Month: August 2022

Potting Invasive Thoughts

Posted on by Marko

There are thoughts that possess us and reduce our complexity to a compulsion. These invasive thoughts sprout from self-doubting seeds, breeding insecurity and conformation. When left unrecognized, they take root in the ground of our being. Their growth is exponential and parasitic, preying on our sense of self while giving little outside suffering in return. They possess us to the degree of losing control over our behaviour, priorities, and values. They alter our reality, our sense of normal.

Yet these invasive species of our mind should not be ignored, suppressed, or ripped out – just potted. Don’t let them take root in your garden, your ground of self, but give them space to make themselves known, contained in a mental pot. When understood, these dark seeds are wells of deeper information that our self-preservation often buries. They contain records of our interaction with world and life. Be aware of your feelings and seek out their origin. Embrace them without becoming them. By identifying the roots that vie for control over us, we control them. They become an adviser, not an adversary.

Our Wallets Carry Our Values

Posted on by Marko

Our values, those things that define us, materialize and extend through our acts. But that is not always the case when we engage in commerce. When we buy something, we create demand for that thing. Instead of making it ourselves, we pay someone else (usually someones) to make it for us. The problem is not in the exchange (for example, dollars for a shirt), it is in the psychology of a transaction. Transactions, at face value, don’t carry value beyond material – it is the exchange of one commodity for another. Our values are not carried along the line of exchange. And it shows en masse. Many of us feel that when we buy something, the burden of moral responsibility suddenly falls on the seller to do what we deem “right”. And if they don’t, if their manner of sourcing our shirt involves employing teenage girls forced to do manual labour at 25 cents an hour, well then it’s on them, not us. By transacting with someone, we outsource our moral obligations. We separate ourselves from social responsibility, and rarely accept it if things go awry.

We are all aware that slavery is still a thing, that suffering and exploitation are the essential processes in sourcing and making cheap products. Cheap for us, expensive for many other parties. Intuitively, we know that a shirt cannot cost $10 if it’s made of cotton, shipped from half a world away, and makes profit for multiple suppliers along its chain of production. And yet, the price tag says $10. So what’s the trade-off? When we think about what something is worth in dollar terms, we often subconsciously price in our personal values. Profit-first companies, on the other hand, don’t think or have the same values as us. Their guiding principle is the profit margin. By shedding other perceived costs, which include many of what we would call moral considerations, they stamp an MSRP of $10. The product may look and work like something we wanted, but it’s devoid of our values. Its utility is there, but our connection to the product is lost. The mounting number of products in the disposable or “fast x” category is a testament to that.

The cheapness of these anonymously sourced or morally washed products hides a personal cost too high to bury. When we talk out in public, or think to ourselves, we all balk at the idea or proposition of human exploitation, animal torture, and environmental destruction. And yet, we almost assuredly support – worse, fund – these same practices through our acts of commerce. Buying without thinking (beyond our personal needs) is the ignorance that breeds inequality in our current, profit-first flavour of capitalism.

Ultimately, voting (or protesting) with our wallet on which corporate practices and which companies deserve our capital (economic power), is an actionable form of expressing our values, and of social justice – especially when we do it collectively. Whom or what do we want to empower? Capital accumulation shapes our capitalist world, and the form our society takes. It defines what is normal.

Yes, the corporate world and its supply chains are a labyrinth, and many companies resort to green and social washing in their marketing practices. It’s a manifestation of greed. But commerce, like everything else, is not binary, and a cleaner choice is better than making no choice at all. You wouldn’t want a stranger representing you, a manufacturer is no different. Look them up on the Internet – there are many websites that publish social responsibility reports on most larger companies. Or talk directly to the manufacturer and intuit their responses to your questions. Do their values align with yours? If so, the product will be an embodiment and extension of your beliefs.

Also, think about why and what you are buying. Is it something you truly need, or could it be a craving born out of insecurity or a mere distraction for a dull or unhappy life? Can you get a previously used version of the product? Yes, doing all this takes effort, but it is energy purposefully spent, for it actionably communicates your values (who you are) to the world. It is a form of self-respect, and a rejection of commercial herding that greed often precipitates on us. Choose what makes you, not what tempts you.

Death of a Sparrow

Posted on by Marko

I came across a circle of sparrows on a sidewalk, all directing their attention, and concern, toward the centre. Laying in it was a dying sparrow. She was on her back, spasming, wings flapping uncontrollably – likely a window or car strike. Within a few moments, all movement ceased, and her avian companions flew off.

I picked up and cupped the motionless sparrow in my palms, hoping to detect or encourage any signs of life. There were none, only a limp, flatlined body. I placed her at the base of a nearby tree, stroked her head, and let the moment sink. My first reaction was one of sorrow. Another victim of endless terraforming. But looking around at her companions, who resumed flying, playing, chirping, courting, soaring freely through the air, my feelings brightened. This sweet bird may have died, but she also lived, and, if her companions are any indication, lived to her fullest.

Isn’t that what life should be about? Letting go, and taking the risk of living freely? Soaring to heights of our full potential, rather than mucking along, ensnared on habit, insecurity, conformation, and our endless obsession of being productive (and hence worthy according to some standard du jour)? Life is short, may be a cliche, but it is rooted in our intuition – something we should act on rather than talk about. Instead, we often act as if our lives are permanent: delaying, procrastinating, sticking to the familiar, etc. What the death of this beautiful sparrow reminded me is that our time is finite, and infinitely more precious than anything else we give value to in life. We need to respect it, and use it to broaden our reality, our scope of life, our taste of the unknown. The more we know, the more we are.

Death often strikes suddenly, and with little to no time to prepare. Sometimes, I think of my hypothetical posthumous self reflecting back on life. Was it lived well, freely, and fully? What did I want to do, but didn’t make the time to do it? I find asking these questions, even without providing any answers, adds drive and curiosity to life.

Art Class

Posted on by Marko

Art is a medium of self expression. When you commercialize it, you poor the society of its spirit, of its potentially transformative nature, of its gift. When art becomes an investment/asset, fewer people can afford it and gain access to it. And those that do, consume it for the status, not the original creative expression, commentary, or intent.

Free-flowing art pollinates the world with ideas and ideals, perspectives and potentials. It evolves and ushers equitable progress, for most art is born from present struggles, personal and societal. Art, when received as a gift, liberates; art, when commoditized and accumulated; splinters and separates. In other words, art can be steered toward its quality or quantity, and when you focus on its quantity, when you commercialize it, you become a vehicle of classism, of divisions, of have and have nots.