Does Privilege Matter?

Do you live to sleep or sleep to live?

I think mostly I live to sleep. I can live a “good” life today living to sleep. I think that’s my privilege. The privilege that I don’t have to really worry about being awake, I can nap and love to nap, I can sleep late and lounge when I wake, I can sleep all day if I want and I don’t have to worry about anything really bad happening. This is an unprecendented privilege in the human era.

How much do you have to think about your humanity to live a “good” life?

For me the answer is clear. I don’t. I don’t have to think that much about my own humanity in order to live what I’ve been taught is a “good” life. In fact it’s not a good idea to think too much about my own humanity IF I want to continue to live my “good” life. Because if I think deeply about my own humanity and if I start to connect with it “bad” things will start to happen.

Do you live to sleep or sleep to live?

Humanity is all of us. Every person that’s ever lived, everyone that’s currently living, everyone that will live and maybe it’s even everytyhing we’ve created and will create (I’m not sure about that) but it’s all of us people. And the question is, how much do you HAVE to think about other people in order to live a “good” life?

I think some people will say, I think of other people because it’s imperative to me to think of them in order to have a good life. In other words, my life wouldn’t be good if I didn’t think of other people.

I have a point to make here.

It’s good to think of other people. Not “good” but Good. But you can’t do it all the time AND we don’t do it all the time, right? If you’re reading this right now, you’re not thinking of other people. Maybe after, maybe before, but not now. We don’t think about other people all the time and I don’t think it would be good if we did. Also everyone has their own level, right? It’s not possible to get inside of someone’s head an measure how much they are thinking of others, right? So we just make an assumption that everyone has their own amount of thinking about others. Right? Do you agree? If you don’t please drop a comment and share your view…

So we’re all thinking about others at some point, for some amount of time. But my question, the analogy, do you sleep to live or live to sleep…Do you HAVE to think about others in order to live a “good” life?

To the critics at this point…I am debunking your little white lie (if you don’t think so after reading, drop me a comment and tell me why). The little white lie is that you say “Yes” to the question. The critics say “Yes, I have to think of others in order to live a “good” life”. The critics also say (another little white lie) “my Good life is not “good” it’s Good”. The critics also feel very possesive about living a non-contradictory life. The critics feel so possesive about living a non-contradictory life that they will tell little white lie after little white lie to avoid seeing the truth about what they actually believe good means and about how well they think about others.

You’re a critic.
Ha!
I’m a critic too!

I know this because I live in the world today and all you need to do is to look around. Look at our discourse, what jumps out? Look at our cities, what do we value? Look at our politics, our media, our schools, our jobs? What do we value, what have we been valuing?

No.

The answer is NO. We do not need to think about others in order to live a “good” life and we do actually lead a “good” life rather than a Good life. If you don’t understand this, drop a comment and tell me why, because this is the essence here and it’s something I’m seeing clearly.

No. We do not need to think about others.
No. We do not live a good life, we live a “good” life.

Things are changing. There’s a new consciousness blooming, a new way. It’s a way that’s trying to come into being, right now. It’s been trying, I suppose, for all of history but it’s coming to a head now. It’s bubbling up in all the different human forms, it’s horrid, oppressive, profound, angry, true, beautiful, destructive and even contradictory. What’s coming into being right now is finding it’s voice through us, through everyone, through all the humans because that’s what waking up does, it finds its voice the only possible way, through humanity’s infinite voices. It expresses itself through all our voices and all our actions and all our silence. It expresses itself through you, whether you want it to or not.

Read this article but first read this very personal disclaimer.
Up until right now I have not been a fan of Ibrahim X. Kendi and I’m not saying that I am a fan. I have also not been a fan of The Atlantic Magazine and I’m not saying I’m a fan. But as someone who feels the way I feel about Justice and about Peace…this article rings foundationally true for me and that is more important on my journey than my other disagreements or feelings about past things.

Read the article…tell me what you think.