Geneaology

So, I thought I should start writing blogs again, or at least doing some writing, so here it begins.

Recently, I was thinking about how people acquire senses of pride from passive acts, such as patriotism, and how the human condition propels people towards these instances of hubris and self-reassurance. I'm beginning to believe, more and more, that our constant need to identify with sects and justification of our ego is self-destructive. I'm not going to get into my thoughts on "ego", but I will say, I deem it to be a counter productive force to contentedness. Anyway, I started thinking about genealogy and how that ties into my beliefs regarding ego and pride.

I've never been really interested in Genealogy, but I've met a few people who place high importance on it and find the topic fascinating. I'm certainly guilty of wondering about my ancestors and the lives that contributed to my family tree, but now, in contemplation, I see it as an incredibly self-absorbed and fruitless task. I think for most people it's appealing to investigate so they can revel in the knowledge of royalty or celebrity in their family tree. I don't really understand the point in this pursuit, I mean so fucking what, you're a descendant of King Henry VIII, or the prostitute that gave Nietzsche syphilis, what's the point? To me it seems like people don't really want to know their family tree, which probably reveals 10 generations of impoverished Irish potato farmers spawned from rape, incest and affairs, they just want to know the choice bits that will support their comfort in conceitedness.

People are more than happy to allude to a member of royalty and wealth in their family and how that has contributed to their refined personality. The reality is, unfortunately, that your pedophile uncle or crackhead cousin is a lot closer to you than the 3rd King of Scotland and the slave he impregnated. I mean, we've got family members who are alive right now, that you could call or visit, who probably have a lot of interesting perspectives and experiences, yet people would still rather find out about a string of dead couples who fucked their way through the renaissance, the black plague, wars and the Y2K bug. That's pretty fucked, I reckon.

I think it all spawns from the morbid fascination that we are all important. I'd like to think I'm significant, that I'm somehow special from everyone else, but the reality is I'm as significant as a dish of mold. Despite trying to remind myself of my insignificance though, I do find my ego constantly reasserting itself and propagating this concept of "I" as both separate and unique to my surroundings. So yeah... basically I think genealogy is a waste of time that mostly isolates people through supporting the ego, rather than illustrating the inter-connectivity of everyone and everything and the complete illusion that is "You" and "I". Thanks for reading.