Friday 1 June 2007

Pic of the day: "Stupid people and smoke like high places" is evidently a Japanese proverb. Notice the similarity to the Bible which says that foolishness often sits in high seats, a problem which (according to the same book) originates with the rulers.

Fools in high places

"The speed of a human" wrote the Christian mystic Elias Aslaksen, "is faster than lightning when exalting himself, but slower than a snail's pace when humbling himself." Even so, there are differences between people. This is one reason why I actively disrespect bosses and most rich people in general.

Oh, I do accord them basic human rights. A few of them are also quite talented or hard-working, at least among entrepreneurs. But overall, I know with scientific certainty that there has to be something wrong with a person who voluntarily stays in "high places". This is not based just on seeing how they behave, though that certainly can be enough to tip one off in many cases, that these guys have a kind of mental deficiency. Or perhaps spiritual deficiency? I am not sure there ought to be a dividing line between them. "The human spirit manifests in the soul as a drive" as C.G. Jung said. Whether you believe in the usual spiritual things with gods and afterlife and stuff or not, you have to have a big gaping hole inside to not feel this drive. But some people react to it in a very stupid way, by going upward instead of downward.

We live in a time of plenty. By "we" I mean here in Norway, of course, but also generally most of Western Europe and North America. But Norway, where I live, really stands out (together with a few other small countries). I have seen people raise large families -- more than ten children -- on perfectly ordinary wages. Most people don't have ten children, and some none at all; obviously these people have other things to spend their money on. But the point is, you have to be very special circumstances for you to need to earn twice as much as an ordinary worker, not to mention five times as much or ten times as much.

When people feel the need to earn extraordinary amounts of money or wield an extraordinary degree of power (which they often need to demonstrate by making irrational decisions and enforcing them), you just know that they are compensating for some deficiency. Contrary to popular belief, I don't think that this deficiency is necessarily in the body. Yes, it can be amusing to think so, and never more so than when there is nothing wrong with the parts of the body we normally see. But for the most part, I think it is a deficiency of the soul. A feeling that something is lacking in their life. And this is also why they so often lack restraint in their cravings: Whatever they get by going up, up, up never really satisfies. The hunger inside is not sated in the least, it only grows worse.

Now you may ask me, "if you could earn twice as much, would you say no?" Well, that depends. If I could get twice the pay for doing the same thing, then I'd say "Oh yeah baby! Bring it on!" I mean, you can always use money, even if you have all you need. I could think of getting my own house, perhaps. More likely, a quad-core PC with 4GB fast RAM to play 50+ Sims at the same time. ^_^ So yeah, sure. But if I had to boss people around to get the money? Hell no! Would I earn ten times as much if I had to spend my time trying to squeeze out workers and run the remaining ones harder? Hell and damnation no. It is not worth it. It wouldn't give me any satisfaction. Then again, I am not a fool. I have my stupid moments, but I am not fundamentally misguided at heart … or at least not more than one must expect from a human in this less than perfect world.

What is this "folly" of which I speak? It is not bare ignorance, or even stupidity. No, it is a misdirection of the heart, a stubborn perseverance in ignoring clues that don't fit one's plans. Once the fool has made up his mind, he cannot be distracted by facts. Like the fact that other people are happier after having chosen a completely different path, while he is more and more unhappy the further he progresses. This makes no impression on the fool: He just knows that around the next corner is El Dorado, the city of gold and the fountain of youth. Just like it was just around the previous corner, and the one before that. Unfortunately the milestones grow more and more sparse the further into the desert he walks. When earning one million is not enough to make him happy, he is smart enough to realize that earning two millions probably won't do. Next he needs to earn ten millions! THAT will make him happy for sure. Yeah, right.

Like a black hole, this brand of fool grows hungrier the more he devours. But while there may be no bounds to his ambition, there are bounds to how far he can achieve them. There is no shortage of fools, and they compete for the same positions. There is always someone smarter, more charismatic or more ruthless to snag his prize. This causes hidden pain, anger and resentment. It probably doesn't help with people like me either, who utterly fail to respect his greatness. The fire of resentment cannot be quenched, and the worm of envy will not die.

Fools and smoke rise high, and then they are gone, whisked away by the wind. I would not like to be in their place.