If we can begin to have some casual conversations about what we take for granted we can come to a place where we see life for the wonderment that it is.
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The days of walking and finding our food along the way have been replaced by employment, shopping and payment.
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I worked in the public school system for over a decade. Every single day students would enter the classroom completely oblivious as to why they were there. They knew the law required them to be there but as for the reasoning for such a law, they remained clueless. In my last year of teaching I let them in on a little secret. They weren’t there to become qualified individuals who would eventually have something worthwhile to contribute to society. Instead they were there because of something much more obvious yet hidden from their consciousness. We attend school because our civilized culture locks up the food.
Daniel Quinn is a writer who has authored multiple books surrounding the concept of civilization. Civilization is a consequence of the agricultural revolution. It is a living arrangement which requires a division of labor and through a variety of different institutions creates a system of delivery for our wants and basic human needs. In other words, we no longer have to acquire food, water and shelter on our own. Instead, we earn an income and pay someone for those goods and services. The days of walking and finding our food along the way have been replaced by employment, shopping and payment.
Domestication is our training and school is our indoctrination which completes the narrative of civilized living.
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When we look at the methodology of our education system we can see that in order to have our needs met we must jump through a series of hoops. We were briefly born wild but then slapped into a paradigm known as domestication followed quickly by indoctrination. Domestication is our training and school is our indoctrination which completes the narrative of civilized living.
Making a living is not in fact living. We are not our careers.
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We leave the institution with a belief that civilization is life and the two are inseparable. However, reality is much different. Civilization is the destroyer of life. Making a living is not in fact living. We are not our careers. If we can make our way past our dysfunctional loyalty to the narrative of civilization a whole new world opens before us. We won’t necessarily escape such a living arrangement but we will be better prepared to avoid its trappings by simply applying some critical thinking to our daily lives.
Here are some conversation suggestions to have with your children in order to assist in their transition from a civilized centric point of view towards a more connective, wholistic point of view.
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Ask:
“Do you know the difference between needs and wants?”
“What are your basic human needs?”
“Where do these needs come from geographically and who produces them?”
“Why are you required to attend school?”
“Why don’t catfish and other species lock up their food?”
“Can you explain the difference between intelligence and wisdom?”
These questions should get the ball rolling and the critical thinking juices flowing. If we can begin to have some casual conversations about what we take for granted then maybe we can come to a place where we see life as something more than a series of hurdles to clear and more for the wonderment that it is. Then and only then can living reclaim what making a living has stolen from us all.
Chase a different carrot my friends.
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