The Absurdity of Our Choices

As the natural world rapidly disappears, I get panicked. Like a child losing one’s mother. In nature, I feel fed, nurtured, empowered and at peace. I feel calm, whole and healthy. It couldn’t be more opposite walking down a loud, busy urban street or even sitting quietly in front of a computer. Technology not only does not feed my soul it somehow poisons me.

The modern world of convenience is a constant measuring stick of risk/benefit. For example, are the poisonous cancer-producing toxins and environmental degradation in the herbicides, pesticides, fungicides worth the extra food they provide? Is the radiation coming from your computer worth the speed it performs calculations, is the speed of travel worth carbon monoxide poisoning of our air, is the drug you’re taking worth the side effects, is the food additives and coloring worth the toll it takes on your body, is the damning of rivers and the annihilation of ecosystems worth the hydro-energy or desert city? These types of risk/benefit calculations were almost non-existent and unnecessary 250 years ago outside of how large a village should be so that the surrounding nature could support it. And for native Americans that was considered. Most of these risk/benefit calculations shouldn’t even be necessary if the endeavors’ objective is societal well-being and stability as opposed to convenience and immediate gratification.

I would argue that on average humans are not happier and healthier today than we were 250 years ago living without electricity and all electricity has enabled. Yes, there have been some benefits to electricity, and all it enabled no doubt yet those benefits lose their luster when one considers the detriments. It feels like there is as much war, poverty, disease, racism, crime than there has ever been. Some may argue that is not true, but even if these things have improved slightly due to modern life, we’ve replaced any improvements we made in these categories with other issues like global warming, nuclear annihilation, prolific pollution of land, sea and air the proliferation of heart disease, cancers, obesity, autoimmune disease, Autism, new viruses and diseases. I heard that 52% of all children under 17 years old are dealing with chronic health issues most likely due to the toxicity in our environment and 70% of our population is overweight 50% obese. We are being attacked from every angle whether it’s toxins in our food or whether it’s toxins in our air, or whether it’s the toxins of technology, female teenage suicide rate has doubled in the last 10 years completely coinciding with social media.

Flying to Hawaii and staying at a 4-star hotel doesn’t make one more happy than camping at a nearby mountain stream. Playing computer games doesn’t increase happiness over board games, living in a penthouse and driving a Mercedes doesn’t increase wellbeing as opposed to living in a Tipi and riding a painted pony. Like a child who is offered a candy bar or Coca-Cola we have been sold a tantalizing lifestyle of excitement, immediate gratification, ease and convenience that’s hard to resist when our greedy brothers and sisters (government and corporate leaders) put profit ahead of ethics and integrity. We have rationalized why it’s ok to indulge in this greedy and materialistic culture as everybody else is. Our culture has defined success as affluence, influence, fame and power as opposed to health, ethics, integrity well-being and serenity.

To be human is to suffer and no technology or convenience will change this. To remove suffering means to remove attachments and our silly childlike era of humanity is doing the exact opposite and because of that the suffering becomes exacerbated.

According to the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf hearing the birds sing decreased certain mental illness and noises of traffic and city worsened depression and other mental issues. That study won’t get near the attention Coca-Cola gets.

sincerely, bryan