I often wonder how it was like on the first sailing ships that would set out to sea. No charts, no idea where the next land would be, or dangerous reefs or rocks for that matter. Or seamonsters that would engulf a big ship and wreck it. Or adverse weather conditions. What was it that drove us humans to sail out into the complete unknown. And where is the end of the earth. Those days people were told that the earth was flat. The religious fraternity were told heaven is above, and hell below. We are only taught certain parts of history, and the bits we are taught doesn't always make sense.
Every big sailing ship had a crow's nest, high up on the mast. From here the person on watch had to look for any signs of land. And if anyone saw land or another ship before the person in the crow's nest, the poor soul in the crow's nest was keel hauled. I won't go into detail about what it meant to be keel hauled. Google it if you want to get a clearer picture. Was it a sense of adventure that drove us to go beyond the horizon, or promises of great fortunes to be made, or was it an inborn sense of curiosity to see what was out there. Probably a combination of these and quite a few other reasons too. Life expectancy wasn't great then. You were lucky if you made it to forty. Famines, wars and plagues ravished millions upon millions of people, all over the world. This was blamed on all types of gods or evil spirits, and to appease these gods, ridiculous sacrifices were made.
We have come a long way since then. More people are dying from obesity than starvation these days, life expectancy had doubled, and we haven't had any great wars for the last eighty years or so. And plagues are better understood and managed than ever before. We have progressed in leaps and bounds in the medical fields, we can communicate globally, and poverty is not a death sentence anymore. We have learned to grow crops more productively and can ship food to drought stricken areas in short time. We are living in relative peace, as going to global war nowadays would be suicidal with nuclear weapons. I think we have learned a lot from history, and we have come a long way to making it easier to stay alive. Yes, there are still people dying from malnutrition, and there are smaller wars, and the atrocities that goes along with it, and people still do die from disease. But not on the same scale as a few decades ago. And we are progressing all the time. Our current pandemic is a gr
eat
example. Whether covid was man-made or not, we are fighting it to the best of our ability, and we are winning. It has changed our way of living and earning a living to a great extent.
Sitting here in my proverbial crow's nest, I wonder what our next big challenges would be as a human race. Could it be that we would go after real happiness, for everyone. We certainly have the potential. I am quite aware that some people choose not to be happy, but as long as this is not at the expense of other people's happiness, choose as you please. And how do we define happiness. Is it different for everyone. Having our basic survival needs met is a good start. Shelter, clothing and food comes to mind. From there it becomes a more personal thing I think. In my case having dreams and pursuing them, having people I love unconditionally, and being loved unconditionally by them in return, making music, and so many more things that make me so uncurably happy. I wonder what makes you happy.
There are two other huge challenges we face as a human race in my opinion, but I will perhaps expand on tomorrow. It relates to death, and to the divine spark in each one of us. Time to get down from my crow's nest.
Catch up again in the morning.
Paul
Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.
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