i think fulfilling the basic needs of humans is step one. So yes, it starts with ourselves:
* hydration
* sleep
* nutrition
* exercise
and then…
* thinking
* community
* purpose
* money
* skills
* spirituality
* sex/intimacy
* education
* safety
etc. etc
When an individual doesn’t have those basic needs met, they go looking for all kinds of crazy shit to feel better whether it’s drugs, porn, religion, violence… luckily sometimes those external things can also help us. LSD was like that for me. Or travel. Or some movies. And books (even religious ones)…
But if we put too much emphasis on external things and get attached to them, this can create problems as long as those basic needs are not being met. Which explains why every person and his uncle’s dog is on anti-depressants… or caffeine, alcohol, weed, etc. Just to feel NORMAL.
That’s called drug addiction.
Even getting to the place where we can open up to the idea that there is such a thing as “empathy” in this world can be a real LUXURY… and not possible for people who are impoverished and hustling their ass off to feed their families. Or just to pay their own rent and netflix.
Most people just don’t give a fuck about anyone outside their immediate circle of friends and relatives.
We are desensitized to not give a fuck. We live in a hyper-stimulated world where pleasure is king.
But there is another way…
And it all begins in the mind.
Thought.
Ideas.
For example:
Wealth consciousness.
Money is just the manifestation of that…
A way to store and exchange value.
Even starting with a productive idea (no matter what kind of terrible place you live in or are imprisoned in)
The idea that I CAN CHANGE. I can see this place as something besides what it is. And take responsibility for ALL feelings.
I will live in a magical world from now on (like Roberto Benigni from Life Is Beautiful)
“This is my new paradise.”
