As we enter not only a new year but a new decade early in the 21st century, our minds are often drawn to the uncertain future as well as to where we’ve come from. Technology, medicine and society are making huge advances as well as, some would say, grave mistakes. So where do we look for our inspiration? To the progressive footsteps forward or the traditions behind us?
Living a natural lifestyle with traditional influences is important to me. Therefore, when my daughter was born over 13 years ago I was determined to raise her as naturally as I could with as little intervention as possible. I had high earth-mother aspirations. As she has grown, and inevitably become a product of the era she was born into, my perspective has slowly shifted. I still have my ideals and values but they are now more flexible. A thought worth lingering over jumped out at me recently from a Margaret Atwood novel: ‘Life isn’t run by principles but by adjustments’.
I realise that my daughter’s generation is necessarily going to crave and benefit from new creations, perceptions and experiences. Rather than fearing these, perhaps, while sharing my own beliefs and guidelines, I can also learn from what she brings to our family. But where do I draw the line and what do I identify with: modern progress or traditional paths?
In the one ear, I hear lamentations about the persistent march away from community and traditional living to a more techno-lifestyle while, in the other, voices criticise those who are ‘living in the past’ rather than ‘moving with the times’. What is the answer? Is there a ‘correct’ way to live? It seems to me that we must move into the future rather than hang on to the past but that the people who do this most successfully are those who pay homage to what has gone before and what has worked for our predecessors. Looking back can enable one to step forward with more awareness. It’s looking back and sitting down for the duration that causes stagnation. It’s running forwards without having learnt the terrain that leads to a crash landing. The key is in combining the past with the future so that the present is in balance.
Our real challenge is to sift through the past and collect that which is too valuable to be lost; live fully in the present moment; and then progress into what we can best imagine to be our strongest future. When we can observe that all time is held in each present moment, with the echoes of the past spiraling around us, and the seeds of the future secured within our immediate behaviour, it all becomes infinitely simple. The only choice is whether or not to live authentically in the present. How we each interpret the concept of ‘living authentically’ is an individual matter, no less unique to each of us than our fingerprints or the sound of our laughter.
There need be no real conflict between the old and the new. The only conflict is between need and greed. We take what we need to remember from age-old wisdom but when we hang on to every last word of bygone texts or teachers we have become greedy for easy answers. In his book, The Journey, Tom Brown Jr., an expert in wilderness awareness, quotes his mentor as saying, ‘The customs and rituals of ancient man are but guidelines for future generations. They show where man has gone, and where he is going. They are a teacher, never to be a crutch, never to enslave. The problem is that we become slaves to the ritual. People begin to worship the ceremony and believe in the shaman rather than the Great Spirit. The ancient rituals and ceremonies should be viewed as signposts and learned, modified, passed down, then abandoned.’
Need and greed are harsh words for some to accept. But if we consider that we all need love to thrive (as proven by various never to be repeated experiments on humans and animals decades ago), and that all greed is borne of fear of lack, we can see that our responses to life originate from either a sense of love or a sense of fear. If we take a moment before acting to consider whether what we are about to do is loving (to ourselves, our bodies, our children, the environment, etc) or based on fear then we can perhaps understand our motives a little more and reconsider our actions without self-recrimination. While fear can be a powerful life-saver, we can and should check with ourselves whether our fear is well-founded and liable to make us behave in a safer manner or is being hyped-up and indulged in. This way, we can choose more consciously in each moment whether to look to the past or the unfolding present for our answers.
The same applies to the supposed conflict between traditional ways and new technology. Didn’t the builders of Stonehenge or the Egyptian pyramids use their own forms of modern technology? I doubt that many ancient peoples would have turned down our modern labour-saving devices, but when we drive the car to the corner shop, live only off microwaved food or rely on the television or Nintendo to be our child’s (or our own) chief entertainer, we have become greedy for quick fixes and forgotten the true nature of living. There’s no such spiritual crime as accessing and enjoying the advantages of the age we are born into. The modern day problems occur when we seek excess and reach beyond the natural balance.
As Mahatma Gandhi said, ‘The earth has enough for every man’s need, not for every man’s greed’. This quote could also translate as, ‘the body/spirit has the capacity to accept every moment’s need, not every moment’s greed’. And so, to make use of modern devices, medicine or perceptions is no more a failure than to live by old traditions is an anachronism. Each must be intuitively chosen, sensibly worked with and carefully balanced. This way we carry forward the timeless wisdom and continue the path of evolution, carefully treading the trail through the wilderness into the future.
Categories: lifestyle
So sensible, sage and simple yet the human race as a species just can’t seem to understand the plight we are in. This is the greatest mystery. Well thought out!