Month: December 2018

And, how much can we care?

Building on the train of thought within What really matters, how should we feel about life? Thinking about what matters is arguably a cerebral activity, but the meaning of it all clearly touches into the area of emotion. Caring about what we hear – going beyond the words to imagine, and feel, the reality of it all – seems this daunting but important step.

Humans, undoubtedly, are thinking creatures. That’s effectively what defines us: processing life at the level of thought; seeing and understanding events through the eyes of the mind; deciding our course of action based on that logic (Notes One). But then we’re also social creatures, seeing through the heart as we empathise with the experiences of others and let that have its influence on us as well.

That life of emotion, whether it’s social empathy or our own personal responses, is a powerful reality. Logic might compel us at times, but feelings also exert an equally if not more potent force in our lives. Which is why I’ve found myself asking before whether there might be limits to how much we can care; limits being sorely tested by modern ways of being (Notes Two).

With this new level of awareness the internet’s creating, questions of human capacity are being pushed to the fore in a number of ways. What is it to be human? Is it that we see the meaning behind pure logic, operating on that level as well? Modern technology might place the world in our pocket, but can we bring that knowledge to life in meaningful ways?

Is meaning then perhaps tied into feeling, to caring how other beings experience life? And, is the insight offered by technology even capable of being imbued with heartfelt understanding or is that too overwhelming a picture? I would’ve thought we ‘have’ to care, otherwise life risks making us less than human – careless about what we know.

That’s not saying it’s in any way easy to care. It’s not. It risks depression, anxiety, apathy, confusion, anger, resignation. But what are we without it? To me, humans aren’t truly cold, calculating beings who take what they can and give no thought to the bigger picture. We’re delightfully complex, social creatures who tend to seek the best for ourselves and others, as long as circumstances allow it.

In that light, is it wise to lend out our emotions to anyone who wishes to play a tune on them? Be it one of fear, hatred, or even misguided optimism. If emotions are powerful, how we make use of them seems crucial (Notes Three).

This idea of human capacity just intrigues me. Knowledge, insight and connection have, in many ways, been sparked by recent technological advancements. We now ‘have’ that level of awareness. But what we do with it – whether we can rise to the challenge of caring about everything that’s going on, realising the parts we play in it all, bringing our humanity to bear in that space – seems so open to question.

Notes and References:

Note 1: Strange arrogance of thought
Note 1: What are we thinking?
Note 1: Convergence and divergence
Note 2: Testing times
Note 2: Does anything exist in isolation?
Note 2: Value in visible impacts
Note 3: Fear or coercion as motivators
Note 3: It resonates, but should it be amplified
Note 3: Working through mind & society

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What really matters

In life there’s so much we could care about, all these causes people are rightfully crying out over and pushing forward onto local, national and global agendas. All the things people give voice to are important, they all matter, but how it all fits together and what the best overall response might be seem these almost impossible questions.

Perhaps it’s a case of needing the bigger picture? Being able to hold all those concerns within a larger, more comprehensive understanding of what’s going on (see Notes One). All the words, opinions and solutions constantly unfolding within our giant, worldwide conversation seem to be grappling with exactly that: trying to make sense of it all, to find the right perspective from which to chart manageable, inclusive ways forward.

But then, when everything matters it can also seem as if nothing does: how can we do anything about it? All these disparate, competing, and sometimes contradictory problems almost create this stalemate of paralysis and conflict. It’s disheartening to feel powerless and overwhelmed. It’s stressful to think everything’s an argument and human interactions must be ‘won’. It’s exhausting being so aware of things.

The awareness brought by the internet is absolutely astounding: knowledge and connection are at our fingertips; timeless ways of being can be altered by well-thought-out ‘solutions’. And, of course, the ease of that could lead to us undervaluing those very functions. Living a life of constant updates or emotive personal insights into distant realities could quite easily desensitise and distract us from the stuff of everyday existence (Notes Two).

