The Natural Life
November 1, 2007
Did you connect to your world today? Did you give yourself the opportunity to actually feel connected?
There seems to be something missing in our individual and collective psyche today. People are quick to label this apathy or ambivalence. They’re especially quick to do so with American culture and our younger generation. I’m not convinced. I don’t think it’s that easily defined. Or perhaps the definition is easy, but does defining a problem ever really get to the root of it’s origin?
We have more and easier access to information than at any other time in the history of human civilization. But has this free flow of instantaneous info served to bring us any closer to connection? Has it served to connect us in ways that make the information actually meaningful?
We’re inundated with information every moment of everyday. Iraq, global warming, Darfur, Pakistan, school shootings, states of emergency, political unrest, nuclear programs being built and dismantled, global economic turmoil. What does it all mean though?
Information is part of the problem. The rate of technological expansion is so great that it exceeds our ability to integrate the changes these new technologies bring into our culture. In other words there is a cultural time lag. But because technology continues its breakneck pace of growth, we never have time to catch up. The transference of information is a phenomenon that operates in much the same way. We don’t even have time to conceptually organize the information that we received over our morning coffee before new information is pouring through us during our morning commute.
That’s not to say that information isn’t changing our culture. We now thrive on information. We feed and sustain ourselves on it. The media that we consume spouts out limitless information. But what do we do with it all? Do we take that information and act upon it? The evidence that supports our being labeled apathetic, insouciant and ambivalent would say no, we don’t.
The problem is that information in and of itself is not a conveyor of meaning. All the information in the world won’t add up to shaping even one person’s life it isn’t put into context. What’s missing amongst all this rush of information is storytelling.
People are, by our very nature, storytellers. Ages ago, and even now when we venture into the few remaining wild areas, when we gathered around fires to listen to stories, it wasn’t because we sought information. We sought metaphor. We sought morals. We sought meaning. We still do.
Our connection to the planet, to each other, hasn’t been lost because suddenly human beings have a reached a point where we just don’t care anymore. Our connection has been lost because we’ve stopped telling stories. We’ve decided that what is important in life isn’t the story, but the facts contained within it. We’ve stopped focusing on the importance of metaphor. The power of moral. We’ve decided that information is what matters, what drives us. As a result, we’ve stopped searching for meaning.
It isn’t apathy or ambivalence that plagues us. These are merely the results of an ever deeper, graver sickness. What ails us is the way that we’ve allowed the changes brought about by our technology to define the way we structure our lives. The discontent that rests in our collective psyche is a result of the lack of connection we feel to our planet and each other. Our lack of connection comes from our lack of meaning.
To fill this void, to overcome our apathy, we have to start telling stories again. We must start searching for meaning
again.
The Natural Life is about building connection to our planet and to each other. This is a space to share our stories. The Natural Life is a space to share how we search for meaning.
The stories here should reflect the struggles of that search. The stories should reveal moments of epiphany, when everything seemed to come together and make sense. Rather than show us all a scene of a pretty sunset, the stories should emphasize the emotional connection that the sunset evokes in us. Then they should show the pain and frustration of trying to get back to that moment of clarity once the instant has passed.
I’m going to be sharing my stories of connection here. Hopefully I’ll be able show how I connect to our planet and why it is so important to me. I’ll also be sharing my hypocrisies, my follies and my weaknesses.
More so than a space to spout off about myself though, I want this to be space to share our stories. I want to hear how you connect to our world and why it is important to you. I want to hear some of your hypocrisies and how you struggle to overcome them.
I want this to be place where we can start replacing what has been lost in us.
Such a great site,
To come together and write.
About the things we hold dear,
And the activities that make our mind clear.
From this site I hope to dream and share,
With anyone who might care.
The stories of my life,
Which often end in darkened strife.
Thanks for the poem Jason. Though the ending is a little misleading. Some might think that you struggle with life but we all know you’re a huge slacker that drags ass in the morning and therefore never finishes a bike ride in the daylight.
You write beautifully Allan. I look forward to reading more…
Thanks Emily, I look forward to reading some of your contributions on here as well.
I like where you are going with this and the blog honestly makes my head go in roughly one million directions.
I’ve read and re-read the blogs, responses, and comments in this conversation through the day but haven’t had the opportunity to respond to anything regarding this little think tank trying to gain liftoff. I was sort of a silent partner today– I was at work in the newsroom and fearful that people have nothing better to do than monitor my correspondence there.
As it is, I’m sort of scared to publish outside my news organization though I can’t imagine they would block me from freelancing unless they wish me to stay in poverty forever.
Unless they are trying to keep me powerless.
Agh! Am I becoming a conspiracy theorist as you read this?
Have I bred my own paranoia? Has being a part of the media stroked it?
A logical thing to consider joining this is that I would probably get fired for giving away any breaking news or “company secrets”, but that’s pretty likely for any corporation and my features aren’t breaking news anyway…
And this has all been a roundabout way of bringing me to where I see a lot of disconnect in our culture and this world coming from.
The corporatization of America is leeching into the world and the cold disconnect of corporate “standards” make no exceptions, leaving billions gasping, clawing, reaching for something human–something natural.
Thanks Molly, I think you’ve got a really good perspective to offer to this conversation. I don’t think you should worry about your news organization, I’m looking more for personal insights and personal connections here. Emphatically NOT breaking news. I would avoid trashing your work in a direct way here, although I am interested in reading about your frustrations. But you definitely have an insider’s perspective on corporate America, a valuable learning experience that you can share. Sometimes the first step to reconnecting is making the ways in which we’re disconnected fully apparent. On a side note: I’m going to allow you access to authorship within the blog so that you can post more than just comments.
Since you seem to be looking for an interactive blog, what about posting prompts? Just to see how readers will play with the idea? Or respond (photos? poetry?) I think people are a bit jealous of journalists (in additon to being mistrusting) because everyone wants to be heard and it’s our job to be published.
Interactivity is where its at with online publishing.
So, my first prompt idea:
What is your personal deadly sin? Everyone has one. Write a story about the experience that leads you to draw this conclusion. What actions clearly illustrate one (or more) of the seven?
Lust
Gluttony
Greed
Sloth
Wrath (Revenge)
Envy (Jealousy)
Pride (Vanity)
What is up to the natural life,
I thought I would write you about today’s strife.
This morning I went riding with two fat kids,
They looked so funny in their safety lids.
I was able to get them away from the car,
But it was not long before they pulled out their snickers bar.
We were riding fast and making good time,
When I heard this yell coming from my behind.
It was the larger of the two flat on his face,
This big boys blunder was going to ruin our pace.
So I lifted him up with all of my might,
Hoping my fingers he would not bite.
On our bikes again we began to ride,
I hope that didn’t hurt this fat kids pride.
We started to cruise and we were going quite fast,
When I heard kid #2 open her slimfast!
I could not believe what my eyes saw,
In the middle of the woods slurping slimfast with a straw!
We finally made it down to the truck,
How these fatties made it was nothing but luck.
So what did I learn on this ride you ask,
If you’re riding with team fat kid you better take your flask.