Author: admin

Belief in what we cannot see

With anything we’re looking at in life, how much can we know and how much is belief? Isn’t almost anything we think a form of belief? Belief in the validity of a certain way of seeing, piecing together and thinking about life. Thought’s funny in that, much as it helps us a great deal, isn’t it equally capable of tying everything up in knots? Untangling and ironing out exactly “how” it helps or hinders seems a strange challenge.

I mean, we might claim “modern Western thought” is merely “knowledge”: this system we’ve developed for relying on what our senses, or tools designed to amplify them, tell us about the observable nature of reality. A reality committed to the world of thought and pulled apart into all the theories we’ve strung together to explain it (Notes One).

Isn’t it a form of belief to assume the physical world is the only reality, though? This basic assumption that all that exists is “what’s observable by human senses”. As if we’re detectives, searching through physical evidence, probing deeper and deeper, in the hope we’ll eventually find the whole truth on that level. As if nothing animates it all – nothing invisible, unquantifiable, immeasurable. (Notes Two)

Sometimes it feels like we might be digging our own grave – denying our own existence – by clinging to this belief that only the evidence matters. Almost as if “our way of thought” is as much a question of faith as any other: belief that this is all there is. Like an anti-religion, insisting there’s “nothing beyond” because we cannot see it. Isn’t it entirely conceivable there could be an intelligible realm beyond all this?

But, pulling that back a little, isn’t knowledge also always a question of what we believe something “means”? As if knowledge itself is as much “the facts” as it is the theories we see them sitting within and conclusions they allow us to reach – these whole bodies of connected thought we accept as true and build our lives around.

What if the meaning we see as true carries as much weight as facts themselves? This invisible world of thought where we’ve each strung together our own set of beliefs around life’s meaning; ideas we’re then acting on in every area of our lives. Each person, perhaps, living in their own unique world of personally accepted meaning about self, society, ethics or reason.

Pulling back to the everyday, don’t our thoughts affect every aspect of how we’re living? Beliefs about our relationship with society and which voices we trust to tell us “the truth” must shape a large part of the world we all live within. Ideas of what things mean, how they come together, the forces at play and best paths to take “becoming” what reality then “is” (Notes Three).

Some might spin together seemingly reasonable theories about what’s going on and the choices we should make, but how well those ideas will translate into reality – the path they’re leading us on – sometimes seems doubtful.

Notes and References:

Note 1: Ways thought adds spin to life
Note 1: Making things up as we go along
Note 1: How ideas find their place in the world
Note 1: Caught in these thoughts
Note 2: Spirit as the invisible
Note 2: What is real?
Note 2: Losing the sense of meaning
Note 2: Mastering life’s invisible realities
Note 3: What if it all means something?
Note 3: The relationship between statistics & reality
Note 3: Society as an imposition?
Note 3: One thing leads to another

Ways to share this:

Systems, their power, whose hands?

Do we live within reality, or the systems that’ve been designed around it? In our natural state, it seems we would’ve lived within reality and all its laws: the interrelatedness of climate, geology, time, cycles of growth or decay, and the creatures with which we share space having determined, to a large extent, what “life” was. Now, though, don’t we exist within all the systems others have dreamt up around all that?

Almost as if humans have stepped in between themselves and reality, creating all these mediating thought structures that shape how we’ll live, the ways we perceive the world around us, and the paths we’re likely to take (Notes One). As if “we” created these grooves with our ideas then shepherded others into seeing life that way and living our lives on those terms.

Isn’t that, in a way, what culture or education are? Passing on the ideas with which we see the world; the things we consider as our options; the judgements we’ll tend to form about the choices we’re all making (Notes Two). This sense in which “society” – be it global, national or otherwise – attempts to convey its thinking and have that shape the lives that are to come: the ways people will interact within its boundaries.

What’s behind that? What kind of vision or sense of life’s meaning is being used, from the back-end, to inform the options we’re offered? Whether optimistic, functional, idealistic or coldly calculated, it must make a difference the kind of ideas those dreaming these things up have in mind (Notes Three). At this point, are we interacting with systems that truly have our best interests at heart?

