Efficiency

On my Sunday off I 'wasted' some of my time on youtube. Amongst the recommended videos was this:

Most Organized Home in America - HGTV Clean Freaks & Professional Organizer Alejandra Costello.
The words 'Clean Freaks' in the title really should have told me what I was going to expect from this video.

Please do not get me wrong: I like it clean and tidy! I need to know where my things are so I do not have to search for them. I get frequently told off by my wife for being a little too conscious. This video, however, takes cleanliness to a complete different level and could be easily labeled as 'obsessed'. I do appreciate that there are many people out there who love that sort of organised home and also probably depend on that level of cleanliness to give them stability and comfort in their lives.

I am not trying to have a go at these people, critizise or judge them in any way - not at all. This video merely triggered a philosophical thought errupting in a few questions.

Why have humans developed this strict efficiency?
Why do we aim for maximised productivity in life?
Why is everything else seen as failure or unsuccess?

And I am right in the centre of that crowd of human beings that think just like that too. Sure it is because during our (my) upbringing we usually get taught those values by our parents, friends and other social environment. So if we would have been told the opposite our general opinion about chaos and unproductivity would therefore be very different too. But how has this value developed throughout the existence of human life?

http://www.123rf.com

The Cambridge Dictionary states:

Efficiency is the good use of ​time and ​energy in a way that does not ​waste any.

That is a rather rechnical explaination in my view.

Well, nature for one is usually very efficient. It has to be, as many a times resources are extremely precious and could mean life or death to any species in the plant or animal kingdom. So if you waste your resources (food, water, shelter, health etc.) you are not going to survive for very long. We would not have the diversity of plants and animals on this planet if everything would fail their purpose of life. In fact this planet might just be a lump of minerals clouded in gas.

So is the urge to be efficient and seeing efficiency as a vital achievement simply set deep down in our genetics by nature? Probably to some extent. And then enhanced by our upbringing. As civilization has developed, certain values have increased or decreased in their meaning. Effiency has paid off during many centuries so that millions of humans regognize this value as a must to have an easier life. The more productive you are, the more you can achieve. The more you can achieve, the more comfortable will your life be. The more comfortable your life is, the less struggle to survive.

Instead of survival efficiency in the Western civilization becomes equal to success.

Although nowadays of course, it is not so much the survival that is important anymore. Survival in our luxurious civilization is so easy that nobody is concerned about survival in the original sense anymore. Apart from the third world of course, where resources like food, water, shelter, health etc. are still very much deciding over life or death. But I am thinking of efficiency that concerns the so called Western lives. Instead of survival efficiency in the Western civilization becomes equal to success. That is usually measured in monetry value. So if you are efficient you can maximise your productivity and therfore are successful in whatever you do. Well normally. There are exceptions as always.

What if a person has a fantastically organised home, just like in that video, but struggles for years to get a job. As a result this person is not seen as successful at all. Which means efficiency is not a magical spell that guarantees a fabulous life necessarily. On the other hand some people do not aim for wealth and luxury as a goal in their lives. They have very different values.

And what about those people that seemingly by nature are chaotic and absolutely struggle to keep their homes tidy. Filing systems, colour-coded laundry, shoes and clothing all in one location only, floor space cleared and kitchen units usable seems a real life challenge to some. Sure, some people are just simply lazy, do not bother or have been spoilt in their upbringing. I am talking about those that truly struggle with any form of rules, systems and tidyness of human civilization. Is it because nature had a mishap in those genetics? Or are these people closer to the original cavemen genes than the rest of the overbred human race?

Everything has to be effecient and pushed to maximised productivity. Why?

The Purpose of Life by Nature

http://www.wallpapereast.com

The other day I came to think about the purpose in life again. A question that has been asked countless times by many million people around the globe.
I am one of them. I have asked myself that question several times in varies periods of my life. Depending on age the answer varies.

When I was young (in my late teens) I had already asked this question many times. I was in a dark period of my life, as probably many teenagers go through a similar state of mind. Hormones all over, mixing up strong emotions that many struggle with.

Who am I?
Where am I going?
What do I do with my life?

I felt I did not belong to this life.

For me it seemed clear from early on that I felt misplaced. That I accidentally had been placed on the wrong planet, or the wrong dimension. I felt I did not belong to this life. That my soul was trapped in this body but was meant to be elsewhere. Humans seemed absurd creatures that made up this hideous idea of life and created a civilization consisting of rules and laws. I felt so close to nature and believed that we just need to follow nature. We do not need 'Do-not-steal' rules and 'You-must-not-kill' laws. Just live your life with nature.

Now grown-ups call that naive or innocent. Yes and no. From the adult point of view yes, because those rules in civilization make total sense to them. And no, because those rules are only needed for overbred and penned up humans (which we are on this overpopulated planet) that are not allowed to be nature. What does a dog do when you lock it up over many years? The dog goes mad and becomes aggressive because it cannot be what nature tells it to be.

The pressure my social environment put on me, desperately trying to push me into this shape I did not want to fit got me depressed. You must go to school. You must achieve good marks. You must not fail. You must find a job. You must earn money. This whole approach of: you only live to work, pay off your debt and then you die: I hated it!! What a glorious prospect to spend your life! Not surprising that I did not know any suitable or sensible answer to my question: Why the f* am I here?  

I made it through puberty without too much psychological damage. A couple of my classmates were not so fortunate. My twenties were quite the opposite. With a huge personality change also came a different approach to life. So far probably the best decade of my life, again as most people would agree with that. I found my place in this world and actually came to love it. I went out and met many interesting characters and influential personalities that enlightened my darkened path. So with a bit of life experience during those years I got to my first answers. Or so I thought. Although I was sure of it, it did not feel right. And so the search continued.

Nature rules everything.

Back to the present. So the other day I thought about my life and realised that as always nature provides all the answers. If there is one rule than that: Nature rules everything. Nature decides when the sun is shining, when hurricanes destroy vast strips of land and nature decides when babies are born and when life vanishes.

So from that perspective: What is the purpose of life? What do humans have in common with all other living beings on this planet, including microorganisms, plants and animals? Fulfilling the circle of life for that life continues and this planet is NOT just a lump of minerals and clouds of gas. The purpose of life is reproduction. Making sure the next generation lives on.

The purpose of life is reproduction.

It is all about mixing genes and procreation. This answer shocked me. Especially or because I am not a sexual being. So what am I to do? That would mean I have and will fail miserably in my life duty.


And with that I am with everyone else out there, who either is naturally not a sexual being AND/OR is LGBT and has difficulties to reproduce. Ok, so that is one answer. Now what? Is there a 'second-priority' purpose in life? The so called 'plan B' for all those unnaturally weird ones out there?

Well, if you go with the Dalai Lama - He says "I believe that the purpose of life is to be happy." There you go.

http://www.dalailama.com