Wow, I've finished reading "I Don't Believe in Atheists" (2008) by Chris Hedges and yet I have so much more to post here and won't be able to get it all done before I have to return the book to the public library. I will be getting my own copy of this work therefore. Let me however get today's material posted.
"We want to believe that human suffering and deprivation is meaningful, that is has a purpose and that our lives make sense. This yearning for telos creates imaginary narratives of moral and historical progress. It feeds into the faith that human society will finally become reasonable and work collectively for the common good. It is a way to ward off the awful fact that things often do not get better, that they often get worse, and that the irrational urges of human nature will never be conquered.
The myth of collective moral progress and telos allows us to dismiss looming disasters. It offers an escape route. It hides from us the fact that we control little, even within our own lives, that our most important decisions are often made by others, or motivated by unconscious, conditioned forces we cannot articulate. Human societies can never achieve what we have failed as distinct individuals to achieve: complete consciousness and control of the world around us." (Page 98)
When I read this section I was moved to bookmark it for posting.
The segment reminds me of Taleb's -- "The Black Swan" -- insights wherein he asserts that the leaps in human history are Black Swans:
"A small number of Black Swans explain almost everything in our world, from the success of ideas and religions, to the dynamics of historical events, to elements of our own personal lives." (Page xxii, "The Black Swan", 2nd Ed.)
See previous posts for more detailed look and description of Black Swans.
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