All these things matter. Our attitudes toward others and the relationships we have with them hold great meaning about the significance and value of human life. The choices we make shape the world around us, informing economic, social, environmental, and political realities. All the aspects of our lives are rippling out into this shared environment, impacting all they find there.

We’re really sharing this one space; especially now tech is bringing everything so closely into our own personal spaces. There’s this strange contradiction of things seeming so personal yet also being so remote: events are announced directly to us without much social mediation, echoing within our psyche as we process them, alone, disconnected. The paradoxes of technology are fascinating, if mildly terrifying, to consider.

Holding our own within it all, keeping a firm sense of what matters and how much, is daunting. Everything about life is seemingly being tested by this relatively new global perspective and all the ways we’re trying to master it on the personal level (Notes Three). And, of course, I’m not entirely sure what the answers are here either.

Ultimately though, it does matter – anything impacting human life and all that sustains it matters, both individually and systemically. In every area, our lives intersect with the interests of others; how we negotiate all those competing priorities seems a powerful opportunity. If we influence the world through all we do, then power, almost undeniably, rests in our hands.

Notes and References:

Note 1: Ideas that tie things together
Note 1: Who should we trust?
Note 1: Can we manage all-inclusive honesty?
Note 2: All that’s going on around us
Note 2: Desensitised to all we’re told?
Note 2: How important is real life?
Note 3: Values on which we stand firm?
Note 3: Making adjustments
Note 3: In the deep end…

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Some thoughts about ‘life’

In quite a childlike way, I find it amazing to think that pretty much everything on earth is alive. It’s fairly easy to get swept up in things and start to take that simple fact as a given but, really, it’s incredible to realise all that goes into sustaining life here in all its forms.

Taking time to imagine all the varied interconnections that maintain the ecosystems, relationships and processes on which our own lives depend seems a valuable choice in terms of how we employ our minds. Sometimes I wonder if modern carelessness isn’t perhaps a consequence of not having the opportunity or inclination to contemplate, appreciate and fully understand the wonder of it all.

We have enough going on, but the volume of activity that’s also going on ‘behind the scenes’ to keep life ticking over must be absolutely staggering to comprehend. The hierarchical, interdependent synergy of the animal kingdom building, as it does, upon the sustenance of plant life and mineral richness surrounding it all. The shelter, nourishment and stimulation of the environment and passing seasons.

It’s just so impressive how it all works together seamlessly, almost casually, while we have such difficulties coordinating ourselves. Life just gets on with it ‘out there’, while we throw problem after problem in its direction: pollution, urban encroachment, farming innovation, tourism, waste. The ways humans interact with nature seems so bizarre, so out of step with the calm industrious wisdom it’s demonstrating to us (Notes One).

Humans certainly present quite a challenge. To ourselves, in countless ways, but also to our very environment. The question of what right we have to impact the world as we do seems as old as life itself: woven into the foundations of various belief systems as this fundamental sense of where we stand, what our roles are, and the purpose or responsibility of our existence.

Surely, we only exist because we have somewhere to live? Some environment able to sustain life. This sense in which Earth makes human life possible. Not only physically, but also by way of history and civilisation, the pathways of thought and innovation over the years that’ve led to where we now stand. Everything building on everything else, coexisting more or less harmoniously so life can go on.

Quite often, I find myself asking what exactly we think we’re doing here (Notes Two). And while, at times, I can be hesitantly critical of attempts at change, I’m honestly not sure how much of a future we have without it. There’s this almost fatalistic sense in which we’re ‘living for the now’, for ourselves, rather than maintaining those things that’ll preserve life into the future.

But then, we’re clearly both intelligent and creative. We have the capacity to reflect on what’s around us – the harmonious integration of nature, the fundamental ways it sustains and enriches existence, the fragility of it all – and realise the magnitude of the problems we’re pushing onto those who follow us. Hopefully, somehow, we’ll figure it out.

