question everything…
Was overhearing a conversation at Starbucks the other day, my daughter and I were killing a few minutes together while she sipped on her lemonade; it was actually a nice moment until the police officer starting smoking a couple cars away. But that’s not supposed to be part of the story, the interesting part was the conservation between two colleagues that ran into each on the sidewalk. One guy was particularly intrigued by the idea that our society takes too much for granted and accepts too much at face value; he thought we need to start questioning everything in our culture. Of course I was riveted, was hoping the conversation would never end and that some miracle bomb would be released. Or better still, that I would join in on the conversation in some brilliant way, regardless of how annoyed my daughter would be at the mere thought of speaking with strangers… what?!! Then the conversation ended, they said good-bye and I was left with a few thoughts to ponder.
I had a boyfriend in my mid-twenties that used to love calling people “sheep”; referring to how people just like to stay in packs, move in herds, head up, butts down, as we navigate around our circles. Sadly funny, oddly truthful and yes, I reference sheep often, but mostly to my teenage daughter regarding her growing list of teenage rules against humanity.
Truth is I think that life has too many demands to be met, especially as we run around competing for our value in life. Living in the Silicon Valley, I notice the effects of living a highly competitive life, and the life-style becomes one of perfection where everyone seems to be an alpha-type. Much of our competing occurs in our own minds, almost at a cellular level, imperceptible to the untrained eye. You know that moment, the quick head-to-toe glance, the kid-count drop into the conversation, how you can go to a high-level job, make the kids’ carpool, games, and did she mention she has four kids and will put together a fabulous organic, vegan dinner that all her kids will enjoy immensely? Even her hubby likes her cooking, but mostly he likes her in bed, at least twice a week; that tight ass, perfect hair and fantastic wardrobe only make her more desirable… that and the fact that she actually wants to have sex in hot places – she’s awesome!!
However, everyone has their weak spots and everyone has their strengths; yet we still keep trying to be the best at everything while simultaneously creating a world of frustrations. I found parenthood and running a business to be so overwhelming that I took almost every short-cut I could to get my chores done as fast as possible; packaged seasonings, bottled dressings, canned soups, purchasing school hot lunches for the kids and skipping meals for me; coffee in the morning, wine at night and that in a nutshell is why we get cancer.
We are so busy creating this image of ourselves that we have overlooked the image our large corporations have created about themselves. A fabulous example is how we chased MSG out of most of our foods, but the corporations found ways to get the dangerous ingredient back into their products while placing a big label on their package advertising NO MSG; they simply created new names or exchanged for other ingredients that contain glutamate, such as: yeast extract, torula yeast, yeast nutrient or autolyzed yeast.
A few good videos to see regarding nutrition and cancer are:
Food, Inc.
The Truth About Cancer
One would be hard pressed to not make some serious nutritional changes after viewing these videos; and I do have to warn you that you will lose faith in our government, and big business will give you nightmares.
Then there’s the up-side to losing naivete and gaining the ability to TRULY live free; I believe our society will not be the walking dead for long, I believe we are waking up and will reach critical mass soon. In fact a friend just shared a Facebook page, Preston Smiles, who put out a short video on just this subject, “QUESTION EVERYTHING” (guess that’s video #4 worth viewing:-).
Yogi Bhajan gave a lecture back in 2000, he described the coming of the Aquarian Age, a new self-sensory system that people will come to perfect over the next fifty years. As we phase out the old Piscean Age of seeking satisfaction outside of ourselves, in physical beauty and creative legacy… WE WELCOME IN THE NEW SYSTEM whereby the individual finds him or herself complete. In my own words, equal access to resources & information will breed satisfaction, turning competition into cooperation. We will be quite literally, choosing joy!
To quote Yogi Bhajan:
Men and women are going to reach out with such dignity, such devotion, such an elevated loftiness of self, and the beauty of the human character will be so bewitching, that not only will the ones who are willing be enjoying and realizing, but also their realization will be so profound that no destructive temptation by another person will work. The Age of Aquarius will be the Age of Experience, in which people of experience will be liked, respected, worshipped, talked to, and understood. It’s not a matter of how old you are or how young you are, or how white you are or how black you are. We can help and deal with each other as equals… there’s no beautiful, no ugly.
Personally, I cannot wait for a time when our business models capitalize on ethics and not on our health… so go out there and use your power to make a difference as a consumer; those purchases feel even better when a baby seal isn’t clubbed (you get my drift).