Arguably, though, human societies have always been “systems” designed from a certain perspective: from the earliest civilisations through to our own, there always seems a “logic” or set of values around which people have organised their communities. As if, as humans, we apply thought to understand our situation then create meaningful thought structures within which we are comfortable to live.

Now, though, what “is” that vision? This freedom to choose within the vast, unregulated marketplace of our options; making from it whatever will emerge from the sum total of all our disparate, seemingly unconnected habits, actions or decisions. There are presumably endless ways the component parts of society could be dismantled and rearranged? Countless potential configurations we might bring into being. (Notes Four)

Sometimes it seems interesting to consider the kinds of choices we’re actually being offered: often, the choice “between” options already set by others, above our heads. Within that, how much power do we actually have to shift things in directions of our true choosing? Is the overarching vision of “where this is going” something that’s in our heads or theirs?

As humans, effectively governed by free choice, isn’t it intriguing to imagine where things are headed and how much power the systems weaving themselves around every facet of our existence might truly have over the lives that we’ll all be leading?

Notes and References:

Note 1: Value and meaning in our lives
Note 1: The thought surrounding us
Note 1: Shaping the buildings that shape us
Note 2: Culture as information
Note 2: The stories that we hear
Note 2: Connecting truthfully with life
Note 2: Making things up as we go along
Note 3: The self within society
Note 3: What inspires collective endeavours
Note 3: Treating people like sims?
Note 3: Knowing the value of what you have
Note 4: The incredible responsibility of freedom
Note 4: Markets, and what they might mean
Note 4: Who gets to define us

Alongside this, there is also the thought of Having confidence in complex systems.

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The relationship between statistics & reality

In thinking about life, how much do statistics shape things? While often painted as this fairly neutral representation of reality, don’t they also have an effect? Giving pictures of reality in such a way as to inform our responses or leave us feeling certain trends form inevitable paths we must follow. Almost these strange scientific predictions; wielding a power not dissimilar to superstition.

Of course, that’s not really “true” in the sense that they do depict reality through making inquiries of it and presenting the results. But aren’t there numerous ways things can be represented, many conclusions that could be drawn, and a deep significance to the questions being asked? So many variables that could make the same, raw situation appear quite differently, then lead us down different paths.

As thinking beings, aren’t we looking to statistics to inform us about reality? Valuing the oversight and insight this offers in terms of understanding situations deeply and purposefully enough to chart our way within them. Numbers giving us this dispassionate, objective sense of how things stand and where we stand within them. This very specific way of breaking “life” down into calculations for navigating it.

But, isn’t there an interesting space to be found between reality and our thoughts about it? This space where we create and maintain our understanding of life and how best to live it – a place filled with values, priorities, beliefs, opinions, inferences, judgements and evaluations. That delicate line between how we see things and how we will act (Notes One).

Don’t our ideas always, subtly filter out through the choices we’re making each day? Through our attitudes and assumptions; words and gestures; habitual and occasional decisions. Everything we do becoming this rhythm of how we’ll interact with the world – the kinds of sentiment or belief we’re giving voice to and bringing to life through our presence (Notes Two).

Ideas about reality “must” always be shaping how we’re acting within it and responding to all we find around us. And, increasingly, it seems we view situations quite coldly – as if others were patterns or types rather than people to care about. As if, given our overwhelm, we “can” use the cold lens of data to read and analyse human existence.

In some areas, why would we ever rely on statistics? Say, with faith: do the reported beliefs of any number of people bear any meaningful relation to what we ourselves might believe? Given how belief, by its nature, exists in that subjective space of “how we see things”, it can’t really be affected by data, trends or the decisions of others. (Notes Three)

Isn’t life, then, almost a question of belief? Our ideas around what matters; whether individual contributions count; or the trust we’ll place in others. Life, in its way, depicting our understanding of reality and belief in what’s possible. Whether those choices are shaped by statistical representations of bleak situations or trust in what our lives could serve to create must make quite a difference.

