Healing the current system by Salvatore Gencarelle
The current system of education, health, economy and our modern view of nature is fractured, marginalised and resource manipulation driven. These systems have become so compartmentalised and removed from the natural system that they produce results that are aberrations of nature. People are living longer but sustained in a state of quiet unrest by synthetic medication and invasive procedures, sometime even conducted against their will. What is the end result of our education system? Are these young men and women able to face the challenges that have been compounding by the previous generations? Do they have the skills, mind-set, drive, and support of the older generation? Are we developing the generation of creative innovation that this world desperately needs? What are the modern systems producing?
We have lost the understanding of the truth of our existence. We have locked ourselves in our own construction, lost ourselves in our own mind. The voices of nature have been replaced with our own thoughts. This is a self-created prison in which own reality trumps all. Our intellects have become the vengeful God, full of wrath and destruction. Our hearts quiet cries go unheeded. Our spirits whither as our bodies bloat. The mind has taken over and reality has become surreal.
We have become dictators of the our own environment, turning a dial to make it hot or cold at a whim, all the while the actual environment is ignored, abused, and neglected – and now is collapsing. We have lost our basic connections to the world around us and thereby our connection to the foundation of our being. By this disconnection from the natural world we have lost our self-awareness on the deeper levels. We have become shallow in our ability to adapt due to the continuous comfort that we’ve created. In this we have become lost to our true selves.
And now here we are on the cliff of civilisation, looking over the edge to the abyss we’ve quarried.
There are so many symptoms of this modern sickness that it appears to be overwhelming in magnitude. Hopelessness can ensue. But what appears as legion of diseases is actually only one. The “Disconnection Sickness” is the root of all this dis-ease. This Disconnection Sickness is not a new pathogen, it has existed within humanity for millennium. This sickness was well known to our ancient ancestors, who long ago devised treatments. Maybe there was some wisdom to our ancestors understanding of life? Maybe we should look to what sustained them to know what will also sustain us.
We are educated that our primitive ancestors were brutes and that violence and death was a daily occurrence. We view ourselves as being “evolved” and civilised. But what has this civilisation created. Mass genocide, ecocide, murder, neglect, abuse, slavery and a society of addicts. Addictions which are promoted to curb the pain of being alive, curb the pain of being awake. Don’t wake up, sleep. Drink away the pain, smoke away the pain, another bump, another snort, another pill will do, or just watch TV until dawn and then do it all again.
What if the ancient people’s understanding isn’t just applicable to the savannahs of Africa or the Great Plains of America? Modern people have cast aside their indigenous roots and indigenous means of developing connection. What we think was unimportant and now judge as primitive relics of the past actually holds the answers to a resilient and hopeful future. Who can say this but those who have tracked back to the roots of people’s healthy relationship with nature, themselves, and others?
What if the core understanding of the way of life is just as applicable and practical now as it was 200,000 year ago? If you have a 200,000 year old map of life that provided basic rules and guidance to live peaceful and harmonious life, what would you do with it? Would you look at it? Would you hide it away like a treasure to open only in desperation? It looks like humanity’s moment of desperation is here! Time to open the map and see what we can learn
A question arises in this modern age of technology and convenience, “Haven’t we grown past our “primitive” need to recognise consciousness other than our own?” As I look around the world today it seems to me that the recognition that there is something more than human, more loving, empathic, compassionate, reasonable, just and true then we are is not only important, it is a critical aspect of survival through the insanity that we’ve now produced through our incredible arrogance. By disconnecting from the natural world we have detached ourselves from the very source of our physical existence. We have forgotten how to communication to nature, to the plants, to the animals – to creation in all it many forms. We have forgotten that we are not the masters of the world, but a part of a whole which is so much greater than us. Nature and the purity of existence is the greater consciousness which we are a part of. This has been removed from our everyday awareness.
How did our ancient ancestors ensure the development and continuation of unity amongst people? Indigenous connective practice supports culture by creating the opportunity to work together in harmony with nature. People created bonds of unity together out of necessity, and the need for connection to spirit and each other is one of the core reasons to gather. Celebration, council, feast, fire, song, dance, re-establishing bonds, finding mates, sharing news, and all the other reasons to gather would be included in the connective practice of indigenous culture.
But how can those primitive ways be any help to the concrete jungle? It’s not like I’m going to give up my apparent and live in a cave. I’m not going to stop driving my car. I have go to work! Life continues, but how resilient are you? If your environment changes, which it assuredly will, how well will you adapt? Will you survive?
Define Resilience. What is it? The ability to adapt, the ability to return to form after being deformed. What does individual resilient people have that other’s do not? What are the characteristics? How are these qualities developed?
Resilience in my current definition would be the ability to return to a state of balance after being stressed. For example, if an environment is resilient then it will continually work towards stability and harmony. If for example, human-beings began to alter a landscape with a roadway, but for some reason the human left the area, how long would the landscape take to recover? The recovery duration would be an indicator of the landscape’s resilience.
What does it mean to be a resilience human being? I guess that depends on what you see as the mode of operation of humanity. How is a fully functional human being supposed to behave? What are the characteristics they would display? How would they function in the world? What would a brain scan look like? What would their intellect be? What would their emotional intelligence be? What would their physic ability be? What variations are allowed and what are indicators that some part of their beings are not functioning properly?
I personally feel that the modern definition of what characteristics people should display is quite skewed and out of balance with the natural world. The modern value system is based on the use of resources set in a vacuum of human dictation and need. The modern system refuses to allow true empathy and compassion with non-human beings. The system sets us as the primary reason of all the other components to function. This is destructive self-centred egotism. This mentality of isolation, arrogance, resource based disconnection and consumerism is not only destructive to the rest of the world, it is suicidal in the long term. Through prioritising our comforts above all else we have become disconnected and our natural ability to adapt to our environment. We have become weakened. We are removed for the world we exist upon and are sustained by to such a degree, our very lifestyle is threatening our future existence.
People who have used the ancient processes of connection consistently are the most resilient people. They are able to find strength where others crumble. They are able to find peace where there is conflict. They know themselves and have true intelligence and self-awareness. The methods of connection are as old as humanity itself, and are available for all to learn from. These processes are the ancient indigenous methods for healing the Disconnection Sickness. They include the tools and techniques of healer, the teaching which only nature can provide, and the love and bonds formed in real connection with other people.
It is through these methods that a person can understand their body, heart, mind and spirit. It is by the ancient “Advanced Connection Practices” and the tools of the healer which ensure resilient, creative and community minded individuals. These same practices revitalised and empowered community to work in unity in balance with nature.
Let’s us together decide to be connected to the world we live in, to be connected to nature. To learn unity and peace and to heal this great Disconnection Sickness. In this way we will find the creativity to ensure human remain a part of the Earth system, and we can turn away from the edge of destruction we’ve come to.
~ Salvatore Gencarelle
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