Minor Additions in Major Keys
Morning Thoughts #7
Beware the guilt of those who do not build. We are a creative species, whether that amounts to being procreative, pro-socially creative, or artistically creative (among a myriad of other possibilities). Our instincts lead us to want to create beyond ourselves. The more we detect our fingerprints on the lives we build up, the greater meaning we find in them. Thus, we can transform even the daily mundane acts of an average day into transcendent moments. Think of a painter working on the fine details of a major work, applying such miniscule amounts of paint but with complete and utter meaning because each small addition is improving this painter's very own creation! We build our lives in a similar way.
Why do I say beware the guilt of those who do not build? For one thing, guilt is contagious. The easiest way to lessen the burden of guilt is to find others that are similarly guilty (or to accuse them of being so), thus psychologically sharing the burden. I do not condemn anyone, but we live in an age that often equates correction with condemnation. And how can we all not end up lost the day (may it never come!) when the wise among us have lost the courage to say: there are better ways to live and there are worse ways to live, follow the better—and help me do the same! Friends, don't misunderstand me, I am no guide, but on good days perhaps I can help be a guide to a guide! And I look to all of you for the same.
Why do I say beware the guilt of those who do not build? Because from this guilt comes the urge to destroy. And nowhere is this guilt more prevalent than in those that have been given much that they did not themselves build. The creators of every golden age are never its destroyers. But for now, let's forget such abstractions—we each have our very own age, and if you are reading this, then you are alive today with a life (necessarily) incomplete. Build something today, make even the smallest positive addition to the painting of yourself and your life—and you will be much happier for it, and more so will the world.