Are you human?
Seems like an easy answer….duh, obviously, of course I am.
Not so fast. It isn’t that simple. Yes, you are still a human being. But are you still a homo sapien? And if not, what does that mean for your health and wellbeing?
The answer – it means everything.
Modernity is in opposition to our innate, natural humanness. This is not something most consider. It’s “water”.
There are these two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, ‘Morning boys. How’s the water?’ And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one looks over at the other and goes, ‘What the hell is water?’
We are so use to the things we do and the space we live in that it goes unquestioned and seems unquestionable. It’s ‘water’. But, in humanity’s haste to run away from nature, we’ve gotten lost. And sick. We may not be dying anywhere near levels of the past, but we are chronically sicker than ever before. It may seem like we’re free, but take a moment to look around and notice how confined you are. We sacrifice the now for the future. We treat symptoms not causes. Eating, sleeping, moving, connecting and loving are currently in a disastrous state – an unnatural state.
An un-human state.
I believe this to be the root cause of dis-ease –
mind, body or spirit.
The environments and resultant lifestyles promote a world of homo-domesticus – the tamed, weaker, dependent human – and homo-economicus – the hyper rational, under natural, too individualized, over self-interested human. Our behaviors and environments no longer reflect what we are and always have been– homo sapiens. Sapien, Latin for wise. Within us as a species, as a society, the sapien is dwindling. Our cleverness has far surpassed our wisdom.
As we continue to fall victim to the increasing seductions of domestication and technology, we continue to sacrifice our humanness. From quite literally the moment we wake up to the last moments of consciousness before sleep, we are living in conflict to our natural selves and our belonging in the natural world.
We, of the “civilized West”, are eating in a manner in contrast to how our body evolved over millions of years, leaving it overfeed but undernourished. The result of industrialized food production has created great quantity but poor quality and variety. Feeling the financial and time squeeze, many of us feel forced to opt for convenience despite its lack of sustenance. It’s not your fault either, the system has engineered high caloric, sugary, bad fat but tasty food that bypasses rationality and appeals to evolutionary emotional reward systems. Basically, even if you know the food is bad for you it’s intentionally constructed to make your brain quiet down that knows-better voice.
Society has also done its best to fight against living to the natural rhythms of the sun. This has resulted in a chronically sleep deprived population, of which severely problematic outcomes are presently being uncovered (dementia, Parkinson’s). We move less than ever, and even when we do we’re wearing shoes that create unnatural motion. We are social animals, evolved to live in close-knit bands where we were in constant close quarters meaning being touched, talking and relying upon one another so much so that reciprocity was not charity but a necessary mechanism to survive.
Yet now the individual stands alone as the pinnacle of success. Painfully, this aloneness is all too literal. There is a crisis of community, loneliness is epidemic and being proven to be more detrimental to health than almost any other risk factor and despite trying to hack connection with social networks these technologies are being exposed to be ultimately disconnecting us in the ways that matter. And despite finding safety from the elements in our concrete jungles, our feverish attempt to escape nature has left us alienated from nature’s innate power. For all civilizations obvious advantages, it isn’t too much to ask if human beings are being civilized to death?
But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing that can be done about it? If we – you – don’t do anything about it, who will? There are so so many innovative and effective strategies you can implement to reclaim and rejuvenate your humanness and in doing so your health and wellbeing.
This is where human coaching comes in.
The water quote is from esteemed author David Foster Wallace.
I listen to this speech whenever I need to remember the “water”.
“Civilized to Death” is a book everyone should look out for.
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Disclaimer:
Remember dear reader, I am neither a doctor nor any sort of medical physician in any capacity. None of the information presented above can be construed as any sort of medical advice in any sort of manner. You as the reader is solely responsible for creating and implementing your own physical, mental and emotional well-being, decisions, choices and actions. As such, the reader agrees that the author is not and will not be liable or responsible for any actions or inaction taken by the reader or for any direct or indirect results. This information is simply presented and whatever you decide to do with it is your choice and your responsibility.
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