Borealism V: Laws of Nature Series
Ep.7. Grace, Suffering and Grit
“Take a moment from time to time to remember that you are alive. I know this sounds a trifle obvious, but it is amazing how little time we take to remark upon this singular and gratifying fact. By the most astounding stroke of luck, an infinitesimal portion of all the matter in the universe came together to create you, and for the tiniest moment in the great span of eternity, you have the incomparable privilege to exist.”
- Bill Bryson
Grace
In a world filled with chaos, disorder, and about every level of horrifying repugnance that the most wicked of minds can think up, there’s no shortage of grace stitched into the fabric of reality.
Nature operates with this effortless harmony, from the synchronized pirouettes of the water cycle to the quantum-electrodynamic interactions of a world unseen; from organism to habitat, everything seems to example some indescribable marvel of adaptation and evolution, contributing to a grand interwoven tapestry that speaks to an underlying grace flowing through everything.
The laws of physics themselves, from the enigmatic orchestras of subatomic particles to the processional orbits of galaxies, all exhibit a fine-tuned cosmic choreography. The underlying order and balance of our universe itself speaks to a grace that permeates the many layers of reality — a sigil to the profound intelligence coded into reality as we know it.
Our existence is no different.
Our evolutionary resilience is a testament to our dexterity and fluency through space and time. From carefully and causally formed neurochemical pre-dispositions to the shared moral bearings we incessantly bicker over, our civilization has rode the currents of genetic influence and environmental circumstance onto a podium that demands unlimited veneration.
Only we’re so caught up in our own progressions and regressions that we don’t often take the time to fully appreciate it.
Moreover, we find ourselves toiling under the shadows of some pretty ominous clouds that loom over our existence — those of war, corruption or injustice that never seem to disperse.
But light breaks through those clouds now and again — the laughter of one’s own child or a random act of indescribable generosity — a small but potent glimmer that effectively outshines the natural brutality of life by a millionfold, making eons of suffering seem completely worthwhile.
Our existence, to reiterate, is graceful.
Suffering
Grace seems to culminate from the acknowledgement of one exceptionally gritty bit of truth of life: it entails suffering.
To operate as any kind of organism within this world isn’t exactly easy. We have to do quite a bit amidst a constant process of decay in a universe that doesn’t have much regard for our continued existence as we ride the currents of our epigenetic fortunes and inherited impulses.
Like grace, suffering is evident in our physical world.
Entropy itself can be seen as a metaphor for the inevitability of decay and disorder; it governs the natural progression of time and the ultimate fate of all matter. As systems evolve, they move towards a state of greater entropy, reflecting a kind of existential struggle against the inescapable reality of a dissipative process.
A process that applies to us more than just about anything else.
We deal with travesty, loss, corruption and destruction; threats both internal and external of ourselves, of all varieties and along scales both macro and microcosmic; competition from an infinite array of other organisms around us while somehow ensuring ourselves to be, forever and always, our own worst enemy.
But for those that can see through the chaotic dark, to the scintillations at the end of the tunnel, a further truth can be derived: life takes an absurd amount of work.
A life worth living seems to demand that a valiant and almost unreasonable effort be made; this effort secures a certain level of grace, meaning and fulfilment in ways that don’t become especially obvious unless or until numerous lessons are learned.
To be a good father or husband or a successful artist or athlete — these take commitment, time, and a continuous learning from failure; to even stay motivated after repeated shortcomings is something that takes an exorbitant amount of will.
But along the whole spectrum of our evolution, it’s abundantly clear that the work pays off.
Grit
We earn our existence, collectively as much as we do individually.
It takes practice, and failure, and repetition; spinning atop the cycles and feedback loops that work to crush us — surfing the waves of wisdom that carry us as much as they also drown us.
But all of it culminates into something of a wild privilege to exist; to even be able to put in the work and to even be able to suffer — all for those little golden moments in between.
The whole game is kind of a bizarre and tiring ride, but immensely rewarding when we play it right.
Like any organism in nature, we put a lot of work into understanding and navigating this world properly, amidst countless variables that work against us; such an effort demands a certain level of reverence.
Because it seems to be from an understanding of the suffering that really teaches us the true lessons — of feeling the ugliness of life and experiencing the darker and unjust and unpleasant sides of it all — that allows us the ability to develop a more artful mode of navigation.
It’s why Dostoevsky is so well known, why sports are entertaining, why medicine keeps getting better, and why we have the ability to evolve in the first place.
Of learning not to be a victim but, rather, a champion of misfortune; of learning to remain faithful to the pillars of a proper existence — pillars that are recapitulated time and time again from one religion to the next or from one culture to the other.
From the work we put in, we develop a better relationship with ourselves, with our environment, and most importantly, with unrestricted possibility.
