Comfortably Numb

This past winter break was pretty uneventful for me. For the majority of the time I was home, my old friends were usually away somewhere with their families and my parents were at work. So, needless to say, I was pretty bored. I ended spending quite a bit of time in front of a screen while sitting on some form of comfortable furniture (pathetic, I know). Doing nothing else but watching TV and playing video games was great for a few days; however, my mood soon went from relaxed to borderline depressed. My life, in those few weeks, had no purpose. Could those days I spent on the couch even be considered living, or was I merely “something that only pretends to be alive”[1]? 

 DURING MY TIME ON THE COUCH, I DON'T KNOW IF I WOULD EVEN CONSIDER MYSELF MORE THAN A PRIMITIVE HUMAN. I WAS ESSENTIALLY A VEGETABLE. A BORED, LAZY VEGETABLE. 

That time has led me to wonder whether or not we, as a civilized species, are more evolved than our predecessors—and I believe the answer, at least in an emotional sense, is no.

            The world as we know it in 2009 is very technologically advanced. Information on anything known to man is only a click away, entertainment can be found anywhere there are pixels, communication knows no boundaries, food is prepared for us, and air-conditioned shelter is hardly ever more than a few feet away. These advances have made human life easier, but not necessarily better. As our struggle for life’s necessities becomes more and more nonexistent, so goes our emotional interaction with the world. It is causing us “to be less than a full man”[2]—androids, perhaps. 

 WHILE WE HAVE EVOLVED IN THE SENSE OF INTELLIGENCE, WE HAVE DE-EVOLVED IN THE SENSE OF PURPOSE.

With these guarantees of human requirements and an increasing number of comforts, civilization is causing “a human laziness.”[3] We no longer “use [our] body and senses to the fullest”[4] because we no longer have to. Finding food, water, shelter, and companionship is no longer an issue, so our senses—our feelings and interactions with the world around us—have been dulled.

            Along with the deterioration of our feelings, our evolved way of life has de-evolved our sense of meaning. People now have to search for purpose, for a reason to wake up in the morning. There are days when you can wake up, do nothing, and there are no consequences. No one suffers, no one benefits, no one is impacted, no one cares. So, instead, we have created this framework of going to school and getting jobs, not completely to make money or help others, but to fill the void left by the fight for survival. Yet, these creations of ours seem to only complicate life and distract us from “birth, love, death; the sheer fact of being alive.”[5] 

OUR THIRST FOR PURPOSE CAN CONSUME US, THUS TAKING THE FOCUS OFF OF LIFE'S TRUE STORYLINE.

Rather than “[living] vastly in the present”[6], we often concern ourselves with the anticipation of the future or reminesce about the past because of the strength of these feelings.

            We may have developed physically and mentally, but there is not doubt that our lives are becoming comfortably numb.

           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkJNyQfAprY 

PINK FLOYD'S "COMFORTABLY NUMB": A SONG THAT DESCRIBES WHAT IT IS LIKE TO LIVE IN TODAY'S SOCIETY.

            Also, FYI, “Snakes move without limbs, and are like free penises.”[7]

 I’m sorry. I couldn’t help myself.

 

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[1] Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, 141

[2] Gary Snyder, “Poetry and the Primitive: Notes on Poetry as an Ecological Survival Technique,” X52

[3] Gary Snyder, “Poetry and the Primitive: Notes on Poetry as an Ecological Survival Technique,” X52

[4] Gary Snyder, “Poetry and the Primitive: Notes on Poetry as an Ecological Survival Technique,” X51

[5] Gary Snyder, “Poetry and the Primitive: Notes on Poetry as an Ecological Survival Technique,” X49

[6] Gary Snyder, “Poetry and the Primitive: Notes on Poetry as an Ecological Survival Technique,” X49

[7] Gary Snyder, “Poetry and the Primitive: Notes on Poetry as an Ecological Survival Technique,” X50

PHOTOS:

[1] fatty watching tv, http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/04_02/fattv2404_468x312.jpg

[2] evolution?, http://technabob.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/insert_coin_evolution.jpg

[3] busy person, http://www.eduverse.org/images/busy_person.jpg