Notes and References:

Note 1: All that we add to neutrality
Note 1: Mutual awareness and accommodation?
Note 1: Understanding & staying informed
Note 1: Being trusted to use our discernment…
Note 2: What we create by our presence
Note 2: Any such thing as normal?
Note 2: Values, and what’s in evidence
Note 2: Things we give voice to
Note 3: The picture data paints of us
Note 3: Spirit as the invisible
Note 3: What if it all means something?
Note 3: Ideas that tie things together

Ways to share this:

Rich Roll & the spirit of transformation

When it comes to all the voices speaking into this modern world, who we choose to listen to and the attitudes with which they’re choosing to approach our complex realities must be important in terms of the influence it’s likely to have on us. While we might have almost endless options within all that’s currently being pumped out into the world, how much is truly valuable for where it’s likely to lead?

Sometimes it seems quite incredible how much is being churned out each day – all these new perspectives joining in our already quite intensely populated global conversation (Notes One). Almost as if there’s this new digestive process accompanying our life on earth, as we all consume this constant commentary, deconstruction and analysis of everything that’s going on within and between all our various groupings.

What are we to make of it? Presumably it could become quite a paralysing level of self-awareness, as everything’s drawn into this intense scrutiny from every conceivable perspective. As if almost nothing can emerge unscathed from that kind of multifaceted critical analysis. Few actions seem like they could withstand it – bringing to mind the Buddhist notion of not taking a step for fear of treading on ants.

Not to say there’s not immense value in expanding our awareness to see things from every angle as we reflect on the impacts we’re having in life and best way to be living it, but aren’t people generally both flawed and limited in outlook? While this new, global conversation increasingly asks that we see from all sides, don’t we traditionally tend to look mainly in the light of own perspectives and interests? (Notes Two)

In that context, I find the contributions of Rich Roll and his longstanding podcast pretty valuable in the sense that they both acknowledge the struggles yet set the target high in terms of self-development. His own personal story, and those he tends to draw out from the lives of his guests, often focussing on this fundamentally human journey from limitations, wounds and flaws through to insight, mastery and transformation.

Isn’t it fairly common? That people have a dream, a vision or gift we can offer the world, but also need to face up to this other side of ourselves which often tends to work against our higher ideals and threaten to tear down any success we might hope to achieve. Each person, perhaps, existing somewhere between their light and their darkness – the blessings and the challenges – as we seek our path in life (Notes Three).

Delving into fundamental questions around what it is to be human and what we might be able to make of whatever situations we’re finding ourselves within seems so valuable. This basic attitude of hope and belief in what’s possible when we commit to working on ourselves and expanding our level of understanding to create the solutions we desperately need.

Whether we’re talking on the personal or collective level, it’s an outlook that could perhaps help make all the difference.

Notes and References:

Rich Roll website, with links to his podcast, blog and other activities: https://www.richroll.com/

Note 1: What is the public conversation?
Note 1: Attention as a resource
Note 1: Where do we get our ideas from?
Note 1: Inspiring people and ideas
Note 2: Understanding what we’re all part of
Note 2: Joining the dots
Note 2: Integrity and integration
Note 3: Complication of being human
Note 3: Will things change if we don’t make them?
Note 3: Letting people change
Note 3: Starting over in life

Ideas around how we use our opportunity to contribute to conversations was also one part of Things we give voice to.

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Our roles in relation to nature

Thinking about where we stand in relation to nature, is it somewhere along the lines of “lead, tend, manage”? That we generally attempt to lead, guide or direct animals in tune with our own goals or wishes; tend to the requirements of plants; and manage the physical world in terms of the resources and shelter it offers or obstacles it sets in our way. Maybe, though, terms don’t matter so much as simply thinking of what our roles are?

Isn’t it all a picture of our relationship to the world around us? The rights we feel we have and degree to which we understand how it all works – what each being needs, its essential nature, and all it has to offer within the larger picture of how things come together. Don’t we have to “know more”? To wrap our heads around these natural realities and act wisely in their regard, rather than working against them. (Notes One)

Any kind of relationship is perhaps based on understanding and appreciation: that we see the other for what they are; respect their existence; give them space to live out the nature of their being (Notes Two). It’s not just about superimposing our way of thinking over theirs, is it? Lining everything up in terms of how it serves, supports or sustains “us” – everyone, then, fighting all others to be the one whose vision dominates.

