Few people now know the absolute magic of creating fire from nothing but material found in the environment. There are so many ways to start a fire now, and most of them are so simple that we take for granted what an amazing feat it is. Fire is the original technology. Its use predates modern humans.
Technology can do more than ever. So much of it may as well be magic it’s so incredible. Technology, and more specifically electronic devices, are becoming a staple of daily life. The saying, “there’s an app for that” couldn’t be more true. But what effect is all this technology having on us?
All to often, we don’t really think about what comes out of our mouth. Yes we say hurtful things that we can’t take back. But that isn’t so much what I’m talking about. I’m talking about the words we use day in and day out. Our choice of words has a huge impact on our outlook. What we say about ourselves can completely alter our perceptions and what is possible for us.
Let’s talk health care! It’s a subject many people are concerned about. Costs have gone up dramatically since I was in my late teens first shopping for my own policy. But the cost of health care isn’t what I’m here to talk about. While that’s a major problem with our current system, what I want to talk about is how our system isn’t really a health care system.
We don’t really have any relationship with death in the developed world. We don’t kill or process our food, be it plant or animal. We pack our elderly away in retirement communities. Many of us try to keep up the illusion that we are teenagers well into our middle ages. The reality is that we don’t value growing older for many reasons, but a big part of that is because we are terrified of the end of our lives.
The recent push for a plant-based diet has been touted as both environmental and health friendly. Is this really the case though? Our industrial food system is a massive concern for not just us, but all organisms on the planet.
It’s been over a year since the specter of COVID descended on us. As we are still having our daily lives dramatically affected by the steps taken in reaction to the virus, I’d like to talk about what we’re not looking at. What do we refuse to learn from COVID?
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness right? Eh… maybe. Happiness is always with the next promotion, the bigger house, or the better car right? If I just had [insert desire here], I’d be happy. But the truth is, happiness doesn’t exist outside you. You always have the potential to be happy at every moment.
As much as we act as though we have triumphed over nature and that civilization is here and nature is out there, it’s an illusion. There is no separation between any of us and nature. The truth is that I am nature, and so are you.
Today Lauren Best is joining me as we discuss all of the natural cycles we’ve lost touch with! I’m very excited to share the mic with her and get her perspective on all the ways we use technology to depart from our natural rhythms.