Commitment

"Faithfulness! I must analyze it some day. The passion for property is in it. There are many things that we would throw away if we were not afraid that others might pick them up." - Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

Firstly, titling something commitment is a really funny thing to do. It's committing to committing, and formally as well! It's so serious that I find it funny.

Secondly, I briefly touched on the subject of commitment in the last entry. It does seem like something strangely unnatural to me, but also something that is uniquely human. My own feelings on the subject are a little confused, and it would be fair for some people to say I have a fear of commitment. I've always been an ideas guy, more about playing things out in my head. This entry will probably end up being very heavily edited, and it will most likely be a space for me to try to organize my thoughts on this subject.

SO. Commitment. Right.

Why should any one person commit to any one thing. Doesn't this just seem a way of tethering your identity to an impermanent ideal? A false hope of some consistency? What are the intrinsic values of commitment? Does it even have any?

Commitment is not an intrinsically good thing. Commitment to killing as many hobos as one can for instance, is not only morally repugnant, but illegal, (when done improperly.) Its attractiveness as an idea is unrelated to it as a concept itself. Instead what is attractive is what it is applied to, and what that application would look like. The fact that it lacks intrinsic goodness is why I think a lot of animals refrain from commitment in relationships. There's something selfless about it.

While commitment may seem like it creates a false fixedness, it actually creates a large disturbance in the two parties. Selfish action must be subjugated to maintain the unity of the two as a new whole. This should not be mistaken as a recommendation to find a "missing half," which will inevitably lead to heartbreak and disappointment.