Quests are not for the faint of heart. Heroes in the past generally overcome mighty obstacles (dragons, beasts, man-made machinations of torture.) The heroic war is against something more powerful than itself. That is the common theme.

We war against an obstacle- something threatening- the unknown (insert your struggle here). The threat is not always human like us- it is not able to recognize or empathize with our human frailty. It disabuses us of our cause in haughty contempt. Whether a disease, a family situation, a physical war or psychological one…every aim of attack is to minimize our sense of security and sense of self. No selfs allowed! (If the threat could speak that is what it would say.)

No, I didn’t say “No selfies allowed,” although the world would do well with fewer freakishly happy folks that look like their shouting because they’re eating at their favorite restaurant. Is this news?? We are all very important in our own minds now that we have cell phones and writing blogs.

Do people enjoy looking at other people’s selfies as much as the self who enjoys taking its selfie? Does this relationship require another human being? Its a pandemic of narcissism. Add that to the list of problems that are not thought through quite enough.

Yesterday, I discovered the happiness of hens is routed partly in their non-obsession with themselves. They have purpose, but being the center of the universe is not it. Hens are meek (gentle but sturdy in the face of danger), cooperative, and dutiful. They don’t whine or complain. Therefore, I believe that the unhappiness of humans is directly related to their self-obsession.

I was an impressionable young person, I tried the pursuit of happiness as defined by my public educators: YOU! You are awesome! We celebrate YOU! (This is the infantile version of modern philosophy’s obsession with man Himself, or herselves, ad infinitum.) It’s the “Uberman” I mention in other journal entries, the brainchild of twentieth century philosophers, educators, people who read New York Times.

The goal of this philosophy was to disabuse society that there existed any higher truth to which all human beings may inspire. Give the people Shirley Temple instead! A happy distraction that eases temporarily the belief or uninspiring idea that We are all just material creatures in a material world and that is all there is. It’s just US. No God, no hope of eternity or in this life. Just Hollywood fantasy for escape.

But, US gets mad and bombs the rest of the world when it fails to submit to our imagined righteousness, our delusions of what is right. Right? Righteousness (the quality of being just) can not exist in a vacuum. You can’t just say I am right because I said so. That’s like a child on the playground stealing a ball from you and saying its their ball now. Oh yeah?? That’s just cheating. That lying, deluded child is operating in the realm of fantasy. (Again, another conversation where no other human being is required.)

To be heroic one must face the obstacle that is ours to face, each one of us has its foe. Though people think we’ve conquered the last frontier, meaning space, I believe the last frontier is the human soul, our own selves. Not to view ourselves as heroic despite all the evidence to the contrary. But, to own sometimes we are our own enemy. We lie to ourselves about our existence because the truth is hard to bear.

Imagine the last frontier is human beings seeking truth about themselves and perfecting it? So that in restraining our worst inclinations we may freely enjoy peace on earth.