A Musing
Our desperate search for meaning and purpose tends to indicate that nature has not endowed us with these things.
I once saw a video of Paul McCartney and his short-term wife Heather Mills looking at cats that had been crammed into small cages with the intention of them being killed and the fur used for whatever. I can’t remember which country it was, but the conditions were awful. Even so, the cats continued grooming themselves, even though a sharp blade might be only a few minutes away. McCartney commented on the disconnect between their fate and the continued habit of self-care. I remember this because it struck me as entirely analogous to human existence. We know the executioner is waiting, but we don’t see the time or place of his appearance. Even so, we continue to pretend that everything is okay, and our actions can easily give the impression that we believe we are immortal. In both cases, we can say that cats and humans have no choice but to behave like this, and in essence, it is true. Even so, Gurdjieff describes us as the equivalent of pigs and sheep, ready for slaughter one fine day.