Steps

As a major storm passes over the eastern U.S., reports of damage and disruption flood the media. Record snowfalls, heavy rains and record high tides have plagues the region. Power is out in cities and in the countryside. Nature has made its point.

 

Yesterday, as the storm approached, I went to the store for some milk. It was crowded for a late morning on a weekday. People rushed through the aisles with carts brimming with food. I was jostled and narrowly avoided being run down by carts several times. I couldn't get out of there fast enough with my several items.

 

Our human minds seem to desire stability over rationality. The threat of disaster throws many people into a panic. They rush to attempt to avoid discomfort by stockpiling. Their discomfort may be inevitable, whether they stockpile or not. A powerless refrigerator, filled with hundreds of dollars of perishable food, is useless and wasteful. Think of how much more discomforting that is to a person with limited resources.

 

This all relates to learning to live life in the present moment, while also taking rational precautions and steps to make a possible future as workable as possible. The key to this is my attitude toward change and my confidence in myself to adapt to change.

 

If I am confident and competent, I can take small steps to recover or adapt to any change. Confidence is different from optimism, but a degree of optimism can bolster confidence in dire circumstances. Confidence is based in success with dealing with the ongoing and inevitable changes of life through practice. Competence is comprised of the collected skills acquired through practice. If I am incompetent in the future, from dementia for example, nothing I can do today can prepare me for that change and what follows. It is important to understand and accept the capricious nature of all life.

 

Touch screens, the computer mouse and keypads have encouraged a sense of false confidence and competence through virtual realities. Once the power goes off, the real world becomes a different place. It is dark and cold at night. Great effort can be required to boil water for hygiene and cooking. There is little instant gratification in a computerless world. Everyday life requires taking conscious steps to get basic results. One step after another with a consciousness of changing conditions.

 

If computers and electric power are absolutely necessary to support an overpopulating human species, which in turn further taxes the planet's resources, disaster is inevitable when Nature does not follow human rules. The illusion of control, fostered by technology, may be the madness which eventually decimates the human species. If individuals increasingly believe that technology can solve all the problems of life, they will be incapacitated without technology in the face of drastic change which disables that technology.