But what if you knew nothing of others, if you were destined
to always be a stranger to everyone and every thing? A cold and lonely
existence would be an understatement. It would be almost as though you did not
exist. How could you enjoy life at all if you were disconnected from everything
and everyone in it?
The thing is, I believe for the vast majority of us that is
exactly how we exist every single day.
We are the stranger in our own lives. In fact, I do not
think there is an area of our lives for most of us that we truly know.
Furthermore, I believe that the result
of this phantom state of existence is surely affecting our physical health, our
mental health and our relationships with family, friends and colleagues. It is
affecting our communities, our countries and the state of the planet.
Our
ignorance is to the detriment of all.
I’m saying we are barely scratching the surface of our own
lives and we need to fix that as soon as possible. In order to fix it, we need
to see the problem. It’s the pink and purple polka-dot elephant in the room
with us and from where I’m sitting, it looks like this:
Starting with us as human beings: Let’s say that you are a
regular person who spends their waking hours doing some sort of work. We live
in a house of some kind which we may or may not own, filled to some degree with
furniture, utensils and tools. We wear clothes, we eat and drink food, we
relate to other people in our lives and to some degree the community we live
in. To some extent we know the area we live in also.
Sounds reasonable and far from mysterious I agree, but let’s
look beyond appearance.
We could start anywhere really but let’s begin with food
since it’s easy for everyone to relate to.
Looking in your cupboards or refrigerator you will see any
number of food items; packaging and shape mostly familiar. Picking up an item,
let’s say a can of baked beans, what can you tell me about it? In a reverse
sequence, what do you know of the person you bought it from? Are they paid
fairly, treated well, happy in their work? The shop the item came from: what do
you know of the stores origins, its owners? Where do profits go and how are
products sourced? Are stock items sourced ethically? Who put your can on the shop
shelf? Who ordered the stock? Who unpacked it? Who drove it to the store? Who
packed the truck and works at the wholesale depot? Before it got there, where
did the beans get put in the tin? How? Who made the tin and how? What metals
were used and from where was the metal mined and then refined? Who did that
work? Where were the beans grown and by whom? Were there chemicals used for
pests and fertilisation? What minerals were in that particular soil, now
transferred to your bean? How and by whom were the beans harvested, sorted and
transported? What kind of beans are they and what are their origins? How are
the beans cooked and what ingredients went in the sauce? Where did those
ingredients come from? Overall, what nutrients are in your can of beans and of
what benefit are they to your body? Beans are reputed for giving gas. Why? Is
that normal? The label: who designed, made and manufactured that. What
information is given on it and why? What does it all mean?
From a financial point of view, how much were any of the
people from beginning to end involved with your can of beans paid? What
percentage did they receive versus the percent of work they did? Was that fair?
What taxes were paid, pollution created, waste made? When you are done with
your can, and assuming you can recycle it, who takes your can away? Where
exactly does it go and what happens to it next? How many people are involved in
taking your waste and making it into something else that, when finally made again
into something by people unknown, will start again at the beginning of some
chain?
Does this can of baked beans still look familiar to you?
Look at all the other food items in your kitchen. Likely
they will have the same unknown story. A vast army of invisible hands have
passed that food to you, the benefit to your health will likely be sketchy and
the item packaging will be taken away at the and by another group of strangers.
Beyond your food items, look at your utensils, you fridge,
detergent, your cupboards and light fittings. Look at anything and you will
realise you actually know little about any of it. Look beyond your kitchen to
your whole house. Things that appear to be so worn and familiar; what do you
really know any of them? From each item of clothing to toiletries, to the water
you use and the power and technology at your disposal- what kind of a
relationship do you have with them?
Likely you know no more about the origins of your computer
and it’s componants than the box it came in.
Beyond your house (what do you really know of the building
and its materials?) what do you know of your neighbour? Really know? Of your
street, of your neighbourhood and suburb/town/village/city? Who are your local
council and where do your taxes go? Who looks after the utilities you use and
where do they come from? How were they formed? Who invented them? Who maintains
them? Who owns them?
The transport you use, the people you pass, the business you
may work for? What do you really know about any of that?
Back to us: our bodies. What do you know of your own body
beyond external appearance? How much movement is optimal for your wellbeing?
How do muscles work and what nutrients keep them in best health? What harms
them? What do various sensations in them really mean and how might we best
utilise that information? How strong might we be? How fast? What movements were
our bodies designed best to do and how much are we utilising them? Consider any
part of your body- how well do you truly know it? Your skin: a freckle, a mole,
a birthmark- why are they there? Why do we have body hair? What does it do? How
is it made and by what? Does removing it or growing it have any consequence at
all? Why does hair change, disappear, appear? What does a rash mean? Why is it
really there? Do we know? What can we do about it? What is our body trying to
tell us?
If we don’t know our
body, how can we really look after it? Is a pill or an ointment going to
improve your ability to care for yourself better? Does it teach you anything or
improve your understanding or relationship with it?
What I am saying is that if you really don’t know about
something, it makes it difficult to have a connection and understanding with
it, to truly care. In having so distant a relationship with so much of our
lives, it is difficult to see what difference anything you do makes.
Right now I can hear birds outside. Do you know what animals
and plants are around your neighbourhood? What they eat and how they behave?
Which are native and which were introduced? What season they are active and how
they fit into the cycle of life around you? What are the properties of the
plants? Are any edible, medicinal, of importance to bees?
I’m saying that if
you know and care about these things, understand the relationship between you
and them and the planet in general, this will clearly affect how much you
literally care for it.
To be clear though, I am not suggesting we all know each aspect of our lives to the nth degree. I guess my point is that would be impossible. But to have more direct relationships is the aim.
Be aware of your distance to the 'baked bean cans' in our lives and aim for more 'home grown tomato' experiences.
To be clear though, I am not suggesting we all know each aspect of our lives to the nth degree. I guess my point is that would be impossible. But to have more direct relationships is the aim.
Be aware of your distance to the 'baked bean cans' in our lives and aim for more 'home grown tomato' experiences.
Consider indigenous/native people living in their natural
state. They are at the opposite end of existence to most of us. On the deepest
level they know their environment and the plants and animals of the region.
They know the seasons and to a great extent the weather. They know the origins
and construction of their homes, their tools and garments. They know and they
respect and they value. And of course they see their place in all of this and
do not consider themselves in charge but a part of everything around them. These
people do not pollute or cause waste. They do not kill for sport or wipe out
species of animals. They do not ruin environments. They do not horde. And they
do not wonder what the purpose of life is. Life is all around them and a part
of them, not a separate entity, because they have a direct relationship with
it.
Not so us. At some point, we began to distance ourselves
from our own lives and this disconnection is killing us and it’s killing the
planet. Unwittingly we do harm. If we seek to know and to understand, then we
can appreciate and from that make informed decisions about the way we live and
the consequences of how we do so.
But so long as we put our relations with nature, with
others, with that which sustains us in the hands of strangers, we can never
truly care, can never truly appreciate the wonderful and important connection
we can have to everyone and everything around us.
The ancient Greek adage ‘Know thyself’ is the connection we
have all been seeking.
In whatever ways we can I believe it's of vital importance we get back in contact with ourselves and with our lives; to make decisions based on understanding and knowing.
The world is missing our place in it as much as we are missing
being a part of it.