I don't use Microsoft Office. This goes back to my days in the tech industry. Part of it has to do with their business model, which was and remains predatory. But mostly it was about the code. Every new version of Office or Windows was built on top of the old version, leaving old and obsolete code in place. That meant every subsequent version was bigger, bloated, sucking up more memory and storage space, running at the speed of chilled molasses on any computer that wasn't cutting edge.
Humans are sort of like that as well. Natural selection is a bit more efficient that the programming at Microsoft, but we still contain old code. That primal code, what I think of as “lizard brain,” is all about survival and procreation... fight or flight, feeding and other base functions. These are our defaults, but they don't represent our best selves, our most evolved selves, the selves that perceive the holy in creation, in art, in others.
Doing what is selfless, being creative, practicing vulnerability, these things require mindfulness, intention, and effort.
The same is true for society at large. We all too quickly default to complaint and blame, to the flight of closed doors and binge television, to the fight of suspicion and conspiracy.
We cannot just sit back and wait for the world to make itself right. We can't continue to live in the delusion that sharing and gratitude and embracing diversity come naturally. The lizard brain clicks on dozens of times each day. It takes intention and effort to park it and practice love.
Vote. Campaign. Advocate. That show you want to binge on Netflix will still be there after the election.
Blessings, G
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