desire to procreate leads him to engage in relations with many different women. But, his passion for lust leads him to objectify women, and will cause his future relationships to stagnate (or fail) due to his inability to control his desires. Either that, or he’ll end up getting crabs or the HIV and die, un-mourned and alone. Survival of the fittest, my friends! Sometimes these primal desires conflict with what we, our present and modern selves, actually want for our lives, and when these different thought processes collide, confusion oft ensues. While it certainly is a delicate balance between gauging your primitive needs with what we, as modern day people, want, I have found in my travels and observation of many people that some can curtail obsolete and primitive instincts with logical and relevant decisions, while many cannot distinguish the two.
The one thing we are left with, though, (and something both our primitive brains and modern day brains can agree upon) is the notion of progress, and always moving forward with our lives. It is this very notion that keeps us at the top of the food chain, and is the most prevalent aspect of our very existence. By the very nature of physics, we progress. Each day is a progression, but what we do with that progression is an entirely different matter. We, as humans, always look for the easiest way out, and (in some cases) will do whatever it takes to get ahead. This concept of “the path of least resistance” is evident in all parts of our life. That’s the very reason we have muggers, robbers, and rapists, as well as cutthroat, money obsessed businessmen (who could also be considered robbers). Where we are able to cut corners, we will. And when it is easier to throw something away and forget about it for convenience’s sake rather than take the time to properly dispose of it, you can better believe we’ll dump it in the closest ocean or landfill we can find(for who wants to waste time with that?). It all boils down to a matter of self-interest. What is convenient for us is what is easiest for us, and subsequently, is the choice we generally make.
Ah, but in the midst of all our self-confusion and primitive natures, we still find the means to progress forward the best way we know how. Civilizations have crumbled, only to be rebuilt again, and when we as individuals are torn down, we must build ourselves back up again, because but for the promise of tomorrow, we can live happily today.
.//chris
