Relevance

Perhaps more fundamentally important than mission or purpose in a life well lived is RELEVANCE. We want and need purpose and passion and affirmation.  But, even more so, we need to know that who we are and what we do is relevant … legitimate … worth something … and that, somehow, we are OK … being who we are and doing what we’re doing. 

“I love being irreverent.

But I hate being irrelevant.”

Esai Morales

Relevance doesn’t come with the territory!  We need to FIND / CREATE / BUILD our own RELEVANCE.  And it’s a never-ending process. 

“Malwarebytes identified the skills its quality assurance testers would need to stay relevant in the rapidly changing cybersecurity industry.  Then it told its staffers to buckle in – it was time to get “up-skilled.”  As automation becomes ubiquitous, education start-ups … are positioning themselves as the nexus between today’s workforce and tomorrow’s jobs.”  Tracey Lein, Los Angeles Times 

Empowered relevance would include having recognizance, some degree of gravity / gravitas, and sanctionability ... that is, not only having internally perceived relevance but having externally perceived – and endowed – relevance.  Being the designated “Go To Person” has recognizance relevance!  

Importantly, what’s relevant in a domestic or tribal setting may not be anything close to what’s relevant on the street or in the marketplace.  What “works” in one setting or circumstance may not work at all in another.  So relevance is not necessarily infinitely translatable. 

But some elements of relevance ARE translatable.  Perhaps we should identify, cultivate / build and reinforce those elements of relevance that do translate across multiple circumstances?  This might include such things as open-minded curiosity, purposeful engagement, participation, mastery of a particular skill or discipline (extra points for useful), cultural awareness, embracing diversity, life-long learning, building, continuous quality improvement, innovation, bridging gaps, teaching / helping / mentoring, acute awareness of current events, being a “voice” for positive change / being a positive “Change Agent”.  

Other things might include:  Initiative, equanimity, cooperation, collaboration, communication, generosity, empathy / compassion, willingness to take risks, willingness to stand up and be counted for something worthwhile, simply “doing what’s right”, and an ability to detect, dismiss and discard the IRRELEVANT. 

NOTE: An absence of baggage is important; BAGGAGE is not only not irrelevant, but contravenes relevance.  Being a “Drama Queen” or having excessive personal, emotional or psychological needs is baggage.  Excessive dependencies … on other people, on circumstances, on drugs, on social media “likes”, on fawning attention, etc., constitutes unnecessary baggage.  Debilitating and distracting habits are baggage. 

Relevance paves the way toward enfranchisement, positive enablement and empowerment.  Change agents above and ahead of us are always looking for relevant collaborators and compatriots to help move the universe forward. 

Authenticity is essential for relevance.  If you’re not real, you’re not relevant!  

Goal setting and goal tending are relevant.  Getting relevant stuff DONE is relevant!

A passion for large Dreams and just causes is relevant. 

Relevance is not necessarily “popular” or “chick” or “cool”. 

Sometimes “relevance” means doing stuff other people might think would be “beneath” them.  To get the best crops one has to plow the dirt, plant the seeds and pull the weeds!  

SPECIAL NOTE: Recreation is not irrelevant!  Reconstituting our energy and re-energizing our core capacity is as relevant as anything we do WITH that capacity.  And creative play is an essential part of personal growth and discovery.  All major innovators in the universe were called “Crazy” somewhere along the way! 

And “relevance” doesn’t mean one “doesn’t make waves”.  If your particular brand or niche of “relevance” happens to clash with things NOT so relevant, it may be more than half-past time to become a “Change Agent” – whatever it takes! 

Relevance has both INTIMATE and ULTIMATE value (Exercise as an example):

Intimate Value of Exercise:  1) You’re doing your due diligence; 2) You’re (hopefully!) enjoying the engagement; 3) It’s good for your health! 4) You feel so much more alive! 5) It helps clean out the cobwebs and “fog” so you can focus. 

Ultimate Value of Exercise:  1) You’re capacitizing yourself for future challenges; 2) The enhanced “mental energy” is a “slingshot accelerator”.

