DISEASE OF
DISC O N N E C T
INSPIRED BY
HARRY PICKENS AND JULIA BUTTERFLY HILL
S EI
GN
ED
ILLUSTRAT by sarah klensch
imag
gine ALL THE PEOPLE LIVING LIFE AS ONE
The most important thing that we have is our humanity and the connections we have with one another.
As humans,
we long for connection. When we feel isolated from our communities, families and ourselves, we search for things to fill the emptiness inside. We yearn to feel, to be loved. Not finding those feelings or ideas, we settle for something else; something that carries the trappings of meaning while not having anything intrinsic itself. Technology, addiction and materialism are things we use to fill our voids. They each give us a brief sense of connection and happiness, leaving behind only feelings of vulnerability and seclusion.
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And not finding those feelings or ideas, we settle for something else; something that carries the trappings of meaning while not having anything intrinsic itself.
We live in an individualistic society that puts much emphasis on progress, status, monetary possessions but not on the only thing that is real: humans. There is a misperception in this millennial time that we really do not need one another and that the individual is above the greater good of all. Our survival depends on a community of thriving individuals.
The disease of disconnect
is pervasive in our time.
disconnect 1
TECHNO
OLOGY
It has become
appallingl y obvious that our
technology has exceeded our humanity -Albert Einstein
How is it
that the more gadgets and technological innovations we gain, the less humanity truly prospers?
So what’s the Problem? We have all the information and knowledge of the world readily available at our fingertips, with vast means of communication through social networks.
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How can technology
“It clouds our sense of urgency. It covers our fears. It takes away our sense of personal interaction. It takes away our responsibility. Technology allows us to act, well….less human. As technology makes machines more life-like, it is slowly turning humans into robot-like entities, creating voids of emotion and empathy. The scary thing about this is that we are more and more subconsciously driven to make all this to happen.”
take things away?
“Sometimes I wonder if ADD/ADHD is an actual condition or merely a side effect of our new technological era, where things are moving so fast that we are not being given the option to allow ourselves to somewhat linger and marinate ourselves in extended personal thoughts, ideas, memories or even something as simple as truly listening to a song without jumping to the next one. Disposable music, disposable thoughts. It’s a sad reality. I often think about the movie The Matrix because in an eerie way it makes me think that we are somewhat in and heading to a place where mentally we can’t ‘unplug’.”
disconnect 2
MATERI
ALISM
ANY SO-CALLED MATERIAL THING THAT YOU WANT
is merely a symbol YOU WANT IT NOT FOR ITSELF, BUT BECAUSE IT WILL CONTENT YOUR SPIRIT FOR THE MOMENT.
-MARK TWAIN
Living in a consumerist society can cause individuals to attain skewed values and morals. People engulfed by materialistic behaviors believe that the physical well-being and worldly possessions constitute the greatest good and highest value in life.
BL
I N D L E A D I N G T
H
E
B
L
I
N D
ARE WE ALL JUST
?
MANNEQUINS or are we all just impersonating a mannequin life?
It’s a sad state of affairs that people have lost sight of the true meaning of life. So many have failed to see this truth behind curtains of fear and progression they have put up. The emphasis on touch, empathy, compassion and mankind itself has vanished right before our eyes.
But there is hope. Once we can begin to shed all the layers of protection and means of distraction that we have acquired over the years, we can see that the world is not such a lonely place.
an individual has
not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines
of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity Martin Luther King Jr
-
disconnect 1
ADDIC
TION
An addiction arises from the absence of direction, control and compassion. When a person no longer wants to feel the pain of loss and disconnect, they cling to mood altering substances or behaviors. These short-term rewards only lead to long-term costs.
The worst mistake you can make
is to think you’re alive
when really you’re asleep in life’s waiting room -Waking Life
Time is an abstraction, yet our society relies heavily on deadlines and constant motion. Is too much time lost to activities of unimportance? We spend hours wasting away inside malls that mimic chaos, browsing social networks that give no true human interaction and bars that imprison our minds. We need to free ourselves of these trappings and befriend time by utilizing it in the most productive way possible to make positive change in a problematic world. People need to wake up from these trances of irrational notions.
Many of us wear masks. We hide behind some deceiving persona we acquire in order to protect ourselves from becoming vulnerable. Our ‘masks’ of addiction, in particular, give us falsified feelings of strength and security. This keeps us from truly feeling connected with others and ourselves.
There is a great loneliness of spirit today. We’re trying to cope in the face of what seems to be overwhelming evidence that who we are doesn’t matter; that there is no real hope for enough change; that the environment and human experience is deteriorating rapidly, and increasingly, and massively. This is the context, psychically and spiritually, in which we are working today. This is how our lives are reflected to us. Meanwhile, we’re yearning for connection with each other, with ourselves, with the powers of nature, the possibilities of being alive. When that tension arises, we feel pain, we feel anguish at the very root of ourselves, and then we cover that over, that grief, that horror, with all kinds of distraction—with consumerism, with addictions,with anything that we can use to disconnect. We’ve been opening ourselves to the grief, to the knowing of what’s taking place—the loss of species, the destruction of the natural world, unimaginable levels of social injustice and economic injustice that deprive so many human beings of basic opportunities. And as we open to the pain of that, there’s a possibility of embracing that pain and that grief in a way that it becomes a strength, a power to respond.” John Robbins- Diet for a New America
And as we open to the pain of that, there’s a possibility of embracing that pain and that grief in a way that it becomes a strength, a power to respond.