Evolution

Hi,

Hope all is well in your world. I've been pondering evolution a lot lately. Not evolution in the sense where it takes millions or even thousands of years for minute changes to occur. I've been thinking of radical evolution which can occur in a day or days, weeks, or even a few short months.

Jim Carrey had a piece in his documentary titled, Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond which haunted me (The official trailer is here). The documentary analyzes the time Jim played Andy Kaufman in the Man on the Moon movie back in 1999. In the documentary, Jim stated, "At some point when you create yourself to make it, you're going to have to either let that creation go and take a chance on being loved or hated for who you really are. Or you're going to have to kill who you really are and fall into your grave grasping onto a character you never were". I have thought about this quote essentially everyday and have it saved in my phone to reference. 

I want to do two things on this blog post:
1) Analyze this quote and attempt to breakdown what Jim actually is saying
and
2) Hopefully impact you for the positive as it has impacted me.

At some point when you create yourself to make it - I think Jim is saying that there will be a point in our lives where we are forced to make a major life decision. This decision can potentially be the foundation that will build upon the rest of our lives. This point will occur at different times for each of us and yet, we will all have to come to this point at some point. It is a critical moment that begins a rite of passage for each of us. 

You're going to have to either let that creation go and take a chance on being loved or hated for who you really are - I've struggled with a question for as long as I can remember. I often ask people, "Are we the person we imagine ourselves to be or are we the person that people see?" In other words, is the person people see and the person that is being transmitted for others to see the same exact person? How congruent is the frequency between both the transmitter and receiver? Jim says that the person we portray is a creation of sorts. Maybe the creation spawns from nature and nurture, but it is a creation of personality nonetheless. When we get to that point, we will have to let said creation go and take a chance on being loved or hated for the actual person that exists inside. Perhaps this inside person doesn't want to emerge because of a job, cultural or societal norms, religion, values, and many other various reasons. We either take the chance of letting the inside person free...

Or you're going to have to kill who you really are and fall into your grave grasping onto a character you never were - If we cannot let the created character go, we will be forced to kill who we really are by burying that person deep down. We will then look forward to dying while holding onto a character we may not enjoy playing. This could be one of life's greatest regrets.

Easier said than done, right? I would recommend small changes as you progress through your life. You don't have to jump into the fire head first in order to start turning your life around. Very small changes for the win. Crawl, walk, run baby. These small steps will be beneficial as you head towards your journey of self evolution.

There's a great book called the Quarterlife Crisis: The Unique Challenges of Life in Your Twenties, which can be found here. The book addresses a perceived crisis that is analogous to the midlife crisis that western culture is aware of and oftentimes fear, but at a much earlier stage in life. I see this crisis occurring more and more as the new generation grows into adulthood. I would speculate that the reason for this crisis becoming more prevalent is due to the inundation of information. The Internet has basically made all information available to those with Internet access and there's too much information out there for young adults. They are bombarded with so much information that can become crippling. They can be haunted by questions and information which may shove them into being a victim of overanalysis paralysis. I believe a mindfulness of real time evolution will play a key role in managing this stage of life. 

I remember struggling with questions such as:
Who am I? / Why am I? / Why do I do certain things? / Is there a god? / What am I supposed to do with my life? / Why can fear be so crippling? / How did humans come to be? / Am I supposed to have kids? / Am I a good person? / What is happiness? / Why is there evil in the world? / Who can I trust? / What is freedom? / What are my regrets? / Are we living in a simulation? And so much more. Some of these questions would lead me down rabbit holes of research, which spent both time and energy in an attempt to finding answers. No different than some of the youth today.

These are puzzling questions and eventually it seems as though we all answer them in our own way, or we acknowledge the complexity and choose to ignore them. 

The mindset of everything leading to some form of evolution allows a foresight within insight. We utilize hindsight to apply logic to the past. We use insight to apply logic into the present. Lastly, we utilize foresight to apply logic, as best as our probability meter allows us to project into the future. What I would like to put forward is the utilization of foresight while in insight. 

Say for example, something dramatic happens in your life and it is very hard to deal with. With the knowledge that there is a Yin and Yang to all things, try to find the good in it and harness that energy so that evolution can begin. Evolve out of tragedy and into resiliency. Ever meet someone who seems addicted to negativity? That person is not able to evolve just yet. It is not impossible, but it'll take some work and mindfulness to recover.

What are some of your things that people may not enjoy about you? What are some things that you don't enjoy about yourself? Perhaps you can't stay away from sugar. Perhaps you treat some of your friends like shit. Maybe you could be a better father, son, mother, daughter, sibling, or friend. No one is perfect. Adapt the mindset of evolution in all moments and make incremental changes to achieve goals. 

Yes, you're going to fuck up. Yes, I'm going to fuck up. It's inevitable. However, it is not the end. We had a military member that just couldn't seem to get it together. He was haunted by his demons. So much so that he attempted to take his own life. We caught wind of this situation and visited our comrade in the hospital. When we were talking to him, my mind flashed back to many years back when I remembered seeing a picture on a wall. This picture had a red sports car driving on a mountain road heading towards a bend in the road. At the bottom of the picture it said, "A bend in the road isn't the end of the road, unless you fail to make the turn". I felt it was appropriate to say in that moment. Many months later I saw him again and he repeated that saying to me and we pounded knuckles. He eventually moved on from the military and is doing great.

I'm trying to be a better me, and hopefully, you're trying to be a better you. While I'm trying to better me, I want to share my life with you all in hopes that you can better you too. We're all going to evolve as time moves on, and it seems as though it is in our control to make the evolutionary decision bit by bit. We can choose an evolution like the caterpillar to butterfly, grasshopper to locust, or a domestic pig to a wild boar.

Leave a comment below and let me know what you think. I'll be putting more blogs out. Talk soon!