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If I pay attention to the news, we’ve already gone off the cliff.
Flames of violence fanned by acrid winds of hatred.
If I still followed mass media as much as I used to, I would have no more hope for us — or this world.
But I know there is there is much that is still good in this world. I see it in the individuals who find my mental health writing and contact me through my website, people just glad to know there is someone out there searching for meaning in suffering.
I see it on the meaning-making communities on Twitter, believe or not, where I spend the majority of my time if and when I use social media.
Humans are collectivist, meaning-making organisms. We gravitate towards others and label our experiences to attempt to make sense of it all.
That’s what this world needs — a return to meaning.
What does it mean when people are killed for no reason?
What does it mean when our days are spent managing our not-so-hidden addiction to technology?
And what does it mean that we have more data than ever to describe our acquaintances — but hardly any interpersonal connection?
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It means we’ve lost something.
It means we have to claw back the substance that is our lives — the lost firmament that is the missing foundation of our lives.
I’ve always felt emotions strongly. I’m a sensitive man.
And these days I feel the reverberations of the toxicity that are our “current events.”
The light hasn’t gone out, but it’s flickering closer to extinction than we should be comfortable with.
We don’t need more graphic scenes. We don’t need more shouting at crowds of people.
We need silence. We need introspection.
And it’s not likely to be found in the places we’re told to turn. The sources of information intended to edify us only serve to divide us.
It’s time for a turn towards the existential.
What are we doing here?
How are we treating our fellow human beings?
And what on Earth do we hope will come of our collective inaction?
Do we want to change? Or are we all secretly hoping that someone will step up and save us?
No one can save us from a life devoid of meaning. It’s incumbent upon each of us to create meaning in our lives.
Each of us can decide when enough is enough — when it’s time to raze the buildings and carve a new path through the wilderness.
I don’t have the answers, but I’m tired of those in power feeding us the questions so that they can hear our canned responses.
It’s time to wake up, look around, and set our intention on the world we want to create.
All change starts small, but it won’t change unless we change.
We already have the answers.
But you and I, we need to believe in ourselves again.
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This post was originally published on Medium.com and is republished with the author’s permission.
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