Re-imagining humanity
The tragedy of modern life is that people feel separate from nature. We feel alien to nature, cut off from it. The major disconnection we feel towards other human beings is apparent in our capitalist economy. Think about the quick pace at which most people live their lives. The hustle and grind to make money and keep up with the bills keeps us from leading meaningful lives, lives that we would actually want to live. We’ve developed a transactional culture that views people as dollar signs rather than individuals. We are all focused on a million things at once, and we miss out on the opportunity for genuine connection with another soul.
Human connection is the most important aspect of life, and while we are virtually more connected than ever, we are also more lonely than ever before. Humans can not survive without other humans. I say our current state of humanity is in decline because we are experiencing an age of moral decline, political strife, and mass confusion. People are violent and lonely, and Western society, in particular, is very individualistic. We fight for independence and see others as obstacles to our success. Or we use them for our own self-interest to get what we want. We are indeed self-centered and don’t take much time to think of others and how our actions affect others.
We think we are serving the world by accomplishing things and moving up the ladder, but only we gain from this pursuit. Ultimately, you have money and stress to show all your hard work. Do we ever think of the greater good? When will humanity understand it’s bigger than any one person? Along the way, we miss out on the most important aspects of life: human connection and creativity. We get so caught up in the noise. Society has created a game. A game in which we live for someone else’s ideals and values without thinking twice about what we’re participating in. It is a game in which you are discouraged from asking questions and challenging the conventions that have been installed.
People mock you for seeing it differently, for wanting to do it differently. You were born into a world where it has been done this way for a long time, and who are you to think it ought to be different? How dare you challenge the conventions and the established order. But isn’t that what freedom is supposed to be about? We as individuals should learn to think for ourselves and learn to do things differently. Is the current way in which we relate to each other and the world beneficial to all? Do you see people as generally happy and fulfilled?
The attitude of Western culture is that you must suffer if you want happiness. Most have an unconscious belief that people ought to suffer for a comfortable life. You must struggle and burn out if you want a rich, lavish lifestyle. My question is, who told you to dream of this lifestyle in the first place? Could all the energy we put into making money more efficient if placed elsewhere? Maybe we should turn our attention away from seeking material wealth and seek human contact and genuine connection instead, which will bring us closer to the purpose of life, Which is, to be alive and realize our true nature. This can only be understood when we stop running around chasing ideals. The fact that we have life at all on this beautiful rock, spinning in space, makes no sense.
Our rationality has been placed where it doesn’t belong. Meaning is subjective to every individual. We shouldn’t all abide by a system that tells us what life is all about. It’s so simple; all we are to do is experience and appreciate the beauty of the life we’ve been given and help one another become who we were born to become. Somehow, we’ve been led to believe that we must do something to belong to our home. Our seeking material wealth is why we suffer. The ego desires material wealth. The soul desires simplicity and connection. We think we will rest when we get what we desire outside. But desiring objects leads to never-ending desire. What we really need if we want to be content with life is to inquire into restlessness, not try to extinguish restlessness by filling it with more stuff.
We do a great job developing structurally and industrially, but our consciousness falls behind. It’s because we were made to live simply. Life is calling us back to simplicity. The simple act of seeing an individual as a unique expression of the universe is healing in itself. We see people how we want to see them because it's convenient to throw labels on people to fit our preconceptions and hardwired beliefs.
This world is an experimental playground. Why does anyone think they know what is going on? Nobody has a clue what they are doing or why. People pretend to know what they are doing because if they stop to question what they’ve been doing habitually for years, they will freak out if they realize they’ve been living someone else’s life this whole time. Most have settled into a path because it’s what everyone else is doing, and it is comfortable and avoids wrestling with the complexities that the soul demands we search into. We were born into a capitalist system, and it has to be the best way to do things, right? I mean, after all, we’re the richest country. I’m not saying quit your job and become a hermit (although I would love to do that). I’m asking questions about the conventions of society. Isn’t it time we revolutionize the game? After all, it’s ever-changing. Life is always evolving. Using your consciousness to evolve life on Earth is what the universe is doing through you. If we can understand that we are instruments of a larger consciousness, we may realize we need each other much more than we think.
Individualism is wonderful, on the one hand, because it allows people to have a voice and do their thing. On the other, it has separated us and made us awfully selfish. Think of what we’ve done to creativity. The creative, artistic individual can’t just make art to make art; it has to mean something and make money, or else it is pointless and arbitrary. People can’t just be people; they have to do something for us to be significant. We’ve been forced into contributing to a broken society that does not support the individual but the machine that will make the individuals at the top more money. Who decided these rules for us? It’s we, the people, who get to decide. If you aren’t happy, you can change how you see life. You can change the world with your attitude and actions. Don’t wait for someone else to treat someone with kindness today. Gandhi said, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” Your acts of love will encourage others to do the same.
In the same way, hate can create more hate and violence. Love can do the same. I don’t know how hatred runs the world and why we are so lost in it, but I know love is more powerful than hate. You can feel the difference between the two. And you know which you would rather be in. And it’s a choice to hate. Just as it is a choice to love. It is easier to hate. The world makes it very easy to do so. But understand that you have the power to choose love over hate.