Past Possesses Present

            Some humans try to add helpings of reason and fate to their lives. The reality is that the only true purpose in life is to follow the instincts that evolution has honed over millions of years. To survive and reproduce. We can add in chimeric meaning, but in reality life only exists in order to create more life. 

            In the night sea journey, the first half of how the past possesses the present in that these instincts are what drive the main purpose of these sperm’s lives (the second half of this possession of the present comes in the form of the sperm’s heroic journey. It’s a journey that is repeated throughout the myths, legend and fables of every culture, and also repeated throughout our own lives). They have thoughts of other purposes and in changing fate, but in the end, instincts from the past beat out all other options of the present. The “something beyond consciousness” that the sperm speaks of is this primal urge to do whatever it takes to reproduce, to pass millions of years of information on to the next generation. The success of a species is dependent on learning from the past, both genetically and mentally as well.

            Heritage and tradition are sort of the condensed version of genetic evolution. Over millions of years, organisms have changed as mutations occur in their DNA and the most successful change proliferates. This works the same with traditions as well. Over thousands of years, the traditions of humans have morphed as more successful and popular changes occur and are incorporated into the culture.

            However, I think that the traditions of society have recently started regressing instead of progressing. People spend so much time on technology that they’ve lost integral communication skills and the ability to be mentally and physically at peace without distraction. We’ve lost an appreciation for family. We’ve become self centered and greedy. These mutations to the genome of tradition are radical. The addition of technology could be a paradigm shift of our heritage to greater success, or it could be the beginning of the slow decline of tradition.

            Either way, we’ve stopped paying attention to the past. We still carry the physical instincts of our species, but our heritage is slipping away. The genome of tradition is eroding and we need to fix that in order to keep diversity of culture alive.