February 11, 2023

With everything going on in the world these days, I found myself becoming extremely pessimistic and borderline depressed for awhile. It’s easy to forget that we are human beings, not human doings. It seems that the recent power grab by corporations to restore their upper hand in the employee-employer relationship has rattled society. The reprieve and sense of hopefulness that was widely felt after the pandemic, quickly evaporated when businesses did what they’re inherently designed to do… grow profits.

We can’t blame corporations though can we? Corporations are simply a manifestation/creation of human ambitions. It’s much easier to point the finger at corporate America than acknowledge that what we’re experiencing as a direct reflection of our internal state and a testament to our collective values. Empty rhetoric has become commonplace, as folks attempt to separate themselves from the problem.

Wouldn’t it be great if it were that simple, if we can fool others and ourselves into thinking there’s a group other than us responsible, we have no accountability! We don’t need to change right? It’s those other people… if they would only listen, but I’m trying to tell them. So I’m doing my part, I’m such a good human!

It’s incredibly difficult and humbling to volitionally take a look in the mirror. Then not turn away. Keep looking at all those things you don’t like and objectively evaluating yourself, your actions, your priorities. Then take steps to improve. Easier said than done, folks.

The reality is that most people aren’t willing to accept a lower return on their retirement portfolio, let alone a negative return. Human nature is to want growth. Your personal investments are a testament to this. Your dollars are the guiding force behind corporate decisions. We fuel the perpetration of shareholder primacy, where our desires for a larger nest egg, salary, etc. to have a better lifestyle and “keep up”, informs the results we experience as a society.

So I pose the question, how can anything change external to us, until we change internally? What grounds you? What’s your belief system? Do you believe in anything larger than yourself? 

We can choose to be happy. We’re surrounded by great beauty. And by taking the time to be a human BEING, and engage in the moment, we appreciate the beauty around us. I choose to attribute this beauty to a power greater than myself and take comfort in that. 

This idea of permanence in material things is a dangerous fallacy. Look at even a hundred year timeline and you will see the ebbs and flows of power, governance and societal structures. Your land, your home, your cars, your whatever can all be stripped away in a mere moment. If we continue to wrap our self worth and happiness into material things, we will be the mechanism of our own destruction.

The next evolution of humankind will not be technological, it will be spiritual. We’re at an inflection point.

Signing off now.

Captain Plante