Listen

What will it take for post-industrial society to listen?

A long, long time ago we were a nomadic people. Since civilization, we've gone from constantly moving around geographically to living in a single location sometimes for an entire lifetime. I can't think of a cultural shift greater than this. What did we lose during that transition?

The first thing that comes to mind is that we've become a lot less accepting of death and chaos. Despite these concepts forming a significant part of the natural world and keeping it in perfect balance, we've grown so averse to any disruption of order and to the passing away of things, people and ideas. Death and chaos are very much taboo in modern, post-industrial societies. We're no longer naturally accepting of these things as important elements in the universe.

But chaos keeps things moving, flowing. Without a certain amount of chaos, life would remain static. The simple fact is that our universe is not without chaos. This law is not something we can change. Every life concludes with death. We really have no choice but to accept and offer no resistance to what is.

I can't help but feel that we've grown truly arrogant as a species. We've stopped listening. To the planet, to other people, to other forms of life and hell, even to our deepest selves.

Because we are chaos. Undeniably. We're made of this universe, so there's no other way we can be. We've tried so hard collectively to shut out these natural parts of ourselves, viewing them as undesirable or unnecessary. I believe its time that we embrace chaos, so we can learn to work better with it. This culture we've got going isn't exactly a very sane or pleasant way to exist. And considering that we're experiencing a massive systemic failure on almost every level at this point, I don't believe that there are many other rational choices. Our imbalance is so huge right now that we threaten our own existence upon this planet.

I think its time we move forward. And I think that this new way forward isn't really going to be about accumulation. Even though that's the skill that most of us have been refining for most of our lives, I think that for where we're headed now we need to summon our sheer adaptability as a species. To adapt, we need first to listen. And that means that we offer no resistance to what we cannot change. We have to stop insisting that the universe conform to our wishes unconditionally. Instead, we have to truly understand the principles on which it works, before we begin to work with it to receive exactly what we need.

Life doesn't have to be a zero-sum game in which the winner takes all. The idea of man being at odds with nature is a ridiculous one that leads to unnecessary conflict. How can we be at odds with what we are? It must finally be recognized that this form of thinking is at the very least a cultural construct that can (and most definitely should) be brought into question.

I don't have the answer. I don't think there is a definite answer right now. I believe that every individual is going to receive a slightly different answer, depending on what she sees within. I know that I'm going to begin finding my answer by listening unconditionally and that I will definitely hear things that I at first don't want to hear. Maybe the 'answer' is really a constant dialogue with the wider universe - a constant reminder of our relationship and how it evolves.

Perhaps it begins with a recognition that we are not, and have never been, in control of the world around us. We have only ever been in balance, and we have shifted out of it. I think it's time to find a new way to regain this balance.

(silentinfinite.com)