The Hypocrisy of Me

I can’t think of one person who lives a life of absolute integrity. It is impossible. Some try, some wouldn’t know the meaning of the word, and most, like me, are caught in the middle. The problem is, when you are caught in the middle, and you know it, you are living the life of a hypocrite. That is my ‘conundrum’ as David Owen would put it.

Ultimately, through a process of self reflection we get to know what it is that makes us tick on a personal level. It becomes an intuitive and a gut level understanding of what we believe in and in contrast what we think is complete rubbish. Self reflection and self awareness are the two things that really bring out the hypocrite in us all.

I would like nothing more than to live a simpler life, not constantly paying for things I don’t really want or need, not bogged down by the mundane everyday fight against the machine. But I don’t do anything about it really. I don’t think many do. I complain and moan, I pay my bills and get up early on cold dark rainy days for the privilege of going to sit in an office and stare at a computer, doing things that don’t really mean a great deal in the scheme of things – at least not in my scheme of things at any rate. I suspect many feel the same, regardless of occupation.

Because at the end of the day, what is actually important is to live a life of personal meaning and fulfilment if you can. Surely, given that we all end up in the ground one way or another, and that we are actually alive on the earth for an incredibly short period of time that should be the only real goal? The fact that we take the absolute incredible event of our planet even containing life in what seems to date to be a pretty sterile universe, and that our birth and existence is both an amazing privilege and an incredible fluke, not a right and a destiny as so many seem to believe, it is beyond belief that we put up with the boredom and inanity of it all on a day in day out basis and call it normal!

I would like to live a life of integrity that will leave the planet in good shape for future generations and I don’t. My social circle discusses climate change, planetary degradation, soil fertility loss, species loss and all of these things ad nauseum. But we discuss them in fossil fuel powered meetings, over fossil fuel powered intensively farmed food, in fossil fuel powered homes, in our cars, in offices that have the lights on 24/7, in aeroplanes, with our feet resting on rainforest hardwood coffee tables, while scraping tonnes and tonnes of leftover food into bins destined for landfill.

The hypocrisy of it all.

What would a life well lived minus the hyperbole and hypocrisy look like? Would we recognise it? Would it inspire us or scare us? Would we want it if it was really an option?

Research has shown us that over a certain level of material wealth our net happiness plateaus out. Who would be game to test that theory coming from the western pattern of massive over-consumption and capitalisation?

Anyone game to lose the debt and credit cards, and latest gadgets for a simpler conscious life?

Pariah status rather than futurist leader I suspect…

Ecological Reciprocity

I have always been a great believer in the power of reciprocity. Say something nice to someone, and the chances are they will respond in kind at some stage.

Let someone cut in on the peak hour drive, and they will pass the favour along somewhere down the line. It is such a simple kind of idea. You do something for me, and I am far more likely to do something of equal or greater value for you. There are tomes written about it, and you can Google the term for a swath of information from pop psychology to serious study.

Wikipedia says that basically, reciprocity means that in response to friendly actions, people are frequently much nicer and much more cooperative than predicted by the self-interest model; conversely, in response to hostile actions they are frequently much more nasty and even brutal.[i]

Pretty logical, and we all intuitively understand it. So, it is an obvious and simple idea, but, as usual, here’s the bit I don’t get…

We live here on planet earth. Whether you are a believer of Gaia theory, an environmentalist or a neo-liberal capitalist, everything you do is as a result of the, for want of a better term, ‘generosity’ of the planet. We all accept that, surely? Our air is filled with oxygen courtesy of plant life, our water is cycled through natural systems that have developed over millions of years, the fertility of our soil, the crops we grow, everything we eat, wear, burn, use to make power comes from the single closed system that is the earth.

But where is the reciprocity?

In days of yore, it was there in abundance. We call it the circle of life and things like that, but ultimately it was a system of growth, death, decay and growth, continuing perpetually. Changing, yes. Morphing, yes. A system of peaks and troughs and feast and famines, absolutely, but one system across the entire planet of give and take.