Sometimes it seems that’s what we’re doing, though. Looking at the natural world as this vast storehouse we’re all fighting for the keys to access so we can be the ones with the power, the control, the rights to grant to others. As if humans, having spread over the globe, will now simply trade away whatever assets happened to land at their feet (Notes Three). The battle lines of our geographical divisions already having been set.

Within nature, though, don’t we bear more responsibility than that? As thinking beings, isn’t the demand that we use knowledge wisely almost intrinsic to any sense of us playing our role well? We might see life in terms of power – the give and take of rights, assets and money – but we could also look at things differently, if we choose to. We could surround the world with our intelligence in other ways.

Understanding life as well as we do, could we not interact with nature based on that intelligence? Not just thinking of “what we can get”, but also how we can cooperate with our environment to bring out the best in it all. Isn’t there wisdom in almost everything? In the passing of time, the interactions of seemingly insignificant creatures or chemicals – this whole dance of wisdom that’s spun around us each day. (Notes Four)

Of all the life forms living on earth, what should “our” relationship be to it all? Given we seem to be the ones with the power to do good or ill to almost everything that crosses our path, how we’re using that power must be quite significant.

Notes and References:

Note 1: Nature & the fulfilment of potential
Note 1: Things with life have to be maintained
Note 1: Tuning out from environment
Note 2: Seeing, knowing and loving
Note 2: Detaching ourselves from the world around us
Note 2: Ideas that tie things together
Note 2: The way to be
Note 3: Limits having a purpose
Note 3: Living the dream
Note 3: Economy as a battleground
Note 4: Nature tells a story, about the planet
Note 4: Appreciating other ways of being

Ways to share this:

Social trends, educational realities

With all that’s going on within society – all the attitudes, trends, patterns, ideas, and problems – it’s interesting to consider how it’s working its way into and out of the classroom. Because, if we take it that schools are both a social microcosm and a starting point for many of the things we’ll face in the future, it can hardly be without consequence how well such realities are being resolved, integrated or otherwise dealt with.

Doesn’t everything filter into the classroom? The general attitude we have towards learning, teachers and peers. The capacities we have for paying attention, regulating ourselves or getting along with others. The atmosphere of focus or flippancy; cooperation or disruption; respect or disregard. Many of these qualities seem able to make or break the tasks of education; perhaps, rendering it next to impossible (Notes One).

Sometimes it seems incredible, all that’s currently flying round within society: all the novelty, distraction, criticism, aggression, silliness. Precisely when “life” seems to need our serious, disciplined, intentional engagement in solving the many, many difficulties we’re facing, it’s almost as if the very opposite is what’s most in evidence around us. (Notes Two)

Obviously, the world’s changed a lot in a short space of time (Notes Three). So many of the things – like tradition, convention, expectation – that seemingly used to hold us in fairly harmonious coexistence appear to have fallen away. In their place, we seem to have this strangely insistent self-interest of each wanting to express themselves with little evident concern around shared realities or the interests of others.

Isn’t everything we do both mutual and collective? This sense in which we’re “all” individuals within something bigger than the sum of our parts – all our lives coming together into this “thing” we call community, society or the world. The idea of how we might successfully integrate the unique personality and challenges of each one of us into a workable whole is beginning to seem an increasingly difficult prospect. (Notes Four)

If educators aren’t faced with classrooms of children respectfully engaged with the task of learning and appreciative of the opportunity it represents, how can it work? Of course, if people aren’t seeing “education” as valuable or worthwhile within the world as it now stands, maybe it’s only “natural” this becomes the situation: arguably, the kinds of things being taught aren’t what the future will demand.

Maybe, as much as the world’s changed, how we prepare for it must also change? This sense in which education and society are almost reflections of each other, as we distil down what’s truly essential (Notes Five). How clear are we, though, on the essentials of “being human”? It seems crucial we are; unless we’re happy to simply follow the paths laid out into society’s many marketplaces.

