Somewhere along the way we made a trade. We bought into a Marlboro man motif (even though he never really looked like he was having that good of a time) — I am my own man, which translates to (among other things), so no one should tell me what to do.
Um...there's quite a few logical leaps there (but, hey, since when did we really care that much about logic?). We just want to be happy, right? Then again, how's that working out — especially collectively?
Do you ever get the sense that something is missing...in the equation, we're trying to work with?
We may not know what it is (or what to do about it), but we have both an individual and shared sense that something isn't right. How we're going about things, isn't really working (statistically, or otherwise).
Maybe, our shared sense of real society has dissipated. Perhaps our own sense of personal humility has escaped us.
Clearly the new social networks that have replaced the old ones aren't serving us particularly well. In spite of the technology (or, perhaps, because of it), we're in fact feeling the opposite of what they're supposed to be providing. We are connected to everything, but at the same time to no one in any substantial way. The symptoms of isolation are so loud and clear, we have no real imagination left for what they're telling us.
But, if nothing else is apparent, our problem seems rooted in a false sensibility of what is real. We're simulating everything and then confused by why it doesn't feel right.
...because it's not the real thing.
To add to the point, this seems true, too — I am not able to know what is real...by myself.
And here, we come full circle. Independence is really isolation. And isolation is not a coherent relationship with the most basic dynamic of our existence — that everything is inter-connected. Every one is inter-connected. Everything that is happening, at all levels, is impacting everything else. Just because we don't see it or recognize it, doesn't mean it's not happening.
Perhaps we don't like what that essentially requires of us; so, we fantasize about a reality that excludes that basic truth. When we, as a means of getting our bearings, try to compare what we have with what we've lost, we detect that despite its imperfections and even inadequacies, life together (as opposed to isolation) has many benefits, even when they're inconvenient.
Together helps families love each other. Together helps people be neighborly — engaging and sharing with each other. Together helps communities protect and help each other in times of need. Together helps what can be good about national presence in the world. Together helps us think and work at the obligations we have to ensure respectful global citizenship on our planet.
There is a collective good, from which we all benefit as individuals.
What if we started more actively exploring that again (many already are), not simply for the sake of us individuals (though I think we will individually benefit, too) as much as for the sake of what is good for the whole?