Relevance has little to do with “feeling good” … except in the largest sense possible.  “Feeling good” in terms of touch, taste, smell, sight, and sound are “elementary” level sensations associated with mere survival.  Full matriculation – and THRIVING – requires satisfaction in much more intangible terms … such as: satisfaction with a relevant job well done, with physical conditioning, with mental acuity, with problem solving ability, with being useful, with self-improvement, with helping others, with creative engagement, with learning new stuff, with "Going Somewhere", with taking on new responsibility, with advancing, with having better choices, with having more security, with having more navigability … and with creating GOOD WILL.  NOTE: “Satisfaction” gained by simply having more “stuff” or having more “toys” is both trivial and temporary … and largely irrelevant. 

It’s easy to get lost in the fog of a daily grind or an uphill climb and become discouraged and wonder where “relevance” has gone.  However, as long as you’re putting in a diligent effort toward a relevant goal, you’re relevant!  Even Sisyphus would wear a mountain down, eventually!  Quartermaster

Wrong Side of History

In the throes of partisan politics, one often hears the comment made that this or that person or position is “on the wrong side of history.”  Most frequently, such assertions come from “liberal” or “progressive” quarters, railing against those who insist on holding the line against change, who long for the “good ol’ days” when things were much simpler and easier to control, or who want to maintain a status quo. 

The companion phrase, “He was a ‘man of his time’,” is often used by apologists to excuse ignorance, prejudice and/or anachronistic reasoning … as well as political expediency. 

[Winston] Churchill certainly believed in racial hierarchies and eugenics, says John Charmley, author of Churchill: The End of Glory. In Churchill's view, white protestant Christians were at the top [of the eugenics ladder], above white Catholics, while Indians were higher than Africans, he adds. "Churchill saw himself and Britain as being the winners in a social Darwinian hierarchy."

… [However, Nicholas] Soames [grandson of Winston Churchill] thinks it is ludicrous to attack Churchill. "You're talking about one of the greatest men the world has ever seen, who was a child of the Edwardian age and spoke the language of [it]."  http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-29701767 

**************************************

• “[Billy Graham’s] most infamous “bonding” with Nixon happened in 1972, when a White House conversation turned to the subject of Jewish domination of the media. Nixon was a notorious anti-Semite—a fact that became clearer after the Watergate tapes—and Graham played to the president’s prejudices with enthusiasm.“  https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/02/21/billy-graham-death-richard-nixon-217039

 But such things are often not only on the wrong side of history, they are on the wrong side of decency, of reasonability, of personal accountability, of INTEGRITY …

… of TRUTH …

… of the BEST WE CAN BE …

… of PROGRESS  & PROGRESSIVENESS

… of INCLUSIVENESS

… of OPENNESS

… of CIVILIZATION / of CIVILITY

… of NOBILITY         

… of PERFECTION

… of GENEROSITY

… of EMPATHY

… of ENLIGHTENMENT

… of AFFIRMATION

… of ASPIRATION

 …of HUMANITARIANISM / GLOBALIZATION

… of ENFRANCHISEMENT

… of BUILDING / BETTERING / SAVING THE ENVIRONMENT

… of “EXALTED HUMAN VALUES” (a term ascribed to Winston Churchill, himself!)

And what “triggering points” bring about the compelling need to comment on “the wrong side of history”? 

            Endemic Prejudice / Racism

            Condemnation / Character Assassination

            Judgmentalism

            Errant Supremacy

            Unfounded “Exceptionalism”

            Immigration Resistance

           

And what if there WERE a “eugenic hierarchy”?   Would it not then be a compelling agenda of those higher in the scheme of things to assist those lower in the scheme of things to become “all they can be”, rather than to keep pushing them down and out?  Or is the threat of competition – or of having to share resources – too compelling?  

Perhaps more important here is to acknowledge that the lines are fuzzy and not so black and white as often represented.  It’s not always “those castoffs” versus “us”.  IQs – even of “white Protestant Christians” – vary from below 50 to 130 or above … and that holds for ALL races!  