Notes and References:

Note 1: Intrinsic value of nature
Note 1: Limits having a purpose
Note 1: Tuning out from environment
Note 1: Nature speaks in many ways, do we listen?
Note 1: Aesthetic value of nature
Note 2: Does anything exist in isolation?
Note 2: Can we reinvigorate how we’re living?
Note 2: The power of understanding
Note 2: Smart to play the system?

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Creative vision in finding solutions

In looking for answers we often turn to logic, thinking solutions are to be reached by way of convincing or compelling arguments. And maybe they are. There’s definitely a need to make our plans reasonable, and, thought being the crown of our existence, it certainly seems foolish not to call on it. But, equally, there’s this sense in which we’re motivated by what we’d like to create in life.

I’m thinking of things like visualisation and vision boards – practices whereby we imagine a future, building up these inspirational pictures of how we want our lives to be. Logic might compel us in a certain sense, but having a vision we truly believe in also seems a deeply motivating and powerful approach to change.

As a train of thought, it touches into a lot of fundamental questions around whether we ‘need’ to be convinced by argument, social pressure or the promise of reward in order to change all those aspects of life that are genuinely in need of improvement (Notes One). It’s circling in on the question of what it is to be human: to what extent we’re ruled by logic or habit or belief in what we’re creating here.

What is life? It’s honestly quite delighting to find that a couple of questions can lead down to that bedrock of “what is it to be human”. What are we doing here? What do we make of all that we find around us? How do we interact with reality, and what are we bringing through our presence and engagement with the process of living?

Life’s clearly a creative process: we take what we find and add something to it, based on reason or habit or compassionate understanding. As humans, it seems we generally respond in one of those ways. At the extreme, we’re capable of literally recreating human life; but, every step we take, we can either nurture or neglect that which sustains life personally, socially, environmentally, etc.

In that light, are we acting purely on logic or also on vision? Everything seemingly has its own logic, but I’m not sure where that leads us – whether it’s capable of reaching a coherent picture we’d truly like to be living within. Alternatively, is there another way of seeing and understanding how things fit together? A way of imagining where things might lead while also staying engaged in the process of shaping that reality.

It’s my convoluted path back round to the question of art: whether it’s an option, a luxury, or perhaps a powerful way of cutting through to the essentials and seeing life with greater clarity (Notes Two). Whether it might be capable of penetrating to the heart of things, shining a light of awareness and understanding into areas of unquestionable darkness.

Because life’s not perfect and we’re clearly in need of realistic, practical, inspiring solutions (Notes Three). Finding ways to grasp reality based around deep understanding, motivating vision, and empowering engagement seems, at times, something art’s truly capable of offering.

Notes and References:

Note 1: Pick a side, any side
Note 1: Fear or coercion as motivators
Note 1: Attempts to influence
Note 2: What does art have to say about life?
Note 2: The creativity of living
Note 3: Starting over in life
Note 3: Seeing, knowing and loving
Note 3: Codes of behaviour
Note 3: Finding flaws

Unintentionally, this very much seems to follow on from the thoughts within Culture as reflection.

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Culture as reflection

Culture could perhaps be viewed as this giant looking-glass; a complex reflection of meaning, values and practices that helps sustain society in big and little ways.

It’s that place where inner meets outer, where our inner lives find recognition and where we encounter the ways of the world. As if culture stands at that line where we touch the world and attempt to make sense of it all. Like a world running alongside ours that’s sometimes working symbolically, sometimes reflecting on social realities, and often mixing both as it plants its seeds for the future (see Notes One).

Within that world, we might find or lose ourselves. It’s presumably a picture that can validate, affirm and uplift or destroy through its representations of our lives? Dealing, as it does, with both the forms of our reality and the more metaphorical exploration of themes and qualities, it’s surely walking lines that are wisest to tread carefully.

I mean, in life there’s always that question of what we perceive then what it means. If culture’s the place we assign and explore meaning, it seems important to exercise caution. Drawing parallels between external qualities and inner ones – that visual code of art – can have serious social impacts; linking looks with goodness or age with relevance could spill over into ‘real world’ attitudes.

