* Social Innovation

On Christmas, that day of the year which best reflects our ‘present’ state of being, I watched three films. Elysium, Consumed, and Obey, which you will find links to below. Being alone for this holiday, I couldn’t think of a better present to gift myself than to open up to the ‘present’ state of  our humanity. Call me odd; maybe so. But I wish there were more like me who see the best gift under the tree, as the one that opens ourselves into becoming more ‘present’ to what is happening.

These films are certainly a stark awakening to presence, as they describe a collective truth about the world as it really is: A tragic state of being, shrouded in beautiful images and messages that cloak the fear we are feeling inside about today’s darker social and personal truths. Togther, the films create a tight interconnection about our true present state of being. These films are not easy to watch. Yet I believe they will fuel you with a sense of power for real change – if you can go deep into them. Because they do not just touch the surface about these matters, but instead reach deep into our psyches; that place where worlds are conceived and destroyed.  

Elysium presented a story that is about our emerging world. It is about the separation between an elite few with plenty, and the remaining many who are poor, used as slaves to labor the resources needed for the elite’s idealized world. This is not an abstract sense of the present held by the insane. Nor is it science fiction anymore. No. There is too much growing discomfort around this subject for  films like this to be taken lightly. It’s real. Watch this film, but be sure to watch the other two films along with it so you can go deeper into what it may mean. 

Consumed presented a view on consumerism that points to something beyond mere materialism to something inside the human condition. It suggest we go deeper into what we think consumption really is, in order to transform it. To get away from consumerism being a conspiracy and more as a primary condition of the human mind. A fundamental part of our human nature. It points to the core of consumerism being our inability to accept  our own death, and how the best way to avoid something we don’t want to deal with, is to project it outward from ourselves. We must move beyond pointed solutions such as ‘if everyone recycled we’d be fine’ kind of thinking, because it’s not enough and it not at the root of the problem of consumption. The subject ties other aspects of what make us a culture based in destructive consumption, such as marketing and its power to rule our minds by tapping into response mechanisms that address how we see ourselves. And in the process, we are loosing touch with our dependency on the environment that nourishes us. Ironically, to ‘consume’ by definition means to engulf and destroy. And so we then withdraw into ourselves, hiding from the very act that we are trying to avoid, pointing directly at the monster in the closet: Fear of our own death. Hence we are becoming – not citizens, but consumers, eating ourselves to death by trashing the environment for its resources and creating an ecological assault on the natural world. Our home. … This is not an easy pill to swallow, but we must. Watch it and tell me what comes up for you. 

Obey presents the most difficult message.Suggesting a truth within that is very difficult for most of us to consider. It addresses a triad of issues including market psychology, mass productivity, and capital labor, reasoning that there is a growing gap between corporate capitalism and personal freedom. It reenforces the slave state that has been created in the name of more jobs, which has been used to build corporate growth, which feeds a distorted power, enticed by its ability to generate technical comfort. Yet more for an isolated elite few in control, while ‘we the people’ are being entrained to obey the rules of their game. It talks about how democratic decision making has been replaced by  propaganda disguised with limbic stimulating messages that make us think we have social choice. Assuming we are free to debate issues, we are instead being over-ruled by a black government that is run by the corporate elites. The lie has become the truth and no one sees it, reinforced at the education level to brainwash the next generation into thinking that its enough to be positive and believe in miracles is how we can get everything we desire, falsifying one’s own values and beliefs in the name of a greater system. Interestingly he links this with being employed, where getting paid now does not free you but sucks us into corporate choice and rule. Those who resist their way will become apart of the underclass, pushed out by those who themselves want to  eradicate the gap between the rich and the poor. In this twisted state of being, meaning has become distorted through incessant emotionally charged shows, news, and beauty images, creating a world where brand overrides ideology, where illusion becomes the truth, and the sane are seen as insane.

A Way Out? The ideas these films present are presentations on ‘separation’,  ‘obedience’, and ‘consumerism”. By blending their perspectives, I believe we can build a yet unrealized power for creating real change. By taking in their messages – done with self question and scrutiny, new insight can appear within our minds that can begin to break down the trans-like state we are in, and wake up to the real world that we are creating. Taking this path is for all of us to follow now, not just a few. Be aware that as you enter this process, your power will first be observed as fear, giving you a desire to suppress the discomfort that it brings up. So do not do this alone. Start a community or small group to discuss what comes up. Be careful to step away from false optimism and have the courage to step into the fear as it arises. Allow that fear to help you and your group break down old beliefs and assumed perceptions, to alter your awareness. Raise the questions of “What is illusion?” and “What is reality?”, and feel into your ‘present’ sense of being as you go deeper into this process. Then – and only then, can we actually create the potential to move toward a world that works for all.

DO WE NEED RITUAL?

No matter what we do – from guiding our child’s evening prayer, to the way we prepare our food, to how we hire and fire people at work, to how we say hello on our iphone, to celebrating our nations leaders, to ringing the bell on wall street, to starting an act of war. It’s all loaded with ritual.

Ritual is what defines our lives. The blending of these rituals becomes the tight weave that make up a society’s mythology. Myth, a cloth made of ritual threads, drives all of our actions and decisions, done mostly without knowing it. So for me, it’s less about bringing ritual into our technical lives, as much as becoming more conscious of them.

We have forgotten rituals’ place, their vital power in manifesting our world, thus making their practices irreverent. Bringing back the Sacred into our daily walk and talk, becoming observers of how we ritualize, and transforming the ones that no longer serve us. This I believe, is the most important thing we humans can do to transform our world.