A Palpable Sense of Disconnection

This is a concept I've been tossing around in my head over the weekend, it's a bit difficult to articulate right now due to lingering toxicity (which interferes with cognitive functioning). So I may take a page from Ran Prieur, and simply explore the idea a bit at a time.

It's a premise of mine that the members of our culture are very disconnected from a number of things.

The natural world: This should go without saying ... most people don't even know where their food comes from.

Human community: Getting together in small interest groups, engaging in the public sphere and segmenting yourself into a variety of disparate interest groups is quite a different experience than interacting with a small, close-knit tribe.

Authentic work: Our educational system diverts us from pursuing life-affirming experiences at an early age. Those who do well in this system have the opportunity to engage in creative, interesting work. The rest of us are relegated to work that serves a very narrow purpose ... work that does not provide fulfillment, work that is disconnected from the rhythms of the natural world.

These are fundamentally very humanizing things. The absence of these connections in our life is a significant part of why our culture is more than a bit messed up.