The following article was written in a different tone than my usual stuff, its more confrontational and in your face and negative at parts, but I believe as a whole it has a very good message and can be a very valuable read.
Being Human
Tonight, after watching the movie Avatar for a second time an interesting question popped into my mind. If I could trade my life as a human, to live the life and be one of the Navi (the blue people in the movie) would I? I was almost surprised as my answer was a resounding ‘yes!’ If you haven’t seen the movie, the ‘Navi’ are an amazing race of humanoid creatures that live in peace, oneness and deep connection to their surrounding world and with each other. It really makes you realize what we as humans are missing.
I mean, what’s so great about being a human? We have a history of destruction, wars, despicable violence, self created tragedy, and horrendous brutality beyond the imagination. We are slowly destroying our own world, and many of our social systems are pretty crazy.
To be honest, as a race sometimes we really suck. Sure there have been great accomplishments by the human race, we’ve learned a lot, discovered a lot, created a lot… but in so many of these situations, the brilliant minds who purpose a new idea, or a new more enlightened way of being, were violently opposed and persecuted for their viewpoints. It’s only through struggle and pain that we seem to make any progress.
Desiring Change
I think as a race we feel our own shortcomings. I think deep within most of us is a tiny bit of shame for the past the human race has created. I think many of us wish the world worked differently, wish people treated each other differently, wish society worked differently. Yet we get caught up in our lives as humans, we play into the rat race, we fit into the mold of the life we are told we are meant to live, we don’t question the world, we don’t try to change it, we just accept it… because “that’s just the way it is.”
Who are we to say it should be any different, who are we to have different ideas, to desire change, to imagine how things should be instead of looking at how they are? Why should things be any different? Life isn’t that bad, we have our entertainment and our distractions and we can get by… why should we want something more? What makes us think we as humans deserve something more?
Here’s another question. Who are these people that cause this mess of a past we have. Who are the people who cause all the destruction, the corruption, the pain and suffering. Who’s the man who decides to pour toxic waste into the ocean to save money? Who’s the leader who declares war on another country? Who’s the man who gives the okay to torture another human being? These people all started out the same, born from a mother as an innocent baby just like you and me… but instead of thinking about and wanting the world to be a better place, they instead just accept things the way they are. They learn how the world ‘really works’ and they play into it and become part of it.
A movie like avatar helps us to imagine a different way of life. Now I’m not saying we should start living in trees, I’m not saying a stories depiction of life is how society should be… But what I am saying is we should imagine and work towards and create little changes in our world that make life on earth more desirable. We can imagine beautiful worlds full of peace, connectedness, oneness with nature and happiness… so why shouldn’t we try to create that here on earth? If we merely look at the problems in our world and say ‘that’s just the way it is’, we become part of the problem. If we look at the greed and corruption and decide these ways of being are merely ‘realistic’ notions of how to get ahead in the world we become embodiments of the greed and corruption ourselves.
We Are All One
How often is the theme of humanity being foolish and corrupt prevalent in our storytelling? We clearly recognize our problems and our need to change how we behave, yet so many of us add to the problem rather than adding to the solution. We can’t accept things the way they are, we have to work towards a more positive world. We have to stop creating negativity, we have to stop hurting others to help ourselves, we have to stop thinking we are all separate fighting against each other, we have to start being kind to each other, we have to start creating positivity, we have to start living as a single race and working together in oneness.
Thinking of humanity from the viewpoint of an entire race, as a single entity is a strange thought and not something we do often. Too frequently do we think in terms of social groups and races and countries. We don’t realize we are all the same people, sharing the same world. Sure we haven’t encountered any other races out there yet to bring this notion of oneness into reality, but with the estimated 10 sextillion or so other planets out there, assuming we are the only ones in the universe is more arrogant than imagining the entire world revolves around you. We need to see from time to time that we together are human, and we need to think of who we are from the viewpoint of an entire race.
Our Work
Changing the world on a large scale is no easy task, but that’s no excuse not to do everything you can in your lifetime to make it a better place. Perform random acts of kindness, get a job where you help others, live a joyful life and affect others by example, help out someone less fortunate than you, hell just give a genuine compliment to someone who looks like there having a bad day. Live by one simple rule of creating no negativity in the world and you can change more people than you will know.
If you work in a field where you hurt others to help your company you are part of the problem. If your rude or unkind to others your part of the problem. If your spreading negativity to people your part of the problem, if your living a miserable unfulfilled life your part of the problem, if you cause others pain your part of the problem, if you accept humanity for its insanity and buy into it your part of the problem. We all make mistakes, and no one is perfect. We all have times when we create negativity or do something regrettable, but the key is to, on average, do far more good in your life than bad. Make a shift in your life, anywhere you can, and turn any problem area around. Humanity needs all of us to make these little shifts to pull our momentum from the negativity we have created for so much of our history, to an amazing new future.
Travel and Oneness
If you’re wondering what this has to do with travel the thing is, the more you travel the more you start to view the entire world as your home. When you live and share with people from the other side of the world it’s very hard to see them as different from yourself. The more you make friends from countries all around the world the more you feel connected with the planet as a whole. The old notions of us and them begin to disappear, you learn about the common ground we all share with each other. The more people you meet and learn from the more the oneness we all share as citizens of the earth becomes apparent.
Together as a race we are human, and the sooner we start thinking in these terms the sooner we can start creating a world where we don’t need to be ashamed of who we are, where we don’t need to create movies where we are the bad guys displaying our recognition of our own corrupt ways.
Our world is smaller than it’s ever been, and the possibility for making big changes in who we are as a people is easier than ever. Every one of us has the ability to affect the world in big ways if we put our potential to the test. Do whatever you can in your life to strive for the greatness of humanity and to create a future where we can truly be proud that we are human.
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