Fourth Form of Madness

I love storms. I love being reminded that no one, no person, no corporation, no religion, no class, no ideology, controls nature. It’s refreshing because in the everyday “you have to pay your mortgage world” it is easy to forgot this when every message hitting your five senses is screaming at you otherwise. Learning to turn the senses down and re-learning how to tune into nature is a path worth learning. There are many different paths to learning this, best to listen to yourself on what works best for you – be it meditation, yoga, gardening, fishing, surfing etc etc. But why isn’t such a valuable skill taught in every education system? Surely education should extend itself to more than just “book learning” but rather also to learning life skills and being able to use them in everyday life.

Has our educational system become to focussed on what gets you a job rather than what gives a person a complete set of skills to live their life through? Why so much emphasis on getting a job anyway? When did the educational system become more about churning out the next generation of workers than well rounded citizens of the world? I’m hearing the “c” word being said – yep capitalism. The big C stepped up and the focus became producing and more producing with less interest in who the worker was and more of a focus on that there be a worker there. Any worker, faceless, nameless, but able to do the job. Alienation yes but not from the product being produced, alienation from self, total isolation from the value of your self just as you are, standing apart from the function you perform at work. You are not a job title, no matter how societal structures (and lets face it, other people) try to make you believe you are.

Many people share the same job title, but no one shares your existence as you. You are the only one with a window seat ticket to that one! The problem is, if you believe you are your job title (whether you consciously realise you are doing this or not) you start to believe that you are the same and interchangeable with everyone else that shares your job title. Suddenly it becomes competitive, where in your “make believe” sameness suddenly you realise you must do something to distinguish yourself out from the rest, make yourself important, unique. The irony is, in your natural state, you are already unique and vitally important. So there you are, chasing the dragon so to speak on the outside when the bounty your after lies waiting for you within the whole time.

Oh its a topsy turvy old world. The only way that sense can be made of it, is to turn to nature. Good old, reliable, unbiased, unfettered, free of suffocating ideology, nature. Accessible to all without prejudice or preference.