Purity is Bad

You have to love the title. Purity, we are generally taught that we should seek purity, I disagree. Purity is the lowest form of existence. Let us consider what the word means, it means something is simple. All truly useful things are impure.

Gold, in it's purist form is useless. Gold in it's purist form is weak and is not a very good metal. Steal on the other hand is very useful. The things that are the most useful in this world are combinations of different materials. A potato tastes good; but, put it in a stew and it tastes even better.

Pure emotions are also bad. Pure anger or pure love are unthinking. For emotions to be managed so that we meet the higher calling of working together we must have combinations of emotions. Purity is not the absence of filth, it is the absence of everything other than oneself. Purity is boring. We can combine things and make new and exciting things, better things. We make mistakes along the way and that is the surprise we call life.

I like hamburgers; but, come on, add some bacon and some cheese, some tomato and a pickle. That is a better burger. Lets not forget some Worcestershire sauce and garlic in the meat and some ketchup. Most of our problems come from purity, a lack of depth. When we become single minded we screw up everything because others cease to matter.

There are some that claim to seek purity of race, they have done some pretty rotten things. The Nazis loved racial purity and were so set on it that they proceeded to kill those who were not the same as them. Narcissists like purity, they want everyone to be just like them. Many of us can only accept others having the same shortcomings as us, they are not entitled to have their own.

I don't have a big problem with people who are gay, it is just that I could never be, I like the difference that a woman's body has from mine. I know what a male body is and how it feels, being a man it is hard not to know. I like the fact that a woman smells and feels and looks different then me, it is always a nice surprise and I can never know it fully.

Purity is boring. Variations are risky; but, oh what possibilities await. The royal families used to only marry each other, this led to inbreeding and caused hemophilia in many of the men. Those of mixed races tend to be the healthiest, they get the best of both worlds often.

How we grow is by learning to be impure, managing our mix of emotions and choosing how we will deal with them. A great chef must likewise learn to mix ingredients well, the proper mixtures are infinite and delicious. An eternity of purity would be hell.

I have spoken before about outliers, those ingredients that don't seem to make sense, they don't really fit in with anything. Outliers are catalysts for new combinations. When it is time to try something different, you need something different.

I seem to recall that hydrogen is the purest element. Hydrogen is colorless, odorless, nonmetallic and tasteless. It is pure. Pretty boring and fairly useless, in fact if present it can mess up the making of metals.

If we love difference, we love others. If we love sameness, we love ourselves. Pure and good do not mean the same thing. Good means a positive influence, pure means single. Good means to overcome evil, if the world were pure there would be nothing to overcome and therefore no good, no evil, just boredom.