Because it's easy

What's the point of reading books? It doesn't matter how many books you read, they're just words. Words are meaningless. We created words to help pass on knowledge, to help get our point across to those around us. We created words to make it easier on ourselves. Over time, we narrowed down the definition of those words and created new words to fill in the gaps left behind and we've lost all their meaning, we've lost the intent and the understanding. We've lost the ability to listen, to hear what is being said.

Take the word "fight" for example:

1. a battle or combat.
2. any contest or struggle
3. an angry argument or disagreement
4. a game or diversion in which the participants hit or pelt each other
5. ability, will, or inclination to fight
6. to engage in battle or in single combat; attempt to defend oneself against or to subdue, defeat, or destroy an adversary

When someone asks you to fight, you imediately think of ways to defeat and destroy that thing. You don't think of ways to make it better or to help it, you think of ways to kill it. The true meaning has been completely lost.

Parents no longer hear and understand their children, their babies. Children no longer hear and understand their parents. People no longer hear and understand each other. Mothers have lost touch with the babies growing in their wombs. We've forgotten how to listen because we are so caught up and lost in all these meaningless words. Words are but illusions, a means to an end and all too often, words are used to hurt people. They are deceiving. Since when has “easier” meant “better”?

Factories are set up to work with assembly lines because it is more a more efficient way to make more things and it's easier on the workers. It's “necessary” to become more efficient so that we can make as many things as possible in the shortest amount of time possible so that we can make more money and so that people don't have to wait as long for what they want. In other words, because it is easier. We keep “progressing” technology and coming up with new things every day to make something easier. But none of it makes things better. Take something done the old fashioned way and compare it to the same thing put together on an assembly line. The former is always of better quality and last longer.

Why is a chicken stuck in a little cage and fed the same food day in and day out? Why are cows and other livestock locked up and fed the same food day in and day out? Because it's easier that way (even though you lose the quality and much of the nutrients you would otherwise be getting from them). Grocery stores carry perfectly straight and perfectly ripe produce and their fruits and vegetables are all the same size. Why? Because it's easier. Stores sell pre-packaged foods and throw away tons of expired products even if they aren't “bad”. Why? Because it's easier. Some stores shove old products to the back where they go stale or moldy to make room for the new shipment instead of the new ones being put to the back so the old ones get sold first. Why? Because it's easier. A child does their best to do up a button on their shirt and the parent tells them to put on a t-shirt or sweater instead. Why? Because it's easier for the parent rather than let the child learn or help them do it. You can buy books at a used book store for a few dollars or a few cents, but people use the internet to read the reviews instead. Why? Because it's easier than going to the store and easier than reading the book. You have to write a report on a book you have to read for class, but you look up the answers on-line. Why? Because it's easier than reading the book. You could arrange to meet and speak directly to someone, yet you still choose to use your cellphone instead. Why? Because it's easier than meeting in person and it's easier to say the truth about what you think and how you feel over the phone than when you are face to face. People rely on mass media and propaganda to keep them informed about the world. Why? Because it's easier to read the paper than to do their own research on it. Schools shove students into a class based on age where teachers cram the same curriculum into their brains over and over again. Why? Because it's easier. A student can't keep up with the class, but the teach has to push through the material according to teh curriculum. Why? Because it's easier. A student chooses not to think for themselves, but always asks the teacher to give the answers. Why? Because it's easier.

All such questions can be answered with “because it's easier.” They can be answered in more complex ways, but the answers to the questions boil down to the same thing and they are answered in the same way. Why? Because it's easier! But “easier” has never meant “better” and making life easy is a very different thing than making life better, or making life happy. I think it's time to take back our understanding. Time to stop memorizing the words in books and regurgitating them. Time to speak with our “true” voices and to really hear with our ears; to become aware of what is around us. Time to learn, really and truly learn. True learning comes from within and not from a book. True learning is something that has to touch you personally. It speaks to your heart. Learning is all about our own experiences. It's about how we feel beauty within our hearts. Learning is all about how each of us experiences beauty in our heart of hearts.

We tend to live our lives in our own clouded reality. We tend to live our lives unaware of a single thing. We tend not to be aware even of the people closest and dearest to us. The understanding is gone, lost in a web of meaningless words. We don't see despite our eyes. We don't hear destpite our ears. We don't smell despite our noses. We don't taste despite our tongues. We don't feel despite our sense of touch. We don't think despite our minds. “To pollute this planet is to pollute your own self” and those who pollute themselves can only be destroying themselves. What do you think your body is made of? What are you? Your body is made from the air, the water, and other living things.

All of the food you eat, the air you breathe; it all becomes you. But what are you? The waves rush in over the waves that are rushing out. Those things that are “living” and those that are “not living.” The things that are seen and those that are not seen. The things that live inside the body and those that life outside the body. Everything that takes place on this planet is one and the same. The forms and the shapes all things on this planet take are all very different, but really, in the end, it is all the same. We were all one before we were born and we are all one when we die. The grass and the bugs, a human and the wind; they are all so different, but the same. We've all known this and we know it's true, deep inside. We just need to become aware again. Shed the confusion and deception of all these words and reclaim ourselves. No matter how happy we are, there are times when we feel so empty. No matter how close we get to a loved one, there are times when we feel so full of sorrow. Somewhere deep inside our heart of hearts, we feel it. We feel the suffering and the pain of this chaos and discord we've created. Somewhere deep inside of us, we feel the hurt of this planet, but we keep pretending that we don't know because it's easier to do that than to be aware and responsible. Live in the here and now. This moment is reality. It is a part of me and a part of you. It is a part of this planet and we are all connected as one. Don't live in the past, don't fret about the future, embrace the here and now and live in the present where past and future are one and the same.

It's time to wake up. It's time to think. It's time to learn. It's time to see. It's time to hear. It's time to feel. It's time to take responsibility. It's time to become aware and realize that everything is connected; that everything is one and the same. The air, the water, the plants, the insects, the animals; we are all one. There is something in nature specialized to eat everything else (like insects eat leaves), breaking it down, absorbing what can be used and is needed and returning the rest to the earth where something else will come along and use it. Well all need the other to replenish, to nourish, to cleanse, to break down, to create, to complete a life cycle.

Why not try to hear, to see, to be aware of all that is around you? Why rape the Earth to grow things more efficiently and easily? Why not give back to the Earth what we take? We might be surprised at how much so little can do. We might be surprised at how much better the food is if we allow it to grow naturally and consume what is in season. Everything is one and the same and all of it has it's place. Even the weeds. You might be surprised at what will come of it if you let the weeds grow with the flowers and vegetables around you and let the insects and small animals tend to your garden instead of dumping synthetic fertilizers on it to replace what you killed with machines and pesticides. They won't be perfectly shaped and all the same, but that never made them better. Be one with the world and let the world tend itself and you will find a naturally "easy" life; a better life; a happy life.

What will you choose? Will you choose what is easier? Or will you choose to become aware and embrace all you now...will you choose to hear the true voices in this world?