With so much of our future, individually as much as collectively, placed in the hands of education, isn’t it important we get to grips with its potential for either resolving or enhancing the many problematic aspects of modern reality?

Notes and References:

Note 1: Education as a breaking away?
Note 1: Respect, rebellion & renovation
Note 1: What are we primed for?
Note 2: Desire to retreat, need to engage
Note 2: Visual language and spaces
Note 3: How quickly things can change
Note 3: All in such a rush
Note 3: Power and potential
Note 4: What you’re left with
Note 4: The self within society
Note 4: Mutual awareness and accommodation?
Note 4: Integrity and integration
Note 5: Where’s the reset button & can we press it?
Note 5: The incredible responsibility of freedom

Ways to share this:

Who gets to define us

Within modern life, where are standards being set? Sometimes it seems there’s such a circularity to it all – needing money to live, yet peddling against a never-ending tide of shifting targets as we attempt to prove or maintain our worth in the eyes of others. As if we’re stuck in a cleverly designed loop that’ll simply consume all our energy, churning away through limited resources and finite time.

Aren’t the ends quite neatly tied up? The industries profiting from our belief in these standards being the same ones often establishing – and, forever changing – them. As if we might spend our whole lives chasing this illusion of worth, belonging and admiration, always finding it drifting out of reach as we approach. Like a mirage, an oasis, a hope that leads us to believe there’s a destination. (Notes One)

It’s almost as if every aspect of our being has been broken down and set against conveniently unattainable goals. Aren’t many of them mutually incompatible? Like beauty and cleansing, or indulgent versus healthy lifestyles. As if industries are literally propping themselves up by solving or creating each other’s problems. This house of cards approach to human needs where we’ll never quite achieve balance.

And maybe that is what it is? A market, filled by our quite natural demand for approval and acceptance. Don’t we all want to feel we belong? That others look on us with respect and consider us part of this community. Aren’t we looking to culture to understand how we should judge – which things are worthy of praise? This code for how we should “read” the world and act within it. (Notes Two)

How else do we know what to make of one another, or what choices best define us? Maybe we need these reference points to know what our options “mean” or “say” about us as people. But it’s interesting to imagine who’s setting these standards; and, what they really mean. In terms of life and how we choose to live it – the impacts we’re having and values we’re living by – what kind of options are we given?

Sometimes it just seems almost everything dovetails into commerce: beauty industries defining beauty; porn industries defining relationship; modelling industries defining appearance. As if product, demand, need and solution are all tangled together into these compulsive, addictive cycles. As if we’re chasing “self” or “love” in the pursuit of such things (Notes Three).

It’s intriguing how meaning and profit merge together. How we seek identity or definition through crafting our image, our brand, out of what’s available. Each curating our sense of “who we are” by drawing, so knowingly, from the options presented. All these personal statements as we highlight our own take on life through the unique combination of our choices.

Isn’t it an interesting way to be spending our lives – our chance at life – on this planet? This sense in which we’re seeking meaning, purpose or self-esteem through these almost entirely commercial offerings. As if that’s where our worth lies.

Notes and References:

Note 1: Value and meaning in our lives
Note 1: Solving all the problems we’re creating
Note 2: Visual language and spaces
Note 2: Places of belonging & acceptance
Note 2: Culture as what we relate to
Note 3: This thing called love
Note 3: Markets, and what they might mean
Note 3: Where do we get our ideas from?

Of course, there’s circularity to nature as well, but it doesn’t seem to operate quite as we do: Appreciating other ways of being.

Ways to share this:

Anger, and where we direct it

Of all the anger we often, quite rightly, feel in life, how much ever finds its rightful target? Aren’t a lot of our irritants remote and inaccessible? These distant, near-imaginary people we can never hope will appreciate the pain they’ve caused. Or, problems closer to home we mightn’t be able to resolve. Sometimes it just seems we’re stuck with many un-addressable things, and a lot of stagnant emotion.

