Material consumption is an attempt to fill a spiritual void, which is our base relationship with our mortality, the death of these bodies. As we react at both individual and collective levels to this uncertainty by soothing ourselves with careers, trucks, comfort, and mind altering substances we gain reprieve of the infinite cosmos we are terrified to be a part of.
This makes sense to me. It is terrifying, and this accounts for the deeply nuanced metaphor, story, and ritual described as culture around the world. We share this humanity, this relationship with life/death. The ways that we engage with this (or not) needs to deepen and strengthen the places we live. If our living, and aversion to death, degrade the places we live, then we are not living up to our human responsibility.
Currently the impact of our collective behaviors on the planet, on the ecosystems responsible for maintaining our ability to breathe, drink, eat, defecate, is not necessarily a phenomena of rational choice, economic systems, or political will. These may all be symptoms of a deeper pain we live with as a result of being debased from place and the cultural resiliency that helps us relate with death (of others and our own) so that we may truly live this life.
It's as if we've forgotten the sun
and the hierarchies that sustain us
instead focusing on lateral forms of democracy
that aren't present in the non-human world
as we rule ourselves towards
the lowest common denominator
it's time to
find ourselves
in our lives, this life
and commit to
living into our responsibility
to live and die fully
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