Implicit Simplicity

What is primitive and what is simple? What is civilized and what is complicated? Can we be simple and civilized? How about primitive and complicated?

All of this technology and development and are we any better off? Yes technology provides some marvels, like airplanes, but have you ever flown out of country? Passports, visas, traveling arrangements, packing, it all turns into such an ordeal! Government services are so nice if we can get out from under the red tape.

      Technological advances seem like a hydra. We solve one problem and two more spring up from that solution. I got a new phone recently, latest model, and in a few months the software malfunctioned and it doesn't charge anymore. So again I ask, are we better off?

     Welcome to the supermarket age! where everything is obsolete and there's 20 different bars of soap to choose from in the store. We're producing more than we know what to do with and storage locker facilities is the new lucrative career path. 

     Did you know that the storage industry is worth $38 billion dollars in the U.S. alone! (sparefoot.com) $38 billion a year just for people to store their stuff. The stuff they can't fit in their homes, yards, and garages that is. And are we any better?

     How are we really being affected by these modern developments? It seems as if comfort and compilation are the highest goals of today's people, and also depression, anxiety, and suicides are on the rise. We see this even in society's "elite" wherein celebrities, millionaires, and others who have achieved this "highest goal" are extremely susceptible to those threefold miseries. There must be something more.

     There's a mini arms race going on between each and every one of us and we don't seem to be in tune to its detrimental effects. Because we are so caught up in changing, improving, and stockpiling the things around us, there is little time and effort spent in improving ourself.

     This breeds alot of contention between individuals because we then identify with our possessions. Hoarders are an extreme case of this, but on a more moderate level - anxiety over losing something and staying with the newest trend are causing tears in our psyche. 

     As our basic needs are met and accounted for, laziness and complacency are driving our society deeper into animal tendencies. Eat, sleep, be merry and enjoy is the anthem of our lives and modern developments only help us do this in newer, more polished ways. Animals go on 4 legs and eat, sleep, mate, and defend and humans go on 4 wheels and eat, sleep, mate, and defend.

     So as the technology and complexity of our time is increasing, it seems like the personal qualities of individuals is not improving at the same rate. Good news is, this is all determined by our focus and values. A reduction of the hyperfocus on consumption and acquisition of goods will leave alot of time and energy for lasting personal growth.

      There are practical spiritual technologies that can help us upgrade our self to a more inclusive worldview and higher states of happiness. We can attain the state of satisfaction, that we're tirelessly seeking through material comforts, by increasing our understanding of our self and love for the world around us.

     Removing envy and useless competition would save more money and time than buying the latest gadget time and time again.

     Eating simple meals without elaborate portions and sense stimulants would allow us to experience the subtle flavors of food and save us from the pull towards more sense gratification.

     Sticking to several core outfits creates a detachment from the fashion craze and helps us be more expressive through words and actions.

      The incorporation of a daily spiritual practice helps us start our day satisfied, so we aren't compelled to squeeze every little drop of joy from goods and interactions that will leave us wanting more.

     Simple living and high thinking is a motto that can change the very nature of our experience. By simple adjustments of our desires, we can experience a greater fulfillment with less of the cost.

     It starts within. Cut out some of our extraneous sense gratification and use our time to cultivate new skills and raise our consciousness. Simple additions of some mantra meditation or connecting with others, reading spiritual texts or dancing and singing in the ecstasy of transcendental vibrations make a world of difference.

     All of the satisfaction and bliss that we're seeking is inside our hearts, so, if we focus our attention away from stockpiling the externals and towards excavating our internal world, then surely this natural bliss of knowing who we are will shine through. Simple living, high thinking, and we can change the world. Hare Krishna.