While this blog is fundamentally a dissemination blog, it also somehow reflects my opinion and personal experiences. This has happened on other occasions and will continue to be so. Don’t worry, it will not become the usual tone. This is not a blog about politics, economics, poetry, or reflections. It does not intend to be, nor do I wish it to be, nor will it ever be.
Today has been the day of the Barcelona vs Real Madrid match, which has sadly become another example of the division that shakes our society. As you all know, these are particularly troubled times, times of crisis. These times awaken hatred, open wounds, and resurrect ghosts. As a result, I had to maintain (or rather try to avoid with elegance) a conversation with a certain person of ‘radical’ position. I will not say in what position they defined themselves, in an attempt to remain neutral. Furthermore, it is irrelevant to me, since the behavior of extreme positions supporters is, curiously, very similar. I will only highlight that at the end of our very brief conversation, they angrily accused me of ’Not understanding reality‘.
Logically, I ended the conversation sharply. Beyond this point, this type of conversation usually quickly turns into an endless series of insults with which radicals usually cover up their lack of arguments. Any attempt to reason with them is received with the same acceptance as that granted by a wall, becoming an activity as unproductive as sowing in the desert.
However, if I had had the opportunity to have a more fertile ground to plant a thought. Or if I had been able to respond, under different circumstances, in which my response would have been at least heard. And in general, in a hypothetical dialogue with anyone who defines themselves with a single word, concept, or belonging to a group, I would like to have the opportunity to say to them:
I only believe that we are in a universe that seems to be formed on ‘something’ that we call space, which by no means we fully understand. I believe that about 14 billion years ago, ‘something’ happened, and as a result, what we call atoms originated. Those atoms spread throughout the universe, spinning, randomly creating whirlpools, galaxies, stars, and planets.
Those atoms were basically hydrogen, and, since our bodies are made up of a great variety of elements, it means that practically all our atoms have been inside a star at some point, which exploded and scattered its matter again into space.
Those atoms ended up, as a result of the most improbable coincidences, concentrating and forming a planet, with the optimal conditions of composition, temperature, atmosphere, gravity, magnetic field, etc., that allow us to be here right now. And statistically, in our lives, we have changed every single cell in our body several times. This really makes you wonder what or who you are, and what defines you.
I am not lucky enough to define myself with just a few words. I only know that I am, here and now, on a giant rock floating in space, of dimensions so overwhelmingly enormous that just thinking about it is scary. I am here, tonight, contemplating the brightness of millions of stars, feeling the ground, the wind, and the bitter taste of this beer.
Beyond that, I know nothing. I doubt everything, atoms, particles, I doubt if they are real or our perception of some kind of ripples. I doubt our concept of the past and the future. I doubt the nature of space, I doubt even the reality itself. In fact, if it weren’t for our old friend Descartes, I would doubt even my own existence.
I am not interested in the answers, but in the questions. I am not interested in a particular opinion, but in understanding why there are different opinions on the same subject. I am not interested in knowing the defense of your truth, much less complicating the problem with reproaches, hypocrisies, or distortions. I am interested in reducing the problem and, through reasoning, turning it into fundamental moral dilemmas that underlie each of the positions. And along the way, learn about ourselves and ultimately try to reach mutual understanding.
Therefore, you will understand, that the fact that someone comes defining themselves as Catalan/Spanish, left/right-wing, Barça/Madrid, pro/anti-abortion, atheist/religious, bullfighting/anti-bullfighting, seems childish, superficial, banal, and meaningless to me.
Finally, you will understand that if you intend to debate or discuss it, I will courteously give up doing so and express my absolute lack of interest as it simply seems to be an absolute waste of time.