It’s interesting, because arguably culture is where we get our ideas for living: social meanings are brought to us through stories we’re told and conversations we’re having about them, informing our thoughts and the paths we choose to walk in life (Notes Two). It’s shaping us all through the journeys it’s taking us on, the preoccupations and characters that are filling our lives this way.

Often, it might be taking the forms of modern life – the problems, realities and choices we face – and using them as its ‘language’, but it’s also doing something different. So, it might seem like a mirror, but at a certain point that reflection merges into the world of ideas and plays with them in ways that might bear little relationship to reality or be particularly helpful when applied to it.

Of course, that raises the question of whether culture ‘should’ be a mirror – if that’s actually its function. Is it offering us the opportunity to reflect upon our lives, understand our values, find ourselves within it? Or does it represent a more subtle relationship between thought and reality, which then works into our personal and social realities?

It’s undoubtedly a wonderful tool for broadening horizons: bringing different times and places to life; exploring ways of being human; peopling our worlds with ideas and images. Universal personal experiences of life, identity, relationship, choice, action can be delved into; potentially uniting us by way of insight into our shared humanity, beyond life’s many divisions. These days, becoming a veritable tidal wave of awareness (Notes Three).

These are perhaps questions too large to do justice to here, but they do seem important ones to get to grips with somehow.

Notes and References:

Note 1: What does art have to say about life?
Note 1: Reference points for how we’re living
Note 1: Playing with fire?
Note 2: Mirrors we offer one another
Note 2: Working through mind & society
Note 2: How we feel about society
Note 3: All that’s going on around us
Note 3: Can we manage all-inclusive honesty?
Note 3: Who should we trust?
Note 3: In the deep end…

On a similar note, The power of understanding looked at the importance of what we keep in mind.

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What would life be if we could trust?

What might our lives be like if we could trust? Trust in others, in information we receive, in organisations around us and their intentions for our lives? Before, I’ve talked about the need, above all, to trust ourselves; in that it’s hard to see what others have in mind for us (Notes One). Beyond that pragmatic response though, what’s the picture of a trusting life?

I mean, if we could trust that all our interactions were based on concern for our best interests as well as the interests of society. Instead of this ‘dog eat dog’ approach of taking what you can, looking out for you and yours, and battling it out over self-interest. There’s a social, systemic interpretation of that but – as ever – I’m thinking theoretically here.

Really, it’s a question about motivation and values and the sentiment behind collective endeavours (Notes Two). Is community a battleground of conflicting ideas and priorities, or a place of commonality, togetherness and mutual concern? Do we have to fight, to cling, to defend, to shout, or is society already listening? It’s not listening. Everywhere there are agendas at play, very specific ideas of how to treat people ‘for the best’.

Unfortunately, modern life in the West seems to be that battleground: we’ve taken ideas of social engineering and essentially thrown everything at the feet of market forces. Culture, beauty, self-worth, environment, education, communication, infrastructure, all this is effectively on sale to the highest bidders and most strategic thinkers. It’s perhaps foolish to trust in that reality.

But, if we could? If those operating in all areas of our lives held each individual in the highest regard? If the scenarios about to play out were firmly and compassionately held in the hearts of those pulling the strings? If injustices and difficulties were sympathetically understood, with life-affirming solutions being offered? If society were fed with nurturing rather than destabilising forces? If paths were chosen out of constructive optimism, not cold calculation.

Writing that, I see it’s actually a deeply depressing train of thought. Because it highlights the disgusting ways companies are profiting off our lives: friendships, uncertainty, knowledge, democracy, all these fundamental human realities seemingly being sold off, plundered, exacerbated rather than relieved or encouraged in healthy directions.

I’d not anticipated ‘imagining a trustworthy world’ would be almost too naïve yet depressing to write about. What does that say? Surely, as humans, we’re entrusting ourselves to the community surrounding us, to the forethought contained there. Isn’t life built around a degree of trust? As opposed to worrying we’re in the hands of those who pretty much couldn’t care less.

