Everything is a lie
I've been noticing it in more and more arenas: in America today everything is a lie, and I think it really costs us in more ways than we realize.

What do I mean by "everything is a lie?" Here are some examples:

• Sports: We uphold our atheletes as superheroes of a sort all the while choosing not to dwell on whether their accomplishments are a function of human effort or advances of chemistry, hormones and various other ways to enhance their natural talents. Barry Bonds. The Tour de France "scandals." We are invested in romantic notion of the athlete and cling to it despite mounting evidence. If we were honest with ourselves we would admit that enhancements are part of the game and decriminalize them. But that would ruin the fantasy...
• Celebrity and Fashion: The same goes for our celebrities. We train cameras on them 24 hours a day and expect them to be perfect and beautiful all the time, and then are shocked when they lash out or have mental breakdowns (Brittany Spears, is the prime example). We are either really shocked, or pretend to be shocked when they show their dark side (which we all have). Why do we continue to mesmerize ourselves with staring into this well of impossible beauty? And our fashion models are truly freaks of nature. I mean, how many of us know people who actually look like that? I certainly don't. And when they are not freakish enough, they go for some plastic surgery. And more. And more. Why do we want life to be more than it is?
• Energy Drinks and other unhealthy food: Energy drinks are on the rise, as are the abuse of stimulants like Adderall. People are pumping themselves up more and more and more, driving themselves faster and faster. Like a race car driver, they are entranced with the speed that they can go. Most of them can still make it around the corners, barely, but may crash into the walls too. Why this quest to go faster and faster? And course there is good old corn syrup and salt and fat. Why do we let our kids get addicted to McDonald's "Happy Meals" and what do they have to do with lasting happiness? Boy, sure does taste good, at least until I feel how little energy I have. Well, time for another energy drink I guess!
• Sex and violence: I was in the video store the other day and it started to sink in how much we are relying on sex and violence for our "entertainment" these days. Every other cover had a scantily clad woman in a suggestive pose on it, whether that had anything to do with the plot or not! And I saw the most recent Batman, which received good reviews, and I was appalled at how outrageously violent it was. It forces its audience to stare at the disgusting and profane. Why do we let our daughters watch Bratz and turn themselves into 10 year old skanks? Why are we doing this to ourselves?
• Politicians and leaders: We apply the same standards of celebrity to our politicians. We expect them to be the impossible. And as a result, only a certain type of freak can withstand the rigors of campaigning, and so we end up with more and freaks as leaders and then wonder why they don't enact policies that serve us and people like us. They are truly a different breed of animal, and we have let them loose in the halls of power. Bad idea. We are complicit in their myth of perfect, and dutifully look away or feign shock when their freak side pops up. Fundamentalist Christian minister seeks gay sex! Catholic priests are pedophiles! Attorney general, our night in shining armor come to save us from evil, sleeps with prostitutes! Congressman accepts bribes! Vice president, who also has major ties to defense contractors, helps to start a war and profits massively!

I mean, come on. What do we expect? Couldn't we see this coming? Let's look at the facts.

But that's harder to do these days than one might think. We have so much "news" at our fingertips, but is it news or just the tools of propaganda? You may not want to face that either, but it's the latter. They way things are presented and spun, and double talked, no one knows which way is up anymore. We truly have lost our direction as a civilization.

But not all hope is lost. We can still regain our equilibrium, sense of proportion and reality, and sustainability. Sustainability is a big buzzword now, but how many of us know what it really means in practice. No one. We live during the most unsustainable time ever, and we no longer have any clue how to live in balance. But to our credit, we are learning and trying, but progress is slow and frought with difficulty.

I don't watch much TV, but I saw a special on how all these celebrities are helping to save the earth. It was printed on the screen and people talked about "saving the earth" but NO ONE mentioned a single concrete step they were taking in the 15 minutes I watched. All they did was attend huge outrageous parties with amazing electrical effects. The height of unsustainability, really. How that saves the earth is beyond me.

Face it people, the party cannot go on. It can't. The fever dream of our Adderall+RockStar Energy Drink trip is wearing off and there is no more of the drug available. We're in for a huge crash. And the biggest drug we have been hooked on is oil: perhaps the root of our unsustainable journey. We have literally mined the life energy of millions of millenia for about a 100 year massive party. But it's ending and we don't want to face it. This will mean massive changes.

Perhaps that is why we like the lies so well. To avoid looking at the reality of our situation we bury our head deeper in the fantasy. Like a kid who does want to hear what the parent is saying, we cover our ears, close our eyes and go "Nanananananananana!" We retreat to a created abd recreated world of every increasing perfection and intensity, all the while the "real" world is crumbling around us.

But the good news is that, although the withdrawl is a major, no fun ordeal, once you are off your addiction you will feel much better. I guarantee it. Wake up from your delerium tremens for a moment and lock yourself in your room for a week. This is what we all need to do.

How can we help each other get off our addiction? The detox model may be the right one. We need people to watch over us as we begin to let go of the chemical, psychological and spiritual toxins that permeate our being. There are so many of them and our body has adapted so fully to them that a painful withdrawal is inevitable. But like most things in life, if we stop running from the pain and face it, we will get through it more quickly and return to health. An empty room, water, only enough food necessary to keep us alive...for a week or a month. And a meditation/exercise/spiritual director to periodically suggest exercises that might help with the pain. That's it. Pretty simple. Our bodies and minds are amazingly capable of adaptation. We may be the ultimate weed. But there is a price when we get addicted to anything that drives us faster than the perpetual cycles of nature.

Why do we want life to be more than it is? Well, we may not really want life to be more than it is, but it is quickly becoming an expectation with the rise of the instantaneous global media. It has to to with attention. People are finding that we can harness the attention of the billions around the globe and the power entices us, even if we can only hold the attention for a moment. The key is to present a vision of life as more than any of us really experience it to be. The purpose of getting that attention is as clear as mud. People really don't care as long as they get it and they'll use any dirty trick in the book to get it. (Did I mention I'm a blond who looks like Jessica Alba and I'm writing this blog entry as I touch myself through my panties? Did I mention that if you just buy my LameToGame product that I will be youir girlfriend/slave for life?)

It's like we're all neglected kids who will break the lamp to get daddy's attention, even if it's only negative attention. Why are we so attention starved? It's a function of our overly-individualized, consumerist, deficiency-based culture. We have worked ourselves literally into our ticky-tacky little boxes, separate from each other, and now wonder why we are so lonely and unfulfilled.

What if we actually tried to use this new power of global attention to achieve something beautiful and wonderful and healing? Rather than trying to trick and use each other, why don't we try to help and support each other? Does that sound too "lame" or "uncool?" Well, that' s just your addiction speaking, and it's only goal is to keep you enslaved. If we can throw it off we can create something beautiful together. Wanna try?