The Paradoxes of Modern Existence

As we once again honour the holiday season in the West one cannot help but ponder the paradoxes of modern existence. For many (if not most) in the West, there is a total denial of the Christian belief system as a way of life.  We may claim a return, rather, to the worship of the promise of sun return and perhaps there is some sense in this. Of all the forces that shape human existence, none is more vital to us than the warmth and energy which comes to us from this inconsequential star.  However, for we in the South there is no need to worship Sun return. The Sun is high in the sky, the air is warm and we worship instead at the altar of sport, beachside activities and the laden table.

But in the midst of all this, there is one form of worship which for many has become all consuming. Once again, here in Australia, the shops have opened and Australians have yielded to the temptation to spend way beyond their means. Indications are that as a nation we have spent somewhere around $5 billion dollars in a single day. Yet we can ill afford such expenditure.  Not only is this profligate purchasing of things, many of which are probably unnecessary, and a consequent expansion for many of their total debt situation. It also represents the generation of vast volumes of additional waste in the form of packaging, not to mention the waste associated with the production of goods of questionable value. For many, one cannot help but wonder how long the joy of the new possession will last once the packaging has been removed and yet another item is added to the cupboard to be subsequently forgotten. And how much will end up in of the self storage parks that dot every large community.

Yet the economists would encourage such profligate consumption on the basis that it is required to “stimulate the economy”. But what, precisely, are we stimulating?  Our current economic structure based on consumption was brought into existence in the period following the Second World War as a way of perpetuating the operation of the production systems that were established in wartime America. At the same time the concept of sustained economic growth became the basis for measuring the wealth of a nation. Yet the resources available in a country are always finite. For we in Australia, it is easy to think that we have an endless volume of resources to mine and sell to the rest of the World. Yet even these are finite. Whence do we turn when the resources dwindle and we find that we have sold the farm and now must wander as vagabonds in the World begging for whatever morsel we can extract from others?

So this then appears to be the greatest paradox facing modern man. Having experienced the death of the supernatural God and now witnessing the death of the financial and consumption Gods, where do we turn to find something to leave for our children’s children? What are the values that we would give them? Obviously the measures of sustained economic growth are fundamentally flawed.  So what measures do we use to determine human happiness? How do we measure the strength of a family, a community, a nation?

If we can understand what creates resilience, strength and happiness in these social entities we might be on the way to understanding what real values we might use to measure the progress of humanity. Else, like the Easter Islanders, one day we will find out that there are no trees left on the island known as Earth and we built one statue too many, and consequently squandered our existence.

About slade

Slade is an Enterprise Architect, Business Analyst and Project Manager with extensive experience in the Defence, National Security, Emergency Services and secure systems environment. Slade has been in the IT industry since 1988, and is experienced in systems engineering, systems architecture, systems integration, security assessment and development of sustainment frameworks for new systems. He is also a thought leader in human factors for the design of critical decision support systems and environments and the development of enterprise and solution level architecture for high information workload environments. Slade is the Director of EcoThought Pty Ltd