It’s sad to think we can only trust ourselves, but also empowering: this call to know our minds, our wounds or weaknesses; to trust your judgement and understanding, viewing life against that backdrop; to base choices around the best wisdom we can find, leaning only on the certainty of our convictions. Hopefully then, such qualities might find their way into the fabric of society itself.

Notes and References:

For the Tibetan Buddhist perspective on managing the realities of human existence and establishing principles of trust and compassion, there’s: “Living Beautifully with Uncertainty and Change” by Pema Chödrön, (Shambhala, Boston), 2012.

Note 1: Who should we trust?
Note 1: Freedom, what to lean on & who to believe
Note 1: Need to stand alone & think for ourselves
Note 2: Community as an answer
Note 2: Concerns over how we’re living
Note 2: What holds it all together

Building on this, ideas around the bigger picture behind social realities made up a large part of The power of understanding.

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Gifts, needs & being in want

It seems gifts once came at times of need or as the occasional fulfilment of wishes. Life between those moments generally lived economically, frugally, sensibly, these were presumably moments for celebration, provision, and the recognition of social ties.

Relatively few and far between, you’d weigh things up to use the opportunity wisely rather than waste it on something you’d regret. Arguably, the constriction of limitation creates focus and discernment as we discard frivolous desires in favour of what we know we’d truly value (Notes One).

And, at times of natural need – setting up home, raising children, big life-changes – gifts must’ve been valuable. The thoughtful generosity of receiving what you’re wanting seems a precious social interaction almost akin to empathy: putting yourself in the others shoes, imagining something they might appreciate, giving what we can.

It seems traditions originally held great purpose and meaning. This sense in which gifts stemmed from something genuine; from sentiment, intention, requirement, and gratitude around the contribution others felt inspired and able to make to our lives.

But things change. These days, the clamour of consumerism’s pretty hard to ignore as we’re inundated with reminders to ‘show others how much we love them’ by spending more money on more things. That idea of expressing consideration and affection now seems quite commodified; this daunting, transactional shadow of what it conceivably once was.

Showing you care has morphed into all this endless innovation and marketing pressure: if you’re not buying the next thing, you just don’t love enough. Gifts became love – a strange contortion of original thinking, perhaps.

Then there’s this sense in which choices now define us. It’s difficult to surprise someone if buying slightly the wrong thing risks offense by revealing you don’t truly know them, or if anything but cash is seen as an imposition or disappointment. We’re so trained now to craft a self out of what we own; belongings don’t just meet needs, they’re affirmations of identity. Imaginative, thoughtful empathy became socially inadvisable.

So, it can often become a simply financial interaction. The joy of giving wrapped in consumer pragmatism as the voices shouting loudest say that identity and worth are tied to these things. Human relationship can easily be drowned out, our feelings for one another pushed about by those claiming it doesn’t count if we’re not spending enough on the right things.

That commercial agenda’s powerful. It’s considered, and designed around insights into our psychology: the need for love and recognition; the desire to feel valued and secure. Fundamental human realities seem a potentially limitless source of market demands (Notes Two). But can our genuine needs be met this way? Is there much substance beneath these things compared to the socio-economic burdens they’re creating?

Love? Human worth? Those aren’t tied to what we buy. They might get buried by talk of needing more and showing someone’s value through commercial channels but, essentially, they’re free. Priceless, even. Appreciating others, cutting through to what really matters, isn’t that the heart of all this?

Notes and References:

Note 1: “Paradox of Choice”
Note 1: The need for discernment
Note 2: Cycles of mind & matter
Note 2: Business defining human life
Note 2: Will novelty ever wear off?
Note 2: Worthless, or priceless?

In terms of traditions and the value of intention, the ideas of Things change, over time also tie in here.

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Values on which we stand firm?

Does everyone have a price? A point at which they’d abandon what they were doing and walk away with the money?

