Disconnect

Where in our lives do we feel least in our essence? Where and when are we disconnected from who we really are? In Essence I looked at the places and qualities that make us feel fulfilled; make us feel we are in our essence and being real. Be it in spiritual practice, creativity, loving relationship or connection with nature, when we are connected with our essence we are present and we feel peaceful or joyful. I believe this presence brings clarity and purpose. By looking at where we are disconnected and asleep in our lives I believe it is possible to gain both personal insights and understanding of societal problems and dysfunctions. Much of our lives and the state of the world is not peaceful and joyful and I think there is a connection between our disconnection with self, others and the Earth and the environmental crisis, depression and fear. Stephen Batchelor writes about this connection in Buddhism Without Beliefs:

“The contemporary social engagement of dharma practice is rooted in awareness of how self-centered confusion and craving can no longer be adequately understood only as psychological drives that manifest themselves in subjective states of anguish. We find these drives embodied in the very economic, military, and political structures that influence the lives of people on earth. Harnessed to industrial technologies, the impact of these drives affects the quality of the environment; the availability of natural resources and employment; the kinds of political, social, and financial institutions that govern peoples’ lives”.

Our economic society dependent on never-ending growth creates a culture obsessed with more; this leads to addictive behaviour and prevents us from being in our essence and who we really are. Psychologist Bruce E. Levine writes in his article Mass Society and Mass Depression:

“Industrialised societies encourage rising expectations that consumption will make us feel better, happier and more powerful…when expectations outstrip real outcomes, we feel either aggressively resentful or depressed."

Advertising, isolation, lack of spiritual fulfilment, and an abundance of products create a cycle of desire and leads to addictive behaviour. This cycle of desire, consumption, being unsatisfied, wanting more, depression, needing more, desire, prevents us from living up to our full potential. We get caught up in consumerism and addiction. It also creates a strain on the environment. We only have one planet and so there are finite natural resources; the more we consume the less natural beauty and the more pollution and global warming. There is a direct relationship between our addictive culture and the destruction of our ecosystems. We are out of balance. In writing about global warming John Naish author of Enough: Breaking free from the world of more writes:

“An answer may lie in not talking about global warming and sustainability, but in personal warming and personal sustainability. Because amide the global warming we are seeing more personal warming: more anxiety and depression; more melting of our circuits; more diseases of excess such as obesity and drug dependency. People complain their lives are too harried and stressed; they are unsustainable. Enoughness is about a personal ecology, about finding our own optimum sustainable balance. It’s about saying, ‘That’s enough for me'."

Recently Scotland has been waking up to the Nations drinking problem. In the Scotsman on May 6th 2008, there was an article entitled Scotland’s Crippling Addiction with frightening statistics that demonstrate the extent of the problem such as, every six hours a Scot dies from alcohol misuse, 50% of men and 30% of women thought to drink above recommended limits, 50% of Scotland’s prison population say they were drunk at the time of their offence, 40,000 alcohol related discharges from hospital per year etc.. When we are unsatisfied or engaged in quick unhealthy habits to bring temporary satisfaction such as overeating, over-drinking, drug use, shopping, gambling, and watching TV, we are avoiding tackling the pain and the emotions, or making long term changes to our lives. We are also often creating more problems for ourselves be it debt, health challenges, or guilt.

Taking this to the personal level I want to ask people to choose the place that for them symbolizes disconnection and photograph them in this scene and then interview them on video. For some people this may be engaged in addictive behaviour, in our avoidance strategies such as watching TV or drinking. Or even in the places where we get comfortable and therefore zoned out, such as driving to work without ever noticing the surroundings. In some ways the action itself is less important than whether or not the person is present or disconnected and unconscious. When presence is there we can be aware of our patterns and thus dissolve them. Batchelor writes:

“We can discern when a reactive habit kicks in and prompts us to adopt the familiar path of least resistance. We can notice when empathy capitulates to fear or self-interest. We can be alert for face-saving words and gestures that give an impression of empathy while letting us off the hook.”