Avoid the Meta

Don't mess with Mr. In-Between

Einstein observed that it is fortunate that life has an ending such that it can be evaluated in its completeness as a work of art. All great literature has a beginning and an end. Every monument is finite. The finest music begins and ends in silence. All paintings have borders.

It is also said that all’s well that ends well. I believe that means that we should die happy. We should have enough consideration of our life’s journey such that we may find within its confines a sufficient measure of satisfaction. What’s odd about this is what Socrates said about knowing — that measure of wisdom being the understanding of the constraints on knowledge which might lead to virtuous action, an even smaller fraction of the life of the mind. At least that’s my interpretation.

I only know that I know so little. And yet I must be satisfied that all of my happy moments were created by my interactions with other people. We collectively know so little that perhaps only the impulse to be kind, in our ignorance, is all we might have.

What do we know of our culture? How tightly bound by convention are we? How shared is that knowledge of the conventions we accept? How many moments do we say “please” and “thank you”? How deeply felt is the warmth of politeness? If we are engaged in millions of interpersonal transactions, how many of them accrue to the positive? Then what of Karen, of road rage, of snide restaurant reviews, of the spectrum of disdain to the depth of hatred to the ends of destructive evil. They say don’t let the turkeys get you down. That may take a lot of avoidance.

We must be stoic on the negative matters. I think that is the very point. We need not feel the desperation of the world. We need not take it in to our hearts. We need not repeat the doomsaying. How often are we now told in these dark days that a sufficient amount of lying will eventually turn true? We are told that in an abundance of sophisticated contradictory confusion, people will accept only the simplest truths. The truth is not obvious. It takes work. All we may find is a rare amount of truth to test in society and see if the feedback is mutually beneficial.

Mr. In-Between
I say we accept too much complicated sophistication. We almost refuse to believe anything not fact-checked by panels of experts. We almost refuse to believe such experts are not bought and paid for. And so we wonder about the value of our lives, the currency of the ideas in our heads. It’s frustrating and alienating. We feel sad and alone.

Is there a simple solution?

Yes. Accentuate the positive. Eliminate the negative. Latch on to the Affirmative. Don’t mess with Mr. In-Between

Who is Mr. In-Between? He lives on the meta. What’s the meta? The meta is everything about the game except for the principles of the game itself. Mr. In-Between is the troll, the cynical critic, the commentator, the community spokesman of the fan base who was not elected by the fan base. He crafts the soundbites. He is glib. He wants to be viral. He wants to be the thought leader of the audience. He assumes you need him to explain what just happened. He does the reaction to the reaction video.