7. Vitality, Awareness, and Their Bleak Opposites: Lifelessness and Ignorance
Up to this point, I focused on the contrasting words “truth” and “deceit,” and “compassion” and “cruelty.” Calling out deceit and cruelty was easy because these harmful behaviors are so evident in how the administration operates. Deceit and cruelty are everywhere, and it feels as though acceptance of these behaviors is accelerating. I had to speak out about this tragic state. Now I am shifting to the second set of principles or values from Natural Wonders. These are more subtle but still meaningful and very relevant today. Vitality and awareness contrast with their opposites, lifelessness and ignorance.
I think of vitality as being vigorous, active, or intentionally alive. Maybe energetic is a bit too strong a synonym, but you get the idea. Look up vitality and you get a lot of fun and similar words: vim, verve, pep, gusto, zest, to list a handful. The opposite of vitality is lifelessness, listlessness, atrophy, death. What a pair of opposites. Life and death, you can’t get much more opposite than that. My philosophy, particularly the Life Ethic, sees vitality as a willingness and ability to live fully engaged.
In NW, I discussed two ways of understanding ourselves, and both relate to vitality. One, obviously, is as an individual life with a finite beginning and end. Each of us has only one life, and as such, we must not waste it. Because our time on this planet is finite, it is immeasurably valuable. We should cherish it and use it. The second view is different. It imagines us as elements of a whole. In NW, I wrote, “I am the Universe with a sense of individuality.” This view argues that we are not so much individuals as parts of a whole. As self-directed portions of a whole, we have an obligation to the whole.
Both views of self are insightful. Whether we tenaciously hold to the view of self as only individual or see ourselves as parts of a whole, there is something to be said for vitality. We need to do, to grow, to take part, to lead where we can. A life of vitality is a life that, if everyone lived it, would make the Universe a better place for life to exist and grow. Both views call on us to be vital in how we live, yet vitality is elusive. It is hard to capture and hard to hold on to.
Vitality is challenging. Does it mean we must eat healthily and exercise constantly? No, I don’t think so. I believe it means we need to show a level of respect for ourselves. Vitality avoids self-destruction and enables us to develop skills and use these skills to support the Life Ethic. I guess it is a blend of keeping ourselves fit enough to do good but not making fitness the singular goal. We should strive to be fit, but fit for what? I think it is fit for the role we can play.
In Natural Wonders, I wrote,
The Universe took specific actions to assemble, congeal itself into a functioning unit. I, this two-legged bag of flesh, am something that the Universe built. The Universe invested biological resources in my skin-bound mass. My individual blob of life matters, and it can positively or negatively affect the whole. The individual blob, or organized unit of the Universe, is the tool, instrument, or hand of the Universe. The individual makes things happen. It is the action part, and it is the part we get to direct and control. You and I are the finite entities or assemblies that are how the Universe gets things done. If I discount the uniqueness of the attributes assembled in this Bob-blob, the responsibility and opportunity presented as this individual, then I am doing the Universe a disservice.
As I age, I occasionally feel my skills degrading a bit. We die by degrees, sometimes without even noticing. Vitality drips out as if our bodies have a slow leak. Fear is vitality cancer. It takes away our vitality bit by bit. Maybe “take” is not the right word. Fear asks for our vitality, and we hand it over as if it were nothing. Fear starts small, then grows, and before too long we are not what we once were. As fear increases, our perception of risk rises, and vitality slips away. Sedentary lifestyles take hold. Isolation becomes the norm. The life of vitality, the life that serves as a strong, useful element of the Universe, diminishes.
Vitality these days seems extra challenging. Lately, the state of the world depresses me. You can hear my agitation and disgust in some of these essays. I know I am not alone in feeling this way. Sadness and a sense of profound dismay with our leadership are just not good when you seek vitality. These feelings seem to shut me down, while vitality calls me to grow and act. This is partly why now I am channeling my concerns about the world into essays as a step on the vitality path. It is better than languishing, caught in a sense of despair.
Next, complementing vitality is awareness—awareness of the conditions around us and awareness of our impact on the world. One eye looking out watching the world, one eye watching our own actions and the effects they have on others. Those are two crazy eyes, but you get the idea.
Vitality asks that we be well, be strong, and act. Awareness asks that we observe and consider. Awareness is the skill, underrepresented in the Dominator, that would guide them on what to do and let them know when to stop. Vitality is the skill, underrepresented in the Participant, that could push for healthy changes and action. Awareness is air traffic control for living.
Balancing awareness and vitality is the trick and the opportunity. Maybe the Dominators that I discussed in a previous essay are onto something. In some ways, vitality is doing. It is applying power to affect change in the outside world. The Dominators are high up the vitality scale while the Participants are lagging, more likely to be ambivalent about life than to take charge. The best of both is the ideal. Take the Dominator’s drive as a central element. Add the Participant’s systematic approach. Overlay these with a desire for vitality and acute awareness, and we have a super combination.
