The Toxicity of Our Lives

So, the other day, I wrote a post about the toxicity of our lives, and what we surround ourselves with. I think this is true, generally speaking, although will admit I do not have all the facts to back up this theory. I am not, after all, a scientist. But it does seem like we take far too many risks with what we unthinkingly allow, without much reflection. It also puzzles me that many people strongly question things that should not really matter (such as, say, differences in race or religious beliefs, or sexual preferences or practices of total strangers), while they allow certain clear excesses and wrongs to go unchecked (such as massive and unchecked pollution and the poisoning of our land, air, and water, or the illegal and immoral wars we seem to constantly engage in, or the massive levels of corruption that everybody knows about and complains about, but which remain largely accepted "realities" of our times, or the robbing of the vulnerable – which includes the bulk of us – by huge moneyed interests, which amounts to what has sometimes been described as a kind of Robin Hood in Reverse").

            For the most part, I argued that it seems amazing to me that so many things that are questionable, at best, and seem downright damaging in am massive way at worst, are not only allowed to continue, but which are justified, rather than viewed as clear evils and excesses that deserve our attention, as well as our efforts to eradicate them from society. What I mean by that is that what really seems poisoned in our society would not merely be restricted to literal poisons in our air or water or land, or even in our foods and medicines, but in our spirit, in our mentality, and ultimately, in our actions. In fact, it is the internal poisoning of our brain that allows all of those other poisons to take root. So long as we listen to people who seem intent on claiming that taking more poison to build up our individual and collective resistance, rather than on eliminating that which is making us sick, we will continue to suffer from these abuses and fall ill – individually and collectively. And there is no one else to blame but ourselves – individually and collectively.

            It all starts with ourselves, and with our mind. Like physical exercise, we need to exercise our brains, quite literally. When we do not, we find an intellectual and moral malaise setting in, and yet the vast majority of people seem to ignore this, not realizing that they are doing so at their own peril!

            In effect, they are disarming themselves of the sharpest and most effective weapon at their disposal, and giving in to their endless desires and petty wants instead. If this world is ever going to change for the better, than that is what we need to start doing – exercising our minds, and being as mindful about getting in shape mentally, as we seem to focus on it physically, buying the latest intense workout sessions that are advertised on late night infomercials "for a limited time only" and which is pushed on us by massive advertising campaigns, to the point that some people are willing to have risky and expensive surgery or to starve themselves, or otherwise to engage in risky behavior, in order to physically look good. It's not just diet, of course. I was mentioning poisoning ourselves. Did you know that when you dye your hair a dark color, you increase the chances of acquiring cancer? You may look more like you want to, and perhaps it is even an effective way of hiding away the gray hairs, but at what cost? Seems like a modern day equivalent of a Trojan Horse, no?

            Once we begin to focus on what we should be focusing on – if, indeed, we ever do that –than maybe we can begin to more seriously effect the kind of change in the world that we want to see, and which makes this world a better place. Until then, things will continue to get worse, not better.

            Things will eventually change. Of that, I have no doubt. The question is, will we make the changes while we have the luxury of doing so, or will we stubbornly refuse and take it so far, that we allow the inevitable crash and loss of control, as the imbalance rights itself, forcing our hand and wresting control away from us. Sometimes, it is hard not to feel a romantic attachment to such a notion, or not to think of the thoughts of humanity more or less destroying itself as one not so much appalling as much as it is appealing, if it proves unable or unwilling to change its clearly destructive, and even evil, ways.