I try to see all mean-spiritedness as an essential part of a vast learning process. We need to do things badly in order to discover how to do things well. One persons’ bad behavior is an essential part of their own development and the development of humankind.

When we just look at a part of it, it’s ugly and disheartening, but if we zoom out a bit we can see the entire context: a beautiful, organic process of growth and refinement.

Just like the sight of an animal carcass in the forest might be upsetting or unpleasant, but when you consider it in terms of the grand cycle of life, death, decay and regrowth, we can see it’s a much more beautiful thing we’re seeing.

I find this hard to do if I’m wrapped up in a bad mood or something, because it’s so hard to gain perspective in that state, but at other times I can relax and know that everything indeed has its place.

Your last comment about the internet reminds me of something Isaac Asimov said — “I don’t fear computers. I fear the lack of them.” Have you read The Last Question ? (God is a giant computer!)
.-= Brenda´s last blog ..Looking Ahead =-.

I wouldn’t say that only a microscopic portion of people are changing though. The beauty of evolution, and indeed the entire universe is that we cannot not change, it’s impossible. Each experience changes our dispositions, reactions and habits a little bit. Whether we’re conquering once-insurmountable problems, or totally falling on our asses, every single organism is adjusting to its own life, within its current means.

In the short term, this might not mean a given individual is going to become better off, but in the long term we can’t help but become better adapted to our circumstances. I say this way too often, but I think the Internet (an extremely new influence, on the grand scale of evolution) will help far more people discover ways to achieve quality of life than was ever possible before. You just have to zoom out the lens a bit. The internet is a baby. It’s a straw hut compared to the cathedral it will be in fifty years.

David, I love the quote. The whole article was beautiful and you are so right on with all of this. I only figured this out for myself within the last year.

I do not necessarily subscribe to the idea that people are changing that much though. I know this puts me in the minority of your commentators. Sure there are a lot of people changing, but as a percentage of the population, it is microscopic.

Also keep in mind that the blogger community or the people you hang around is a self-selected group of people. The internet has made the world smaller and people who have changed will seek out those similar to them. I don’t think this means there is much movement in the world at large though. It just seems that way. I’m not trying to be a downer, I’m just letting you know my observations.
.-= Stephen – Rat Race Trap´s last blog ..Finding Your True Self =-.

Tatiana — It’s amazing how geared we become (as adults) to keeping our minds in the past and future. Somewhere on the line we pick up the very strong habit of only seeing the present in terms of what possible futures it will bring, and what past mistakes have caused our problems today. It’s just a load of inaccurate and needless thinking, but it’s so hard not to indulge in it.