• POINT TO PONDER: When you end up in the ER or the surgical suite under life-threatening circumstances, don’t be surprised if the physician-in-charge, plus many of his or her cohorts, have non-white, non-Protestant, non-Christian names … like “Cohen” or “Abboud” or “Jawdeh” or “Baumann” or “Baz”.  And don’t be surprised if the physician-in-charge just happens to be black or female!  It just may be that they had more guts, backbone and determination – in addition to brains – to endure the exhaustive regimens of medical education and training than WASP Americans who were out playing video games or getting their CPAs and trying to “Beat the System” selling financial derivatives! 
•  
• Albert Einstein was “slow and awkward student” and a Jewish immigrant. 
•  
• George Washington Carver started out a slave who rose – despite incredible barriers – to become one of the most highly influential botanists and environmentalists of his day. 

It is an emerging “New Reality” that “White Protestant Christian Exceptionalism” will likely NOT dominate the future of the world.  History is moving on, no matter how many warheads are in the nuclear arsenal or how many AK-47s are hidden in closets or openly carried on the streets protecting the Second Amendment. 

And where, exactly, is history going?  The overall thrust of history is forward and upward. 

Take a look at the most prominent and most effectively engaged “Change Agents”. 

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonianmag/meet-100-most-significant-americans-all-time-180953341/

They are all BUILDERS … CONTRIBUTORS … INVENTORS … EDUCATORS … LEADERS

https://quizlet.com/12230630/top-100-most-influential-americans-flash-cards/

Dystopias DO happen, HAVE happened, have sometimes gone on for decades (centuries?), and are still happening.  But there inevitably arise “corrective” / “reformative” / “redirective” forces seeking to establish a more rational and rewarding eutopia ... a “true topia” … a place of fairness, justice, and equal opportunity.  “History” has never devised a system that will permanently disable such forces.   These are the forces of history that define its direction. 

While the brain can be “brainwashed”, and while humans can be forced into subjection by fear, deprivation and drugs, the human spirit core cannot forever be “Bridled”.  It craves freedom and self-determination.  Which is why dystopias depend so uncompromisingly on elimination of any and all who dare raise the specter of independent thought or action. 

Dystopian leadership, in fact, is forever at frightful, fretful odds, even with the “machinery” upon which it relies to maintain its control:

“Stalin’s terror machine executed its executioners at regular intervals. In 1938 alone, forty-two thousand investigators who had taken part in the great industrial-scale purges were executed, as was the chief of the secret police, Nikolai Yezhov.” Stalin once invited an old friend from Georgia to Moscow for a reunion, and after lavishly wining and dining him, had him executed before dawn: “This could not be explained with any words or ideas available to man.”  [From “The Future is History” by Masha Gessen]

The last bastion of sanity and sobriety is coherence of conscience.  Integrity and legitimacy cannot forever and will not ultimately be compromised.    

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

In our most defining moments, we are often compelled to cry: “Life will never be the same again!”   But perhaps life never really WAS what we THOUGHT it was or SHOULDA been or what we tried to make of it. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

In the grander scheme of things, we don’t need to settle for being “a person of our time” … a person of our culture … a person of our “party” … a person of our genetic heritage (which includes Neanderthal tendencies!) … a person of our associations …   We can become better than any or all of that.  And if we don’t or can’t, shame on us!  Becoming “better” and more civilized and advancing both ourselves and our civilization is what being a human enmeshed in civilization is all about.  If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.  Let’s straighten up and start “righting” our history!!!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

What would be the point or purpose of becoming LESS than the BEST we could possibly be?

What would be the point or purpose of becoming WORSE than the BEST we could possibly be?

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Quartermaster

Surfeit Stupor

It occurred to me following the Thanksgiving engorgement last year that we spend a lot of our time and energy overindulging in things that make us “groggy”.  In fact, it sometimes seems that numbing ourselves is a full time pursuit with its own end game for its own purpose:  If we’re not numb, we’re not getting a full ride! 

“Onward through the fog!”

Henriette Seiterle

So, how much is enough? 

How much food?

How much television?

How much social media engagement?

How much immersion in video games?

How much “bingeing” on movies, sitcoms, etc.? 

The answer, for most of us, is that “enough” is when we can’t take any more! 

But we seem to become even better and more tolerant at stuporous pursuits the more “seasoned” we become:

You may or may not have heard about extreme gamers who wear adult diapers so they don’t have to interrupt the “flow” of their uber-engagement for incidentals and accidentals! 

