I have just recently finished reading the book entitled “Dear hunting with Jesus” by Joe Bageant – a book about the poor working class in America and what informs their values and beliefs. A very interesting read, highlighting the power of culture to shape and control our lives. However, I have to say that at the end of reading the book I was left feeling somewhat hopeless and despairing at where we as humans are in the world right now, and wondering what on Earth any of us can do to create change for the better, when so many of us are blinded by the hologram of modernity.
Then today I started reading Earth Time by David Suzuki, written 20 years ago in 1998. In the introduction David speaks about how humankind initially lived in harmony with the earth – “deeply embedded in the natural world, completely dependent on intact Nature, whose abundance provided all that we needed for survival”. It has only been in the last 0.1% of our existence here on earth, with the advent of agriculture and an accompanied explosion in population, technology and consumption that we have set ourselves apart from Nature and unwittingly created a scenario for our own self destruction, along with many other species on the planet. We have created a global ecological crisis – and I’m not just talking about ‘climate change’ here. I’m talking about the decimation of rainforests and many other unique ecosystems, leading to the extinction of many life-forms on this planet; the breakdown in the ozone layer; oceans filled with plastic that is killing many ocean creatures; toxins in the air, soil and water; and the list goes on and on. But that is only part of the story. The other part of the story is that many people are suffering due to poverty and inequality, rising chronic health conditions, depression, anxiety, and other mental health conditions, alienation, economic pressures, and the lure of success – whatever that may be. In short humanity seems to be afflicted with a kind of restless melancholy that we try and abate by dutifully fulfilling our role as good consumers.
What astounds and frustrates me the most with all of this, is that many writers from varying backgrounds have been writing and speaking about the dysfunctionality of our current global economic system and its underpinning values for quite some time now. Yet humanity seems to be currently swinging further to the right with its values and ideals of social hierarchy, economic expansion, individual efforts, competition, and protestant work ethics. Why is this happening when the evidence that these ideas are no longer serving us, is so clear before us? Or is it? Perhaps so many of us are caught up with the preoccupation of earning a dollar so that we can eke out a living, or lavishly compete with the Jones’s, that when we flop onto our couches from sheer physical or mental exhaustion at the end of the day and mindlessly soak in the latest stream of drama, either via the waves or self created in our own minds, there is little or no time to contemplate whether humanity is heading in the right direction or not. However, as David Suzuki writes, it is time for us to face up to the uncomfortable fact that we are destroying the planet that sustains us and ourselves in the process.
Last night a young man I work with told me that he didn’t want to be here (on earth) anymore, and that he just didn’t understand people or life. Unfortunately he is not the only young , or older, person who feels like that. Many of us are left hanging on the edges, either economically or psychologically, wondering what the hell this ride is all about. It seems that we have lost our connection to Nature, each other and Ourselves, and don’t know how to get it back. As Daniel Hillel from Out Of The Earth wrote, “the clever are adept at extricating themselves from situations that the wise would have avoided from the outset. Unfortunately, our cleverness as a species has gotten us into a situation from which the same faculty can no longer free us. Cleverness has its limit. Wisdom is now needed”. So where can we look for this Wisdom? Some might say, in the quiet and still space of our inner-self. Others might say that Nature itself can provide the answers we are looking for. I believe we can find wisdom and peace when we connect deeply with ourselves and nature. However, our ever noisy mind often has difficulty in discerning the true voice of our inner-self from that of our culturally conditioned voice. So how can we resolve the many issues of our times? I believe it is up to all of us to take stock of these issues and not just sit back and wait for our governments to do something. Our governments are running on those outdated ideas of ever increasing economic growth, individualism, nationalism, competition, and increasing consumption of diminishing resources. It seems that if these ideas have brought us to this precarious space then it is time for some new ideas and ways of being on this planet. I believe that it is up to those of us who have been able to see beyond the hologram of modernity, and therefore have the capacity to vision another way, to take on this challenge. As the adage goes, “those who can, should”. If others are bound and blinded by the hologram, then shouldn’t it be up to those who aren’t to set them free?
And so my invitation is, if this blog resonates with you and you wish to see change for the better on this planet, will you join me in seeking out and contributing new ideas, thus creating an alternative voice to our current dominating voice of “ever increasing economic growth”? If so, I would love to read your comments and ideas. Let’s have a conversation and see where it leads us.
Catzen's Musings on Life 