No One Else Is Going To Do It

I was listening to one of the twee Saturday morning programs on the CBC Radio One today early shortly after I pulled my sorry south end out of bed.  It was rather a captivating little segment about decluttering, downscaling, downsizing, whatever you want to call it.  The gist of the matter is that a lot of people are afraid of change and find it very difficult to keep to noble resolutions for developing good and healthy lifestyle habits.  I listened with interest to this common and very popular of tired excuses: we really want to change but we are too (pick a lame excuse) scared, tired, discouraged, intimidated, set in our ways.

This is by the way a First World problem for people who can afford to spend tons of disposable income on stuff, stuff and more stuff without giving a second thought to the extra space in their big houses where they find all kinds of extra rooms, closets, crawl spaces and attics to cram it and leave it to moulder for posterity.  Even though I am one of the working poor, living in a First World country does not make me exempt from this character defect.  I have recently been through what I would call one of my most major declutterings ever.  For the past five weeks I have been taking a rest while also taking good care to not reclutter again.  I think soon it may be time again to resume, but this time more slowly and more thoughtfully.

Noble intentions are just that: they are intentions.  The paving stones for the road to you-know-where, Gentle Reader.  When we say that we really want to (pick a tired old project): quit smoking, join a gym, eat healthier, do yoga, walk five miles a day, be kind to strangers on the bus, what we really mean to say is that these are things we think, or even know that we ought to do.  If we really did want to get them done, however, then we would do them.  What could be more simple?

We are in thrall to Thanatos, or the forces of death.  First a little review of what and who is Thanatos:  Thanatos was the name of a minor god of death in Greek mythology.  He hated all life and all people hated and feared him.  In art he was generally portrayed as a naked beautiful youth with wings.  Thanatos is also the alleged death instinct, a theory promulgated by Freud and later dismissed.  I think that dismissing it has been a bit premature.  We are of course pleasure seekers and very concerned with short term gain.  Remember, Thanatos is beautiful and alluring.  This is an aspect of human nature that is often very slow and reluctant to mature.  I think that we are also quite enthralled with the poison candy that is so artfully wrapped in the beauty of short term enjoyment.  This has become very much the substance of the kind of culture that we live in.  It is a death culture made of grown up children who only reluctantly accept the responsibilities of adulthood while continuing to waste our lives in trivial nonsense.

Thanatos of course manifests everywhere: in our personal lives, our relationships, our families, our attitudes towards society, our employment, our impact on our communities and our larger impact on the natural environment.  Thanatos lures and tempts us with the instant gratification of gluttony, easy sex, drug and alcohol use, legal addictions (cigarette anybody?), our indulgence in unhealthy eating, our lazy attitudes towards passive entertainment (TV and YouTube).  How about fossil fuels?  The alarm is being sounded over and over again about global warming and climate change and not only are people still driving cars, but buying new ones and building new highways and bridges for, guess what?  More cars, more fossil fuel use, more pollution, global warming, climate change, species extinctions and further endangering our own existence as a human species.  And don't get me started about the meat industry.  Are people in droves becoming vegetarian, knowing that cow farts are causing global warming?  Didn't think so.

I think that if we really do want to see our lives improve and to grow as complete human beings in the fullness of adulthood then we are going to have to take stock.  We are going to have to admit to ourselves that we really do not want to change.  We have no desire to grow or improve.  We simply feel obligated with perhaps a shadow of yearning to become something better than we already are.  I say admit it, accept it.  Don't dwell there and don't wallow.  Reach out to God, or to whatever you have named or not named the Higher Power and admit this: "I am not perfect, I am far from perfect and even though I say I want to change really I don't want to.  But I also acknowledge that I need to change and that if I don't then my soul is going to die.  Please fill me with the desire to change, the will to improve, the will towards the good."  Say this every day for a while and determine that you are going to mean it.  The will plays a pivotal role in change.

Last night I was emptying my compost pail, which finally got so full that there was nothing I could do to pack it down anymore without the lid of the bucket coming off.  On my way back up in the elevator I commented to another tenant that I have a magic formula for getting things done that I don't really want to do.  I simply repeat the words "No One Else Is Going To Do It."  It's like magic!

Try it sometime!