Still Believing III
I believe there is no ultimate meaning outside of humankind, no final answer to be discovered which provides a certain anchor, a firm grounding, a robust assurance that “all will be well” and that all human suffering is justified. Life itself is change; life is recognized by our self-awareness and reason in the form of a question. There is no cause complete and expansive enough, no deity, no telos in the muck and rubble of history – — adequate to mend my existential fracture promising a state of bliss. There is nothing outside of us that redeems or condemns us.
Human beings are neither saints nor criminals, but harbor the potential for either mode of being within their center. Our fate is severely constrained by the inviolate chain of circumstance, yet is not ultimately determined. History can be seen as unending cycle of ignorance, violence, cowardice, and expropriation. History can also be understood as a tale of heroic 
resistance to ignorance, chaos, and oppression. Either interpretation will prove to be self-fulfilling, foundational for constructing the future.
I believe that every man and woman represents humanity. There are variations in intelligence, physical prowess, aesthetic sensibility, all of us together constitutes “we.” We are all saints and sinners, adults and children, — no one qualifies to be anothers superior and judge. We have all been awakened with Buddha, crucified with Christ, and we have all killed and plundered with Genghis Khan, Stalin, and Hitler.
I believe that it is possible for a new world to emerge, if a New Humanity comes into being – distinct from the archaic ties of blood and soil, feeling him/herself to be a son or daughter of humanity, pledging loyalty to the human race, rather to any part of it. Growth is a process of continuous birth, of continual awakening. We are half asleep, half awake, just enough to go about our business, — but not awake enough to go about living. Great leaders are those who awaken their fellows from their half slumber. Great 
enemies of humanity are those who advocate sleep, fixation upon the totems of blood and soil, obedience to a god, or service to Wall Street, or to the notion that nothing really matters……
I believe the critical factor in one’s ability to recognize the truth is character rather than intelligence. A recognition of truth entails the courage to say a quiet “no” to the commands of power, to the constraints of public opinion. Courage is required in order to wake up, to be done with a sense of futility and meaningless. Eve and Prometheus, were two great rebels whose very “crimes” liberated humanity. The capacity to say “no” meaningfully implies the ability to say “yes” meaningfully. A “yes” to humanity is a “no” to all of those persons, policies, and stratagems intended to enslave, exploit, and stultify human beings.
CODA
Heraclitus of Ephesus, Ionian philosopher circa 500 BC, recognized that what is to become of us, depends upon what you and I do with “desire.” Life in essence is an energy seeking process, desire follows desire — seeking more power, beauty, meaning; a burning and craving that consumes itself over the arc of a life span.
What do you want?
*Sisyphus was the king of Corinth. He was punished for his self-aggrandizing craftiness and deceitfulness by being forced to roll an immense boulder up a hill only for it to roll down when it nears the top, repeating this action for eternity.
