Freedumb

“I can’t thank you enough for your books and articles. They have brought so much clarity to my life. You are one of the few wise voices I listen to anymore who truly seems to have it figured out! I have some existential questions on freedom that I hope you wouldn’t mind answering? ”

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Over the years I’ve received hundreds of emails from people. Some are to express gratitude for the impact my books have had on them. Some are to criticize what I do. But most of the emails I get are queries people have – regarding certain unanswered questions they have about their lives. Areas in which they feel they need clarity. And they reach out to me in the hopes of finding it.

What I’ve always marveled at is how people see me as some kind of expert on life and the human condition. But the truth is, I’m not. I’m not even an intermediate. I’m just a beginner at life.  A bare novice. I have as much knowledge about life as a zygote has of quantum mechanics.

I am a fucking moron through and through. I assure you that I am not being facetious or intentionally self-deprecating. And I’m not unique in this aspect either.

Because, you are a fucking moron, too. We all are.

8 billion fucking morons inhabiting this planet. But obviously we don’t see it that way.

Imagine if an astronaut exploring space, were to come upon a planet inhabited by a race of total fucking dimwits. Do you think this alien race would be aware of just how dimwitted they were? Of course not. It is a hallmark of the ignorant that they lack self-awareness. Otherwise they wouldn’t be ignorant, would they?

We are that alien species.

And yes, we think we are pretty smart and technologically advanced. Yes, we think we’ve figured out many things about life. Yes, we think we have figured out how to dominate Nature and make it subservient to our needs. Yes, we think we have gained a handle on life and learned how to control it. And yes, we think we more or less understand what life is, how it begins and ends, what purpose it serves and what part we play in it.

Of course, we think these things. Because we are blithering idiots. If we truly were an intelligent species we wouldn’t believe any of those things!

But let’s not get too down on ourselves. We can’t blame ourselves for the fact that we are slow-witted. It seems our lot in life to have to suffer the sequel of our own stupidity.

Realize that when you reach out to me to guide you to answer the deeper questions of life – it is like one imbecile asking another imbecile for wisdom. I can give you my opinion, but understand that we are fundamentally talking in the language of imbeciles.

Now, many readers have remarked that I write with a lot of conviction – so am I not positioning myself as some kind of expert in these matters, they ask?

This is an unavoidable hazard of the business. Unfortunately, in order to expose the other imbeciles posing as so-called experts and masters, I have had to assume a similar vibe.

Had I spoken with a total lack of conviction…Had I admitted that I have absolutely no idea what the fuck I am talking about…Had I confessed that I am as much of an expert as a prostitute is a virgin…Well, then who would have listened to me?

So, you see I’ve had to play this game of “I’m the expert” in order to pull the curtain back on all those butt-naked emperors who had you convinced that they were wearing clothes. Yet, the final reveal was always meant to be my own. That ta-da! moment when I cast off my imaginary Emperor robes and showed you the hairy flab you’d been staring at all along but pretended wasn’t there.

Look, I don’t know very much about life. No one does. We are all just talking out of our hats half of the time. And the other half of the time, we’re talking out of our asses.

We like to believe we are a somewhat “enlightened” species (or at the very least close to getting there) but we are really not. We live in the dark. We fumble, we grope, we stumble, we trip.

That is what the human condition feels like. A heck of a lot of fumbling, groping, stumbling and tripping – hurting ourselves, stubbing our toes, getting poked in the eye, getting bashed in the nose. And every once in a while we land on our feet and we feel good, convinced we have figured out how not to fumble, grope, stumble and trip anymore. (Like I said, we aren’t very smart). But eventually, when we fall flat on our faces again reality strikes that very little has actually changed.

I’m sorry to say there’s no hope for you. There’s no hope for any of us. We were born stupid and we will all die stupid. In between, we will convince ourselves that we are getting smarter by the minute. Denial is the only real talent we possess as a species and we certainly put it to good use.

Enjoy your illusions while they last. There is no glory in shattering them. Much easier to be an ignoramus who believes they are a genius than one who grasps just how staggering their own stupidity is (I speak from experience here).

Yet, the beauty is that no matter how daft we are – we are nevertheless deserving of this miracle that is life. We may never understand it. But we get to live it nonetheless.

Stop chasing freedom. It’s just a figment of the imagination of an unintelligent mind. Yet, if you truly grasp how unintelligent you are – then you may experience something else entirely.

FreeDUMB.

The freedom to be the utter nincompoop that you are.

When you let go of the hope of ever being “wise enough”, “smart enough”, “intelligent enough” or “enlightened enough” to get life, then you can begin to truly live it.

Freedumb; the freedom to be dumb.

That is the best any of us can hope for.