It’s rational to desire to exist in a state of peace, with no major problems occurring. Not only is it rational to desire this, but it’s biologically sound. Homeostasis is a well studied phenomenon. You can think of homeostasis as being like the status quot. It’s a normal situation where everything is in order and nothing is out of order. It’s a fancy way of saying everything is fine. Beyond being biologically sound, it’s essential for life. Our bodies ability maintain order and balance allows us to continue living. If homeostasis is broken, in a detrimental way, then we are injured. Eventually we die. It’s not morality, its biology. On the other hand, if you want to increase the capabilities of a biological system, you have to push it out of homeostasis to create a desired effect. The biological system, if capable of adapting, will adapt and make temporary or permanent changes. As a weightlifter, I know this. If I want to make a change happen, I’m going to have to apply specific stimuli to create the desired effect. Without sufficient stimulus, and the proper resources and recovery, there can be no adaptation. My fundamental problem with the winter holiday season is that they fundamentally disrupt homeostasis. Sure some people get a lot out of the holidays, and I don’t want to take away Christmas from them. However, I think that it’s contrary to our biology to implement Christmas the way that we do. *** Holiday feasts were linked in the past to weather and agricultural cycles. There were cyclical patterns that caused abundance at harvest time. Later in winter, food was less available. Over eating over the course of a month while resources were abundant and having a little extra fat to burn when things were tough was rational. Many of us now are fortunate enough to live in a world of abundance, or at least one where there is access to basic food, water and shelter. As such, we don’t have to worry about homeostasis of food, barring some disaster, there will always be more and it will always be available. We don’t have to worry about homeostasis of temperature, most of us have access to shelter and energy to adjust the climate of that shelter. So the food aspect of the traditional holiday season culture is no longer rational. To implement it, because it’s a tradition or because it elicits an emotional reaction in yourself and others is a fundamentally irrational act by these criteria. For years I tap danced around this without realizing that I was doing just that. When business was better, I made it a point to find the nearest convenient Muslim or Buddhist country to try sidestep the whole holiday issue. While it was impossible to escape them completely, the cultural differences and distance acted as a filter that interfered with the execution of the cultural script, or the various conditioned responses to the holidays that still affected my behavior. The economic realities of a situation that I’ve been dealing with for half a decade removes this tool that I’ve used to avoid the holidays. However, avoiding a problem is not solving it and as I noticed this year, I still have a problem with the holidays. The interesting thing though is that the worst that came out of it was a night of socializing that was for the most part pleasant, an embarrassing Facebook post that wasn’t really all that particularly bad, just a little childish, and a hangover that I could have done without. There are many years in the past where I would have been thrilled and ecstatic to make it through the holidays with that being the worst of it. It’s not a perfect game, but it’s am incredible improvement. It also allows me to perceive what’s left of these mechanisms as they affect me and by understanding them I bring them out of non-conscious emotional response and they are now governed under the capacity of my unified, rational and deliberate consciousness. *** The cultural conditioning about the winter holidays is that they are special. However, that’s not a rational response, that’s an emotional one. There is no intrinsic reason why any of those particular days should have any added weight. In the past it may have served a purpose, but not now. I reject the idea that any one day is any more special than any other. If there is any part of holiday behavior that you value, then you should incorporate it in to your normal life. If it is something that is sustainable, why wouldn’t you want to do so? On the other hand, there’s the cost to special. It feels bad if it doesn’t meet your expectations. Consciously, I know these things. However, as I’ve become reconnected to others, I’m now more vulnerable to being affected by their emotions. Specifically, because my Assistant’s birthday is on Christmas, I can’t simply ignore it and disregard it. She doesn’t obligate me, but she asks for very little and gets very happy, very easily. I can’t lavish her with luxuries, but I can take care of her, let her make her cake and take her to a movie. These simple things, that are below the threshold of what I would even notice for myself, made her smile for about half a week. The cultural conditioning of the holidays impart the message, you are special. This day should be special. However, the fact of the matter is, none of us are special. There are no privileged observers. We all have intrinsic human value and worth as sentient life forms, but after that all bets are off. The universe is a dangerous place and sooner or later entropy will claim us all and everything we’ve ever done or touched. Specialness is something that we bestow upon others because we care about them. It should be as freely granted as is sustainable. It’s not a date on the calendar. It’s an annual friend and family tax deadline. *** My takeaway from this is that I have had a complicated connection to the holidays, and I don’t like experiencing emotional stimuli from sources outside of my ability to control, avoid or understand. However, I think I know where I stand and I think I understand that I just need to be careful about making myself vulnerable when there’s a lot of people having strong emotions of all sorts outside of their normal behavioral patterns. None of this is unusual to me. I live my life this way all the time, I have to being the person that I am and doing the things that I do. So when this predictable emotional broadcast effect starts affecting everyone again in about 330 days, I will refer to this writing and prepare myself. Just because the world is acting like a skipping broken record doesn’t mean that I have to.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 01:35:32 +0000
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