Don't be a moth

The problems we face

Trying to be fit and healthy, but failing. Trying to work on a project that means, a project that would mean great progress in one's career, that could improve one's life significantly. Working on a business, a book, on running a marathon, but not having mediocre success. Having difficulties in one's marriage, with the family, with children. 

I have struggled all my life with self-destructive behaviours. This has always baffled me, and I felt so guilty about engaging in them. Why is it so hard to do anything? To exercise? To eat healthy? 

Why do I know what is best for me in the long run and yet I choose to waste time on useless activities? Why do I keep eating foods that I know aren't good for me? 

Laziness, depression, alcoholism, and all addictions; to drugs, porn, sugar, coffee, video games… Where do these problems all come from?

I always felt that the gap between my potential and my achievements were disproportionally big. And I wondered how some people seemingly managed to achieve so much. 

Why is it that some people can manage three companies, have a fantastically healthy body, have an excellent relationship, when some barely manage to hold on to a job, are out of shape and single? 

Where does this inequality really come from? The socio-economic explanation has always seemed a bit light. For sure, it plays a role since we are not born with the same opportunities, which will allow mediocre people to succeed in life, whatever that means, and excellent individuals to not. 

I think that this is not the whole picture. If it were, we would see no exceptions and our destinies would only be determined by our birth. Thankfully, it is not the case and we see extraordinary people from all backgrounds raising to the top and having amazing achievements, and inversely, people from powerful families losing their privileges.

Are humans smarter than moths? 

We have all seen it. On a summer night, around a fire. Moths are nocturnal insects attracted by light. For millions of years the only source of light available on Earth during the night was the moon and the stars. As they are far away objects, moths use them as a point of reference to fly straight, the same way our ancestors used them to sail. But in the 21st century there are millions of artificial light sources on Earth. This is too recent for the moth to have evolved to integrate this new environment and so we see moths, flying around the fire or a candle, until it finally dips into it and burns. How stupid is that moth? But most importantly, are we really actually smarter?

Now think about humans. Think about how humans lived for million of years and think about how you live today. Despite all the problems we still face as a species; climate change, poverty, wars, starvation for a part of the population and obesity for another, pandemics and illnesses, there has never been a better time to be alive. Overall, humans are healthier, wealthier and more at peace that ever before. 

Yet it seems that this trend might reverse back. Our lifestyles, our diets, the air & water pollution we are causing, are all increasing the chances of getting cancer and other illnesses. Here are some figures about these self-destructing behaviours:

• 7 million people die every year as a direct result of air pollution, 90% of the human population live in areas with poor air quality
• 8 million people die every year because of smoking
• 11 million people every year die as the result of unhealthy diets, among which 2.8 million people die as the result of being obese
• Millions, if not billions of people are chronically depressed

This suffering do not make sense. Similar to moths, we engage in self-destructing behaviours, and it shows that we also suffer from a gap between our biological evolution and the world we live in. The development of our societies has outpaced evolution. 

The gap causing suffering

Humans have been around for a long time. Humanity can be traced back 6 million years ago, and the modern Homo sapiens appeared 200,000 years ago. Civilisation is only 6,000 years old and the world we live in, with modern homes, medicine, food and the internet has only been around for a few decades. Do you see the pattern?  

The way we live today represents a tiny fraction of what our life on Earth has been for millions of years. It was a tough existence where calories, sexual partners and shelter were difficult to come by and were obtained over a fierce competition.

Compared to 99.9% of our existence as a species, the amount of sugar we consume today is unnatural. The amount of information we consume is unnatural. The amount of responsibility we undertake is unnatural. All of these were so scarce in nature, but we’ve been so good at taming nature that we now have too much of them.

But our software and hardware have not yet been updated to take in this new environment. When we see high calorie foods or information, we take them in as much as possible, we just can’t help it. 

Chances are, you’re not overeating, you’re storing up for the next starvation. You’re not lazy, you’re conserving energy. You’re not overwhelmed by family & career responsibilities, you’re not meant to face them alone.

And here seems to lie the true origin of inequality. Some of us are better equipped to live in this world than others. By definition, evolution is not homogenous, it tries many paths to lead to species forward. At random, some humans have been born to perform better in our world, allowing them to pass on their genes more easily and making the species progress. 

For those who are still in the norm, this gap between our biology and our society creates great suffering. We feel guilty for not being enough. We feel ashamed of our bodies, our financial situation, our relationship management. We have to constantly fight against our instincts which is sometimes impossible. This struggle means fewer opportunities, less happiness and the risk of being depicted as a failure.

Our advantage 

We have one advantage over the moth. Lions have teeth, whales have size, eagles have claws and we have consciousness. It is our super weapon to survive in the wild. So powerful, that we have parked the wild. Our progress and problems are due to the same fact; we have outpaced evolution. Our societies have evolved at an unprecedented rate, leaving our bodies and mind with a software made for a world that is long gone.

But thanks to consciousness, we have the unique ability to engineer our own evolution, both on a personal level and on the level of our species. And just the fact of knowing about this evolution gap can help. There is no need to feel guilty about struggling with easy, short term and sometimes self-destructing behaviours over long term benefit.

It is okay not to be perfect since we are in a world which is at odds with what we are designed for.

Once we are aware of this gap, what can we do to improve?

We love to seek easy answers, because it saves energy, which our DNA commands us to conserve. We are always tempted to follow the path of least resistance. This gap has been exploited by so-called gurus to sell their amazing online courses or diets, by saying they have the solution to all of your problems.

But there is no easy solution. And I’m sure that you actually already knew that. We often choose to believe in easy solution because of a very noble human trait, hope.

The key to happiness and success is that there is no key. Or rather, there is no universal key. All the answers are already in you. Spend more time with yourself, let your mind daydream, let your brain do what it does best, produce. Producing means creating, inventing, dreaming. 

It is highly possible that your brain is sick of ingesting. Ingesting a constant flow of information, 99% of which is useless, your social media feed, news, adverts. Your brain is an attic and if you want to keep it organised and sane you have to be careful what you put in there, both in quantity and quality. 

What happened when you had a question in mind before Google? Many of us still remember. Either you possessed books that could give you the answer, which required research, or you were stuck with it for days or weeks on. But it might have been a question that you could have found an answer, given enough time. A personal, creative and unique solution to a problem. You could have even invented a whole new concept. Isn’t it said that boredom gave birth to the greatest inventions, ideas, and works of art?

The only advice I can give is to take in less, produce more, look within and refuse easy answers. Finding who you are, a balance and a meaning can take a lifetime. And the answers can’t be found in the mouth of a modern prophet or on Google. Just don't give up yet, and find the unique path for your unique life.

Thanks for reading! I hope it has enticed you to act. If you like articles like this, follow me on LinkedIn. I’m a content writer at igniz marketing. We provide marketing services for companies of all sizes to take your business to the next level with quality content creation. Visit igniz-marketing.com for more information.