Mainstream Modernity vs. The Trajectory of Truth
Dear Love-lights,
My family and I have just returned from five days on a private island in the Bahamas called Little Whale Cay. It was one of those once-in-a-lifetime trips—the gift of our very dear friends whose extravagance and generosity know no bounds. We were eight adults with our children and a small staff whose sole purpose was to meet our every need, poolside, beachside and tableside. We were all alone without any form of modern stimulation. There was the sun overhead, sand underfoot, and curious island plant and animal life to entertain us—nothing more.
The children roamed the island with pure delight, playing with hermit crabs, spying on lizards, and just strolling peacefully, chatting together for hours at a time. The adults, to our credit, didn’t crack a cell phone or laptop or even check for email on our handheld devices. Instead, we all blissed-out on unrushed conversations and languid thoughts about…well, for example, nautilus shells and the curvature of the horizon. What made this trip so special was the lack of any modern stimulation. Without even realizing it, we became what I’ve come to refer to as “stimulation virgins.”
Residing in pure, unadulterated peace became so normal for us, that upon arriving at Nassau airport we experienced a most unwelcome assault to the senses. Suddenly, there were countless shops, fast food odors, advertisements clamoring for our attention, travelers bickering over places in line, brusque security officers, parents openly popping Xanax while feeding their gameboy-entranced children another bag of candy, and media screens flashing everywhere. In that moment, my husband and I shared a look of complete understanding of all the problems of the modern world.
We’d been sheltered from the discordant, modern life for only five days, but in that relatively short period gained precious perspective. The modern world never looked so obviously pained to me as it did just then and in the subsequent few days before my energy readjusted and I began to check emails, watch the presidential debates, enter shops and hail cabs again. I did not want to lose the clarity I had in that moment as a “stimulation virgin,” which reminded me of what’s truly important in life.
When we allow ourselves to merge with the discordant vibes of the modern world, we compromise our perspective and distort our choices. We are necessarily swayed by exposure to media, conditioned thinking, and conventionally minded people, which can make this cleansing lifestyle challenging in the city. These influences can throw even the most enlightened practitioners off the trajectory of truth.
Let’s stay with this concept of “trajectory” for a moment. We don’t need to be prophetic to see where we are headed. The best way to predict the future is to consider the trajectory we are on and the direction in which it is taking us. If we veer off the trajectory of love, clean living, clean food, clean water and air, we will arrive at a place of relative emotional and physical suffering (on the individual, communal, as well as global levels). If we take our guidance from those who are way off the trajectory of truth, we cannot possibly expect to find healing solutions (kind of reminiscent of the old biblical concepts of the “straight and narrow path” and the exodus “out of bondage,” isn’t it?).
This is why pharmaceutical drugs and modern psychology will never resolve our suffering (or carry us “out of bondage”)—they are as misguided as the environment from which they have sprung, offering temporary band-aid solutions at best. We won’t find real healing from such sources. It’s a classic case of the blind leading the blind!
So when we hear seemingly educated people insisting they have the answers for health care in this country, or the results of some new study, or know what drug will relieve the latest ailment or prevent aging, yada yada yada…we will know better. Our job is not to enter their misguided worlds and debate them on their level, but to hop on the one true trajectory and ride it without compromise—like following a rainbow to its glorious source of sunlight and rain!
The only way to remedy our physical, emotional and communal ills is to transition back to a condition that is rooted in the pure truth. This requires us to be diligent enough to sustain the vision long enough to bring it to fruition. Every little step we take toward truth—living from the heart (rather than the head), nourishing the body with nature’s most perfect foods, and striving for harmony in all that we do—will reduce suffering and increase joy.
What is sad and downright frightening is that most people don’t even recognize their own suffering because it blends in with the common suffering of everyone else around them, and therefore passes for normal. However, this false trajectory is anything but normal for human life. Consider where our modern ways are taking us, my newly prophetic friends. Follow the course of that trajectory several miles out and see where it goes.
Ask yourself: “Does the choice before me align with life-generating perspectives from the trajectory of truth, or is it thwarted by a world that I’ve unwittingly merged with my consciousness?” Follow it several miles out. Where does it lead? There you will be able to see at once your past, present and future.
Here’s to riding together on the trajectory of truth—miles and miles out!
From the heart,
Natalia
