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RE: "Song of My Heart" | Poems, #015
I understand what you're saying - and idealism without recognition of reality often seems futile ... but I disagree that problems and conflict are a necessity in order to live. They seem to be the norm these days and yes, many people seem to thrive on them - but conflict, especially, is completely undesirable to me, and I'm sure, to many others. There are so many productive ways to spend our time that don't include conflict. I'm reminded of the song, "Imagine" by John Lennon. I'm a blend of both optimism and realism - but I'm with him on this one.
I'm sure we could live without problems and conflict, but they are definitely necessary for healthy growth and technological progress. Some of the best tech in all areas from medicine to the microwave came out of the "breeding house" of war. Necessity is the mother of all invention and all that. And many great works of art were/are done by "tortured artists" who had major problems in their lives. Basically everything by Van Gogh, for example.
Of course its all undesirable to us - by definition - but truly... We are problem-solvers and without something to solve, we'd stagnate. Without conflict, we wouldn't learn and develop and mature our characters (like children over-protected by their parents until they hit adulthood and then can't cope with even the simplest problems that arise).
It's interesting that actually, we are now living in a kind of golden age in terms of the world's biggest problems (violence, poverty, inequality, etc). I highly recommend "The Better Angels of Our Nature" by Steven Pinker (genius of a man!).
I think it's the "conflict" part that I disagree with; as I view it in terms of war, fighting and violence - that I will never agree is a necessity of life and living.
Perhaps using the word "challenges" might change the perception somewhat? I do agree that everyone needs challenges to grow and learn to cope with daily life - but challenges seems (to me) to put a more positive spin on situations that give us the opportunities to learn and grow that we require.
Again, I don't think they're necessary for living - but for progress. I think of things like a puzzle ... It's a jumbled mess in the beginning but that's fun of it - we like to solve problems and build the picture up slowly, perfecting our crafts, getting better until it is perfect. Then once the puzzle is built... Well, it's awesome at first - such a great feeling of accomplishment - but then weeks go by and we become jaded to the picture... And, for me at least, it is such a lot of fun to break it up and restart it again at a later stage.
Not a perfect analogy, I know ;P
But at the same time, I don't like or desire war/violence. I just know, intellectually, that it is in times of war that, often, great things are accomplished.
And I do hope that we'll be able to come up with a different way of creating newness once we've overcome our violent, warring ways as a society. Actually, now that I think about it, I think we already have the answer... Competitiveness... Healthy competition in capitalism does seem to help with scientific progress, despite it's many negative consequences (plastic in the oceans, global warming, etc).