Because, presumably, whatever we’re doing, we’re doing for a reason. Something motivated or inspired us, making us feel it was a valuable contribution. Some kind of vision around how our activities might improve things or inspire people. For some, that motivation might be purely financial, although it does seem people are driven by more than that.

But then, for whatever reason, people are often offered money to stop. Whether it’s concern over market share or that their activity was in some way ‘threatening’ the interests of others. There are many reasons some might want others to stop an otherwise very worthwhile course of action.

Which brings values and money face to face: is it better to continue what you’re doing, even if you might never see a financial return of the kind being offered, or hold to your path in the knowledge there’s now this ‘loss’ attached to it? It’s interesting how money changes the game, asking questions that can really put people on the spot.

If you were doing something truly valuable for others, their sense of self-worth, their feeling of agency or hope for the future, their engagement in activity that could shift the trajectory of human society toward more intentional, considered, sustainable patterns of thought and behaviour, what sum would compel you to walk away and leave that undone?

From another angle, how much will we invest in our values? In today’s marketplaces it’s often more economical to compromise: mass-produced, wasteful, unethical goods are generally much cheaper than more thoughtful alternatives. In this, the cost of values is laid at our door.

If we care about certain things – environmental impact, waste and production lifecycles, human rights, and wider social or systemic forces – we’re essentially asked to put our money where our mouth is (if ‘mouth’ means the voice we’re giving to our heart and mind). Our beliefs and commitment to them are effectively on the line: if it really matters to us, we must pay.

It’s interesting to think about, these points where values and money meet (Notes One). Because, in so many ways, we’re being pushed toward compromises: pressures of life converging onto those values of ours, calling them into question and asking, financially, how much they truly matter. Human values and commercial ones face each other, waiting to shake hands on some kind of deal.

Once we compromise, we’re often then on a slippery slope of trying to decide where our ‘line’ now is. And people today seem somewhat gleeful in pointing out inconsistencies in reasoning or behaviour. Of course, we’re all flawed and paths to change are just that: a journey toward greater awareness and responsibility.

And maybe it’s worthwhile to really see the decisions we’re facing and what our choices set in motion? Rather than being swept along, stepping back to see the questions being asked and the realities of our answers.

Notes and References:

Note 1: Language and values
Note 1: What is economical
Note 1: Business defining human life
Note 1: Cycles of mind & matter
Note 1: Points of sale as powerful moments
Note 1: Cost and convenience
Note 1: Mathematics of life

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In the deep end…

At times I’ve compared modern life to a tornado or a merging of waters, wondering how long it’ll take us to find our feet and recover our edge in that disrupted world (Notes One). It’s this sense in which our way of living has been dialled up, many of the restrictions and forces of containment removed, leaving us at the helm of this strangely undefined yet powerful freedom.

It’s obviously a comment about technology, although that’s not something I want to revisit here. We all know tech is changing how we live, affecting us all personally within our lives and relationships as much as through the impacts it’s having socially and globally. This is undeniably a hugely potent force that’s reshaping what it means to be human, with consequences being felt across the planet.

As I’ve said in many of those posts though, perhaps the more important thing to engage with is understanding where we stand as humans? If we know what we’re doing, using more powerful tools needn’t be a problem (Notes Two). It’s so easy to blame the tool and, in many ways, they are causing problems; but any tool’s essentially an inanimate object. The onus is surely on us to use them wisely?

With that, then, we’re talking about society rather than technology. We’re facing up to how well we understand the realities we’ve been born into, and how well we’re serving to uphold or improve them. We’re asking difficult questions about the nature of the systems we have in place and how they might evolve further (Notes Three).

Ideally, I suppose, we’d live in a world where education and the media fostered a deep understanding and working knowledge of our shared systems? A realistic appreciation of what they’re offering and the value our contributions have throughout the fabric of society. A firm grasp of the roles we and others play, how that fits together, and the importance of everyone’s participation.

