The Race Avoided

Even as far back as in high school (circa 1980), I can remember looking around at how people lived their lives (in suburban New Jersey outside of New York City) within the dominant work/consume/commute/procreate paragdim, and having a visceral reaction of aversion.  I had a clear sense that something was profoundly awry with what I was seeing, so at the time, I had a telling vision of what I did not want out of life.  This perception was the starting point for a winding and unconventional route of rat-race avoidance, filled with its share of success, failure, joy, and angst.  While I have found a livelihood solution that works for me (for as long as it lasts!), I can easily recount multiple blog-pages worth of tradeoffs along the way.

Things would have been far worse had I not had this sense.   My bell curve tail-end degree introversion and sensitivity served me well in this regard.   I’m certain I otherwise would have been chewed up and spit out by now had I wholeheartedly entered the race in camp real world.  The lifestlyes we have created and find so seductive are ever- increasingly out of alignment with the underlying perceptual and cognitive dimensions of mind-world interaction.

Reading this article triggered this train of thought, which is a particular type of reflection that I find useful to revisit when I focus on the more problematic aspects of my current experience of life. 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/apr/09/america-prescription-drug-addiction