Friday, November 16, 2012

Blog Post the Last

Many things change in life. One thing that doesn't, however, is the passage of time. Time moves steadily onward, day following day following day. Whenever one starts something new, it feels like it will last forever... but every time, it eventually ends.


I write this to you from the end of the most significant semester of my life. I write this to you because your life, like mine, is finite. I write this to you because no matter who you are or what your situation is, you have things that you need to contribute to the world and things that you need to experience.

As people in a mostly materialism-driven global society, what are we going to do with the unknown amount of finite time that we have left in our lives? Will we follow the culturally approved path for a human being, the standard K-12 to college to graduate school to career to retirement to death model, perhaps with a few spouses or children thrown in for good measure? The lifespan of a person is now nearly as predictable as the lifespan of a similar disposable product, like a paper cup.

I am not, of course, saying that any of those things are bad. Careers, spouses, education, and children are all potential ingredients for a happy, satisfying life.

I am, however, saying that we should start thinking about what we really want out of life. Too often, the standard life path brings with it a sense omnipresent anticipation with no real resolution: we're always waiting for that one thing to happen so that we can finally be complete, finally be happy. We're trying to get to the next grade level, to high school, to college, to grad school, to our first real job, to a promotion, to a stable career, to another promotion, to retirement. We're trying to find a great spouse, trying to have kids, trying to get the kids out of the house, trying to get our marriage back on track, trying to start a new marriage.

We're always waiting. We're always striving. And if we ever get to the point where we can relax and say, “Okay. Now I've done it. Now I can finally sit back and enjoy life”, it's in our twilight years.

So, what I'm saying is simply this: it's time to become present. It's time to realize that life, the very best part of it, is happening now. Whatever moment you're in, this is it. This is life. It's not waiting around the next bend.

One of the best responses to this realization is simply to start intentionally enjoying life more. Appreciate the beauty of the sky in the morning. Turn off your TV and learn a new skill. Explore new places. Spend time with your friends. Make new friends.

However, there's a more urgent response to this realization, especially if you're younger. Our planet is in trouble. Though not many people realize it yet, we live in a time of great change. One might compare it to having just pushed off from the top of a giant water slide: you're not moving fast enough for it to be scary yet, but you're about to be, and there's nothing that you can do to stop it. Our world is hurtling into a period of societal, environmental, and intellectual upheaval. This upheaval is driven by the fact that our culture is based on the idea of endless consumption; a consumption not matched by endless resources. In so many ways – climate, water supply, food supply, mineral exploitation, and others – we are pushing the limits of what is possible with the resources that we have. Our global infrastructure has been cracking, unnoticed, under the strain, and it is now crashing to the ground.

Your heart is bump-bumping the rest of your life away. What are you going to do with that life? Enjoy it, yes. But you also have a responsibility. Whoever you are, you have a responsibility to use some of your time to ease mankind's load on the planet. You have a responsibility to help society transition into a period of deep uncertainty.

If you're a potential CELL student, then the best possible way that you could go about that is by signing up for this course. It will teach you how to live in the moment as well as educate you about the major issues going on across the globe. It will give you the skills, both intellectual and practical, for you to enjoy life to the fullest and make a real, significant change in the world.

For everybody else, do some reading. Start with Eaarth by Bill McKibben and Cradle to Cradle by Michael Braungart and William McDonough. Figure out ways to make your own life more sustainable, and then spread your ideas outward to your community. Be an active voice. You'll find that many of the things that are good for the Earth are also good for your own health and happiness. Building stronger, more connected communities is synonymous with building more environmentally sustainable communities. An amazing number of the world's problems can be solved by taking a critical look at our lifestyles and changing them to include the things that really make us happy instead of the things that our culture tells us should make us happy.

And no matter who you are, remember to be present in your everyday life. After all, the present moment is all that there really is.




- Connor

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