Maybe it’s “modern global reality” or “life with technology”, but it seems that anger can easily be misdirected. That we might be angry about events far beyond our control, leaving us with potentially futile free-floating emotions of little productive use. Our indignation sparked off by systemic, conceptual flaws we ourselves are relatively powerless to fix.

Or, the words and sentiments of others can enrage us – all this content that’s churned out each day as people from vastly differing backgrounds join in this one, fairly unregulated conversation. Aware as we may be that words can cause incredible harm and erroneous ideas can grow to troublesome proportions away from careful observation, we perhaps hope to eliminate them before damage is done.

Within all that, aren’t we generally left with a lot of directionless, unresolved emotion? Almost as if we might start to live with this undercurrent of anger – or, sadness – at the state of the world and the people living within it. This simmering resentment, despair or frustration that often seems to be just below the surface, ready to burst into flame at any relatively minor infringement that happens around us. (Notes One)

Aren’t we aware of a great deal, these days? The ins and outs of politics, international affairs and individual lives being thrust before us at every moment. So much analysis, so many updates and topics we’re conceivably meant to keep track of and follow along with as concerned citizens and members of humanity. So much we could – probably, should – choose to care deeply about. (Notes Two)

As humans living within arguably quite flawed social systems, where are we to direct our anger? Do we fight one another, or those in positions of authority? Are our battles ideological or practical? Is it the people currently at the helm of potentially misguided ships that merit our frustrations – those shaped by and defending it – or the ones struggling under the difficulties that set in motion?

Are we to get angry at the causes or manifestations? Given how they blend together as what we simplistically call “life”, it’s perhaps impossible to separate the two: isn’t it all flowing through the complex fabric of our everyday realities? Seeing what truly caused something – where blame actually lies – mightn’t be straightforward. Like a game of pass-the-parcel where “someone” ends up seeming to be in the wrong.

In the words of Aristotle, “to be angry with the right person, and to the right degree, and at the right time, and for the right purpose, and in the right way – that is not within everybody’s power and is not easy.”

Notes and References:

Note 1: Does anger ever, truly, help?
Note 1: Humans, judgement & shutting down
Note 1: Is telling people what we want to be true a lie?
Note 2: Where’s the reset button & can we press it?
Note 2: Reading between the lines
Note 2: What’s the right mindset for news?

Finding a good balance between the fierceness of thought and tenderness of emotion was also one element of Sensitivity & the place for feeling.

Ways to share this:

Can there be beauty in communication?

Thinking of how, in life, we’re all reflecting our experience in thought, coating it in words, then sharing them with others, how beautifully is that coming together? Is it a jangling, mismatched cacophony of firmly-held positions and battles for the crown, or a delicately balanced dance between the varying perspectives we each inevitably have of life?

Sometimes it seems we’re simply humans, gathered around our one complex reality, trying to adequately capture it in words. As if thought, as this idealistic notion, could somehow inch its way into every aspect of life to the point of being considered “truth”. That we live our lives through thought seems fascinating: each person converting experiences into words we can pool by communication. (Notes One)

Presumably, it could be a beautiful thing? An incredibly purposeful dance as we each offer our perspective and receive others’ insights; learning, as we go, to appreciate reality through other eyes. Between us all, it’s possible we could build up such a multifaceted picture of all it means to be human: all these different ways of being, paths walked and priorities we’ve had over the years.

As if each person could somehow voice, completely truthfully, how they see things and what it all means. Reality, then, reflected through the unique constitution of all our characters and personalities – each offering up what life’s like from their starting point, with all they’ve been through along the way and all they’ve made of whatever came before them. Difficult as most paths might’ve been, isn’t it valuable to hear? (Notes Two)

Maybe that’s what culture offers us? The more beautiful take on what we’re all attempting each day: the give and take of voices, actions, values, backgrounds and gestures; the conflict or resolution of differences; the interplay between what we all bring and what’s working itself out within society and our thoughts about it. This symbolic reflection of our lives and how we might be living them. (Notes Three)

In that, there clearly can be beauty – even in the darkest subjects. Isn’t it about the balance? About letting people be; giving their words and gestures space to land. This delicate interaction between each person, all that drives or concerns them, and the respect they’re given within the bigger picture. Don’t we all need to speak? To have the space to express ourselves, feel our perspective honoured, and offer others the same.

