- Jan 20, 2022
- 3 min read
“It’s not all in your mind but if you don’t control your mind, then the rest doesn’t matter.”
Embrace the Within.
Over the past two days, I read Life is Messy by Matthew Kelly. I picked up the novel as we were leaving Christmas Mass at IC. For some reason that I wasn’t aware, the church was passing them out. I don’t say no to books and definitely not a book that is being given to me at no charge. So, I took the book.
This week I have been more focused on just how little I read during the winter. I have this nice routine of sitting in the garden or on the porches and reading during the spring and summer BUT once fall hits and I find myself back in the classroom for a new school year, my reading trails off. So, I am working on remedying that problem. I find that I have no problem burying my face into my tablet or phone during the winter BUT the books are a problem. And that is what I am working on right now. I started another book yesterday and when I finish that one, I will be sure to talk about that. I want to break my numbers from last year and align my actions with what I value. And I value the knowledge you can find in a book over YouTube videos, social media, and television. So I better start acting like it and doing what is in alignment.
Anywho, I finished the book which is a read that aligns really well with my values and goals. It gave me some interesting things to add into my routine and the main take away I got from it was about morality and dehumanization. I have been working with this in my life and definitely in my classroom. I can see a lack of empathy in most people no matter the age. I can see the toll that dehumanization and desensitizing has brought about on individuals. I have read heart-rending stories from students about the evils they have endured in very few years. I have seen what is happening around me and I want to do something to change the course of that path.
And I think Kelly is right when he talks about how our culture has lost sight that there is good and evil and morality and immorality. A lot of folks are living a life without personal values and an internalized sense of moral code. A lot of folks get their opinions from other people and other places than within. And I see a lot of that externalized decision making as a problem.
A lot of people think evil is far away. That evil is something abstract and somewhere else. That morality isn’t something to concern our time with pondering. I don’t.
My moral questions shape a lot of my concerns. I do not understand how systems that are based on immoral principles can lead humanity anywhere else but into immoral places. My dilemma with our current systems is that their immoral foundation and evil actions are commonplace and accepted. And people are exposed to these actions all the time through the air. How can folks have a shot at being moral when all the systems they see are immoral?
Most of us grow up learning as children that we don’t hurt people and we don’t take their things. Most of us are taught to respect other people. Most of us are taught to value the difference in other people. BUT, what are we seeing around us? Systems based on hurting people and taking their things. Systems that do no respect the humanity of each person. Systems that shut down opinions and thoughts that differ from their own. These systems are not making us better. These systems are not making society better. These systems are immoral and evil.
So, the best hope is to find or create better systems that do not do immoral and evil things. I am working every day to work voluntarily. I am slowly building a network of folks that contribute to this voluntary economy. I give seeds, eggs, and knowledge and I am looking to expand that voluntary network all the time. We can’t have better if we are not doing better. And the goal for me is to work on being better every day. I hope that is what you’re working on as well.
Have the day you want. I hope you find whatever you’re looking for.