The world lives in you! So go save it!
Here’s a philosophical question (best suited to an armchair around the log fire and a bottle of wine):
Do you live in the world or does the world live in you?
Personally, I believe the world lives in you. So what you see, notice and choose to focus on in this world is just a reflection of your inner beliefs. So if you believe the world is a horrible, negative place (“Life’s a bitch and then you die” type thing) then don’t be surprised if you tend to notice lots of negative things about the world (and watch out, as you have a high chance of catching that horrible and spreading disease, “Victimitis”)
You see our internal belief systems act as a filter to select what our conscious brain notices in the world. Let’s face it, we are bombarded by far too much information and far too many stimuli each day for the so-called intelligent or rational part of our brain to be aware of all of it.
So we form beliefs that helps us delete, distort and select the information we notice (isn’t it strange how people always buy newspapers that just so happen to agree with their political beliefs).
So, rather than feeding ourselves on the daily diet of negativity, helped of course by the media and TV programs, I wonder what would happen if more and more people focused on what really brings us happiness. And surprise surprise, that’s not material wealth (The richest countries in the world just happen to have the highest levels of depression, suicide and mental illness, especially among the wealthiest families). According to psychological studies, sharing, giving to others, empathy, being rather than doing, bringing more joy into our life and the lives of others and noticing the positive more than the negative will all make us feel happier. And I wonder what would all this happy energy do for our chances of saving the planet? We have had the dark ages. We have had the middle ages. We have had the industrial age. I sincerely hope in many years to come people do not look back on this age as the age and materialism, unhappiness and destruction.
March 2014
