We currently live in a world where over 7 billion people all have differing opinions and beliefs. Everyone has there own ideas of what is right and wrong and what it means to live ‘the good life’. Of course there would be many people that we share similar views with, and agree on some things with, but not Everything. Can you think of one person in your life that you agree on absolutely everything with?
It certainly makes it an exciting and interesting world when everyone has different ideas to share. But what happens when our views clash and course disharmony in the world? What happens when one person’s views infringe upon the life of another person? What should or can you do when you believe passionately about something and believe it is important to share that idea or belief with the rest of humanity? We would probably all agree that some ideas are worth sharing more than others? Certainly there are some ideas, values and beliefs that have more power and dominance in the world.
I’m not sure there are any clear answers to the above questions. I only know that I struggle with many of the current ideas, values and beliefs that dominate in the world today. Ideas that many of us take for granted as being true; ideas such as:
- ‘competition is necessary for progress and growth’;
- ‘the evolution of a society is measured by its technology and industry’;
- ‘a comfortable and easy life is one we should all strive for’;
- ‘before man became civilized, the world was a wild and untamed place’;
- ‘life is just how it is and there is nothing we can do about it, we just need to accept it’.
It is that last idea that I probably struggle with the most. I certainly don’t believe it is true. And I’m sure there are many people out there who also don’t believe it. I believe that we are masters of our own destinies and we do have the power to change things if we so choose. However, perhaps on some level, life for me does have a certain ‘given’ quality to it and perhaps I don’t fully understand and use my power. In fact, I am fully convinced that I don’t. I know that I am culturally conditioned to see the world in a particular way, and like everybody else, on some passive level I take in many subliminal messages out there, without questioning them. For example, I believe in the importance of having three healthy meals a day because that is what I have been told since I was a child. In fact this European created idea is probably the most followed rule and idea in society today. Weddings, meetings, work and almost any activity we undertake in life revolves around our three-meal-a-day schedule. However, Native American peoples and other native tribes only ate when they were hungry and had the urge to. European settlers took this as evidence that these cultures were primitive because they grazed like other animals. Contrary to this thought however, recent studies into diet and how we eat have shown that in fact, intermittent fasting and eating several small meals a day is much better for our health. It was mostly due to industrialisation that the need for three planned meals a day came into being. I also grew up believing like many of my friends that the natural progression of life was: to go to school; study towards a career or job; get a job; get married; buy a house with a white picket fence; have children of my own; grow old; and die. However, as I grew older and began to question life and my place in it, I came to realise, that this is just a culturally created idea and that there are many other ways of progressing through life.
The other night I was having a conversation with a young woman who was telling me about her work. I asked her if she enjoyed her job and she shook her head and said that it was just a job to make ends meet. She also commented that ‘that’s just how it is’, implying that this was just a norm and an inevitable outcome that we all must endure. I responded by shaking my head and saying that I wasn’t sure that was so, even though I myself am in a job that I don’t always enjoy and probably wouldn’t do, if I didn’t have to. Due to the current economic system that we have created, it is essential that we find some way of accruing economic dollars to purchase the items we ‘need’ and ‘want’ in life. Is it true though that we have to accept that this is simply ‘how it is’ and there is nothing we can do to change it?
Somewhere deep inside me, I wanted to grab that young woman, shake her by the shoulders, and say NO, you don’t have to accept the idea, that you have to go into a job that you don’t really like, just so you can buy food and clothes and keep a roof over your head. Why hell, who says that you even have to keep a roof over your head? There are people out there, who have broken the current mold of living, and live a life that most of us wouldn’t even dare to dream of. Many of us have been brainwashed to believe that there is a certain inevitability to life that we simply have to adhere to, whereas others of us have dared to step into the unknown and create a life that has meaning and purpose, which goes beyond our current economic system and social conditioning. The following link gives many examples of how some people choose to live without money and create their own ways of progressing through life. The idea of living without money seems incomprehensible to some of us, yet many of us, are doing just that – choosing a life that breaks away from mainstream conditioning, ideas, thoughts and beliefs.
For me, I have been pondering what it means to live ‘the good life’ for some time, and now deeply believe that to live a good life, is to live a life that recognises the Oneness of life. When we see and feel our connectedness to every one and everything around us, then we make life choices that promote and nurture that connectedness, as well as individual autonomy. I believe there are many ways of doing this, however, those thoughts are for another day and another blog. Until then I shall keep pondering how I can positively contribute to the kaleidoscope of discourses that abound in our world.
Catzen's Musings on Life 