Modern Pressures
May. 24th, 2011 12:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cedar_groveFrom The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have.
How easily we get caught up in defining who we are in relation to those around us.
This is something that I know I do, and I'm terrible about it. Comes from childhood and being pushed constantly to be the best, the smartest, the most… whatever. I don't hold that against anyone particularly, it instilled in me a reasonable work ethic and all.
I think that's true of society in general though, we're pushed and pushed to do that defining by what's around us, in relation to names and titles and all the rest of that, that we – as a species – have forgotten how to live.
We're human doings, not human beings, if you catch my drift.
But we're not even human doings in a good way. Where's the sense of community that used to exist. I admit that villages have become towns and cities, and that makes that closeness harder. Modern society has made us more suspicious too, which doesn't make it easier to accept the sense of society.
I think the modern challenge isn't learning how to survive in the dwindling economy, or to cope with changes in technology, or lifestyle or any one of the things that are constantly in the news. I think the modern challenge is in learning to listen to the inner, and not let ourselves be suppressed and shaped by the outer.
There is always purpose in being,
but not always being in purpose.
How easily we get caught up in defining who we are in relation to those around us.
This is something that I know I do, and I'm terrible about it. Comes from childhood and being pushed constantly to be the best, the smartest, the most… whatever. I don't hold that against anyone particularly, it instilled in me a reasonable work ethic and all.
I think that's true of society in general though, we're pushed and pushed to do that defining by what's around us, in relation to names and titles and all the rest of that, that we – as a species – have forgotten how to live.
We're human doings, not human beings, if you catch my drift.
But we're not even human doings in a good way. Where's the sense of community that used to exist. I admit that villages have become towns and cities, and that makes that closeness harder. Modern society has made us more suspicious too, which doesn't make it easier to accept the sense of society.
I think the modern challenge isn't learning how to survive in the dwindling economy, or to cope with changes in technology, or lifestyle or any one of the things that are constantly in the news. I think the modern challenge is in learning to listen to the inner, and not let ourselves be suppressed and shaped by the outer.
