A Great Paradox of Our Age

We live in an age where everything we desire is available at the push of a button. We do not have to expend much effort to do anything. It’s comfortable. It’s safe. It’s a problem.

“What it must be like, I wonder, to live in a world where food appears at the press of a button? How would I spend the hours I now commit to combing the woods for sustenance if it were so easy to come by? What do they do all day, these people in the Capitol, besides decorating their bodies and waiting around for a new shipment of tributes to roll in and die for their entertainment?” (excerpt from The Hunger Games)

Isn’t it ironic that as everything is becoming easier for us, our mind and body, the two most fundamental facets of our lives (and the only things we have full control of), are becoming more and more difficult to maintain?

This is a result of giving our power away.

We no longer find and cook our own food, we allow others to do it for us. This disassociation from the food chain makes it oh so easy for companies to produce and sell us “food” that destroys health. It makes it easy for us to place the responsibility of our bodies in the hands the medical community. It makes it easy for “big pharma” to sell dangerous drugs to everyone with so much as a slight headache. Having food available at our beck and call 24/7 makes it easy for us to overeat. In terms of food, we view chicken not as the living animal, but as a chicken nugget. Our ignorance regarding this has made us vulnerable to a whole host of health problems. Obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and all other diseases associated with poor diet and lifestyle choices (key word) are rampant in modern society. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Knowledge is power, and applied knowledge is a powerful tool for change. We need to educate ourselves on health, learn to cook (create) for ourselves, and listen to our bodies. This empowers us, because being in control of our health creates an unshakeable foundation for success in all other aspects of life.

We no longer think for ourselves, we allow others to do it for us. Look around at all of the institutions in place that tell people how and what to think. The education system, the mainstream media, organized religion…etc. All of these institutions delimit free thinking. And what’s the result of this? So many people walk around with an underlying feeling of purposeless. The feeling that something is missing; that something is not quite right. Depression, fear, and anxiety are rampant in modern society. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Knowledge is power, and applied knowledge is a powerful tool for change. We need to start thinking for ourselves, keeping an open mind, being open to unlimited possibility, and letting our inherent creativity flow. It’s amazing how this creates a sense of empowerment and instills an enchanting purpose in everything we do.

Let’s take our power back, and hop in the driver’s seat of this ride we call life.