| My Holiday Gift to you....... | |
|
20 Dec 2002 @ 11:57, by spells
Dear NCN Members,
Here is my "Holiday Gift" to you. Although most or, at least some of the members here believe themselves to be "Spiritual", they still get caught up in the "Holiday Rush", and forget what our true goals on this planet are. (Evolution as Conscious Beings, not good obligational "Consumers" spending money)
For this reason I offer my gift of truth and reality about this so called "Holiday Season".
Enjoy,
Sandi
******
Re-defining What is Normal
Let’s take a look at what is considered “normal behavior” during the so-called “holiday season”. The entire Christmas and New Years hysteria, is really a facade which covers up the reality of our out-of-control, materialistic culture. It is a microcosm that represents all the falsehoods of consumerism, and its shallow fixation on material things. What could more easily demonstrate this shallow unnaturalness, than the consumer-orgy we see happening every Christmas? Does anyone every really wonder why these certain days of the year, are so stressful and personally destructive? Isn’t it a little odd that a holiday that is supposed dedicated to Christ is so materialistic, when Christ himself completely denounced materialism?
The following excerpt is taken from an issue of Great Life Magazine, a prominent health publication. It describes what is considered “normal” by this society at the “holidays”…
The article is entitled, “Give stress a vacation” and begins as follows…
“Life’s hectic pace takes a toll on our sanity from time to time especially around holidays, when demands on our time and energy push us into overdrive. When our minds perceive a challenge or threat, catecholamines are released into the bloodstream. They, along with nerve impulses, prepare the body for fight or flight, the survival mechanism humans have relied on for thousands of years to prepare the body for physical activity. Following the response, the body typically returns to its normal state.”
No one ever seems to ask the essential question here, when talking about “lifes’ hectic pace”. Why is life’s pace hectic? Was it always that way for human beings? No it wasn’t. We ourselves make it hectic and insane. Why do we do this? Because we have all been convinced by the cult of materialism, to “perform” and “consume”. It is not life that is inherently hectic or insane, it is our materialistic values which make it so. As the article points out, this lifestyle “takes a toll on our sanity from time to time especially around holidays, when demands on our time and energy push us into overdrive”. Whose demands? Answer…Our own. As “consumers” we feel a constant social pressure and emotional craving for material distractions. We’re so hollow inside (society) we need something to fill us up, if only for the next hour or minute. We feel this because as a culture we’re out of balance, and teetering on the edge of collective insanity. The modern lifestyle is indeed a “challenge or threat” posed to both the body and mind. This threat deranges the mind with artificial stresses, and destroys the body with cancer and various other diseases and nervous disorders. We literally put ourselves in a circumstance of “fight or flight” every day, but particularly at the “holidays”. Why do we do this? Because we have forgotten what life is all about, and that happiness is not found in a pill, an herb, or a box of plastic playthings.
The article goes on to say…
“But the stresses we undergo in modern society rarely require such a physical reaction, and they don’t always have a definitive outcome that causes a return to homeostasis. As a result, we are perpetually ready to fight or flee, but are not truly relaxed or active enough to release the stress. This state can contribute to high blood pressure, inhibited immunity, heart problems and other maladies. So, coping with stress before it all gets the best of us is key.”
Isn’t it interesting how, as a culture, we only think of “coping with stress” rather than just not being stressed to start with? We assume that stress is a given, because we assume materialism is a given. Why are we ready to “fight or flee” and yet are not “active enough to relieve the stress”? Because we’re too busy doing the 40-60 hour work routine behind a desk, worshipping the Dollar as God, and never questioning the values that have been handed to us by an insane society. We wouldn’t need to work like this and “fight or flee”, if we adopted natural values and lifestyles. But it would seem that simplicity and practicality are not enough for the average American…or at least so we’ve been told by the television. We are stressed because we lack the courage to think for ourselves, and question all this nonsense of a credit card, “for a limited time only” world. If you want love and light, then stay out of debt, quit your job, and develop some natural values that place love above the dollar, and your own en(light)enment above a so-called “carreer”. Let the deed fit the word!
The article continues…
“Prescription drugs, such as Valium and other benzodiazepines, are often prescribed to treat moderate anxiety, but they have sedative and addictive effects…”
Sure, why not pop another pill or take an herb, rather than change what is causing stress and death on a mass scale. Take the easy way out, and try to believe that God is coming to clean up our mess for us, or that just saying the words like “love and light” will somehow change a miserable lifestyle without ever having to do anything practical in your life. Spirituality is not just about saying nice things! It’s about living it out in your daily routine! It means questioning what is false regardless of what the neighbors might say!
