Comfort and Stagnation

Life these days can be pretty comfortable, never have to walk to far: we have cars, don't have to do much in order to eat: open the fridge, and most of the time we do not feel like our lives are about to get ended. The physical struggle is gone. And now a days we do not even have to worry about mental pain, or spiritual anguish if you will. You get home after a stressful day, you can just turn on the TV and in turn shut down your brain. If you are over 21 you can crack open a beer, mix a drink and the pain slips away. On a side note...





In the 60's the CIA conducted a broad based experiment in the pursuit of mind control known as MK-Ultra. They tested drugs such as LSD and many other common illicit substances but they settled on Television as the best way to control the masses. (this is just according to one source)




The point is, affluent society provides tons of ways to distract ourselves from pain in our lives. From my observation humans tend to operate out of necessity in regard to discomfort. There is no reason to risk your life in the hunt if there is ample food. You are not just going to run on an injured leg, unless you are being chased by a mountain lion.


e.g. Some years ago I experienced a lot of emotional or spiritual angst, at first I was able to just roll a fatty and drift away from my problems. However the pain in my life came to a point when this was no longer a sufficient remedy and I slipped into clinically diagnosed depression. As I have seen happen to a few people, including myself, I began to question the point of my existence; a questioning that did not occur before the pain of life became to much to bear. In a matter of months my mentality on life underwent a shift as I found new purpose.

Books:
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
The Fire from Within In by Carlos Castaneda