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The Bizarre Reality of Modern Life [1]

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Date: 2023-05-18

As i meander through this human world, I am struck by the degree to which our individual lives are driven and controlled by commercial interests. In keeping with this theme, I try to imagine what our world would be like if all aspects relating to commerce were to be instantaneously removed from reality by some bizarre magical power. Immediately after such a seismic event all stores would be gone, all advertisements that dominate our visual field, all references to products of any kind, all institutions that owe their sustenance to buying and selling – they would all disappear. If this were to happen what exactly would be left? Would there be mass suicides with many individuals unable to cope with all the time suddenly available that was previously devoted to commercial concerns? Would nature re-exert its influence? Would sanity once again enter the human realm?

I think what I’m driving at here is the bizarre reality that humans have crafted for themselves. We have very efficiently discarded simplicity. We have made solitude a state of being nearly impossible to attain. We have cluttered existence with a panoply of stuff that we have learned to absolutely depend upon. We are perpetually distracted from even the rudimentary act of breathing. We have been taught to chase after things, to be reliable consumers, to be dependable cogs in the wheel of economic progress, to believe without question in those values that conveniently prop up and sustain the madness.

My paltry advice at this juncture is, “Pause and Reflect.” Take a little time to consider the nature of the relationships that actually exist within this domain that encompasses modernity. Question whether those relationships are real or simply imagined.

What are we led to believe without ever having the opportunity to ascend to those beliefs or even to question them? Each one of us is born at one end of our transient sojourn and die at the other. What exactly lies in between? Doesn’t each of us have the inherent right and responsibility to answer that pivotal question for ourselves? Damn right we do, for it is the individual answer to that question that represents the essence of true human freedom.

The modern world is filled with ceaseless chatter most of it with little content, but there is a portion of this background “noise” that is crafted to influence thought and behavior. Some of this propaganda is transparent but the most effective messages are subtle and engineered to convince us that our human world is as it should be and can never be anything other than what it is.

Within such a milieu, independent thought and judgment is regarded as inherently dangerous, and in some eyes, downright unpatriotic. The strident voices that emanate from all ends of the political spectrum claim to be on the right side of issues and even of history itself; yet, no one is prepared to question the very fabric that supports the societal and cultural institutions. No one is prepared to challenge the essence of the madness – to take to task the very nature of the beast.

Modernity carries within itself the seeds of its own undoing. As an individual I have no illusions regarding my power to effect change - history is not so readily derailed. I do have the power and capacity, however, to evaluate my own life and to act in whatever small way on the conclusions that I reach. I prefer to go through life with my eyes wide open.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/5/18/2170149/-The-Bizarre-Reality-of-Modern-Life

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