The concept of addiction is usually associated with a life-altering and punishing condition. If you attempt to strike a more positive cord, say, “I am addicted to love,” it is still not considered a positive statement. Recently, one of my students asked me how he would be able to overcome cell phone addiction. Now, at first blush, it appears that it is impossible to become addicted to a simple device – a gadget – but it is, sadly, self-evident that this is not the case.
Bullying
Due to the fact that we live so much of life in the exterior world – the world outside of our inner self – it is difficult when we are subjected to abuse or bullying, in whatever form: verbal, physical, or, increasingly, digital. The mind poses a myriad of questions that must be asked at all junctures. Does this individual, or group of persons, have some basis for their attacks? Have I done something to inflame or ignite an ongoing situation? In most instances, the aggressors have some flaw of character or personality and they are simply passing them onto you. But it is still worth a moment of self-reflection. This is usually only possible after a period of time, unfortunately. When you find yourself in this pernicious loop of guilt and self-recrimination, it is virtually impossible to escape feeling nauseous and bad all the time. There seems to be no escape, especially when you are unsophisticated and young. It is here that many individuals are lost with seemingly no chance of escape. More and more educational systems, therefore, recognize bullying as a serious crime.
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What is success?
What is success? This is a question that permeates our contemporary world. We would fool ourselves, in spite of this, if we believed it to be a modern construct. The idea has been with us since time immemorial. More often than not, it has been associated with material acquisitions and physical accomplishments — ignoring or denigrating ethereal or spiritual matters — think of the Roman Empire. (1) What is increasingly true is that the fetters of affluence have now superseded all historical examples.
Warmth and tenderness
We all need warmth and tenderness. It is the lotion that oils our emotional joints and makes us more psychologically supple and sensitive to the vagaries of life. How many times do we wonder whether those broken souls who reside in the hidden creases of buildings or lying prostrate in an underground pedestrian tunnel are simply devoid of love? There have been numerous studies of orphaned children in large hospital-like institutions. (1) The infants in these investigations were cleaned, clothed, and nutritiously fed. In a plethora of circumstances, there were many youngsters and only a small number of staff. A large percentage of the newborns often died. Why — what was the main reason? Conventional thinking seemed to defy an answer. It was subsequently found that the children had died due to a lack of touch – a dearth of physical tenderness. Our touch seemingly emanates from something as simple as a greeting.
Eccentrics
I love eccentrics! They are the plashes of paint on an expressionist (1) canvas, disseminating our gaze to the whole tableau – its intricate design, its meaning, its aftertaste. Without their unique personalities, our society would, most certainly, be spiritually poorer and bereft of those questions of life and love. They seem to ask, “Who am I and why am I here?”
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Joy
When was the last time you had a great day — experienced some joy? It was a long time ago, wasn’t it? Why you may ask. The reason is that a deathly pallor of pain has come to be considered the normal human experience, life is suffering, isn’t it? We only have to follow the daily news reports to believe this to be true. But wait: what if I changed this paradigm? What if I described reality as a crusade – a voyage of the self to fulfillment and, ultimately, the beckoning nirvana? Then the events of the journey, both bad and good, would be accepted wouldn’t they because they would further the goals of the odyssey. My suggestion is that we adopt the latter scenario not the former.
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When I was a little boy, my family lived in a small village that was nestled in the center of nature. You had a feeling, much like the story of Paul Bunyan, (1) that you were in direct competition with nature and, to my youthful eyes, nature was winning. The forests were filled with truly colossal trees that stretched endlessly far, far into the horizon. My father had a most interesting position in which he audited the “wood supply” in our region, as well as managing a large number of men that did the initial transporting of the trees to various factories on Vancouver Island and on the mainland of British Columbia. This often entailed getting into a small four-passenger floatplane, (2) sailing forth to explore nature, and, ostensibly, estimating the value of the timber. One memorable time was when, on route to a camp, we flew through a violent rainstorm which literally tossed and buffeted our little airplane as if it were a toy. The expression “My heart was in my mouth,” does not do justice to this feeling of absolutely naked terror. After this indelible impression, we landed beside a large floating camp.
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Rest and reflect
Today the streets are silent. It is yet another holiday. It is fascinating how much we desire this institutionalized concept of rest. Traditionally, of course, most of us lived in the countryside and were governed by the seasons and the weather. (1) I often wonder if this interruption, in the normal rhythm of life, has not produced more damage than good. Yes, we can work longer hours in the wintertime when light is less brilliant, and we appear to be more productive, but are we? I just can’t get over the apparent pervasiveness of “feigned” busyness.
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Don’t take yourself too seriously!
Don’t take yourself too seriously – this is good advice. You just need to have a good laugh. Recently on my way to church, — a relatively short distance – I saw three “fender benders,” three relatively minor traffic accidents: the value of the vehicles seeming to increase the ardor and animation of the participants – the more expensive, the angrier! It was a day of rest. What’s the hurry – where were these people going? Nowhere special is probably the answer. Why the rush? I think that for many the answer extends no further than our fingertips – to the cell phone. Its onslaught is like an informational tidal wave. We receive 100,000 bits of data every single day according to some reports. (1) Most of it of absolutely no importance to my life. Last week the major news flashes were a celebrity divorce and an enormous power outage in America. Who cares – do you? But it does increase our collective level of angst and disquietude. This is certainly reflected in the speed of our driving, isn’t it – including my own.
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Family adventures
We all love fire. It brings us warmth and plies us with that calming sense of having beaten nature and the elements. In our family home, we had two wood stoves and a fireplace. In the cold Canadian winter, they gave our family a sense of security and peace. One of my many mandated house-based tasks was to fill up the wood box; it always emanated that inviting sensuous–like smell of fir or cedar. This forms a wonderful memory.
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