The Single Driver

In the world of man, there is one single sensation, which is responsible for his overall view that there are problems. The sensation is not hunger for food, nor desire for dry when damp, nor urge for sex when stimulated; those types of sensations are extinguished upon appropriate satisfaction thereof. They are the sensation of "must."

But the "low level buzz," or "consistently poking ache," or "unscratchable itch" which is the sensation that there are problems, with either the collective of humanity or himself personally, boils down to one exact and indivisible thing:

It is the sensation of "should." 

The driver of all intellectual activity, is "should."

"Should" is a kind of imaginary intermediary which originally served as a translator between inanimate objects. In order for an "orange peel" to transform itself into "orange marmalade," it had to literally pass through the filter of "should," within an individual's intellect. And this causes no sensation of there being a problem. The problem of orange marmalade, is solved upon completion. It is a "non-transferable should." But there is another "transferable" type of "should."

The compounding "should." When "should," compounds on another "should," it enables an endless transfer of unfinished-ness. It creates the illusion man has of innumerable possibilities, even amidst the present reality that he is already observably complete in terms of the efficiency of his physical survival. It is the very fact of "'should transference' within thinking," that is proof OF his absolute physical efficiency. That is, if he must hunt for food, he is in a sense incomplete, and has a measurable goal before him that has NOT yet become the sensation of "should." That strong presence in such a man's stomach is that of "must." It is only when the physical survival life of man is routinely, fully maintained, that his sense of self rises above such things and invents ideas about incompleteness and possibility.

Only when all TANGIBLE possibilities, or "musts," have been attained 

does a man find any leisure time in the first place.

Leisure time creates INTANGIBLE possibilities, or "shoulds."

The entire field of consciousness is like the blood streaming through a vessel; "should" is like the cholesterol which sticks to the walls of the blood vessel, creating a higher pressure. The more "shoulds" are corresponding in thinking, the more pressure is generated, the more "gunk" sticks to the vessel wall. The flow of thinking is forced by "should," one area into the next, and the next into the next. This is the way the intellect expands itself. It does so through the invention of personal-cum-universal "problems." Through the invention of "should."

(from a collection of unpublished papers circa 1998 but still relevant today)