Now, it seems we folks have decided that take is the order of the day, with very little give in return. We take fertility from the soil to grow all sorts of things, and then take more out of the system somewhere else to replace it (Australia, where I live, is a net importer of fertiliser for example, despite there being enough organic waste produced here every year to more than adequately replace that which is taken out. The same can be said all over the world). We suck up the oil and burn it, pumping pollutants into the air and then it is gone. We burn the coal, use the iron ore, eat, wear and build with the plants, and grow, use and eat the animals, and really all we give back is waste in some form or another. Thanks folks, says planet earth, thanks a lot.

Where’s the reciprocity in that?

So, congratulations to the folks at places like Phosphorus Futures (http://phosphorusfutures.net/) who recently won the Eureka Award for leading the way in educating us all to ways of giving back to the system that supports us. Although not their intention, these people have highlighted the fact that we in the West are currently acting like spoilt children always demanding more and never expecting to have to give back in return. Look them up. They are really on to something.

And next time you bin something that could be composted back into the system, or ditch the glass bottle with the rest of the crap in the bin instead of recycling, just remember that if you keep taking from someone and never give back in return, eventually they will seriously crack the shits and the game will be over for good.

In short, all the stuff you hear about ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ and ‘tread lightly on the earth’, has really one very basic principle in mind. Think of the planet as a living thing with a conscious, that is constantly giving and from which we are constantly taking, and which will eventually have a moment when it gets pissed off and does something, to quote the Wikipedia example up above, ‘much more nasty and even brutal’ compared to what we are doing to it right now.

And to any Aussies reading this, remember the Moving Pictures anthem of the 1980’s (or if you’re younger than that, maybe Australian Idol’s Shannon Noll), and think about reciprocity and good old planet earth and that just maybe it is time to have a think about it all and how we can improve the current system of ours.

Brothers and Sisters, on behalf of the earth, let us sing:

"What About me, it isn't fair

I've had enough now I want my share

Can't you see? I wanna live!

But you just take more than you give..."

Helpful links:

http://phosphorusfutures.net/

http://www.livinggreener.gov.au/waste/recycling/reduce-reuse-recycle

http://www.resourcesmart.vic.gov.au/for_households_1944.html

http://www.cleanup.org.au/au/LivingGreener/composting.html

http://www.cleanup.org.au/au/LiveGreener/

---

[i] Fehr, Ernst; and Simon Gächter (Summer 2000). "Fairness and Retaliation: The Economics of Reciprocity". Journal of Economic Perspectives 14 (3): 159–181

Of Summer Storms and Surprised Neighbours

The post WWII generation had many years to think about the best way to make do, be creative with what you had, and live in a way that today would seem very frugal indeed.

It is with this in mind that I got to thinking about the ridiculous way we live in the 21^st century. Ridiculous for so many obvious reasons that unfortunately are seen by many now as a right and a necessity, but are no more than fillers for the blanks left behind when technology speeds up your day so much there are too many hours left over and not enough meaningful stuff to do.

Study after study, research paper after research paper (it really is a wonder the funding keeps going) show that the more meaningful stuff in our lives comes from doing things with real people, family, friends, getting outside, being active. Not more screen time, but more real time.

Fast food combines with fast communications and short attention spans, leading you on a merry dance so all consuming you don’t even realise you are wasting the one shot you have to actually do something worthwhile, to connect with friends and family, to appreciate the natural world, to pat your dog.

Take my kids as an example – they really know how to live. Who else would strip naked and run outside during every subtropical storm we get during the wet season here in Queensland yelling out ‘rain shower!!’ at the top of their lungs? Now that, Barry, is living….

So turn off the TV, break out a board game and invite the dog in for a pat.

Make sure you have three different coloured veggies on your dinner plate that you cooked yourself, drink a mug of black tea, cut your own fries and reuse your leftovers.

Find a recipe for ‘bubble and squeak’, walk to the shop, listen to the radio while you tinker around outside, get some chooks and grow some herbs, the list of things to do that involve real life really is endless.

But above all, if nothing else, remember this – “Rain Shower!!”

