Meltdown and hooked

1492: 

We humans, especially those in the affluent West, have never learnt how to grow most of the food we eat.  Nor have most of us ever had to deal with the harshness of Nature, when it seriously affects our daily life.  Most of us have lived on Easy Street all our lives.  We’ve become both softened by wanting things and hardened by the use of violence in getting them. Easy Street is particularly dependent on animals - we've grown used to taking from them.  We don't care about it because we see everything anthropocentrically.

It’s almost impossible for us to see things from another species’ point of view.  From where the animals are standing, it's likely they see us as the dumb and barbaric ones.  And I bet, in a major global collapse, they’d have a greater ability to cope than we humans, who live in fear of any destabilisation of our social structures and food supplies.

I wonder how we humans would react if we hit hunger?  We’d realise, too late, how far we’ve drifted from Nature.  In such a crisis, I think the animals would survive better than us.  Not so much because they’re smarter, but because they’re used to fending for themselves and the fear and panic that goes with it.

We humans like calm and comfort.  We want to avoid crisis and panic wherever possible.  But in doing so, we've numbed both our natural instinct and sensitivity.  Crisis-fear, but particularly fear of losing our food supplies, drives us to become passive recipients for what's on offer. We've lost touch with our own inner natures, with instinct and with conscience, and these losses might be a type of mental health issue shared by almost all humans today.  Everyone is in a vulnerable position because we have to be dependent on others for food - we fear any sort of food shortages.  To guarantee supply, humans have done some strange and very selfish things.  If I were Gaia, I‘d be nervous right now, at the prospect of seven billion humans, gripped with fear, causing ever more catastrophic damage.

         

For you and me, there are alarm bells ringing?  We think, we see, we worry. With people in general, who may not be great thinkers, they are easy prey for the market.  Lured and netted by the advertising industry.  Most people don't stand a chance.  They haven't given things much thought, and like it or not, they act like hooked shoppers almost mesmerised by the belief that what sells, holds power. 

Now, what if one isn't particularly needy of these supposedly tempting foods on the market?  What if we're happy not to be a regular consumer.  What if our own dollars are spent supporting a cruelty-free market?  Then soon enough we'd be wondering why anyone would carry on their support of the cruel animal industries.  Why wouldn't they be boycotting every item if animals were in any way involved in the making of it?  At least, by boycotting, it proves we're not hooked!