Anti-Fragility: That Which Is Not Fragile

We inherit ancient fables detailing stories spanning vast time fields. Such tales are comprised of rigor, heartache, and achievement. These seemingly innocuous lessons anoint the young and passion supercharges their inertia. With such foundational beliefs anointed as ‘truth’, we forgo a rigor test and unwittingly accept logical fallacies. Myths cement into foundation. Entire personas are built on fragile paradigms, as vectors that are unable to withstand the test of time and space.

With a red herring cloaked in majesty, we shift focus from the sacred to the second layer and build a persona. 

We build character.

              We define such value in external, material states.

We build directionality.

              We embrace consumerism as its north star.

We build careers.

              We demarcate our worth from such. 

We build status.

              We appeal to the ever-enchanting and ever-fleeing serotonin jab of envy.

We build friendships.

              We bridge networks of quid pro quo. 

We build esteem.

              We externalize our validation and pleasure to the ‘other’ 

All to say, we obliterate our twin needs of authenticity and connection. Not for lack of resources nor for lack of effort. In fact, we invest with the fervor of a blood debt. We assemble our silos piece by piece to ultimately amalgamate some ‘self’. Initially intoxicating, the ensuing ‘self ecosystem’ proves utterly and hopelessly FRAGILE. One that survives only as a function of dependent variables, such variables all victim to entropy – the universe’s tendency towards chaos. With decades as our sunk costs, we ensue the cycle without question. Reticent, we disproportionately taste defeat until it transmutes to disgust. 

From chaos, we satisfy our brains urge for clarity, pattern recognition, and story-telling. We weave an intricate network of falsehoods to deliver a coherent answer the aching question of ‘what is the good life?’ The logic ever so inspiring and complete, never mind built atop of a foundational untruth. Zeitgeist takes hold energizing the masses as opium takes hold and quiets creation’s best. Organic entities cooperate en masse to emulate the actions of others in an attempt to belong; And so, social proof casts us behind an even deeper veil. 

We then build towers into the sky. Magnificent ones that gleam light in its intricate dance and beauty. As cult leaders capture their flock’s imagination, such architecture. So how can it be when the playbook is played in good, unquestioned faith, the result is mayhem and disarray?

In the individual, their burns an endless fire. Dissociation is its first line of defense against an instinct compelling for more. The sovereign person defaults into a fragile root. As each silo iterates into a stronger version still demonstrating dominion in each instantiation. Yet, the thinking creature suffers a series of miniature psychotic breaks due to an undeniable contraction. Despite the explicit and successful execution of silo fortification, the consequence to the whole is a top-heavy pyramid that starts to yank the foundation from its ground. 

Counterproductively, we build in esteem of self and intention in each dedicated silo. Yet, the more perfect the silo, somehow the larger the rot. Each inkling of thought accelerates decay. 

The braver the person, the more he free falls in despair. Traditional tools addle and support channels break. The matrix starts to reveal itself in glimpses of snippets of code. Digits dance between our 4K world between the trees compromising this most opaque of illusions. At the office, successes taste less sweet. On the drive home, the mind ruminates in search. Family engagements dwindle in worth. Latent anxiety beholds, creating a civil war between the various parts of the brain – all of which share neither history, nor memory, nor maturity. 

As the clock plays, the person succumbs to pandemonium. Anarchy takes hold with order domesticated. The psychological concept of learned helplessness manifests as the eyes widen. The breath now shallow, the fortitude wavering. The once answers now the very questions. The water particles in our very being boil at divergent rates, and the hurricane finds its ground zero. As it materializes, the eye of the storm is our gut, and it finds itself in contradiction with every other elevated organ, including the heart and mind. The gut being our ancient intelligence, and the prefrontal cortex our grandest adaptation. Such are askew. 

And so the nomads and gypsies seek the answers outside the lines of the drawing, even flirting with other dimensions. We celebrate each other’s successes and forgive seeming failures based on some form of misdirected compassion. The wanderers trade tradition for an organic search. Raw is the name of the game. The journey is tortuous and a labyrinth not always solved. 

Yet, for those the traverse enough, they will discover that the culprit was always the founding assumption. The one originally presented as fact and mistaken for an inheritable given truth. And as that assumption falls, so does the entire identity of a person. As the dying parts meet their grave, raison d’etre fumbles into nothingness. The fabric disintegrates and the silos free fall. Yet, some consciousness somehow remains. The person searches for a voice, any modicum of sound in view of emotional regulation. Dissociation reigns as master. 

Fewer still manage to lean into the discomfort, as they tread these unchartered waters. All that’s left is rubble. Horrified by the commotion without, they look within. They are presented with an eerie, hallow silence.  Unwittingly, their efforts litter their sinuous journey with traces of light ultimately defining a glimmer of a path for others.  And as wanderer meets fellow wanderer, new communities are born. Specks of light unite over time gleaming the road and new knowledge punctures the dark frontier’s edge, propelling leaders to further the journey ahead. The sacred battle iterates, creative destruction mushrooms, and the spectrum of emotions proliferate. 

The driver? Enlightened in the discovery of stillness as the necessary precursor to ANTI-FRAGILITY. Ever changing and evolving, a new vessel is formulated honed at channeling entropy in ‘stillness’, movement abounded and yet the circuit boards intact. The ‘now’ ever present - acceptance is the name of the game.