We live in a deeply alienated culture and we all kind of realize this on some level but like nearly all important aspects of life, particularly if they are "big picture" issues, we ignore it. The idea of alienation come from Karl Marx who rightly analyzed capitalism and inherently alienating because it ends up, as it has, commodifying every aspect of life. The problem is that it is so locked in our morality and value systems that we don't notice it. We think alienation is normal and a part of human nature because we are conditioned by it. So this notion is very hard to convey to people since our education and information system are all based on the assumption of alienation.
Let's start with what alienation really means in practice. Being alienated means feeling we are alone in the world. It means feeling that we exist and the world "out there" exists but we are separate. Thus we can only depend on ourselves and whatever we accomplish is entirely our own doing. Of course this is complete bullshit but that's how our culture and political economy is structured. This is why today we are facing almost endless amusements carefully marketed to us. Shortly we may not even need relationships because we will have dolls to service our needs and admire us in just the unique ways we need to make sure we are happy in our alienated state. Meanwhile, the natural world is being slowly (but quickly by historical standards) strangled with plastics and overheated with greenhouse gases as we play Russian roulette with the future.
At the same time, this country, that once sat on top of the world creating a sensible international structure has gone into a steep decline and rejected the very rational pragmatism that allowed it to rise and is now replaced with a nation of lotus eaters living in dreams while the worst most anti-social and profoundly evil people take control of the ship of state. How did we come to this? We have become so radically alienated we cannot even act in ways that benefit our children. In fact, we are so alienated that we just don't want to talk about it. Instead we float along following phony or trivial matters that are focused mainly on tribal differences when all these issue can be quickly and reasonably solved by agreeing to some common ground and negotiating a mutually beneficial solution based on real data and reason. But our information systems are so corrupt, so craven in their greed and dysfunction that they profit from dysfunction, war, corruption and have no interest in promoting accord or pragmatic solutions to ANY problem we face collectively. They only seek to divide us and to deliberately confuse and misinform so their owners or funders in the corporate elite can continue the movement of wealth from us to them. And, because of alienation, we are unable to come together in organizations that can have a real effect on our lives. We can come together to jeer or to insult our fellow Americans in other tribal groupings but we can't organize our communities to do much of anything to benefit ourselves as a collective enterprise. In this way no matter who comes up with sensible and rational solution to any of our problems will be ignored except in some small corner of the blogosphere.
Is there any hope for change? Yes, when we at least begin with understanding that we are alienated not only from each other but from nature and worse still from ourselves, that is, from our most natural and authentic sensibilities. The method to solve this most essential problem: begin to understand who you are by accepting yourself and facing up to your problems without blame. If you are well-adjusted and ok in this world then there is something drastically wrong with you because you've completely adapted to radical alienation. Finally we have to see that we are deeply connected to each other. Learn how nature works and is carefully integrated into ecosystems where each organism fits the pattern just as we are constructed to fit in a pattern of culture even if our own culture is a culture of alienation that seeks to break up patterns and break up connections. We belong in this world and to each other and when we feel the forces of love in our heart then things begin to make sense and we can begin taking steps even steps that seem unreasonable. Love must rule reason because the power of love is the power of life and connection. Reason can only grease the wheels.
Let's start with what alienation really means in practice. Being alienated means feeling we are alone in the world. It means feeling that we exist and the world "out there" exists but we are separate. Thus we can only depend on ourselves and whatever we accomplish is entirely our own doing. Of course this is complete bullshit but that's how our culture and political economy is structured. This is why today we are facing almost endless amusements carefully marketed to us. Shortly we may not even need relationships because we will have dolls to service our needs and admire us in just the unique ways we need to make sure we are happy in our alienated state. Meanwhile, the natural world is being slowly (but quickly by historical standards) strangled with plastics and overheated with greenhouse gases as we play Russian roulette with the future.
At the same time, this country, that once sat on top of the world creating a sensible international structure has gone into a steep decline and rejected the very rational pragmatism that allowed it to rise and is now replaced with a nation of lotus eaters living in dreams while the worst most anti-social and profoundly evil people take control of the ship of state. How did we come to this? We have become so radically alienated we cannot even act in ways that benefit our children. In fact, we are so alienated that we just don't want to talk about it. Instead we float along following phony or trivial matters that are focused mainly on tribal differences when all these issue can be quickly and reasonably solved by agreeing to some common ground and negotiating a mutually beneficial solution based on real data and reason. But our information systems are so corrupt, so craven in their greed and dysfunction that they profit from dysfunction, war, corruption and have no interest in promoting accord or pragmatic solutions to ANY problem we face collectively. They only seek to divide us and to deliberately confuse and misinform so their owners or funders in the corporate elite can continue the movement of wealth from us to them. And, because of alienation, we are unable to come together in organizations that can have a real effect on our lives. We can come together to jeer or to insult our fellow Americans in other tribal groupings but we can't organize our communities to do much of anything to benefit ourselves as a collective enterprise. In this way no matter who comes up with sensible and rational solution to any of our problems will be ignored except in some small corner of the blogosphere.
Is there any hope for change? Yes, when we at least begin with understanding that we are alienated not only from each other but from nature and worse still from ourselves, that is, from our most natural and authentic sensibilities. The method to solve this most essential problem: begin to understand who you are by accepting yourself and facing up to your problems without blame. If you are well-adjusted and ok in this world then there is something drastically wrong with you because you've completely adapted to radical alienation. Finally we have to see that we are deeply connected to each other. Learn how nature works and is carefully integrated into ecosystems where each organism fits the pattern just as we are constructed to fit in a pattern of culture even if our own culture is a culture of alienation that seeks to break up patterns and break up connections. We belong in this world and to each other and when we feel the forces of love in our heart then things begin to make sense and we can begin taking steps even steps that seem unreasonable. Love must rule reason because the power of love is the power of life and connection. Reason can only grease the wheels.
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