dharma explorer
Posts: 209
(11/10/01 11:07 pm) Reply
Western culture (?)
The world seems to have an endless supply of stimuli that serves to heighten life's already challenging struggle. It's easy to see why so many people suffer from debilitating mental and emotional problems; it is extremely easy for one to feel completely overwhelmed. You can see it in the eyes of your friends and in the defeated gait of passersby, in the sunken faces of fellow commuters and in the defiance of the aged. Hear its horrible echo in the playground laughter and witness its daunting shadow in the face of the newborn being wheeled through the park.
Indifference, intolerance, an environment that is being decimated, deliberate and petty cruelty, election ads, shoe commercials with athletes and pretty people who have turned themselves into walking billboards... hunger, violence, homelessness, etc., etc.,......
All of these terms and conditions have become so commonplace to the point where we are desensitized to the meaning of their existence. And this causes a worldwide inertia, a fact which only serves to heighten our feelings of hopelessness and frustration. We feel their effects and the desire for a different way but see no avenue of recourse to affect any change. And so the inertia grows stronger.
The key to change is only found in the self -- not by joining reactionary movements or by buying into and perpetrating idealistic rhetoric. We must challenge ourselves to not believe the paradigm that is being flaunted in front of our faces every day.
Because you do carry a burden once you have recognized a problem -- you either address it or you add to it.
The goal of being "aware" and "informed" should not be that you have a good supply of dinner conversation. You'll often hear how "intelligent" and "good" certain people are. But if you take a look at the person in question, all you witness them contributing to the world is their ego (a dangerous, man-eating beast that is far removed from ever being on the endangered-species list).
One huge problem is that we often want to give in order to be recognized for our gift, instead of simply giving of oneself for the sake of making a difference.
Being a person on this earth carries certain responsibilities. Or are we just here to get what we can and look a certain way and follow whatever list of procedures allows us to heighten our own comfort (often at the expense of raising others' misery)?
We live in a society that rewards self-serving behavior and values mediocrity. We can either buy in to it or choose to find it personally unacceptable. It's when we do the latter that the opportunity to make a real difference becomes evident.
I believe mankind is an interdependent species and that, as individuals/families/nations, we bear a responsibility for one another’s well-being in all its aspects but, having recognised this, then comes the question “where to begin?”.
It seems to me that we need to learn to listen. To listen without interruption to what is being said by the other person/people/nation. To listen with an open mind. To be aware of and not allow any mental barriers we might be tempted to raise. To pay real attention to what is being said, and not let ourselves be side-tracked and absorbed by thoughts of our own triggered by a particular word or sentence. In effect, to open the door to ‘understanding’.
Even then it may be that there is nothing practical we can do, no advice we can give, but the fact of having listened, shown care and concern, will give comfort and hope. And, though we may not be in a position to do this on a large scale, say nation to nation, we can all endeavour to be more receptive in our day to day lives.
All it needs is the giving of a little bit of that precious commodity which cannot be bought – time!
Re: Western culture (?)
How beautifully put, manniac.
There is a term for some of the overload you've described: imagorrhea...a combination of the word "image" and...erm...shall we say, (to be polite) a certain lack of intestinal fortitude.
We are indeed under daily bombardment.
Language has also changed towards the colder side of human nature. Today as I was reading an company e-mail about a new hire in HR, I was struck by the fact that the new hire had "candidate facing" experience.
Uhm...I don't mind being "interviewed" but I'm not quite sure I could stomach a "candidate facing" experience.
This can be piled on to the terms like "downsizing", "profitability", "termination", etc....terms heard in equally inhuman cubicles or sanitized hallways.
I think the challenge is to remember that one is human and, therefore, flawed...(by which I mean, sure, everyone has an ego, and it gets in the way at times, but one's ego is *not* God's gift to humanity). If one recognizes this in oneself, one begins to percieve that life is about "becoming" and that "becoming" is a joint venture which is dependant on others who are in the process of "becoming".
What one aquires, is, by comparison, a very poor cousin to what one becomes.
Edited by: NousPoetikos at: 11/13/01 1:45:33 am
We live and work in a culture of greed and consumption, contributing, contravening and capitalizing whilst all the while regretting it all. Well, some of us do.
I’d pack up and sell crabs on a beach in Trinidad if it weren’t for the fact that I’d not be able to watch the big games on TV :sardonic
I work for an organization that has been doing sterling works for a government that I rail against every election.
I aspire to make a name for myself in a notoriously cutthroat business whereas I wouldn’t hurt a fly.
The papers and streets are filled with vicious people with little compassion, yet my friends are caring and kind, and would put all they have on the line if I were in trouble.
I care little for material gain, yet talk whimsically of that mythical lottery win.
Our great malady is that we don’t know where we stand any more. We have eroded the folk-cultures that once gave us guidance, and have watched spirituality and altruism retreat into the hinterland, leaving stark, grim sentinels of capital and servitude that loom over us with comforting eyes yet baleful grins.
We are simply treading paths – no longer walking them well. I try to travel hopefully, and convince myself that I am a good person, give or take my failings, and I try to believe that hegemonic rule is fine and that I can still do whatever I want if I put my mind to it….
Then those big, scary aircraft streak overhead and the Gerald Scarf animations start in my head and it’s all too much and I’m late for work and I can’t afford the rent and I’m sure my friends don’t really like me because I’m bad like the rest and I’ve long lost my guide and my paths are all as knotted as my stomach in fear of my future so I take a drink and it doesn’t depress me and I smoke a joint and it makes think clearly…
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