“What precipitates outcomes? Vicious acts & virtuous acts.” Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

Your actions, being vicious or virtuous, change things, being for the good or bad of others and or yourself. Our actions speak louder than words. We may say, “I love you”, but if your actions state otherwise, what are you truly saying? Beware of your actions for you have others watching and following in your footsteps. Make your actions worthy of remembrance, not of shame. Live in a manner that you wouldn’t mind having someone play back your life on a big screen for all to watch. Live your life in such a profound way, you don’t mind looking in the mirror. I, because I have kids, love this quote and want to be a better person. To read the full and amazing quote, where I took this excerpt from, read below. This is such a profound ending to the book. It is full of hope, although man-kind has acted upon horrid choices. There is hope for the future, although you and I may only be a single drop of water that eventually fills the ocean (as Mitchell states). Remember, all it takes is one drop of water to make a cup overflow, make that drop a good one and one you can be proud of, for your sake, for the sake of your family, for the sake of humanity! This quote fits well with today’s day and age and Mitchell, I’m sure, is screaming out, your actions can change the dystopia of humanity.

Oh how Mitchell is a genius. You have got to read this book!

Have a great weekend!

Scholars discern motions in history & formulate these motions into rules that govern the rises & falls of civilizations. My belief runs contrary, however. To wit: history admits no rules; only outcomes.

What precipitates outcomes? Vicious acts & virtuous acts.

What precipitates acts? Belief.

Belief is both prize & battlefield, within the mind & in the mind’s mirror, the world. If we believe humanity is a ladder of tribes, a colosseum of confrontation, exploitation & bestiality, such a humanity is surely brought into being, & history’s Horroxes, Boerhaaves & Gooses shall prevail. You & I, the moneyed, the privileged, the fortunate, shall not fare so badly in this world, provided our luck holds. What of it if our consciences itch? Why undermine the dominance of our race, our gunships, our heritage & our legacy? Why fight the “natural” (oh, weaselly word!) order of things?

Why? Because of this:—one fine day, a purely predatory world shall consume itself. Yes, the devil shall take the hindmost until the foremost is the hindmost. In an individual, selfishness uglifies the soul. For the human species, selfishness is extinction.

Is this the doom written within our nature?

If we believe that humanity may transcend tooth & claw, if we believe divers races & creeds can share this world as peaceably as the orphans share their candlenut tree, if we believe that leaders must be just, violence muzzled, power accountable & the riches of the Earth & its Oceans shared equitably, such a world will come to pass. I am not deceived. It is the hardest of worlds to make real. Torturous advances won over generations can be lost by a single stroke of a myopic president’s pen or a vainglorious general’s sword.

A life spent shaping a world I want Jackson to inherit, not one I fear Jackson shall inherit, this strikes me as a life worth the living.

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell