Photo by Mei-Ling Mirow on Unsplash

You are a good person. You care about people. You like animals. You appreciate the Earth. You are generally kind. Life, while a struggle, is worth it because there is love in the world.

Every day, when you wake up, life asks you a question. The same question.

The question isn’t “is there a God?” Nor does life ask about your job or your relationships or your politics or your hobbies. Life asks you this:

What are you going to do now? Today?

And you answer that question by what you do (and don’t do) on that day. Usually, you don’t give it that much thought. Maybe you jot down a To Do list. But people rarely reflect deeply about their days and how they will spend them. They try to meet their obligations and have some fun. But we also get lost in distractions and our days slip away.

Then we are old and wonder where the time went.

Ours Lives As Automatons and Victims

We live our lives as if we are automatons or victims. We go through our days frantically, yet in a fog. That’s how life goes by, quickly and largely unlived.

It’s not all lost. We have moments of insight and moments of joy. But that’s not enough. We can do better.
The world we were born into defined our obligations and a concept of success. We accepted both. For us, this is it.

This, we are told, is the real world. But the civilization we live in is grounded in delusion. Our civilization isn’t reality—it’s simply choices some people made. Bad choices.

The good news is that we can make different choices. We can make choices guided by the reality of the world and on what’s good for people and our planet.

The worst of our many delusions is that we are powerless. People in leadership positions work relentlessly to feed that delusion because without endless reinforcement, people would never put up with this. And we might discover our power.

We have been swindled. We have been cheated of the lives we could have had.

Just Do It

This is the part where I usually tell you about nonviolent resistance—how you peacefully change oppressive systems through a movement of noncooperation. And yes, that’s doable and effective and necessary. But we aren’t going to talk about mass movements today.

We are going to talk about your life now. About today and tomorrow and maybe the rest of the week.

What’s the answer to that question, the one life asks you every day.

What ARE you going to do NOW?

Well, the answer should be based on your view of what is a life well-lived. For most of us, the quick (and shallow) answer is based on certain expectations—expectations about other people and the world. We want (mostly) what we have been taught is “success.”

Forget that.

Forget about what you want other people to do, or how you want the world to be. You don’t control those things, at least not directly. The question is: “What are you going to do now?”

Don’t think about obligations. Yes, put them on your To Do list but just get them done and move on. Don’t make them your focus. They are much less important than you imagine.

Oh, and don’t go immediately to your habitual distractions. No scrolling or sharing memes or online arguments. Today, you don’t care what strangers think. You are focused on yourself, on “me” time.

I’m not going to tell you what to do. But I’m going to help you figure out what you (deep down) want to do. You are going to decide on things to try, based on a conscious decision to live a worthwhile and self-directed life.

Are you ready to commit to a meaningful life?

You are not going to live as if you are not a victim. Even though you live in a system largely as a victim with challenging obligations.You are taking back part of your life today. And you will do this every day.

What could you do that, in itself, would give you some joy, and satisfaction? It will probably be a somewhat challenging activity—but not overwhelming. Not scary. And it probably involves creating something, and self-expression.

It could involve the arts—music, drawing or painting, theatre, writing poetry or prose. Or whittling. It might involve physical activity and nature. Perhaps hiking or softball. And part of your day should be devoted to reflection, to relaxation and especially imagination.

Modern life has stunted our imaginations. We don’t think—we pick from a pre-built menu of ideas and opinions. That’s severely limited and a waste of human potential. Your imagination needs to dispense with the narrow rules and often stupid assumptions that underpin this failed civilization. You can imagine better. Indeed, it would be a challenge to image something worse.

But the plan is this: you are breaking the pattern. You are making choices and acting on them. Some things you try will feel wrong and you will not continue. Others will feel right and you will build on them. People need self-expression and they need at least some time in Nature. When you experiment with choices, you will find this is true for you, too.

In your choices, you will need to include social activities. It could be a book club or simply having coffee with a friend. People are social creatures, even introverts like myself. Being with others should be a part of your daily choices.

Mosts people are overworked and tired and stressed. That’s part of the structure of our civilization, designed to keep you passive and obedient. You are expected to anesthetize yourself, and then rest up for another day of servitude. But you are going to make better use of the time that is still yours.

Let me tell you about my choices. They probably won’t apply to you, but it’s still helpful to make you think.

I am trying multiple things. I am teaching myself piano. I am sketching and working towards creating a comic strip. I take a walk every day, to stretch my legs and let my mind wander, exercise my body and my imagination.

I usually write, mostly essays. And I plot and perform some activity aimed at changing civilization for the better.

Perhaps the most worthwhile and subversive act I commit is kindness to strangers—strangers of every type. I have affable conversations with people who share my political views, but also with those who hold opposite views. I don’t try to reconcile us, but to help us understand each other and realize that we have other interests—in common—as neighbors and members of the same community.

I believe that making these outreaches to strangers is a significant step towards a better society, a better neighborhood. When people get to know, to understand, to like each other, the civilization that seeks to divide and control us and keep us tired and passive fails. Because people are naturally social; we tend to like each other.

Keeping us feeling fearful of strangers, and hating them—that takes work. That’s the job of oppressive systems and foolish leaders. Fear and hate are their friends and our most dangerous opponents.

When this civilization falls, it will be because we have decided that love—and not money—makes the world go round.

And Now?

So, experiment with your life. Try things. Find out what feels right and do that. Don’t have any expectation of others—they are independent creatures with their own ideas and interests, some of which coincide with what you want but only some. Just spend time with them and enjoy the company. You don’t need to agree on everything.

Once you get your life on a better track, and live it consciously in a way you choose, then add in participating in changing the world for the better. We as a planet of people, as Earthlings, have some serious unavoidable challenges. But we can meet these challenges. People make decisions and we can reverse the bad decisions others have made and try something else.

The two most obvious challenges are growing fascism—a hostile authoritarianism that is rising in the United States and elsewhere, and the destruction of of our biosphere and climate. The former is a very visible immediate crisis, and the latter is a sneaky all too easily ignored crisis. But the climate crisis is an existential one requiring immediate attention and action, just as fascism does.

Of course, there are (as always) other crises. As I write this, the people of Gaza face mass starvation. This, and the war Russia is waging against Ukraine, are the two most prominent crises. But we need to also remember and try to relieve suffering in less well known situations. For example, the suffering of people in Sudan.

We tend to get most focused on crises where there is a clear enemy to hate. In the current cases, that would be Netanyahu’s Israel and Putin’s Russia. And yes, our fury at the cruelty is appropriate. But it will be better when we are motivated by caring about and loving people everywhere and being motivated to relieve suffering and spreading joy.

Because fanning hatred and fear helps the bad guys. Love as the driving force will work for us. Hate will work for our opponents.

So, that’s it for now. Live your life consciously in a way taking on activities that are rewarding in themselves—not just as a way to make money. And then participate in ending a cruel civilization and birthing a humane one.

WeAreSaners.org/join