I don't think i entirely agree with this statement, however, it does have some very insightful truths to it. Otherwise it would not resonate with the many fight club fans that have quoted it time and time again.
This quote talks about how we are not different from one another in a certain frame of time. Chuck is talking about me and my nieghbor, my boss and even my relgious leader. I want to apply it in a different way.
I think the idea of this quote applies along the timeline as well.
Chuck finds the need to remind us that we are not unique because we often forget that we are not the center of the universe we see. Being an individual with boundaries, and having limiting senses to the immediate environment around us it is no wonder that we see ourselves as the center of our universes. It could be argued that we really are.
Similarily we exist only in the present. Time for us is a concept of memories and understanding of cause and effect. We can not directly see time, but we can 'get' the concept because our minds are able to loop in time and predict things from memories. Because of this, the present is the only important time for us, and we are the center of it as well.
Chuck would remind us, that we are not a unique moment of time, and that we are in fact, just a blip in the radar. My life is a blip in the radar of the thousands of people i meet every year. The collective lives of those people are a blip in the radar of the generation we belong to, this generation is but a blip in the radar of all the generations before and after us. Humans are a blip to the earth, and the earth is a blip..... well you get the idea.
This is a terrifying idea to most of us. It means that what we do, when looked at it in a nihilistic way, has no meaning, has no point. It means that the future is undecided and scary, because the future will be one where eventually we, what we have, and who we know, will not exist. It means that the past is gone, that what we have done means nothing except maybe to give some fuzzy idea of how we got here. It truly means that for people that can not create there own sense of internal worth, those that define themselves by thier soroundings, that the uncertain future is the most terrifying thing on earth.
When we look at it, with positive outlook though, this can mean something quite different. it can mean that the present is the most important time, and that we should devout our life to it without looking too much to the future, without worry, or stress. It means that the bad times will pass, and that good times will come. It gives a sense of simplicity when you realize the world will be, and all we can do is control ourselves, and how we deal with it. It means loves will come and go. That lessons will be learned, and forgotten. And all the while, while we write our story we know that we must look inward for our happiness, for our worth because the universe will not look at it for us. Once we can do this, then in all situations, we can be atleast content.
The bad times will pass, the good times we live, the rest is a blip on the radar.
Cray
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