A trend that is happily coming to an end because it is no longer 'fresh and new' is that of the Zombie Apocalypse. I think most of us are over the Zombie Apocalypse idea but it did have a deeper meaning. There was an obvious reason why the Collective Unconscious was fixated on this idea in particular. Even people that I don't consider spiritually inclined could see that it was a reflection of society.
This ties in with our Spiritual Awakening which I will cover in my next blog called "Waking Up." The Walking Dead No, I'm not talking about the Television show. I never liked that show and found it too boring to even watch one episode. I found it funny, however, when a recent friend observed, "I never realized it was the main characters that were the Walking Dead in that show. I thought it was named after the Zombies they call Walkers!" Of course, the main characters were dead people walking because they were not going to be able to over come the zombies. There were just too many dead people for them to survive. So, they were going to die and it was just a matter of time so that's why the show was called, "The Walking Dead." Yet, most people are zombies. This phenomenon was being noticed in the late nineties. Movies like Office Space and Fight Club spoke to the way that most people felt. Most people get up, go to work, come home, eat and go to bed. Rinse, wash, repeat. The same routine day after day. Add in kids and it may become a little bit more complicated. Wake up, wake up kids, take kids to school, go to work, pick up kids, go home, eat and go to sleep. They call them working stiffs- again, working dead people. When life is only about what you can detect through the five senses, what you can gain material wise, about gaining followers on Facebook or collecting virtual monsters on your phone....but little else....it's natural to feel dead inside. Worse yet, when you think that there is no after life (let alone past lives)...it all really seems pointless. Such people feel empty. They feel like they are missing something important. They feel like life is incomplete. That there has to be something more than this... People seek a deeper purpose and a deeper meaning to life but with our society the way it is currently there is no spiritual sustenance on television, in the movies, in our music or in our schools. Our Society Perhaps one of the things that has actually led to taking such routine in life so lightly is that we do have such abundance. People can take what they have for granted because of the abundance. We look at what other people have and out of some desire to fill that missing item in ourselves we are encouraged to buy stuff. If you have this cell phone you will finally be cool and accepted! If you collect all of the Pokemon you're cool! Not to mention that our society perpetuates the ideas of Natural Selection insisting that people act as Predators to one another for survival in the business realm and you can add another entirely soul-numbing level to the mix. Commercials encourages us to just indulge yourself, never mind where it came from or what it might be doing to the environment, this is the latest greatest thing and we think you need it. This again, leads to be people becoming disillusioned. The feeling is unless you are someone important you won't be remembered. This has led to the atrocious acts of crime against humanity. Only when we see others as objects instead of important sacred beings would we think of taking their lives. Also, if we do not see ourselves as anything more than an object we have no regard for our own lives. The mass shootings are a product of this. At least two mass shooters said that the reason they killed so many people is because they wanted to go down in history and get on news. That was the easiest and only way they could feel important in our society. They are right. Unless you are a leader of a country or a great conqueror you're probably not going to make it into the history books. Sadly, these mass shooters may be studied by future generations. Educational System Part of the issue is the educational system that we have. Since we are a nation of different religions and belief systems spiritual ideas are taught not as ways of life but studies of individual cultures. In a way, just by studying them in this manner implies that they are outdated and foreign. I remember we spent a very short time on Buddhism in one of my social studies classes in Middle School. I came away from that class with the erroneous belief that it was the same as Confucianism. Also, Academic Science has, to some extent, become a religion of it's own. As far as school is concerned every thing we experience can be explained fully by science. There is no room in that ideology for spiritual considerations and so we become beings with a short expiration date and no more. There is no Great Mystery in the world of science. Everything can be weighed, measured and explained away. I do not believe entirely that morality should be anchored upon religious or spiritual beliefs. Yet, there are no classes instructing people on etiquette and morality in our society outside of religious institutions. Considering that so many parents don't have the time to teach their children these important lessons or lack a social or moral codes themselves the school needs to teach what being a contributing citizen means. Perhaps, by giving these children moral compasses they will keep out of jail. Nor do I believe that religious beliefs should be taught in the schools on any level. Different historical cultures should be taught but students shouldn't have to make presentations on different religions (such as I did on Buddhism and Confuciusim) for school because it won't capture the essence of those spiritual ideas in an unbiased way. Based on what I was taught in school the educational system has a bias against religious beliefs reducing them to nothing more than a couple of