Photo by stem.T4L
Some of us have probably heard it many times before: Don’t believe anything you read on social media.
This isn’t just about misinformation like fake news. This is about everything from how pictures on Instagram are prettified and edited to the way various social media ‘influencers’ have been caught up in fraud.
Our world is drowning further in more of that fakery with many of us losing ourselves to virtual realities rather than the reality right in front of us.
Those who have the human nature wisdom for self-discovery are quick to pick up on this and be wary. It’s really sad to see the younger generation make jokes about ‘touching grass’ even as their elders implore them to reconnect with the feeling of real, green grass at their feet.
This isn’t a problem of gaps between generations. It’s a much older problem created by civilization itself. Civilization has long created this virtual world of overly rationalized structures at the expense of living in a truly real world.
A truly real world is an emotional one in tune with nature itself.
Emotions Are The Truer Part of Human Experience
As a social species, human beings are at their most natural when they are in tune with their emotions rather than their intellect.
It was our emotions that allowed us to live without any need of a civic system. By focusing on what feels good rather than detached logic, our ancestors needed only the Law of Life to establish thriving communities that rewarded everyone with love rather than spiritually empty materialism.
Our emotions also keep us aware of our interdependence on others rather than on soulless systems that encourage loneliness and construct human beings as purely self-interested beings.
Rationality Draws Attention to Structures, Not People
Photo by Single.Earth
The false reality presented by civilization is also very evident in the sciences. Many praise the advances and technologies they have brought about but ignore the steep price we’ve paid for them. We have reduced nature into mere quantities to be exploited. Our so-called ‘best minds’ reduce the universe into a dull, joyless husk comprised of models and numbers.
It is only through emotion that we start living in a truly real world where such things hardly scratch the surface of truth. Emotion and spirit are what let us reconnect with nature and realize that nature is not ours to control.
We seek new subatomic particles to validate current theories, yet hardly any of those bring us closer to ending human suffering or ensuring our species’ survival. All they present are structures and constructs, not the real, human souls living in them and existing at the present moment.
The wisdom of true human nature is living in a truly real world where we realize that the answers we seek are already in front of us. Why waste so much effort trying to artificially and intellectually replicate something nature has already provided? So far, all that seems to promise is to remind us of all of what we are already supposed to know!
A Truly Real World is Natural and Emotional
Photo by Catherine Kay Greenup
Many proclaim to know the difference between reality and some virtual simulation of it, but do they really? If their version of reality is still comprised of systems and structures that deny emotions, force us to suppress them and de-naturalize our definition of success, then that version is just as artificial.
Living in a truly real world can certainly start by disconnecting from the false ones on social media and the many screens dominating our lives. However, there is more work to be done! We need to reconnect with the emotions that should have been the true source of our wisdom. We need to stop obsessing with the limited structures of language and the constant pursuit of foresight. It is time to live in the real world that is already with us at the present moment, with what remnants of nature we still have.
If you want to learn more about the wisdom that comes with reconnecting with emotions and the natural world around you, then feel free to also check out Rediscovering the Wisdom of Human Nature on Amazon.