St. Helena Island; SC
“Our age is
no more insecure than any other.
Poverty, disease, war, change and death are nothing new.” - Alan
Watts
“If you don’t
change, your life will be like this forever.
Is this good news?” - W. Somerset Maugham
If we are to believe our 24 hour news
cycle, you wouldn’t think it is safe to go outside. We are constantly bombarded with tales of
negativity, of the degradation and deprivation mankind is capable of. Driven by a lust for viewers and ratings,
there seems to be no end to the various angles that our fears are played
upon. Then, between news segments, we
are again assailed with carefully scripted pieces designed to subconsciously convince
us that if we do not have this or do that we are inadequate. I once met an Australian who referred to the
Television as the “glass teat.” He
claimed it was a device for the mentally impoverished to suckle some mental
stimulation from.
Now we have portable devices that take a
different approach. Convinced that we
are missing something our “friends” are up to, every available moment we keep
our noses stuffed into a small screen which convinces us that we are engaged in
life. We flip through all of this exaggerated stimuli,
from burning house to cute puppy meme to murder to sporting event to disease to
. . . to what? To another illusion that
we are going to find the meaning of life through a bunch of pixels spoon fed us
moment by moment? We end up a bunch of
desensitized news junkies so blinded that we cannot see the opportunities for
meaning in our own life that lie within our grasp.
Let’s do something different today. Who is right within our reach that has a
struggle we can assist with? Who do we
know that is isolated and could use an encouraging word or phone call? What interesting or beautiful place lies just
around the corner from us that we keep “meaning to visit?” The only life we can create that “has meaning”
is the one that lies in the potential life has provided all about us – flesh and
blood interaction and first hand engagement in life. Regardless of how real it can be made to
seem, the rest is an illusion that will steal true meaning from our life one
headline at a time. We are well served
to stay attuned to the difference.
Today, may I
engage life.
Have a great Thursday !!
David
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