We and the planet are sick
Perhaps our lack of healing and meaningful work, is not only a symptom but also a cause.
Life on this planet feels increasingly uncertain. If you look around you today, it’s easy to get depressed. It seems like humanity is in the middle of an existential crisis, like no time before, well at least in my lifetime.
Facing massive issues such as global warming, conflicts over territory and resources, threats to global health, destruction of the natural habitat and species, together with economic polarisation and breakdown, no wonder many people are living in a state of overwhelm and tension, even if they’re not on the frontline of direct impacts.
How did we get here and what needs to fundamentally change?
I believe the problem lies with our vision of ourselves and life, which is fundamentally flawed. At the core of the issue is our illusion of separation from one another and our environment. Somehow like cells in a body we have become ‘cancerous’, we have forgotten the whole we form a part of.
I have spoken to many people who despite acknowledging these issues around them as real and important, they feel a sense of impotence. What I hear is something along the lines of, “Since I can’t do much about these things, then maybe I’m best off not thinking about them too much”, or “I have too many of my own things to worry about to give them much consideration”.
There is a sense of having no alternative but to watch from the sidelines as the world goes down the pan.
Hope from the Powerlessness
I would argue that the problems that each of us face in own little worlds are not separate from what we see on a global scale. The fact is, this idea of separation is at the root of many our problems and they can be traced back to it, and it is hidden even in this sense of powerlessness.
Since separation is an illusion, so is powerlessness.
Sunil Panchal
I believe that we are not separate, so what we truly do to heal ourselves, in fact contributes to the healing of others and the planet.
Let me explain what I mean.
The economics of separation
Many of the problems we face come down to economics, the branch of knowledge concerned with the production, consumption of goods and services, and the transfer of wealth.
One embodiment of our idea of separation can be seen in the economic system in operation on our planet. With the predominant capitalist system, our world works on supply and demand, on converting natural and human resources into goods and services to generate capital (money), which in turn is leveraged to generate more capital, to be exchanged for more or less anything you might desire, perhaps apart from things that really matter such as love, relationships, connection, meaning and well-being.
As humanity, we have built this system and we are slaves to it, even if it is to our detriment with eventual self-harm and destruction. I’m not advocating that we get rid of it, but it does need some modification to reincorporate the sense of unity into its and our consciousness, making it wholesome again.
We participate in this system through what we consume. That’s obvious. When you buy something that exploits other people or the natural world in an irreparable way, you’re adding to that damage, however small. When you consume something that is somehow regenerative, that restores and builds rather than exploits and destroys, you’re also making your small contribution to healing.
Regenerative Work
However, there is another significant impact you have. This is through your labour. In return for money, through your work, you are either on balance contributing to the destruction of the planet and creating ill health amongst its inhabitants, or you’re healing and regenerating it.
How can we extract ourselves from destructive consumption and production which is linear and unsustainable, to that which is regenerative and cyclical?
A new economy is needed
I see this possibility… and one of the ways I see this healing occurring is from the bottom-up.
I believe when you truly heal yourself, you no longer participate in the life-sapping economy of destruction. You wean yourself off consuming, the products and services that are making you ill. You are no longer willingly contribute to this economy by using your energy and creativity to create goods and services that make you, others and the planet sick.
I was faced with this choice. Years ago, I found myself working for a company, writing online gambling websites / platforms. Even though it was very lucrative, I decided that I could not dedicate my life energy to something which was in fact, generating more sickness on the planet. I quit and in fact, it was the start of healing in many aspects of my life, including healing and meaningful work!
So as well as healing ourselves, being of fit mind and body, we in fact, begin to draw energy out of the economy of separation and destruction to the regenerative economy of healing.
Loving yourself is loving the planet
In the book, “Love yourself, like your life depended on it”, by Kamal Ravikant. He has a question that can help us have discernment in our choices.
Faced with a choice he suggests asking: “If I truly and deeply loved myself what would I do?”. I would add… “What is wholesome and life-affirming for me?”
Would I eat, what I’m about to?
What would I spend my time thinking about?
Would I spend consuming media that adds nothing to my well-being?
What would I buy in the shops?
What would I spend 8 hours a day, a third of my life, devoting my energy and creativity to?
Am I will to give my life energy, my creative power to something that is killing us all slowly? Surely, we will no longer be willing to slave for the machine that is destroying us and our beautiful planet.
I admit we are faced with difficult decisions, but we can do our best to discern. Some of our choices are also down to our own lack of wellbeing, so as we truly heal, we become a catalyst for healing.
In the end, all our institutions are made up of people. What would happen to the corporation which no longer has consumers of its products and willing workers to man its production lines or, in the information age, to design its products and come up with clever ways to convince unsuspecting victims to consume them.
What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.
Jane Goddall
Heal Yourself, your Work and the Planet
Your healing, the healing of what you do as an economic activity (your work) and the health of the planet are all intricately related.
There are 3 parts to this which create a connection between us as participants in the greater whole of the economy and ecology in operation amongst us and on the planet.
Taken from the inside out…
1) Who we are… our Being. Do we see ourselves as separate individuals or an interacting network of interconnection? We can fully recognise our Unity, stepping into our full potential, with each individual (cell) functioning and acting for the whole (body).
2) What we do… our Doing. Our activities on the planet can transform so that they are regenerative rather than causing harm, bringing more and more wholeness and health as opposed to degeneration. We could consume and produce to be re-aligned to healing. We can create healing and meaningful work for ourselves, which brings a positive impact on the planet.
3) What we experience on the planet… our Having. Whether we have dystopia or utopia… heaven or hell on Earth. We create and enjoy a state of harmony within ourselves, amongst us and with our planet.
Be the solution, through your work!
Do you want to be part of the problem or the solution? Do you wish to claim to be an “innocent” bystander?
We can open to the possibility of transforming how and for what you spend your days, hours and minutes on this planet, of transforming the economy, to one that heals, and even the way we view Work so that it is an expression of our love of each other and the planet. Who knows, maybe in the process, our work can become healing and meaningful.
So I urge you, find out what you’re moved to change in this world, and start on the adventure of being the change!
You won’t regret it. You certainly won’t be bored or depressed!
Have a look at my Manifesto for the Work our hearts know is possible for some inspiration and to hold you on your course towards healing and meaningful work!
Image: Pixabay