Achieving that kind of balance, these days, seems extraordinarily difficult. How much time do we have to create space for truly opening up to one another? How many venues do we have where people can meet and experience all the added nuance of tone, body language, and everything else that’s stripped out with technology? How often are we alone; hoping to connect? (Notes Four)

Finding ways to communicate authentically that work for us all – somehow transposing the old dances into new, modern ones everyone can take part in – may not be as easy as some people imagine, but where are we without it?

Notes and References:

“How to have a Beautiful Mind” by Edward de Bono, (Vermilion, London), 2004.

“People Skills” by Robert Bolton, Ph.D., (Touchstone, Simon & Schuster), 1986 (originally 1979).

Note 1: The thought surrounding us
Note 1: Joining the dots
Note 1: What is the public conversation?
Note 2: Understanding what we’re all part of
Note 2: Personal archaeology
Note 2: Making things up as we go along
Note 3: Culture as information
Note 3: Navigation, steering & direction
Note 3: The stories that we hear
Note 4: What is it with tone?
Note 4: Modern challenges to relationship
Note 4: All in such a rush

Thinking of life as a dance between us all was also the focus of Mutual awareness and accommodation?

Ways to share this:

Solving all the problems we’re creating

How many of the holes we’re chasing to fill in life aren’t really there? These manufactured lacks or shortcomings we’ve been compelled to feel the need to plaster over – never feeling we’re quite “enough” without the next thing. Striving after such goals may be what modern economy is built around, but is it any kind of foundation for living within a finite landscape?

Isn’t it that economic activity generally goes hand in hand with marketing? All those intent on convincing us we need whatever it is they’ve been tasked to sell; making us believe our lives are somehow incomplete or far short of what they could’ve been without it. All these promises around how easy, admirable and satisfying our existence will become. Filling us in on all these problems we never knew we had. (Notes One)

Surely, it’s a chase we’ll never win? There’s always going to be more: the next development; the next sign of change on our path through this human condition; the next desire fluttering up as we seek to feel better about ourselves. As if “all this” is built around telling us what we’re missing; this constant effort at undermining any self-worth or peace we might have.

Almost as if the human psyche is an endless source of demand; easily swayed by ideas of not fitting in, standing out or living up to our potential. Is it because we’ve built society on competition? Setting us all against each other for a limited amount of praise or wealth. Making everyone feel that if we don’t keep up, we’ll fall behind and drop out.

As if life’s a treadmill we can’t step off or we’ll lose our place in this race. As if our acceptance and belonging is tied to this pursuit of things and the status they’ll give us in the eyes of others – social identity and worth, somehow, having been tangled up in all we can buy. As if the value of any human life can take on the form of a financial calculation (Notes Two).

Isn’t it natural that we want to belong? To be accepted, recognised, heard, understood, loved by others of our kind? Don’t we want to matter to people? To feel ourselves reflected considerately in their eyes and words. To feel valued within our community, as much for our contributions as for our very presence. As if the frame of our life is held respectfully alongside all others. (Notes Three)

And, while we’re chipping away at personal security with all these suggested shortcomings, how many other problems are we serving to set in motion? We might never actually be able to set straight all the things we’re damaging or destroying in the world around us – all the communities, ecosystems, resources and livelihoods being disrupted for relatively short-term gain.

Unravelling the delicate, elusive line between all we really need in life and all that’s grown up around those requirements seems important, if we’re not to upset the balance our lives truly depend upon.

Notes and References:

“Happiness” by Steve Cutts, November 2017: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9dZQelULDk

Note 1: Markets, and what they might mean
Note 1: Values, and what’s in evidence
Note 1: Making ends meet
Note 2: Mathematics of life
Note 2: Worthless, or priceless?
Note 2: Value and meaning in our lives
Note 3: What does community mean?
Note 3: Can “how we relate” really change?
Note 3: This thing called love

An interesting representation of all this can also be found in Steve Cutts’ animation “Happiness”.

Ways to share this: