Building a Sunday morning community of free-thinkers
I am not only a disbeliever in the teachings of organized religious entities, I find the general paradigm of intentional polarization that most (if not all) of these institutions promote to be a threat to a fully functional society. I have witnessed far too many otherwise intelligent people find faith in a “single, inarguably correct answer” to know that most religious activity is antithetical to free thought, and therefore a direct threat to intellectual and cultural progress.
That said, while my ever-present skepticism finds acts of religious indoctrination to be abhorrent and dangerous, I am no less moved by the desire and effort to congregate amongst religious groups. I drive past the Sunday morning masses welcoming one another with casual smiles and warm embraces, and though they may be blazoning narrow-mindedness, I cannot help but feel instinctively that they’re getting something right. While I am in direct opposition to the messages promoted within church walls, it is impressive to see hundreds of individuals united by a common goal under one roof.
I find it thought provoking and disappointing that weekly large-scale community activity is generally thought only to be the business of the religiously devout. Are there not ideas outside the realm of faith and god which are intrinsically powerful enough to bind common people in this way? It seems to me, curious a species as we are, that a weekly congregational devotion to thinking, not about spiritual matters, but about all matters, is long overdue.
My experience speaking with others about this suggests that the lack of layperson intellectual organizations is by no means a reflection of a dearth in demand. Quite the contrary, I have found most people to be inspired and invigorated by the prospect of large-scale organization devoted to free thought and intellectual exploration.
The formula is really quite simple. We take the idea of a traditional church, strip it of religion, and fill the content void with a generalized intellectual curiosity and a devotion to the pursuit of acceptance, understanding, and truth. Perhaps we devote each Sunday to a specific theme, and welcome a handful of people to speak to their knowledge and experience pertaining to the appointed topic. We create a physical space where people of all orientations and backgrounds can come together to form a congregation based on debate, exploration, community improvement, and the full use of high-level human cognition.
There is much to learn, friends, and though we may not always realize it, each of us has a great deal to teach and share. Communities are what merge individual human experiences into a common story; how this story is written and the message it ultimately sends depends on flow of ideas within these groups. Let’s get together and write a few sentences in the history of free thinking and intellectual curiosity. Sunday morning is long overdue for a revolution. Let the people of the early 21st century be the ones to begin this movement.
If any among you are interested in helping me to pursue this undertaking in the Denver metro, Boulder, or Fort Collins area, say so here, or in a private message, and feel free to express any ideas/suggestions you may have. Also, please pass this along to anyone you feel might be interested. These ideas are a thought experiment I’d very much like to see become a reality at some point this summer.
Health is a social obligation
Historically speaking, to be healthy was to be fed well, such that one avoided disease and starvation. And while this aim remains relevant for much of the developing world, citizens of wealthy nations (at least for now) no longer need to concern themselves with putting food on their first-world tables. The pressing dietary issues for these nations has very little to do with getting enough to eat. Indeed, now that we are able to meet the demands of quantity more conveniently and economically than ever before, we must now grapple with a collective lack of self-control and a struggle to make health-promoting dietary choices amidst an overwhelming sea of potential missteps. Not helping, of course, is the advent and abundance of scientifically engineered “foods”, which are as often nutritionally disastrous as they are beneficial It is no longer a lack of food that makes us sick, it is the food itself. Real food, the kind eaten by our great grandparents, is in short supply, and is often financially unattainable for those who need it most.
Then there is the problem of physical activity. Despite the popularization of exercise for its own sake, the modern world of personal computers, cubicles, and passenger trains is, by nature, less physically demanding than that of our agrarian ancestors. The calories burned and muscles built on the farm 100 years ago must now be made up for by a committed exercise regimen, or not at all. We are the first humans for whom adequate physical activity is not the default state. Our daily bodily movement is no longer a condition of our circumstances, but of our will and dedication.
The world is changing, but the demands made by our bodies are staying very much the same. Now, as always, optimal health requires that we consume a diverse blend of nutritionally dense foods, while maintaining a daily routine of adequate physical activity. This process, despite what the convoluting messages of the food/supplement/exercise industries would like you to believe, is really incredibly simple. The rub, as previously mentioned, is that circumstances have shifted; health in the modern, developed world is a matter of personal choice. The burden of physical well-being is on the individual in a completely unprecedented way, and it is crucial that we rise to the task.
Why is it so important that we be healthy? There are 1,000 reasons, most of which you’ve been exposed to ad nauseum; and yet one of the most convincing imperatives, perhaps the most important, is rarely broached in the public sphere. To be healthy is to be advantaged in countless ways that are personal, but above all this: for those of us fortunate enough to have been afforded the opportunity for optimal health, it is our social obligation to pursue it. Why?
- Communities improve when potential for meaningful contribution among members is maximized. Individuals plagued by sickness contribute less, both physically and intellectually, and are therefore counterproductive to the goal of collective progress. The longevity and success of our human race, therefore, depends, in large part, on the individual choices that promote physical well-being.
- Illness absorbs valuable intellectual capital, and this goes well beyond losing the productivity of the patient. For example, the demands made upon medical professionals in a generally health conscious society vs. one that is sick are quite different. Whereas the latter must devote many of its best minds to treatment of illness, the former may employ these same people in pursuit of new medicines and cures. Imagine if all of the scientific minds currently devoted to treating illnesses related to obesity were instead put to the task of curing cancer.
- Sick people are an emotional burden on their families. Watching the slow, inevitable decay of a loved one is an unquestionably draining process. If we care about the people who care about us enough to stick around, we owe it to them to avoid putting them through such pain.
- Within five years, for the first time in history, the number of adults 65 and older will exceed the number of children younger than 5, the World Health Organization reports. By mid-century, this demographic will outnumber children younger than 14, and more than 2 billion of the people on Earth will be 60 or older. The question is no longer whether we will grow old, but how we will grow old, and the answer is immensely important. 65, 70, even 80 year olds can and will contribute to society in a meaningful way, but their doing so hinges upon mental and physical wellness (which, of course, are intimately related). Economically speaking, the difference between a country with a productive aging population and one whose elderly are consistently plagued by illness is profound.
- Sickness is expensive. Any society that aims to invest in education, infrastructure, technology, etc., simply cannot afford to spend trillions of dollars treating preventable diseases.
I feel it necessary to note that I do not intend to vilify sick people, even those suffering from personally preventable conditions. It stands today as it has stood in the past: we tend to think of illness as being solely a personal issue. Thus, while it is a collective tragedy that so many people are slowly killing themselves, it would be unfair to label these individuals as being socially irresponsible.
That said, I think we are ready for a major upheaval of our current paradigm. Unhealthy individuals are a direct reflection of an unhealthy, unsustainable culture. We must begin to understand that reaching for that cigarette, donut, whiskey bottle, or whatever else, is a decision that has implications far beyond personal pleasure/pain. Individual suffering cannot exist alone. Without exception, it causes strain on families, communities, and nations.
History tells us that individuals are often most likely to act when they feel they have a societal imperative to do so. Many men and women have been and are currently willing to die in the name of their country. Perhaps what we need now, rather than a willingness to die, is a willingness to live. While I find it admirable that certain people feel strongly enough to lay down their lives for this nation or that, I think it is far more inspiring to dream of a future when individual health is no longer merely personal, but a reflection of a dedication to the future of family, community, country, and world.
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You will die soon.
I once again find myself confronted by the notion that existence is merely an impossibly brief intermission between two infinitely consuming periods of non-existence. Time, as it relates to individual experience, can be divided into three distinct categories: pre-you, you, and post-you.
Being presently fully immersed in the “me” phase of this process, I cannot help but spend some time now and again attempting to reach a few conclusions regarding how best to spend my brief window of cognition and choice. If I’m lucky, I will have this brain and the body over which it presides for another 60-80 years. It is my hope, if not my expectation, that I will be afforded the right to decide how to use it. Then, one day, it will come to be that the will I have over my life will extinguish, that my organic material will be returned to the universal process from which it came, thus ushering in the infinity of “post-me”.
When faced with the truth of resource scarcity, it is only natural that we begin to think about the resource, or the potential lack of it, in a vastly different way. We know from personal experience and through observation of others that the perception of abundance is most often a precursor of wastefulness and thoughtlessness. We need not look any further than the prodigality of wealthy western nations for empirical evidence of this fact. Simply put, in the absence of a direct threat to abundance, it is highly unlikely that the true value of a resource will be understood.
It is for this reason that I find worth in the process of thinking about death in personal and imminent terms. You will die, and relatively soon. You. Soon. When we take a few minutes to really let it sink in, to let it imbed in our thoughts, maybe even scare the hell out of us, we open ourselves to an honest exploration of the most important question a human being can ask:
Are we living well?
I am not religious, and it would be quite a stretch to say that I have faith in any form of afterlife, but I do very much like the idea of reflecting on a life once it has ended; then, having done so, getting the chance to live it over again. While I certainly do not believe in the reality of such a concept, I like it just the same, and I find it to be a valuable thought exercise.
So there we are, recently dead, watching a playback of our lives. We re-experience it all, minute by minute, from a purely disengaged vantage point. When the reel runs out, we are born again into a do-over, equipped with the years of wisdom gained from our first faltering attempt.
I refuse to believe there is a single person out there who wouldn’t choose to live differently the second time around. And yet, what I find most peculiar, is that we don’t have to die to experience a re-birth. The changes that we most need to make can be made in this lifetime, and at any juncture of our choosing. That we so often fail to recognize this shot at self-correction is one of the great mysteries of our uniquely intelligent, yet remarkably ignorant, species.
We are all free to believe what we will about the nature of death, and what exactly happens afterwards. However, that said, it is not necessary for our concept of redemption to hinge on faith or religion. Redemption is right in front of us, everywhere and all the time.
The people we want to be, the people we would be if we could do it all over again, are waiting patiently to be called upon.
To a certain degree, we are all wasting our lives. I know what I could be doing differently, and you probably do too. The simple and profound truth is that our opportunity to change is ephemeral and ever-diminishing. Nobody can say beyond conjecture whether we will have a second or third chance at this, but we can all come to realize the following:
We do have at least one chance at getting it right, and that chance is today, standing immediately before us.
The (r)evolution of a giant. How tomorrow could be better, and how you could help.
In late 2004, a handful of elite kids decided to try something out for the first time. By early 2005, a couple million more had joined them. In the beginning, prior to the spark, nobody was on it. Nobody. It crept in quietly, ghost-like, as all great addictions do. By the time we recognized it for what it was, it was far too late, and we couldn’t have cared less. Most everyone who did it, loved it; because they wanted to, because really they didn’t have much choice.
Regular kids turned junkies at the drop of a dime. Worried/confused parents began to appear in the media. What could we say to explain ourselves? It made us feel accepted, one with a movement (and what generation doesn’t want that?), so we never questioned going full steam ahead. We did it while eating breakfast, before, after, and during class, while watching TV, and for a few minutes before bed each night. We did it when we were feeling bored, proud, lonely, or despondent. It enhanced the positive and soothed the negative in a way that tailored to our demand for instant, easy gratification. It was there when we wanted it, and it didn’t cost a thing. We used it every day, multiple times a day, not as an integrated part of our daily routine, but an ever-present opportunity to break away into another world.
It was easy, interactive, and escapist. We revered and appreciated it for being all of these things at once. The point was to see, though to be sure, being seen was really at the heart of the matter; narcissism hidden by a thin veil of voyeurism. It was intuitive, even familiar, but also completely novel. It was simple, yet spectacularly complex. It was the past, the present, and to a greater degree than we ever could have known, the future.
It was Facebook.
In the half-decade since its inception, Zuckerberg’s dorm room experiment, freed from the chains of exclusivity that marked the early years, has become a veritable empire. As cheap addictions and social media innovations go, Facebook is king. According to the Facebook.com statistics page, there are now 800 million users; half of these sign in no less than once per day.
In honor of conservative estimation, let’s assume each of these 400 billion people logs on for 10 minutes per day, although I would bet my belly button that the true number is closer to 20. 400 million people x 10 minutes daily= 4 billion minutes. Divided by 60, 67 million hours. Divided by 24, 2.8 million days. Again, by 365, 7,610 years.
Take a moment to digest this fully. Every single day, human beings collectively spend 7,610 years on Facebook. In the coming year, no less than 2.8 million years of real human time will be spent updating statuses, poking, posting pictures, writing on walls, etc. Don’t forget, these numbers are only including the 400 million who use Facebook on a daily basis.
And of course, it should be kept in mind that Facebook continues to grow at an absolutely stunning rate:
YEAR # of users
2004 1 million
2005 5.5 million
2006 12 million
2007 50 million
2008 100 million
2009 350 million
2010 500 million
2011 800 million
2012 1 BILLION plus (projected)
Forgive my wanting tact, but you would have to be nearly brain-dead not to appreciate that these numbers are somehow of the utmost significance. But how? What exactly does it mean for a website to consume 2.8 million years of human cognition in 365 days?
This amount of time is almost unfathomable for the human mind, but consider this- in 84 years Ben Franklin managed to found the first U.S. hospital, library, fire department, and police department, reach fluency in six languages, start the American Philosophical Society, own and operate several businesses, hold numerous public positions, found two universities, and lay claim to dozens of important inventions. Though few among us can match the industry or prolific nature of Mr. Franklin, none can argue the power of a human hour put to good use.
If you are interested in losing faith in your species, or at the very least, gaining an understanding of just how un-Franlinlike we are, keep the aforementioned 2.8 million year figure in mind as you browse your Facebook news feed. Once you have been sufficiently caught up on everything you have zero use in knowing, take a moment to reflect on the fact that what you have just seen is a cross-section of 2.8 million cognitive years spent, never to be returned.
If history has one lesson to teach, it is that we human beings have an exceptional ability to squander gifts of innovation. It can come down to one of of two issues- misuse and overuse- though it usually comes down to both. Automobiles, television, nuclear capability, antibiotics, genetic modification, factory farming, just to name a few, have each fallen victim to overuse and/or misuse in their own unique way.
That we spend such an astounding amount of time on Facebook is not an inherent dilemma; it is a matter of how this time is spent.
For the first time in history we have 800 million mouths united with 800 million pairs of ears under the same virtual roof. What is being said? What is being heard?
You don’t need me to tell you the answer to this, but I will anyway. What we have now is a trend where a whole lot of intelligent, competent people are presenting themselves as being nothing more than a hoard of shallow, brainless, narcissists. Admittedly, I generalize, but I think you know just what I mean. Facebook could have been anything- it was a creation just waiting to be defined by us, the consumers. What we did was use it as a vessel for championing a brand of self-absorption too uncouth even for the hyper-individualized American reality. We saw not potential for the spread of great ideas, or the betterment of a generation, but an opportunity for shameless ego promotion.
What we now must answer is whether we are able and willing to break away from this. If not, what does that say about our generation? If so, how is it possible?
I shudder to answer the former, but as for the latter: Revolution.
And what a lovely revolution it would be. I can see it now.
There would be art, ideas, and intelligent discourse. There would be writers writing, creators creating, and rebels rebelling where there were none before. Brilliant ideas would spread like wildfire.
There would be people understanding that the luxury of an online identity is having the power to control the way in which we present ourselves, that though real life requires us to process and respond to information in real-time, Facebook gives us the gift of delay; contemplation preceding interaction. There would be people seeing this moment for what it is, an opportunity to share what is best in us.
These most precarious times are no time for wasted cognition. Tomorrow is less certain than ever, and only the hearts and minds of youth have what it takes to usher in an era that was better than the last.
The task before us is huge indeed, but 2.8 million years of effort should be a pretty decent start.
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An era of discontent: 7 Reasons and Remedies for the listlessness of early adulthood
Sadness and happiness are slippery words, two I believe to be overused in the western discussion about sustainable well-being. To describe someone who battles mild depression as an unhappy person would be off base, as would be labelling a person with a generally positive affect as happy. In reality, humans spend very little of their time immersed in happiness or sadness. It is only because these experiences are the exception, rather than the rule, that we remember them so clearly, and thus overestimate the frequency and duration of their occurrence. You remember the first time you were dumped by a significant other, also the time you worked hard to earn an A on an important exam, but what about the hundreds of hours you have spent waiting in lines, using the bathroom, or engaging in small talk? These forgotten moments, despite making up the vast majority of our day to day existence, are under-represented in our consideration of what makes a quality life. This needs to change.
For the sake of definition, let’s give a name to the often ignored moments that exist somewhere between exceptionally good and exceptionally bad: MS (middle states). MS, despite their perceived irrelevance, are essential to any productive conversation about well-being. To judge a life only by its most positive and negative psychological states would be like trying to understand the anatomy of a pig by studying only the tail.
I first came to be interested in MS when I noticed that mine seemed to display an unsettling pattern of listlessness, discontent, and a vague, yet palatable sense of longing for something unknown. It took some time for me to admit to myself that all was not well, that something was missing. It was only recently that I garnered the courage to voice my dilemma to others. The self imposed ignorance and isolation were regretful, as there is no hope in solving problems that we refuse to acknowledge and define, and there is no surer path to wellness than the solicitation of help from trusted others.
I felt that I, being a part of a loving family and a citizen of the wealthiest nation in the world, had no justification for my discontent, and therefore found it more convenient to ignore than to confront. What I did not realize then is that we do not need to earn our struggle in order to validate it; all problems are worthy of a search for solutions, and none is insignificant. The degree of pain experienced is more a product of internal factors than external circumstances. Any approach to psychological wellness that ignores this fact is destined for failure.
Feeling less self-conscious about my discontent, an interesting thing happened- I focused less on my own experience, and began to notice that I wasn’t alone. In travelling nearly 20 countries over the past four years I have had the opportunity to meet young people of probably 50-70 unique nationalities and literally hundreds of varying backgrounds. What I have learned from these encounters is that the malaise I was dealing with was not unique amongst my age group; it was, to my surprise and relief, quite normal. Whether or not people chose to openly admit it, I learned from reflecting on my own experience and symptoms how to identify someone struggling with a similar state of mind. And there were many. Some lived in ignorance, as I had; others were more open, but none among them had a defence mechanism strong enough to conceal the underlying pain.
Having come to terms with the what and the who of this uniquely early adult affliction, I have more recently focused my attention on why it occurs and how it may be remedied.
The collective results of this ongoing research and contemplation are in the paragraphs to follow. If the struggle that I have described speaks to your personal experience, read on. It is my hope that my own quest for solutions may aid in yours.
…
Early challenge, mounting struggle
Think back to when you were very small- 5 or 6 years old. Focus not on the particularly joyful or painful experiences of childhood (this may be difficult), but on the MS, the day-to-day of those years. How would you describe this experience? If you are, as I am, a product of a functional, relatively wealthy (as in, compared to those who grew up in developing nations), first world background, chances are that your remembered childhood was one of considerable ease. I recall joy, wonder, and curiosity as being the pillars of early youth, as do, I would suppose, the majority of early adults born from privilege.
However, in the interest of avoiding over-simplification, it need be acknowledged that childhood is not without challenge. As David Cain from raptitude.com puts it, “childhood isn’t simple at all, except to adults. It’s confusing and awesome, sometimes traumatic, sometimes dark, sometimes absurd.” The important distinction to be made here is between struggle and challenge. Challenge is the mother of optimism and growth. Struggle is synonymous with pain and helplessness, and though it can be useful after the fact, the reality is that the real-time experience can be devastating and crippling. Life ever and always contains both struggle and challenge, but it seems to me that childhood in particular is far more defined by the latter.
As we age, gradual to the point of stealth, the world and its myriad of puzzles and frustrations creeps its way in and clouds our psychological landscape. At some unknowable point in time the magic of childhood gives way to the pragmatism of the “real world”, hope wilts in the shadow of practical realism, and the balance between challenge and struggle shifts, leaving us to the ultimate task of growing up- learning to shift it back in our favor.
The many grand and minute developments that take place in our first two decades of life are too great in number even for the most dedicated researcher to catalogue. No doubt, much is gained and much is lost, but no two lives ever follow the same course. That said, there are changes common among all of us which are of the utmost consequence, and therefore beg to be understood. Indeed, doing so may very well be the basis of overcoming the psychological difficulties of early adulthood. Learning to embrace challenge, rather than submit to struggle, is at the heart of everything.
Discussed below are 7 challenges, taking place from childhood to early adulthood, that I believe are worthy of discussion, along with proposed solutions for each.
Challenge: The decline of inevitable development
As children, physical and psychological growth are guaranteed. Every day we become taller, stronger, smarter, wiser, and more talented; development is our natural state. The effortlessness with which knowledge and skills are acquired during youth is the envy of adults, because adults know that things change around the age of 18. No longer are we blessed with the gift of inevitable growth. If progress is to be had, it is fought for tooth and nail. The fluidity and grace of childhood development is replaced by the adult realization that, from here on, we are engaged in a footrace with decay.
Potential Solution: Curiosity and exercise.
Curiosity and exercise. No brainer, right? One would think so, but this appears not to be the case. As adults, we are fully capable of cognitive and physical progress, but we must make the choice to pursue it. We can sit around, wasting away, waiting to be passively entertained by one rectangular screen or another, or we can choose movement, investigation, and personal betterment. Research and common sense both point clearly to the latter category of people as being healthier and more fulfilled.
Challenge: The gift of meaning
At some point in life, usually sometime in early adulthood, we are slapped in the face with the most pressing of existential dilemmas: Why am I here? Anyone who has pondered this question at length will attest to its heaviness. We live many years in blissful ignorance until one day this one question forbids us from doing so any longer. We are given the gift, the burden, of meaning, and are then left to make some sense of it. The early stages of this process can be quite discouraging, thus, I believe, lending to much of the unrest that seems prevalent in early adulthood.
Potential Solution: Man’s Search for Meaning
Read Man’s Search for Meaning, by renowned psychotherapist and Holocaust survivor Victor Frankl. I have never read a more important book in my entire life, nor do I expect to. If I could, I would make this required reading in every senior level high school English class, and again in university philosophy as well. The value of this book cannot be understated. It will lead you to answers so simple, complete, and essential, that you will wonder how you ever lived without them.
Challenge: Loss of guidance
To me, one of the most cruel and debilitating realities of adulthood is the sudden and complete stripping of mentorship that occurs upon completion of formal education. One day, you are a high school or college senior with an abundance of advice sources (counsellors, teachers, coaches, administrators, parents, advisors, grad students, etc.), then you graduate, and are left to face the world as a fully independent, autonomous entity, a suit you are most certainly not prepared to wear. Those who are lucky still have a person or two to whom they can turn, but many do not. This lack of mentors in the formative years following formal education is nothing but damage to the growth and well-being of the graduate.
Potential Solution: Enlist a network of mentors
Quality advice can come in all forms, but you have to ask for it. I have a handful of people I turn to for guidance, and I honestly don’t know what I would do without them. Independence today is prized to the point that asking for help has become taboo. This should not be so. Quality mentors are an essential ingredient to success. Top-tier athletes, actors, and musicians, are encouraged to seek guidance (in the form of coaching). Why shouldn’t we be doing just the same?
Challenge: Mortality realized
As a child, I remember distinctly having a complete disbelief in death. Sure, I knew that other people died, but the thought that it could ever happen to me seemed absurd. Time plays tricks on the young mind, convincing it that the days, weeks, and years stretch on forever into the unknowable. The idea of growing old is completely incomprehensible to the 5 year old, far beyond their realm of consideration.
But there comes a time when every person must ponder their own mortality, and when they do, it tends to hit like a ton of bricks. In my experience, the times I have given death my undivided attention have been so stressful, so panic inducing, that I am amazed not to have been crushed under the weight of it all.
Being an adult is confronting an inescapable truth: I will die. All of my friends and family will die. The end is coming.
Potential Solution: Be the buffalo.
I am far from mastering this one, but I have found there to be certain advantages to confronting the concept of death; viz., that in doing so we are then free to truly appreciate life. I love the term “spending time”, because it addresses the simple truth that time is a limited resource. Minutes aren’t passed, they are spent, and a quality life depends on spending them wisely. The problem, of course, is that unlike worldly resources, we have no way of knowing just how much time remains in our account. Framed this way I find that death, while frightening, can be the ultimate motivator. Do what needs to be done. Say what needs to be said. Like it or not, tomorrow you may not have the opportunity. A friend recently told me that when a storm comes, it is in the nature of the buffalo to run straight through it, even as other animals run away. When it comes to thinking of death, we would all be well advised to “be the buffalo”.
Challenge: Waning Courage
One of my favorite things about children is the blind, ignorant courage that precedes the inception of socialized fear. Much of what we as adults are afraid of is a result of learning, rather than biology. Young kids simply haven’t been taught to fear much of what society deems scary, and the resulting courage is spectacular to watch. I recently had the joy of seeing my twin niece and nephew learn to walk. Time and again they would fall; time and again they would get up. Courage was in their nature, and it served them well. I have never met an adult who dealt with failure as beautifully as my niece and nephew. Why? Because as adults, we are taught to avoid displaying our short comings at all costs, lest we be seen by others as inadequate. I believe kids are joyful in part because they live in the absence of unnecessary fear, if only for a short time.
Potential Solution: Awareness of fear sources.
Some fears are perfectly justified. They are meant to keep us alive, healthy, and thriving to the greatest extent possible. Go ahead and fear falling from thousand foot cliffs, choking, and contracting HIV. Take the necessary steps to prevent those things.
But what about public speaking? Rejection? Strangers? Trips to the dentist? Failure?
What advantage do these concerns bring us? None. What do we stand to gain if we can rid ourselves of irrational fears? Everything.
The key is not to be fearless, it is to be rational and courageous. If you need a lesson, go babysit.
Challenge: The Death of Mystery
Making sense of the world is a catch-22 of development. On the one hand, the more we figure out, the easier life becomes. On the other, the more we figure out, the more mundane life becomes. Imagine being a baby. You can’t remember this. Neither can I, but I’m willing to bet it was far more thrilling than any adult activity. As babies, everything, everything, is brand new and waiting to be comprehended. Food, cats, balloons, aunts, smells, etc. The space that exists between mystery and understanding is purely exhilarating, but it becomes increasingly endangered as we depart from childhood. We trade wonder and magic for the efficiency and safety of adulthood. Yet another common source of malaise seems to be a diminishing sense of amazement. This, I think, is why people tend to falsely place their hopes for rekindled passion in far off places and unique experiences.
Potential Solution: Get over yourself.
We like to think we have it all figured out, that we are incapable of being surprised, but this really couldn’t be farther from the truth. There is not a human among us who has even one-tenth of 1% of the available knowledge stored in his or her brain. The only reason the world has ceased to feel mysterious is that we fear misunderstanding, thus we limit our attention only to that which is understood. I have always found it strange that we humans so often complain of banality, even as we are absolutely enveloped in a world of unkown that we haven’t the first clue about.
If life has lost its mystery, blame the usual suspect: socialization. Despite what common sentiment wants you to believe, it is perfectly acceptable to admit that you know virtually nothing. In fact, it is pretty liberating. Sure, you may like to think and say that you understand food, cats, balloons,aunts, smells, etc., but do you really? Unless you are a gastronome, felineologist, chemist, aunt-err-ologist, olfactologist, etc., chances are that you probably don’t. The world is full of mystery, and the best part is that you don’t even need to leave your house to find it.
Challenge: Control Issues
The platitude “money makes the world go ’round” is flat out wrong. Control makes the world go ’round, and when obtained and exercised with prudence, can be a key to well-being. The only reason money matters at all is that it can be used to purchase control.
There are many kinds of control, some healthy and useful, some destructive- self-control, control of finances, control of one’s bowels, control of government, control of slaves, control of a spouse, control of power. The list goes on. Life boiled down to its basic elements is a dance between control and a lack thereof. We spend much of our lives trying to gain and maintain control of our circumstances. Those who are successful are called well adjusted, even powerful. Those who are not quickly slide to the bottom rungs of society.
Children are curious cases when it comes to control. Relatively speaking, they have very little, yet they don’t seem to be bothered. There are two reasons for this. First, though their level of control is initially limited, it increases at a rapid rate. Learn to tie your shoes=control. Use the bathroom on your own=control. Earn enough trust to stay home alone=control. And so it goes. Second, kids do exactly what all humans innately hope to do: relinquish control to trusted others (parents).
Early adults generally experience neither of these benefits, and they suffer because of it. Though the twenty something is often “independent”, it is not long before they realize just how little control they have. Instead of controlling, they are controlled- by money, possessions, job markets, bosses, mortgages, health concerns, etc. Much like children, they are forced to relinquish their control, but to the fickle, unforgiving world, rather than trusted others (parents). There was a time when young adults found comfort in trusting god and government to control their outcomes, but I hardly need to point out that those times are long gone.
Potential Solution: Take it where you can get it, but don’t be greedy.
We early adults are not powerless, despite what (you guessed it) socialization, would like us to believe. We are free to take control where we can, but we must be both wise and modest in our early undertakings. Perhaps you can afford a $200,000 home, perhaps you cannot. I cannot, thus I know full well that those kind of monthly payments would control me. A person with more money in their account may purchase that house and experience an increased level of control as a new home owner. I am not there yet, but I’m okay with that.
People like to think they are in control when they engage in heavy consumerism, because the very act of purchasing has been craftily designed to portray the illusion of power. The catch, of course, is that the more stuff we have, the more stuff we have to pay for and care for, thus we are left with less money, less time, and a diminished sense of control.
They key to control is to think on simple terms. I can exercise a moderate level of control over my health, finances, possessions, diet, and the way I spend my time. It isn’t much, but I would rather be the master of a small domain than a slave to a large one.
The more we feel we are in control of our lives, the more likely it is that we will achieve satisfaction. Pursuing this end is worthwhile, but we should not get overly attached. After all, the fact remains, everything that could go wrong very well might, and there is nothing we can say or do about it. All we can do is go with the tide and take solace in the fact that chance does not choose favorites.
…
If you have made it this far, my guess is that you have probably identified with some of these thoughts, and disregarded others entirely. That is excellent, I am glad. Our lives thus far are bound to have been wildly different, and that is a beautiful thing. What brings me joy and pain may not have the same effect on you.
What is important is that people who are just starting out in the world learn to band together, to learn from one another, to share ideas that may, if we are lucky, elevate our MS to something more than what they otherwise could have been.
I have written today as a gesture of solidarity, in the hopes that we may rise to the challenges, and bypass the struggles entirely.
If you have any insights or observations to share about your experiences of early adulthood, I would absolutely love to hear them.
Why we wake up in the morning
Each morning 7 billion people arise to a single task- to be the architects of an existence that is rich in both quality and meaning. The complexity and diversity of the human experience is evident in the endless number of ways these terms are personally defined, but a basic unity of purpose is difficult to deny. In this simple way, we are all seeking the same goal, following the same path.
To reach these ends- quality and meaning- we are equipped with frontal lobes and free will, the ability and liberty to make decisions that promote our desires and ambitions. The choices we are faced with are limitless, and vary significantly in terms of their importance and repercussions. Some decisions are fleeting, destined to fade from consequence, while others remain in effect for the duration of our time on earth, and indeed stretch well beyond our own relatively short lives and into future generations. Every instance of love, revolution, war, and religion can be traced back through a lineage of single choices, some of which, had they been made differently, would have resulted in a world far removed from the one we know today. It’s interesting to ponder the more weighty examples-
-What if the Vienna School of Art had chosen to accept a young Adolph Hitler into their program?
-What might be the nature of religion be if Siddhartha Guatama had chosen to remain in the lap of luxury, rather than embark on the religious quest that was to be the precursor of the Buddhist faith?
-What if Gutenberg had decided to cut an over zealous bite of German sausage while eating lunch one day, choked on that bite, and died prior to inventing the printing press?
Though examples such as these are entertaining to daydream about, they offer little to help us understand the gravity of the choices we make in our own tiny lives. Why do our decisions, so relatively small in scale, even matter? After all, most among us will play only a small part in the grand production of mankind, and having fulfilled these roles, will retreat into the obscurity of endless non-existence. We are all destined to be forgotten by our species, our identities absorbed in full by the endless cycle of creation and death. No man or woman, regardless of fame, infamy, influence, or ingenuity, is so robust as to defy the pull of time itself. The day will come when Hitler himself is forgotten, and you can bet that the last mentioning of your name will occur somewhat earlier than that.
So what’s the point of all this? Why invest so heavily in the act of living when the end of “me” is so dauntingly imminent? What’s to stop us from doing anything and everything we please, regardless of consideration for others? Why do we bother to consider issues of morality, justice, and ethics? If the human existence itself is not of consequence, how can the minor events within that existence be interpreted any differently?
Following this train of thought to its end, it is easy to imagine how one might end up engulfed in darkness, yet somehow 7 billion people manage to wake up in the morning. We make our beds, use our turn signals on the drive to work, cut our dog’s toenails, refill the ink in copy machines, drink cappuccinos, make love/art, and use mouthwash. How? Why? What’s the point?
To me, there are three possibilities-
1) We are intellectually incapable of fully comprehending the consequences of our impermanence.
2) We employ subconscious mechanisms that prohibit us from delving too far into considerations of our insignificance
or
3) We do matter, and while we may have a hard time explaining it, we somehow feel it to be true.
The evidence I have gathered thus far from my limited personal experience is not enough to form a concrete conclusion, but my suspicion, my hope, is that truth lies in the third possibility.
I believe it is in the nature of man to care deeply about the well-being of his species, and to love each person therein to the greatest extent possible. This view may seem naïve in the face of the many cruelties people inflict on one another, but I maintain that even the most socially destructive people are bred into the collective consciousness that senses the oneness of all beings. That we falter so regularly is not evidence against this unity, but rather a clear indication that there is struggle inherent in the process of honoring it. Though it is in our nature to love, to do so is no doubt the most active of processes.
To be clear, when I mention oneness, I’m not talking about god(s), at least not necessarily. What so many interpret (perhaps correctly) as god, may just be an abstract awareness that our existences are inextricably linked to the human lives, past and future, which collectively comprise the history of a species. We don’t yet know the full details of our beginning, and no doubt the end is even more uncertain, yet most recognize at least a subtle connection to these unknown territories. It is when this connection is severed that atrocities are committed.
We must be humble enough to embrace the impermanence of our identities, yet also be prudent and courageous enough to accept that the choices we make have potential beyond all comprehension. It may very well be that no one will recognize my name in 500 years, but this is not to say that a single act of kindness I carry out in this very moment will not set in motion a never-ending perpetuation of goodness.
So long as our species exists, the choices we make matter, and very much so. There is simply no telling how far-reaching the impact of our lives may prove to be. A single mortal life is comprised of an endless onslaught of choices, the effects of which, positive or negative, carry on forever.
So how are we to live?
Lovingly, empathetically, and with an unfaltering dedication to community and sustainable well-being.
Never before has the demand for this formula been stronger. So long as we continue to act selfishly, to view the world through the false lend of separateness, the future of our species will be gravely uncertain. We’ve been heavily conditioned to maintain a singular focus on our own personal agendas, but so far as I can see, this path leads directly to spiritual depravity on a personal level and inevitably to the extinction of our species.
We must regain the strength and wisdom required to make choices that serve mankind as a whole. The individual search for meaning and quality in each day needn’t go beyond this goal.
Feed the pig!
In the beginning of my senior year in college I found myself with a very abstract travel dream. I knew I wanted to take an extended backpacking trip when I graduated, but I had very little idea where to go, and I definitely didn’t know how I was going to pay for it. There were clear indications of a dream begging to be realized, but the uncertainty and lack of funding were daunting, to say the least.
With graduation well over a year away, I knew there was plenty of time to obsess over travel blogs and decide on the perfect destination. That was going to be the fun part.
The money was the real issue, and I knew it. Up to that point I’d been completely incompetent at saving money. I knew a thing or two about spending binges, but I was purely a rookie when it came to financial self control. Defeating my irresponsible spending habits wasn’t going to be easy, but I was determined.
I started small.
When I say small, I don’t mean 10-15% from every paycheck into a savings account. Even that was far too robust for me at that time. When I say small, I’m talking about a piggy bank- the undergrad version anyway, a 2 gallon Carlo Rossi wine jug. I had my travel savings receptacle ready to go. And more importantly, I had two simple rules that, if followed, would eventually fill it.
Rule one- Respect the value of spare change- Kids seem to be acutely aware that the accumulation of spare change can yield powerful results. We teach them to value quarters, dimes, nickels, and even pennies, which they often do with fantastic results, yet we forget to remember this important lesson as adults. From the moment I started my savings jug, I was adament about depositing my loose change into it. I set a mark about a third of the way up the jug, and vowed not to count the money until the change had reached that level. Eager to get there, I found myself paying for things in whole dollar increments, even when I had the change to avoid it. I became fully invested in the accumulation of cents, and the jar became heavier and heavier as the days and weeks went by.
Rule Two: Cut out $2-3 from the budget every day- This was where the magic happened. Every single day I looked for a way to save $2-3- skipping the gas station energy drink, ordering a smaller item on the menu, sharing an entree, cooking at home, seeking free entertainment, etc. Not only did I find it to be extremely easy, it was also great fun. The choices I made didn’t feel like sacrifices at all- they often involved finding healthy alternatives to excessive consumption, or exploring certain opportunities in my city that I hadn’t known existed. Saving $2-3 became a game, and one that I loved to play. Each day I’d stuff a couple ones, sometimes even a five, into the mouth of my savings jug, until six months later…
…the change reached the line. I’d done it. With great joy I dumped the contents of the jar onto the floor and began counting it by hand. One hour and $500 later, the world had opened up in a way that was completely new to me. I couldn’t afford an entire trip just yet, but I could afford a plane ticket, and that was enough to make the dream feel real. I shopped around for a few days and purchased a one way ticket to Lima, Peru. The months of waiting and continued saving that followed, as well as the 2 months I spent backpacking through South America, came together as a crucial lesson in saving and delayed gratification. Never before had I felt so accomplished, independent, or free than the moment I stepped foot on Peruvian soil. It’s a feeling that sticks with me to this day.
I saved $500 in 6 months, and it couldn’t have been more painless. It was as if the money had been created out of thin air. Just to illustrate the power of this simple savings method, here’s some simple math.
$2.50 per day ($2 cash, $.50 change) for……1 week= $17.50…1 month=$75…6 months= $455…1 year- $900…2 years- $1,800…10 years- $9,000
Imagine the feeling of accomplishment you’d get after having the patience to generate $9,000 in this way. Pretty powerful, isn’t it?
Update: Having used this strategy for the duration of my time in Seoul, I will soon be cashing in my change and low value bill collection in order to purchase a $450 camera lens I’ve been drooling over for some time. It would normally give me considerable anxiety to spend this kind of money on a lens, but again, because I saved slowly, I am experiencing nothing of the sort. In fact, I’m happy to spend the money. It feels good to know that I had the patience to wait for something I really wanted.
A.F.R.E.S.H.M.E.- A brief manifesto of change
A wareness
F reedom
R ationality
E thics
S implicity
H ealth
M indfulness
E xperimentation
A brief manifesto of change
Positive change, whether it happens on a personal, national, or global scale, begins with awareness. If we are to actualize our innate potential, we must first learn to differentiate between the forces holding us back and those that serve to elevate us into the realm of virtue. To be aware is to establish an intimate understanding of the cause and effect chain that rules every corner of humanity. We must not only know when and how we are acted upon, but when and how we are acting upon others. Only those who are truly aware of these often subtle relationships can lay claim to personal freedom. Freedom is every bit as much a concern for the mind as it is for the body, every bit as much an internal struggle as an external one. Those who exercises their physical liberties, only to submissively sacrifice their minds, cannot be called free, at least not in the most truthful sense of the word. The United States is a country with a proud history of defending freedom, often to the death. Great men have fought valiantly to protect this collective ideal on which we were founded. The best way to honor this struggle is to shed complacency and dogma in favor of activism and rationality. The challenges of globalization can only be matched by solutions born of sensibility, compassion, and humility. If we can teach ourselves to be the rulers of our own minds, we will remove the temptation to be the ruler of other’s. When human beings are at their best, they are both individually autonomous and ceaselessly diligent in protecting the autonomy of others. Those most worthy of admiration are men and women who understand that this truth is a cornerstone of ethics. These people are acutely aware that the fight for freedom in our country did not end in 1865, that the 21st century is only the newest front in an eternally evolving conflict. We live in an age that is more riddled with moral concerns than any that preceded it. Recognizing this, the responsible citizen seeks means by which he can rise to the occasion and thus respond to the call for solutions. The ethical concerns of our day are often issues of over-consumption, therefore the answers may very well lie in a return to simplicity and moderation. Too often we assume that complex problems can only be met with complex solutions, thus, lacking confidence in our ability to deliver, we meekly raise the white flag and surrender to forces we perceive to be incomprehensible, and therefore indomitable. This retreat is not only critically dangerous for the well-being of a nation, but also entirely unnecessary. How does the ant colony build its intricate empire of tunnels? One grain at a time. One individual effort after another. So too will the world end its plunge towards disaster- one simple and ethical personal choice at a time. Acts of individual progress are only mistaken as small or insignificant when considered independently. The truth, of course, is that righteousness perpetuates righteousness, and the culmination of individual decisions is what will inevitably make or break the entire system.
One individual effort paramount to societal progress is a devotion to physical, spiritual, and intellectual health. It is difficult, if not impossible, to contribute to the health of the collective, if we are not first determined to maintain health at an individual level. The truth is simple enough- we are best suited to help others live well when we are living well ourselves. Being “healthy” means so many things to so many people, but we can say with certainty that any true definition of the word begins with mindfulness. Mindfulness is the trait that describes a person who maintains a keen awareness of the present moment. These people understand that each one of their waking seconds affords them the opportunity to have an impact on the health of their mind, body, and society. Mindful people recognize the beauty of slowness and the wisdom in careful deliberation. It is in the vastness of the present moment that clarity and transparency are rooted. This is a place where rationalization and impulsivity cannot dwell, a place where we come face to face with our thoughts and behaviors. When we are mindful we cannot help but honor our virtues, for the guilt in doing otherwise would be unbearable.
We are an imperfect species at war with the shortcomings of our evolutionarily unprecedented brains. If we are to rise together, we must champion a culture of experimentation. Revolutionary ideas are sparked by the most daring experimenters, men and women who not only have the courage to break with tradition, but the humility to admit when they are wrong. We modern Americans would be well served to mirror these virtues. Now is not the time to be entrenched in the misguided priorities of the past. Never before has so much ridden on our innovative spirit. Never before has there been so much at stake.
Ethical eating and impending upheaval in the American farming industry
What is the state of morality in America? When our story is told by historians, what kind of story will it be? Will it be a tale of greed, oversight, and disaster, or one of self-correction and redemption?
Many would argue that we’ve made great progress. Skeptics would turn to the dealings of corporate America for evidence on the contrary. In reality, they’d both be right. We’ve made obvious strides to differentiate our current moral landscape from that of our ancestors, but with an increasingly complex society comes the advent of unprecedented ethical concerns.
Ethical failures at an individual level are often related to the choices we make as elements of a consumer driven society. It is not a widespread corrosion of principles that leads us astray, as some might claim, but rather the degrees of separation that have come between our spending decisions and their outcomes. Transparent cause and effect relationships, which were once 
the rule in early markets, are now virtually non-existent. As a result, what we know inherently to be fair and right is compromised- by ignorance, confusion, learned helplessness, an “out of sight, out of mind” mentality, or any combination of the four. Too often we cite ignorance as personal and public justification of our ethically questionable decisions. In other cases we rationalize our behavior by throwing up a white flag in the face of the highly complicated demands that the modern world makes of our morality. When these mechanisms fail, we shirk responsibility by blocking the problem from our consciousness entirely.
Regardless of which personal brand of denial we subscribe to, the result is the same- unfavorable, often disastrous, outcomes play out in some far off place and are therefore relevant only in the outermost realms of our moral consideration, if at all. It is often true, that in order to live a life that honors our personal principles, we must have direct contact with the ultimate outcomes of our decisions.
Perhaps the most blatant betrayal of collective values today is consumer support of widespread factory farming. Few among us endorse the torture of sentient beings, the degradation of our environment, or the perpetuation of public health risks, yet these are just what this institution has come to represent. Factory farms, by definition, are those that are focused on mass scale
efficiency- maximum output, minimal cost. These are not the rolling green pastures we’d like to believe in, they are tightly confined torture camps. That we are not often confronted with these horrors is not to suggest that they don’t exist, but that the omnipotent corporations running the show have paid top dollar for our ignorance. The glimpses we do get of factory farm operations come from the hidden cameras of disgruntled employees or undercover investigators, and as anyone familiar can attest, the footage is truly horrifying. (For an excellent comprehensive view of standard factory procedures, visit meatvideo.com)
The driving force of the problem, of course, is that aside from its obvious moral atrocity, factory farming puts meat and dairy products on the table at remarkably low prices. These products are tasty and cheap. What else is there to consider?
A lot. We know that factory farming, which is more or less to say, “”American Farming” (the VAST majority of meat and dairy farms in America are factory farms), is a major contributor to a myriad of problems at local, regional, national, and global levels. These include, but are in no way limited to,…
- critical degradation of air, water, and soil quality
- ozone depletion
- risk of epidemic and pandemic diseases (unhealthy animals–>compromised immune systems–>increase in disease–>increased probability that disease will spread to humans)
- animal cruelty and torture
- bankruptcy of family owned farms and agriculture related businesses
- threats to biodiversity
- decreased resistance to bacteria, resulting from overuse of antibiotics in animals with compromised immunity
For a detailed explanation of the risks related to factory farming, I highly recommend EatingAnimals, by J.S. Foer
How alarming does this reality need to be in order for it to pervade our consumer consciousness? In the words of author and activist Jonathan Safran Foer, “if contributing to the suffering of billions of animals that live miserable lives and (quite often) die in horrific ways isn’t motivating, what would be? If being the number one contributor to the most serious threat facing the planet (global warming) isn’t enough, what is? And if you are tempted to put off these questions of conscience, to say not now, then when?”
My personal prediction is that one of two scenarios will play out.
1. Fast paced change will come when individuals in the West experience direct and observable threats to their life and well-being, at which point it could already be much too late.
2. A grassroots culinary revolution will be sparked, wherein conscious consumption becomes the norm, not the exception- not just one acceptable choice, but the only acceptable choice. We would eat fewer animal products, willingly pay more for what we do consume, and insist upon vastly different products. If the movement were strong enough, the industries would have no choice but to comply with consumer demands.
One way or the other, modern meat and dairy farming will fall. Just how much of society it brings down with it will be determined by the spending patterns of individual consumers.
It is imperative that we support a new era of farming that is both morally grounded and ecologically sustainable. We can do it because we love animals, out of concern for our health, to reverse global warming, or to promote the well-being of our families. Why we do it doesn’t matter, but we absolutely must do it. Vegetarianism and ethical meat consumption are powerful ways to voice one’s dedication to the future of mankind.
The best time to begin researching and implementing an ethically conscious diet would have been a decade or two ago, but today will be just fine as well.
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The last of the quiet spaces
I recently read Henry Thoreau’s description of the hours he passed in a gently swaying canoe, fishing and philosophizing upon the moonlit stillness of his beloved Walden pond, and I sensed stirring within me a familiar urge to seek solitude. For Thoreau, it was the serenity of the pond and the dense surrounding Massachusetts woodland that would inspire the clarity necessary to create Walden, a work that has since been recognized as one of the most important contributions to Western philosophy. He went to the woods, as he put it, “to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life”, and that’s just what he did.
I dream, as Thoreau and so many others before me have, of finding a place that fosters only the freest thinking, of seeking the quiet spaces where worldly distractions cannot comfortably dwell. I wish to discover the parts of myself that existed prior to 24 years of social conditioning. I suspect that if we can manage to get properly lost in the world, we may in effect abandon, at least to some degree, that which is not fundamental to living a life that honors our highest potential. The figures that I’ve come to revere most- Thoreau, Kant, Kerouac, the Buddha- each in their own unique way sought and found lessons in the unclouded purity of independence and simplicity.
These are the very lessons I fear may be lost, and increasingly so, on the 21st century. We’ve entered into a dangerous commerce of values, wherein we have sacrificed various natural states for devices that perpetuate technological progress. The degrees of separation between mankind and the natural world are on the rise, and though the ultimate outcome of this trend has yet to reach fruition, we somehow allow ourselves the premature assumption that the course we’ve plotted is in fact leading us in a net positive direction.
And what if it’s not?
What if, in straying further and further from nature, from the world as it was in the first 99.99999999 percent of its existence, we have placed limits on our abilities to discover and comprehend the true value of the human experience? Assuming that we are capable of progressing, both as individuals and as a collective, towards higher states of being, it is at least plausible that many of the complexities we’ve manufactured in this world may only serve to hinder this process.
If we can be certain of one thing, it is that men and women as individuals are capable of reaching considerable spiritual and intellectual heights without the employment of modern advancements. These things may or may not be detrimental, but there exists centuries of sufficient evidence to suggest that they are in no way essential. Knowing as we do that great philosophies were born amidst periods infinitely more primitive than this one, we should, at the very least, prioritize the preservation of the occasions which allow modern man to distance himself from the distractions of the 21st century. And while such opportunities do still exist, they are being steadily absorbed the relentless pull of progress.
If we cannot defend the quiet spaces from the threats of modernity- if we become too connected, stimulated, populated, advanced, materialistic, etc, we may very well come to find that many of the answers we seek as individuals and as a species are buried beneath decades of misled pursuits. Those of us fortunate enough to have the opportunity to embrace simplicity and solitude must do so now, for these are the most endangered of ideas.
$$$=Votes that matter
Before you get any further into this post, do me a favor. Take the cash and credit cards out of your wallet or purse, and spread them in front of you.
Think about what these resources mean to you. What will come of them? Gorceries? A flat screen television? Vacation savings? New shoes?
Now expand your considerations beyond the personal implications of your money. Begin to consider what your money will mean to the outside world. What will be the impact of your spending on your family? Your community? Your country?
What lays before you is undoubtedly one of the most important opportunities you have to make a moral statement in society. Whether we like it or not, how we cycle our income into the system will inevitably play a part in perpetuating specific trends. The strength and definition of these depends entirely on the power of consumer choice. Every dollar is a vote for that which it is used to support. As spenders we are engaged in an ongoing election of ideas, which are represented by the the many market players- the corporations, the non-profits, the small businesses, etc.
Along with each of these entities comes a very particular, though not always clear, set of values. Wal Mart represents certain principles, as does the vendor at your local farmers market.
Framed this way, it becomes clear that personal finance really isn’t so personal after all. It is, in fact, one of our most critical connections to the outside world. Spending responsibly does not end at ensuring our own personal financial security. To be a truly conscious consumer, as to be a truly conscious voter, we must understand that our dollar(our vote) is intrinsically tied to the well-being of the collective.
If we want to see an improved world, we must spend in accordance with that vision. If we wish to be champions of social justice, environmental conservation, and human creativity, we must consume with these ideals, not against them. The reality may be that our personal moral code is only as worthwhile as that of the businesses we choose to support.
With the power of our money comes great responsibility. If we are to avoid hypocrisy, we must plot a spending course that is in harmony with our personal principles, as well as our vision of ideal humanity. Our conscience fully recognized asks that we judge the merits of the many choices we face as consumers, a task that must be completed with discernment, and at a good distance from selfish impulse.
This, as we all know, is where the ground gets unsteady.
Balancing morality and consumerism demands the perfect blend of education, self-dicipline, and and base level stability. Sometimes the proper course of action is veiled by the complexity of modern markets, or by the cunning nature of the corporations that control them. Also common is the virtual impossibility for people in lower income brackets to make the truly ethical(and often more expensive) financial choices. Too frequently we are cornered, whether by crafty advertising or sheer necessity, into making spending decisions that are a betrayal of our values.
To a certain extent we must forgive ourselves for being imperfect cogs in a remarkably flawed machine. At times we will spend our money in ways that are both personally and collectively irresponsible. Individual battles will be conceded- this is both inevitable and acceptable, but it is not justification for giving up the war.
It is essential to remember that ethical spending is not a goal that is obtainable overnight, nor does it call for an all or nothing approach. The societal issues fueled by ethically irresponsibility spending are certainly pressing, but few among us have the time or resources to ensure the moral outcome of every dollar spent. However, step by dillidgent step, over time, we will learn to create harmony between capitalism and morality. This is the only path that leads to a sustainable future.
Why travel?
As children with minds fresh and new, time has a way of stretching itself gently beyond distant horizons into to a place unseen and therefore void of consequence. We grow older and we come to understand that the passing seconds, of which the supply once seemed so limitless, are in fact our most non-renewable resource. Slow and unassuming at first, but with gaining momentum, comes the realization that we began dying the very same moment we took our first breath. As our naive relationship with immortality fades into obscurity, so too does our primordial sense of a life without limitation. The expansiveness of youth is replaced by a looming conceptualization of expiration and a culturally pervasive lie that we must acquire and accomplish all that we can before it’s too late.
Then, one day, provided we are resilient enough to endure the weight of the quiet existential struggle, something comes along to make us fall in love with the world all over again. Once again we are children watching clouds pass on an endless summer afternoon. Passion is born, and we know that everything is going to be just fine.
Travelling is a way for the nomadic spirit reconnects with what’s best in their soul. In anticipation of exploration we are reunited with a deeply rooted conception of limitless possibility. Where as kids we sought solace in the ambiguity of time, the mature mind seeks it in wide open spaces. 9-5 society, with its rules, expectations, routines, and perpetual denial holds little draw for the nomadic heart. We are called to the road, where one may float freely between and amidst cultures, paradigms, traditions, and tragedies, remaining just long enough to comprehend our experience, such that we may carry it with us in our hearts.
Adventure, in its pure form, is not only the realization of dreams, or an opportunity to widen worldly perspective, it is the act of quenching the innate human thirst for independence. On the road we find a brand of freedom that can be felt, but never quite explained. Nonetheless, vagabonds with an affinity for words feel inclined to try… Walt Whitman writes,
From this hour I ordain myself loos’d of limits and imaginary
lines,
Going where I list, my own master total and absolute,
Listening to others, considering well what they say,
Pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating,
Gently, but with undeniable will to divest myself of the
holds that would hold me.
If Whitman’s words speak to our spirit, if we feel an undeniable magnetism drawing us into the unknown, or if we can no longer ignore the suspicion that there is more to life than what we’ve come to know, then by any means necessary, we must find a way to hit the road. Let us discover for ourselves what lies beyond the limitations of our present reality.
The time is now.
“When it is time to die,” Thoreau warns, ”let us not discover that we never lived.”
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What the Nomad would like to write about in 2011
The Nomad, who has officially adopted a third person writing style, would like to clarify for readers that this change is merely an experiment in objectivity, not an ego driven self-indulgence. The Nomad believes in the power of the clarity that derives from detaching oneself from personal circumstances, and will now be utilizing his beloved blog as a means of doing just that. He hopes you won’t mind the new format. Now, on with the good stuff…
An overarching theme in the life of the Nomad this past year has been an ongoing effort to reduce the grayness of the gray area between necessity and luxury. It has become apparent that making this distinction and being mindful of the source behind certain misguided materialistic perceptions are key elements of the ultimate goal, to achieve and maintain a loving, purpose driven existence. The Nomad aims to understand the true nature of need as it pertains to the various realms his every day life- consumerism, internet usage, vanity, ego, relationships, intellectual pursuit, career and personal goals, nutrition, spirituality, etc.
It seem obvious enough to say that we human beings have a crippling tendency to fool ourselves into a shallow and critically misguided critically perception of what it means to be happy. The result of this, as we all know, is widespread over-indulgence, which in effect has left us scrambling for solutions to a myriad of environmental, social, financial, and public health relates crises.
And while the Nomad does not wish to understate the complex diversity of these issues, he suspects that a collective realignment with the value of less would probably result in considerably positive change in the world.
As a personal response to the state of the world, the Nomad wishes to humbly pledge himself as a student in the school of minimalism. Explained in brevity, minimalism is a retreat from complexity, a return of the once prodigal consumer back into the world of natural well-being. It’s about discovering ways to ask less of the world and get more out of life as a result.
The Nomad’s road to minimalism has been, and will continue to be, a continuous series of adjustments and readjustments, rather than a single drastic overhaul. Shedding culturally engrained affinities for consumption is an ongoing process, thus we should not be surprised to find that the realization of the fully conscious consumer does not happen overnight. The Nomad will be the first to admit that he slips up almost as frequently as he succeeds, but he believes nonetheless that the net sum of his decisions signifies an overall shift towards a more happy, healthy, and gentle existence.
The ultimate goal is simple- to address the multitude of misconceptions that a modern existence tends to cultivate, and having done so, realign with 3 deep-rooted principles-
1. Minimize harm 2. Honor that which is truly important 3. Detach from that which is not
Poet Gallway Kinnell states it with more simple eloquence than the Nomad could hope to-
Whatever happens. Whatever
What is is is what
I want. Only that. But that.
The Nomad hopes you’ll join him as he explores what it means to live simple and free in an increasingly complicated world.
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Fighting in the name of ?
With the opportunity to discover personal truth arises the responsibility, the privilege, to fight for the rights of others to do the same. A just society is one that affords uninhibited occasion for individuals to exercise their unique capacity for inquiry, and, in doing so, honors the inextricable linkage between freedom and knowledge. When we fight in the name of truth we defend the past, present, and future of human curiosity. In this way, though we may only live to see a whisper of the dream’s fruition, we extend the impact of our lives into the far reaches of time and space. Though eternity evades man in his physical form, it is granted willingly to his noblest ideals.
It has been said that “the mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for”(Doestoevsky, Brothers Karamazov). Assuming this statement to be true, let mankind celebrate the realization that, in the defense of truth and inquiry, we always have something to which we can readily dedicate our lives. What can we fight for that is higher than our collective quest for truth? Promoting the innate desire for understanding is a direct pledge of allegiance to all verities past and forthcoming.
If we accept that truth and understanding are inherently good, we can also maintain that any action taken in pursuit of these things is certain to share the same quality. Thus, in the face of intellectual and spiritual oppression, we are granted a strong moral compass from which we can derive the proper course. Unequivocally, the correct choice is the one that best honors the inquisitive faculties of all men. Likewise, the wrong choice is that which sacrifices this gift in the name of comfort, stability, or power. Relinquishing our specie’s position as the pursuer of truth not only undermines the extraordinary potential of our minds, but also endangers the very freedom we so vehemently seek.
If we are to be sustainable as a species, two critical criteria must be met. First, it is essential that we create equity in the distribution of opportunities for knowledge attainment. Only when all people are free to inquire as they see fit can we begin rightfully claim that there is intellectual fairness in the world. Second, once this ubiquitous freedom has been granted, the responsibility rests on the individual to take advantage of it. There will always be pitfalls on the path to truth, and there will always be an overabundance of people, organizations, and religions who wish to enslave our minds as a means of furthering their own agenda. We must be wary of absolutes, and reject outright those who encourage us to stop asking questions.
The success or failure of the human race will ultimately be dependent on its ability to inspire a free thinking collective. If we can unite under the banner of unhindered intellectual exploration, we face inevitable liberation from the hindrances which keep us from realizing our potential as a human race. If we cannot, it is only a matter of time until we are crushed by the weight of ignorance.
Fighting in the name of ?
With the opportunity to discover personal truth arises the responsibility, the privilege, to fight for the rights of others to do the same. A just society is one that affords uninhibited occasion for individuals to exercise their unique capacity for inquiry, and, in doing so, honors the inextricable linkage between freedom and knowledge. When we fight in the name of truth we defend the past, present, and future of human curiosity. In this way, though we may only live to see a whisper of the dream’s fruition, we extend the impact of our lives into the far reaches of time and space. Though eternity evades man in his physical form, it is granted willingly to his noblest ideals.
It has been said that “the mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for”(Doestoevsky, Brothers Karamazov). Assuming this statement to be true, let mankind celebrate the realization that, in the defense of truth and inquiry, we always have something to which we can readily dedicate our lives. What can we fight for that is higher than our collective quest for truth? Promoting the innate desire for understanding is a direct pledge of allegiance to all verities past and forthcoming.
If we accept that truth and understanding are inherently good, we can also maintain that any action taken in pursuit of these things is certain to share the same quality. Thus, in the face of intellectual and spiritual oppression, we are granted a strong moral compass from which we can derive the proper course. Unequivocally, the correct choice is the one that best honors the inquisitive faculties of all men. Likewise, the wrong choice is that which sacrifices this gift in the name of comfort, stability, or power. Relinquishing our specie’s position as the pursuer of truth not only undermines the extraordinary potential of our minds, but also endangers the very freedom we so vehemently seek.
If we are to be sustainable as a species, two critical criteria must be met. First, it is essential that we create equity in the distribution of opportunities for knowledge obtainment. Only when all people are free to inquire as they see fit can we begin rightfully claim that there is intellectual fairness in the world. Second, once this ubiquitous freedom has been granted, the responsibility rests on the individual to take advantage of it. There will always be pitfalls on the path to truth, and there will always be an overabundance of people, organizations, and movements who wish to enslave our minds as a means of furthering their own agenda. We must be wary of absolutes, and reject outright those who encourage us to stop asking questions.
The success or failure of the human race will ultimately be dependent on its ability to inspire a free thinking collective. If we can unite under the banner of unhindered intellectual exploration, we face inevitable liberation from the hindrances which keep us from realizing our potential as a human race. If we cannot, it is only a matter of time until we are crushed by the weight of ignorance.
