A hedge against disillusionment

Anyone who seeks to learn and understand is likely to make a discovery that deadens them. In the quest to explore the unexplored and ask hard questions narratives will be falsified, lies will be revealed, and supposed truths will be unmasked as little more than pragmatic mechanisms of control and influence. If all you did was dig, dig, dig until you struck upon the raw, hard core of reality, you’d change. Certainly, you would become disillusioned. Meaning would be harder to come upon and moments of satisfaction would be widely distributed—distributed so far apart that it would look like another would never come again. 

But that is no way to live. So, in order to avoid total despair, disillusion and the desolation of life, it’s necessary that another mechanism is developed, alongside the ones which allow you to delve deep and uncover dark truths. This alternate mechanism’s sole function is as a hedge against disillusionment. It’s purpose is not to manufacture a false sense of appreciation or gratitude via some forced ritual. No, its purpose is to re-orientate your perception and remind you that, despite what you’ve found in the past and may find in the future, there’s always something worth hanging around for. It could be another person or other people. It could be a cause or a mission or an obligation. Whatever it is and whatever form it takes, everybody needs something that counters the inevitable cynicism that accumulates with experience and understanding. We all need a way to remind ourselves of the joys and the beauty of a life lived.