In a perfect world, I’d imagine everyone would feel valued and respected? In a well-structured society that balances freedom with responsibility, surely people could all flourish and give the best of themselves, knowing their efforts harmonised with the whole and would be appreciated by their community. If we knew what we stood within, its value, and that our active engagement was valued, would we ever jeopardise that?

Of course, I tend to think modern society doesn’t quite value things rightly (Notes Four). It seems we treat people poorly yet expect them to remain invested in the social realities we share. I’m not sure how we plan to be so careless yet arrive at life-affirming outcomes.

All this then circles in on the sense of what we’re all part of and the need to understand and act responsibly within it. Appreciating the ideas underpinning society, prioritising essentials over the non-essential, working those values more fully into the lives we share, not being distracted or thrown off course by the choppiness of modern life? These are huge challenges.

Notes and References:

Note 1: Ideas that tie things together
Note 1: Thoughts on art & on life
Note 2: How important is real life?
Note 2: Tools
Note 2: Cutting corners
Note 2: Making adjustments
Note 3: What holds it all together
Note 3: If society’s straining apart, what do we do?
Note 3: Passivity, or responsibility
Note 4: Interdependency
Note 4: Worthless, or priceless?

Plucking at a similar metaphor around how we navigate modern life, was Who should we trust?

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It resonates, but should it be amplified

While we might not fully understand it, we’re clearly emotional creatures: living gives rise to responses on the level of feeling, as we process situations in that way. It’s as if we can view life with the eyes of the mind, or those of the heart. That may be a confronting reality for the predominantly rational West, but it’s an interesting one to try and work with skilfully.

Because the heart doesn’t seem to have that clear a place within conversations of the mind; its voice often being dismissed as irrational, sentimental, hysterical, or ultimately unproductive. As if feelings are this passing wave that’ll even out with judicious application of more logical wisdom. As if emotion isn’t a valid way of reading life, understanding events, and responding with the full depth of our humanity.

Yet feelings also hold a strong position within modern life, particularly in the realm of culture: music, films, literature all tapping into that wellspring of our heart-felt connection with life and one another. And then, slightly differently, through the reactions of the media conversation: that echoing of events through the mouthpieces of news organisations, echoed again through the world’s social media response.

Within those cultural conversations, the heart seems to find a place. But is it a wise place? A skilful use of feeling? An avenue that’ll lead emotion toward becoming a powerful, considered voice within local and global communities?

It often seems to struggle to progress much beyond an indignant, strangled scream. At times it seems to pool together into something we make an identity of; the grooves of our patterned responses to life and the affinity that can create with others. Which, perhaps, might be seen as a commodification or containment of feeling’s power.

But, if modern life’s giving rise to strong feelings, what ‘is’ the right way of handling them? Do waves of reaction simply become these self-reflexive amplifications of anger, despair, sadness or joy? Does culture become a venue for dwelling in our emotions and the social realities inspiring them, placing us in these perpetual echo-chambers of our own feelings? Is letting ‘all that’ define us the correct path? (Notes One)

As I said at the start, the extent to which we understand emotion’s place and work with it purposefully within our personal and social lives is one of many interesting challenges to being human. We ‘have’ emotions, but that doesn’t mean we automatically know what to make of them. And it also doesn’t follow that modern culture knows the best ways to capitalise on the heart’s value for the good of society (Notes Two).

Thinking we know what’s best for us, or that what we’re offered are wise and constructive paths, seems so questionable. Algorithms might be designed to analyse our moods and feed into them, but what is that food? Is it medicine or poison? Are we processing our emotions or becoming trapped within them? Knowing how to direct the heart seems quite essential if we’re hoping to live well.

Notes and References:

Note 1: Masks we all wear
Note 1: What’s a reasonable response?
Note 1: Reference points for how we’re living
Note 1: What are we thinking?
Note 2: Meaning in culture
Note 2: Dystopia as a powerful ideal
Note 2: The power of understanding
Note 2: Playing with fire?

Ideas around the value of emotion were also the focus of Anger as a voice and True words spoken in jest.

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