paragraphs is a disservice to humanity. Business System I have said this before that Corporate America needs a moral overhaul. I think that the recent push towards socialism is a result of people seeing that Corporate America promotes, sometimes literally, the worst in human behavior. This is the result of a predatory environment in which trading stocks and making deals ensures there is only one victor. We honor and reward the most ruthless among us in the business world while the people who do most of the work are openly treated with disdain. This is part of the Capitalistic ideology that worships competition. Socialism has been tried and proven to fail however. Expecting the United States to make it work when so many other systems have proven that is a failure...even hybrid systems such as in Greece...makes it evident that's not a path we should go down and only really greedy naieve people would. Since our current economic/corporate model promotes workers as being mere cogs in a well oiled machine (again it seems human beings wish they could leave behind their true nature and become programmed robots) most corporations do nothing to promote the well being of their employees. Since the Great Recession companies don't have the funds to celebrate birthdays or even acknowledge events in their employees lives. Instead, in the United States, they try to restrict vacation time, ensure that their employees can't get a second job, and ensure that their employees stay at the lowest possible income so that they have bigger profits. When looking at one-self only as a cog in a system it is very easy to become disenfranchised from being human. A business and corporate paradigm that sees people as objects is one of the things that's leading to the decay of society. I for one am all for adopting a new economic strategy that is not based on failed strategies of the past. Experimenting with a cashless society such as that seen in Star Trek would be a tremendous step forward for society or Michael Tellenger's Ubuntu Economics. We definitely need to think outside of the box when it comes to trade and services. There needs to be more of an emphasis on the individual person as being valuable human beings and less cogs in a machine. The Government really can't do this and the Unions certainly don't have an interest in promoting this idea as they would cease to exist. The only way we achieve this is through a change in what our society deems acceptable in exchange for our service. Conclusion People have felt for some time that something is missing. They have felt empty. They have felt that there should be more to life. That life shouldn't be so hard. They want to feel important and cherished. When a person is reduced to nothing more than a slave to the system or cog in the machine with no recognizable soul it is easy for them to break the law and harm others. That is why we see such a level of depravity among so many of our people. They don't just feel entitled, they don't feel that there is a reason not to harm other people or take what they want. I'm always reminded of the end of the movie Fight Club which in return reminds me of The Dark Knight. Once a person is so disenfranchised by society it's easy to want to see the entire system destroyed. There are some people that lose touch with the soul completely and they just want to see the world burn...because they are empty inside. When people come so disenfranchised and separated from their soul they inevitably have no compassion for others. The only way they feel alive is by hurting others- the ultimate spiritual vampire. Merely educating people, with a broken educational system, is not going to change our nation. Knowledge to some degree is power but our educational system doesn't teach knowledge or wisdom. Our education system does not challenge the students to be better human beings with respect for others. Instead, they teach them how to memorize information and a mountain of ideas built upon one another while discouraging independent thought. Yet, science and society tells them that this world is all there is so-YOLO! You only live life once so indulge yourself as much as you can and who cares who you hurt in the process? Death is oblivion anyway. That is why the Awakening is happening. People are starting to discover that there is more to life and more to our human history than we have thought and accepted for the last hundred years. There is still mystery and wonder in the world that can't be explained away by Science. That all of us in this time, in this age, are very important and chose to be here for an important moment. This spiritual awakening is on a very deep level and has been a slow progression. I don't believe that what we are being taught or that society is limiting on purpose. As I explained before, consciousness itself has changed slowly over thousands of years. People were only able to think in very limiting literal ideas because they couldn't conceive of the abstract ideas as we can. We just need to realize that there has been a change and that we need to update our ideas. We need to acknowledge the limitations of the people who came before us and that does not invalidate their opinions but it does suggest that we need to revise the information they proposed. My next blog will be about the Awakening as I perceive it and followed by one pondering Wholeness.
0 Comments
|
Author:
Thank You For Visiting
Brave Soul! May Your Journey On The Path Of The Seeker Bring You Joy and Peace! I'm currently posting every Saturday. With a new addition the family I have pre-scheduled most posts through December 2022. Full Moon Posts will contain up-to-date content when I can get to them. Thank you so much for your support and understanding! This is a place where you can encounter new spiritual ideas that have helped me develop as an Individual On The Path of the Seeker. Take or Leave this information as you see fit. Archives
April 2024
|