Cannonball

My brother has said that he thinks that he has made only about three real decisions in his life, and those probably badly, and then been a "projectile" the rest of the time. A whole bunch of issues are imbedded in his reflection, those coming to mind firstly for me being autonomy, self-determination and personal responsibility. But in making the observation in the first place he has shown how free he is by questioning his own autonomy. 

And showing that he has a sense of humor about himself, reimagined as the human existential cannonball, which is funny to me in a sad way because we all know the feeling of stepping back from our immersion in everyday life and seeing the pettiness and absurdity of our existence, that naturally narrowed field of vision and involvement in the animal reality of our daily routines. However, "we all know" may be an overstatement.

Not everyone questions themselves. It's a good sign if you can. And it's a real sign of a lack of autonomy if you can't, an indication that compulsion is at work, so it's a paradox, that people who can see just how limited their freedom is are the most free. And it shows how incredibly important it is to be able to laugh at yourself, as an expression of human limitation. If you think you aren't limited you really are nuts. Self-importance is nihilism. 

A refuge for the unrighteous, since the single thing we should be most familiar with in life is our own limitation. It's the most objectively subjective truth there is. Behold yourself with bemusement. The denial of human limitation is the denial of reality and our humanity, so it's all about how you fly. Tell me, did you picture my brother with a smile on his face? With maybe a shrug, as he speeds through the air to his inevitable end.

That may be the best that we can do, the most that we can hope for in life, some style points along the way. We could, you know, maybe hold hands and support one another, in our collective flight. Take care of each other, in so much as we can. I'm all for that.