And what then?  At some point, we eventually CRASH and have to regroup … re-establish some equilibrium … center down … take a nap … raid the refrigerator … or withdraw and rehabilitate. 

What’s happening with any or all of the above is experiencing what I call the “Surfeit Stupor” twilight zone.  Imagine having to fight your way through this “fog” to get anything useful done! 

But why would anyone do THAT?

The FOG’s the thing … The Holy Grail!

It sometimes seems the whole point of busting our butts is to retire so we can watch endless television and movies, play endless video games … etc. 

And when all the “low-hanging fruit” becomes exhausted and/or gets stale, the “fog” can be perpetuated pharmacologically with various assortments of drugs applied, continuing the spiral of fog and stupor … until there are no significant threads of viability left to cling to. 

This is not the most auspicious finish line any one of us might aspire to achieve in our more cogent reflections! 

And RECOVERY from the surfeit stupor is generally a long, painful, arduous and, often, shameful process. 

POINT TO PONDER

All of the superficial surfeit in which we immerse ourselves is merely a default/substitutional materialization to fill a large void in lives that have been freed from a surfeit of hardscrabble gravity.  We haven’t yet figured out more productive ways to go from hardscrabble gravity to valorous engagement.   

In an ideal universe, having “enough” or more-than-enough can actually serve as a stepping stone to greater and grander heights if applied diligently, but it becomes a liability if abused.  

So, one might conjecture that the surest way to the top is never to have enough … in particular, never to have enough of more noble things!  From this perspective, it comes as no surprise that some of the most successful individuals started out from the most humble and austere beginnings … without “enough” elegance and nobility in their lives.  And their lofty dreams and aspirations keep driving them onward toward much larger “Enoughs”.  Their “discretionary” energy and earnings consistently go into things like education and investments in personal, professional and business development instead of into candy, triple cheeseburgers, milkshakes, pinball machines, gambling, ostentation, video games and social media. 

They learned early to delay gratification.  And the more they delayed, the further they got from the “fog” and the further they rose and the larger and clearer their vision of the future – and of future gratification – became.  And the more realistic their possibilities turned out.  And both their possibilities and the rewards for their efforts multiplied to produce “more than enough”.   

Similar patterns emerge from studies of “Unlikely Champions” who, though facing formidable odds of ever truly “making it”, through extreme discipline in applying whatever they DO have, dedication and sacrifice of amenities, end up rising to the top of their respectively chosen fields of endeavor.  

Mounting evidence suggests that people can not only survive but thrive emotionally and psychologically (as well as economically!) in austere conditions.  In “A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy”, William B. Irvine [Oxford University Press, 2008] recommended the following formula for recalibrating one’s “enough” compass:

• ·         Avoid Hedonic adaptation: The moment we get or gain something we take it for granted.
• ·         Goal #1: Enjoy what you already have.
• ·         Respond to confrontation and trauma by adjusting perspective. 
• ·         Contemplate impermanence so the relevant takes on new importance and the important takes on a new sense of urgency.
• ·         Practice voluntary discomfort.  [ … the “Perfectly Unbalanced Life”]
• ·         Forego base pleasure.
• ·         The Good Life is impossible without self-control … e.g., giving up stuff that diminishes the true value of living. 
• ·         Stoics are not Ascetics, avoiding all pleasure, but seek higher pleasures.
• ·         Seek to “out” your short-comings. 
• ·         Aspire higher.
• ·         When things go wrong, do some introspection instead of blaming others.
• ·         Engage in inconspicuous consumption.
• ·         Focus desires on the immaterial.
• ·         Master the art of impulse passivity.
• ·         Delay gratification.
• ·         Seek sustainable JOY and SELF-MASTERY.

Benefits of meaningful restraint and the pursuit of a higher / more noble “Enough” include:  Peace of mind … an energized (“Unbridled” but carefully channeled) Spirit … FOCUS … less “fog” … more control … security … sustainability … self-esteem … self-confidence … self-awareness … sanity … navigability … higher quality choices … higher quality engagement.  May your “meaningful restraints” bring all of the above – in due course – with a surfeit of “Enoughs”!  Quartermaster