In many ways humans have made remarkable progress in the
realms of the intellect and in understanding the inner workings of the natural
world through the collective and collaborative efforts afforded by the
disciplines of science and technology.
However, regarding the emotional aspect of existence - that occupies a
considerable space in the conscious life of the individual - little has
changed since Homo sapiens first beginnings. This disparity my help account
for the current state of human existence – circa the 21st century.
In a significant part of the modern world of humans, the
ordinary and mundane aspects of existence are inextricably tied to consumerism
– the purchase of goods and services to satisfy every conceivable need or
desire far beyond what used to be considered the necessities of life. The market place has been inundated by such
an overwhelming plethora of products that the relatively simple act of
purchasing can be fraught with anxiety.
This relentless commercialism has become so endemic to modern
existence that is nearly impossible to envision a society based on different
principles. For example, if one could
take the ordinary life of most cities or towns and strip away all evidence of
commerce outside of the fundamental procurement of the basic necessities, what
would community life actually consist of?
Would there be anything left of meaning or value?
From the cradle to the grave, modern humans suffer from the
continuous onslaught of messages designed to convince us that our lives are
somehow incomplete unless we purchase a wide variety of products and services that
will, we are assured, bring us fulfillment.
These commodities and services cover a remarkably wide range of items
from cell phones to robot vacuum cleaners and personal drones to erection-enhancing pharmaceuticals to
highly priced events including eco-tourism and eagerly anticipated suborbital
passenger flights of short duration in commercially available spacecraft.
Furthermore, our earthly environment has been deluged by the
massive quantity of waste produced by the vast array of discarded plastic –
oil-based – products that are the ineluctable remains of all of these
purchases. The level of environmental
pollution has become so extreme that remedies on a global scale have become of
vital importance. Sadly, the gravity of
this situation has escalated to the inescapable reality of climate change – a
prospect that has of yet failed to be fully appreciated.
The driving force behind this unfettered and ever-expanding increase
in commercial production is the apparently ceaseless necessity to absorb excess
capital in a capitalist-based economy.
It is the demands of this capitalist system that determines the nature
of the social and economic relationships that establish the very structure of
what we perceive as human reality.
This reality has become far removed from the natural
environment and earthly setting in and through which our species successfully
evolved on planet earth. In this regard,
this climate of relentless consumerism through which we experience our
individual lives is patently bizarre.
The extent of this departure from the direct experience of the real
world can be seen in the extent to which individuals now consume so much of
their conscious life in entirely human-crafted virtual environments. Human behavior is not far removed from
sleepwalking.
In this setting humans are no longer fully awake, but are
subdued, constrained and deluded by a system that demands our full attention to
shallow and self-serving principles. In
this setting, we have collectively lost our understanding of our real
relationship with our environment and with an appreciation of meaningful
work. In this setting we have lost sight
of our own nature and our deep-seated creative impulse, In this setting, we have lost connection with
real community and our natural capacity to extract joy from the very act of
breathing.
Humans have become subservient to forces entirely out of
their immediate control and have become adjuncts to machines both real and
virtual. We have been effectively taught
to define ourselves within the limited scope of a wholly unnatural and
manufactured world. This “evolution” has
taken hundreds of years to develop.
Where it may lead us in the future is impossible to say with absolute
clarity; however, the trend is readily apparent.
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