The New Blueprint

I’m not a car guy. I never cared about what I drove. The inside door panel of my first car broke off and all of the paint on the hood flaked away. For not deeply caring about mans most beloved machine, I have an unexpected talent. I can name the make and model of almost every car I see. Not only can I name the make and model. I can give you an estimate on the year it was made in and usually be accurate by 1 or 2 years.

Having this information in my brain didn’t bother me until I realized that I couldn’t name most of the plants I encountered. I was saddened that the part of my brain my ancestors used to name and identify usefulness of wildlife was now being used to store car information. Even sadder is that there is no benefit in nature for being able to recall car data.

Being able to distinguish cars only benefits the affluent in modern culture. It allows us to reinforce the illusion of class and wealth. Through advertising we are programmed to recognize each new breed of car that comes off the assembly line. As we recognize the latest changes in the new model year we recognize the datedness of our own vehicles. Our desire to mimic the most monetarily secure or the shame of being perceived as a less valued person forces us to indebt ourselves to a new product. We are fooled into believing that our shining new car casts off that stigma of driving an outdated machine. We are tricked into believing that our new rides will gain us entrance into the lifestyle of the privileged. We work harder and become less secure for our new machine and the elite grows richer and more distant from our efforts. Our need to mimic the rich stems from being misled into believing that abundance of money equals abundance of prosperity, happiness, and health.

I now realize that our culture has poisoned my brain. It hasn’t just poisoned it with neurotoxins in my food and pollution in the air. It has poisoned it by replacing the knowledge that would allow me to be free and independent, with knowledge that keeps me poor and dependent on machines for survival. The knowledge of this season’s fashion and next month’s smart phone keep me from having the knowledge of how to find my own food and to build my own shelter.

How do we cure this poisoning of our brain? We must reverse that mental mechanism that has led us astray. Celebrate the oldest, least expensive, most efficient cars you see on the road, for these machines have dodged the waste of obsolesce and proven their usefulness. We must also despise the unnecessary innovation and evasive marketing of new machines for these are our captures. We must reverse our fears. We fear nature because we no longer know it. We can no longer recognize what is safe or dangerous in the natural environment so we avoid it altogether. We must re-learn its benefits and dangers if we are to make an escape from our present culture. We must forget why it is dangerous to drive your boss to the airport in an outdated compact and why it is beneficial to wear the latest fashion to find a biological mate. We must cleanse our brains from the poisoning that make us hallucinate benefit and blind to disaster. We can re-learn what is real and forget the trivial that is ruining our lives.

I love how this video is a commercial parody. Humor can be empowering because it forces us to confront issues that we are uncomfortable facing. If you found yourself agreeing with its message, try to take any steps that you can to walk-away. Remember, you have the power to define your life and reshape this world.

A thoughtful comment was made on my youtube For Humanity page.

I agree with you, modern life can be slavery. The problem is: human beings are complex and irrational. And there is a big wish for material consumption and hedonistic enjoyment in many of us. I think only a small proportion of people is willing and capable to start a new living in partnership with nature without human slavery and destruction of natural resources.

Youtube only allows you to post 500 characters so I am going to post my full response here:

Humans can be irrational, but I believe this is because we are living in an environment that forces the worst out of us. An interesting example of how people react according to their system is the Sanford Prison Experiment. Most humans are situational and our present state encourages consumption, abuse, and domination. Our material consumption is directly linked to the evasive and intrusive marketing that we are bombarded with everyday. With the quantity of psychological manipulation we receive, no wonder there is so much dysfunction in our society. I understand that it is easy to say the words “walk away” and know there is only a small portion of people are willing to do this. That is why it is important for us to try to define the walls of the prison for others. Humanity’s disease is spreading because it is too illusive to fight, but I believe that if more people knew the cause, it would be possible to have a larger movement to cure it.