We're a paradox; emotional fools who incarnate their deepest desires, despite craving basic unity and communication. We’re hummingbirds, scurrying about our daily lives in the absence of rest. In our speedy time frame it seems we have forgotten what it means to be human; what it means to be alive.
Society has lost its way; we buzz about, engaged in an imaginary lifelong race to ensure social survival. Our ambitions carry us far, but have also sucked out the fun-loving spirits we all once embodied. The human body, a complex frenzy of biological phenomena, like any machine, can be worn out, just like hummingbirds who live to be only two, short years, old. It’s expensive to fly. You burn out. You fry the machine. You melt the engine. Many of us are burnt out.
Excessive stress leads to anxiety, and even depression. To alleviate such mood disorders, psychologists worldwide suggest becoming a ‘goal oriented individual’ who lives a ‘quality life.’ Like all life, we too follow the same, “survival of the fittest” motto; if we don’t succeed we die. Though we cannot alter the mechanics of the universe, we can alter the ways of our society, that is, what we give importance to on the hierarchy of human needs. For example, is it more important to be happy or financially stable? Is it safe to say that we would all be stress free if we were all happy with our life choices? Or would our pursuit lead to even more stress in a hopeless attempt to survive in a society that requires certain markers of success, like a degree, and a high paying job. The question then becomes, how does one live a quality life, and is there a such thing as a universal ‘quality life’ to begin with?
*inserts inspirational quote*, this is actually one of my favorites from the piece, “Joyas Valardores” by Brian Doyle. “Every creature on earth has approximately two billion heartbeats to spend in a lifetime. You can spend them slowly, like a tortoise and live to be two hundred years old, or you can spend them fast, like a hummingbird, and live to be two years old.” Doyle seems to favor the life of the “tortoise,” or in terms of his allegory, the less ambitious person, who tackles life slowly. Because of this slow paced, easy going, approach to life, the tortoise experiences less stress, and is thereby able to live longer than the hummingbird, who’s ambitious activity, increases stress, and decreases lifespan.
Shifting gears here, isolation from society allows an emotional being to delve deeper into their thoughts and this process may have a negative impact on their mood. The more isolated a society, the more depressed its people will be, simply because we tend to distinguish what we feel from what others feel, and dismiss the fact that we all experience the same emotions, and are ultimately nothing unique.
As social beings it is only healthy for us to communicate with one another in order to maintain a healthy neurobiological balance in our heads; if we don’t talk to one another we go insane. That being said, though we to one another, we never really “talk” to one another. It ties back to that odd assumption, that we are emotionally unique, and no one, not even our own kind, with the same neurological mechanisms and chemicals, and psychological experiences, will understand what it is we are going through. We cannot bear to be so naked in front of our own kin. There’s a social block, that seems cannot be penetrated, and as emotionally complex beings, we find ourselves in shallow conversation on the daily. Our real thoughts, and our true emotions, are left to linger within our heart’s chambers, as all creatures who churn inside, experience.
Excuse me as I quote Doyle again; “So much held in a heart in a lifetime. So much held in a heart in a day, an hour, a moment. We are utterly open with no one in the end—not mother and father, not wife or husband, not lover, not child, not friend. We open windows to each but we live alone in the house of the heart,” and it is the truth, in the end humankind has evolved to internalize much of their thoughts and emotions, and this in itself is a major contributor to mood disorders; isolation.
Though some will argue that mankind was originally hardwired to share their pain, to cry, laugh, and socialize together, and that our culture and technology is to be condemned for our isolated condition, perspective can, and does differ. We have learned through observation of the quantum universe that at the atomic level, nothing is in actual contact. It seems so ironic, that all things which seem to stick close to one another, from our shallow societies, to the very units of our composition, are never allowed to touch.