There's more to living than being alive!

Continuing on with the one life to live theme, are you really living your life right now or are you just drifting through it with a few little moments of interest popping up every now and then, appreciated and enjoyed, but unbidden and unplanned?

We all know that trees and grass are alive, and very intricate and amazing things they are too. All things that are alive are complex and incredible and awe-inspiring, and should be treated with the greatest of respect for no other reason than they are living things, right?

But would you say they are ‘living’ in the sense that I mean it here. Living as in actually consciously going out and taking a deep breath, looking around and deciding to really truly live their life? Forge ahead, make mistakes, pick themselves up and keep going towards some personal purpose that is has a meaning to them as individual and unique as yours should to you and mine does to me? Well, when you think of it like that, the answer is a resounding no!

Living in that sense of the word requires a conscious effort, a sustained awareness that every moment you do something wasteful or pointless is a moment you will never get back. Living consciously like that is scary, and it requires great inner strength, because we are conditioned from birth to have our lives mapped out for us by a cultural system of how we should live our lives here in the good old Western world. Our system of ‘living’ (or culture I guess?) has been taken over to a large extent by things that are totally external to what has been proven time and again to make your rather short and insignificant time on this rock pleasant, if not enjoyable.

Living consciously requires not only inner strength but great courage. Courage to actually think about what you are doing and why.  Let’s not mess about – it’s a hard thing to do! But when you do, and you really live with the courage of your convictions (integrity in other words), that is when the people who are too timid to get off the merry go round for a minute look on in awe and say ‘Wow, that person is really living their own life. I wish I could do that…”.

So, are you going to think about what is really important to you, or are you going to keep going with the herd? Everyone else is going a particular direction, so it must be the right way to go, right? Hmmm, innately I suspect you are smarter than that….but be warned, once you take the blinkers off, you will never be able to put them back on, which may end up being a problem for you, because the world will seem like a different place.

That guy in the expensive car at the traffic lights will not impress you anymore, because you will realise that it is all based on the idea that you will be impressed because that is just the way it is. And it isn’t. It isn’t because there will always be a more expensive car, or a fancier suit, or a more expensive whiz bang watch.

So who really cares? Surely you know that o
nce you play that game, you will never ever win, because that system is designed just to keep you playing.

So here's a little experiment for you. 

After you have read this, make a conscious decision to mentally get off the merry go round. Just for today. Take those carousel pony blinkers off and then pose this question to yourself “I know that I am alive…but have I been living?”. And good luck!

I hate to state the obvious, but...

We have one life to live and one planet to live it on

It would be nice to be a really religious person, or a Buddhist, and truly believe that we get another shot at it all, but unfortunately that just isn’t the case.

We all get dealt the same deal; we have one life to live and only one planet to live it on.

All of us.

Me, you and the richest and the poorest of us all.

Zoom! What was that? That was your life, mate, and you don’t get another.

So what are you going to do with it? Sit around thinking about what you might do one day? Making plans that you know won’t ever happen? Worrying about things that you absolutely positively can’t do anything about and cannot ever influence?

Every time the sun goes down on another day, that is one more day you will never get back.

Ever.

What did you do yesterday before the sun set that made you proud to be you living your one short life? Anything? Nothing?

And what about the planet that we all share? And when I say all, I mean in a totally global living thing kind of way. Hello trees and flowers, and all that.

What have you done for the planet today?

It gives us everything that we eat, wear, read, see, smell, everything. Have you stopped to think about it at all or are you too busy wasting the one life you have doing stupid, pointless things to give it a second thought? Every bit of food you ate yesterday or are going to eat today came from this planet of ours. Billions of years in the evolutionary making to get to this point of being able to grow and harvest and eat.

Did you think about that or did you just shove some really unhealthy garbage in your face without a second thought?

You can do things that will help you live a bit longer and be healthier, or you can do things that will make you tired and sick and live a short pointless life. But you know that don’t you? Nothing new here is there?

So, you have one life to lead, and one planet to live it on.

Get on with it.