The Damage Caused by an Easy Life
We live in a civilization that values convenience over perhaps all else. A lot of the technologies we have developed in this society are purely designed to help us live lives that are easier, without giving us an opportunity to experience life in a deeper way. New kinds of sacks and go to bags are being developed to help us carry things with ease, but what developments are being made to help us carry the emotional baggage? The psychological and spiritual dimensions of our existence are being increasingly seen as something that’s not as valuable than the more visible aspects of our lifestyle.
Consider today’s state of depression in a lot of people throughout the Western world. This depression usually occurs in those who are perhaps middle-class, and living with a certain level of comfort. Why is it that those who seemingly have decent lives are getting depressed? Well, the reason it’s not so common to see poorer individuals depressed is that they just don’t have enough time to focus on their problems.
This sounds like a shallow reading of the situation, but if you think about it it’s actually quite true. When we have too much time on our hands, we’re able to go through events and situations in our head again and again. This can be a great thing, to a certain extent, but if we’re given too much spare time with which to just sit and think about our lives, we’re eventually going to start worrying too much. Problems that usually would not be such a big problem start to gain weight and significance, and after long enough it can become difficult just to get out of bed in the morning.
Let’s think about an example. Say you’re seeing a friend in a week’s time, someone who you’ve had some kind of trouble with in previous times. If you’re busy until then, you won’t have much time to dwell on these problems, and you’ll come to them in a relatively open way. If you just sit and think about these problems the whole time, though, you might start to develop more anger and mistrust over these previous issues. Of course, these problems only exist in your own head, and the reality of the situation could be something totally different. We often think that we can solve problems if we dwell over them enough, but the fact of the matter is that it’s only through the act of doing that problems get solved.
Similar to this, we think that more advanced technology will assist us get through the difficulties of life, when some of these difficulties are in fact an essential part of what life’s about. Science and technology has increased the size of our TV’s, but human relationships are as difficult as ever.
When we live in a society where we’re used to getting everything easily, coming across something like a tough relationship can become too troublesome to want to deal with. While science has spoiled us, we need to break through this barrier and embrace the challenges that life offers us.
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