Happiness (is a warm gun)

You are really good and attuned to feeling energy though KT. Most people would be completely overwhelmed if they attempted that kind of openness. If they even could... And that is part of the tragedy of the human condition, I think.

I have been polling other people on your question regarding separation, and most people agree that a major driving element of human nature is its animal side. In their view, violence is thus inherent in the base part of us, some piece of survival of the fittest still animating us. Some even think that it is in our attempts to become civilized and quell the violence makes our savagery rise up to become an even even stronger influence on our actions. One friend, (who has actually slaughtered chickens herself during her Peace Corps term in Senegal), thinks we sentimentalize that energy though. To paraphrase Michael Pollan, when wilderness is no longer a threat to us, we romanticise it. Of course, there are also some who believe that we cannot have good without bad, light without dark- you know the drill. I don't know if I buy that. Undoubtedly though, we must consider the consequence of our separation from others (and our connection to all things) due to our lack of consciousness. Of course, (too) sensitive me thinks that any act not done in love is an act of violence. I swear, this will either be my peace or it will be my undoing.

So, my question that stems from all of this is, why is do we think of violence as stronger than love? Why do acts of violence motivate and stick with us more easily than acts of love? Why is darkness regarded (and respected-maybe out of fear) as so much deeper than light?

Ok-so, here is a (very silly) example. On the tv show, The Office, Jim and Pam have finally gotten together. And it is so right and good and perfect. (I have a song about it- it is more of a cheer really, but that is just how right it is...) Anyway, viewers are so wary of Jim and Pam getting together so early in the season- like the only thing that can happen to them is that they could now break up. As if they have already reached their pinnacle, and it is all downhill from here- as though there is not as much adventure to be had in the good times as in the bad. No one (but me) thinks that they can just be happy together. I mean really, if happiness doesn't sell, what good is it?