From the same magazine and month, another article entitled “Why am I Blue?” begins as follows…
“It’s the holidays and you know you’re supposed to be happy, but SOMEHOW you’re more melancholy than merry.. Fortunately St. John’s wort offers a simple way to beat the blues. More than 25 studies have concluded that….
There is no “somehow” about it. We are living the wrong life, and trying to apply ourselves to lies and consumer fictions! Ok, you want love and light? Then just don’t participate any more in the darkness and despair of the dollar-as-God world! Think about the essential meaning of the word “sincerity”! In other words GET REAL about your spiritual practice, rather than just giving concepts you read somewhere a little lip service, through placating pleasantries. Go beyond just words, and actually change your lifestyle, (or not if hypocrisy suits you just fine).
The REAL spiritual practitioner questions everything, and blindly accepts nothing. If you are interested in being REAL, then try not doing Christmas any more! Realistically speaking, how SINCERE is it to give “loving” gifts and “heart-felt greeting cards” to others, just because the calendar says it’s December 25th? Love is not contained in wrapping papers or credit cards! Plastic trinkets and obligatory present-giving are not worth spending months in debt just to pay off. Fulfilling the consumer ideals of the corporate world is not worth suicide via stress.
And then there is “New Years” where everyone gets drunk and tries to pretend how “successful” and “happy” they are, while secretly drowning their indebted, stressed-out misery in another glass of alcohol and pills. Let’s face it, society is filled with lies and misconceptions. Bail out while you still can! Pull your kids out of the public brainwashing schools. Turn off the television, or at least see it for what it is. Quit your full time job, and only work when you have to live simply and naturally. Really focus your life on love, light, health and clarity, rather than “investment opportunities” and private empire building.
The “holidays” are perfectly representative of the whole ridiculous, materialistic way of life. They are literally brimming over with denial and absurd beliefs, such as the idea that giving of material objects expresses love. What bull. Why buy into such nonsense, and then spend the rest of your life fulfilling a shallow ideal, that is not even of your own making? As a culture and as individuals, we need to re-define what is “normal” living and what is not. You can talk about Love and God all you want, but how you live is what demonstrates what you REALLY mean when you say those words.
The only thing a materialist really loves is another paycheck… like a junkie wants just one more fix. We work endlessly to support our habit, not for any noble cause or basic need. That lifestyle is not “normal”.
Think about it.
Matthew Webb visionquest@eoni.com
|
|
Category: Spirituality
3 comments
21 Dec 2002 @ 02:51 by : Happy Christmas
Thanks for writing this cautionary tale, spells. The enchantment is a protection.
22 Dec 2002 @ 07:40 by dharmicmel @63.202.153.115 : the holiday season
everything you say speaks directly to me; seems every year, it is the same thing, with no one really thinking outside the norm
your comments are very refreshing, and I am glad to see someone who has thoughts on this matter like my own
I especially like your comments on television, as I think too many simply turn themselves into tv-addicted vegetables
conscious evolution is the thing, the central existential thing, but the way we live, everything else of the lesser seems to prevail
thanks for what you have given
echo, great days
blessings, and high thoughts
melvin. sunday. 22 december 2002 ce
22 Dec 2002 @ 12:16 by spells : High Thoughts to you too...
Dear dharmicmel, I do thank you for your comments in resonance with this article. Your clarity and lucidity are greatly appreciated. For more information on these types of topics, may I suggest the Library at The World Mind Society: http://www.eoni.com/~visionquest, look in the Social Commentary Section.
If more people were not so hypnotized by the TV and media there would be true discussion of what is really going on in the world. The whole paradigm of this society would collapse and true progress and evolution could once again take place. How does one awaken those in this stupor to take notice and to "See" what is truly going on? Maybe by getting the word out just as we are, will make some difference, but I don't believe there is enough time and/or enough people not drugged by medication or television.
Other entries in Spirituality
31 Jul 2010 @ 16:29: Innovation Yantra
31 Jul 2010 @ 16:01: Randy Paush - Lessons for Life
30 Jul 2010 @ 16:30: from Baudrillard to Verger: Diversification Vs Global Norms
22 Jul 2010 @ 13:16: Cartographers of No Man's Land
22 Jul 2010 @ 02:28: PUNISH BUSH & NEO-CONS FOR WAR CRIMES!
20 Jul 2010 @ 14:24: Getting other people to do stuff
16 Jul 2010 @ 22:57: Considerations on writing
14 Jul 2010 @ 14:53: Therapy Dogs Serve our Wounded Warriors
14 Jul 2010 @ 13:35: Consciousness of Pattern
13 Jul 2010 @ 17:04: What is Consciousness? - My answer on Quora.com
|
