It's interesting to contemplate all the ways society has come to run our lives. Every day, at least once, I wish we could strip ourselves down to what we were when our species first began. Take away everything science has taught us and given us to waste our time. Why do we need to know these things? It has nothing to do with survival. It has only to do with this idea that knowledge is power and advancement is the best aspect of our lives. We measure ourselves based on how much we know, what clothes we can afford, how many friends we have, how much money is in the bank account, how busy we are.... and why? Because society has taught us to do so. Sometimes, I even find myself falling back into the trap.
I am a quality over quantity type of person. I know many people, but I have only a handful of friends. In my mind, a friend is someone you bond with mentally and spiritually on a constant basis, much like a lover without the romantic ties. A friend is not someone who added you on Myspace because he or she likes your profile. They aren't even the people you work with, attend school with or even visit when they live next door. Sure, you are close to these people. You have found a connection to them at this time. Now, move away and start a new life. How many of these people do you actually think about and wish you could spend time with? Those are your friends. I believe in the quality of the relationship. When relationships hold this type of bond they offer you more growth points in your life than the typical acquaintance. There are millions of people in this world who have never known this type of relationship. I've met them many times over and find, time and time again, that they have very little idea of who they are.
Knowledge. We all love it. But while knowledge is power, ignorance truly is bliss. Strip away everything we know and leave only our instincts and survival mechanisms, and you will find a more content species. When I see animals in nature, I see freedom. While the US claims to be a free country, it is not. Freedom is the ability to live however you wish. Obviously, if you granted true freedom to our current world chaos would ensue. If this world had never progressed so much intellectually, it might be a different story. I've said many times that I would like to find a clearing somewhere to live. I would use my time to build a small house from scratch and a garden for food. I would live simply and enjoy the peacefulness of life. Now, factor in where to get the seeds, how to build the house without tools, property taxes and the idea that you may be on someone's land. No true freedom. We have lost our ability to know exactly what freedom is because of the knowledge we have gained. I understand knowledge has created cures for many diseases, but these diseases are simply older illnesses that have transformed because we cured their original form. It is my belief that the more knowledge we acquire the bigger problems we will have to face.
Financial status has become the greatest burden to our species. Just like knowledge, money is power. Money will buy you whatever you want, literally. All you have to do is find a way to get it. We have been divided into classes based on the income of our households. I work a part-time job at a grocery store to provide for myself and my pregnant fiance. We are considered to be in poverty. In fact, after a long time of fighting to maintain my self-respect, we are now on welfare. I didn't want to go to the welfare office. I had been taught to believe that being on welfare made you a bad person. It made you a lazy person who sponges off the earnings of others. Here's the twist. I work part-time because I enjoy life outside of work. I enjoy having time to make music, write this blog, spend time with my family, and many other things. The people out there who are working forty hours or more a week, slaving away at factories (much like I once did), are trying to create a better existence for themselves by making more money. In fact, that has become the social standard. If you aren't slaving away at a dead end job you hate, you must be lazy. If you created your own business and found your way to the top, you must be lucky. (What people don't realize is the ones who rose to the top are ones who struggled because they refused to waste their lives working for someone else.) When I earlier mentioned how I sometimes fall back into the trap, this is the aspect I spoke of. I grew up doing things like mini-golf, bowling, going to amusement parks, taking road trips to the beach, vacations in sunny locations, etc. I can't do these things while I am in poverty. In our current state of life you are given two choices. You can kill yourself working to do all these fun man-made things and buy numerous material possessions to create a false happiness, or you can live in poverty and find life's true beauty and potential while struggling to keep up with your bills and create a solid foundation for your family.
There is no way to go back in time. Even if our world crumbled to pieces and we had to start over the same things would be built. The same lifestyle would occur. At this point, it is all we know. I urge everyone I meet to take comfort in real life. Go out and enjoy nature. Enjoy your close relationships. Enjoy the simple things. They are the only things that will keep you feeling fully alive.
They are the things that society cannot take away from you.
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