It seems to me that I have bought into a life that is contrary to nature and reality:
- Instead of working at home in the proximity of, and with my family...........I "commute" to a remote location to work with strangers
Instead of eating healthy whole foods, grown myself our by a neighbor.......I eat "fast food." Even when I am home, I eat from a box.....ala "stouffers" and "TV dinners."
Instead of talking to the person next to me............................I talk to someone else, 1 mile or 100 or more miles away
Instead of raising my children.........................I give them to someone else to do it for me.
Instead of visiting family on vacation or discovering Europe with our kids...............we go to Disney World and pretend we are in France at Epcot Center.
Instead of working by the sweat of my brow (in raising my food)...........I pay to go sweat in a gym.
Instead of worshipping in unison with the natural cycles God has placed in the world and within myself............I worship according to whatever suits me at the moment.
Instead of the "way of the cross"......................I seek the way of the "Easy Chair."
Instead of feeling the wind in my face, and hearing the crunch of leaves under my feet.......I watch television.
Instead of trusting the wisdom of my family going back to Adam..........I really feel myself superior to them, and feel I can do a better job making it up as I go along.
Instead of living in community.......................I live in isolation
Instead of being helped by community, in return for my willingness also to help when I am able......I pay a stranger to help me.
Instead of trusting God.........I trust technology.
Instead of governing myself........I allow myself to be governed by the powerful.
Instead of living "holistically"............I live fragmented. (work, family, religion, sex, play....)
Instead of being thankful for, I have nothing that was not given to me..........I am a deluded proud "self made man."
Instead of caring for my children and their children, by caring for the world I will hand down to them......I care only for the benefit that this world can give me.
Instead of caring for my soul.............I care for my comfort and pleasure
I am sure there are more ways that I live "artificially."
2 comments:
Most of these issues are coming to the forefront, which is where Orthodoxy is actually incredibly contemporary! My fiance and I have recently stopped eating animal products, and when someone asks me for what reasons I say "all of them." It just became apparent that it was most spiritually healthy, ecologically sound, physically healthy and life-affirming thing to do. I notice many of the other absurdities you mention and hope to address them in my life- for example I would love to have a home office to spend more time with my family. There are very strong forces working to keep us in those artificial patterns and I am thankful to God that we have the Church to help us stay grounded.
Great Thoughts!
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