Author: timospace

Plastic – what are our responsibilities?

by timospace, posted in Be conscious, Nature

Walk into any public building such as a mall, grocery store or movie theater and you will see thousands of products all very beautifully wrapped in shiny multi-coloured plastic packaging. Soft-drink bottles, chocolate bars, yogurt, cereal and even fruit and vegetables wrapped up in plastic. Hard plastic, soft plastic, clear plastic, colourful plastic.

Now, there is no doubt that plastic is one of, if not the most abundant and useful material in the world. I actually don’t know how much of what we see around us would even be possible without plastic – especially in terms of technology such as electronics and transportation. However, most people don’t recycle at home and most businesses don’t recycle. So, there is this massive amount of plastic being generated and most of it is just ending up in a landfill – you know the place where a huge pile of waste is put into the ground? I really don’t know much about the various kinds of plastic but from what i have read it is an extremely long lasting material which brings me to my main point – why do we use an incredibly long lasting material for items that only last a days or a week or two at most? Ice cream, soft drinks, chocolate, cigarettes – all fast moving consumer goods, are all heavily packaged in plastic, yet only last a few days or weeks on the shelves and then a matter of minutes or hours after being consumed. The packaging is then thrown into the trash.

My responsibility ends here
My responsibility ends here

Many of these product companies show a little man throwing his trash so responsibly into a bin on the packaging of their products- where do they think this is actually going? Do they care at all if the packaging that they create in such enormous quantities ends up in a landfill, a river or on the streets? Once the sale is done do they care? Should they care?

I believe that any company which creates something which is going to be around for decades or centuries has the responsibility to care about what happens to it after the sale is over. I suppose it’s just part of our short-sighted money driven culture  – to not know or care what happens once the money is in the bank. But when the landfills are over-flowing (already happening in Johannesburg – seen it with my own eyes), what are we going to do about it? Some companies are now adding information about what the packaging is made from and encouraging consumers to recycle, which is good. Some retailers even have recycling bins outside their stores. Personally, I try to stay away from items packaged in plastic (not always possible). If unavoidable, I separate and recycle everything that I can. If I’m traveling or I can’t keep my empty plastic bottle or wrappers on me until I find a recycling spot, only then will I reluctantly put it into the bin. Even then – making sure the empty container is clean (if possible) ensures that it is recyclable. If the waste company servicing that particular bin happens to separate and recycle then at least that container is averted from ending up in a landfill and the methane which may be generated from rotting food left inside the container is also avoided.

Crazy idea, but I think where possible, the packaging material of products should be inline with the lifespan of the product. So projects like infrastructure, telecommunications, transport – things that will be important for a very long time to come should harness the longevity of plastic, while things like junk food and FMCG products should be forced to use short-term materials or at least biodegradable materials due to the massive quantities they are produced in and their very short life spans.

I think we will see far more biodegradable packaging in the near future and I hope companies which produce large volumes of plastic begin to think about the unnecessary impact they are having on the environment. Hopefully there will also be tighter regulations on the production of these materials. Thanks for reading!

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Free your mind

by timospace, posted in Be conscious

Our society values alert problem solving consciousness, and it devalues all other states of consciousness. Any kind of consciousness that is not related to the production or consumption of material goods is stigmatized in our society today. Of course, we accept drunkenness. We allow people some brief respite from the material grind.

Graham Hancock

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Connect with those in need

by timospace, posted in Be conscious

Living in Johannesburg South Africa presents many daily challenges. I’m fortunate enough to have an education, a job, a car and a place to call home. But many people living here are far less fortunate than I am, and spend their days and nights on the streets. I know very little about what these folks get up to and how they sustain themselves but what I have noticed is that at almost every intersection in Joburg you will inevitably see a few people holding signs describing their situation and what they are in need of. The more creative will entertain by showing off their skills juggling or dancing. I’m not sure if giving money to these guys is the solution, but I’ve recently adopted a plan which I learned from my dad. He freezes water in plastic bottles and if he stops at a red light, hands them out to these dudes on hot summer days. They’re always very appreciative. It made me realize that there are possibly items that I have at home which I’ll never use and which could benefit someone else.

I’ve since put together a packet of items which I know will not serve me but may serve someone else. What I’ve been giving out lately is bars of soap which I’ve somehow accumulated, stationery and fruit. Most of the guys I’ve given to were really grateful and have subsequently asked that I bring them any old clothing, so that’s what my next plan is.

Not everyone lives in a city like this and not everyone travels by car most of the time, but for me, it’s a really simple and effective way of helping people out. I’ll see how the clothing distribution goes.

An inter-traffic juggler entertaining passers by for spare change.
One of the more creative inter-traffic performers

Organic solutions

by timospace, posted in Be conscious

Who controls the worlds resources? Who makes the rules, the laws by which we have to conduct our lives? Who is teaching us about the past and guiding us toward the future? Mostly government and companies run by old men.

Image from www.stencilrevolution.com
Image from http://www.stencilrevolution.com

Without entering the dark and destructive realm of pessimism, it feels as though the old have been leading us astray. Economic and legal systems seem to me to be rooted in the egos of old men and quite frankly, rotten to the core. I can’t help but feel that there is just too much red tape, too many acronyms, too many meetings and conferences reinforcing outdated ideas and ultimately too free a reign of dogmatic expression. I feel like the supposed leaders of our world; the politicians, the scientists, the doctors, the judges and the super wealthy do not understand and believe in a higher quality of life for their fellow people and other forms of life. Instead of continuously surveying the actual physical needs of our environment, the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual needs of our people, there tends to be a relapsing, dysfunctional expression of destructive behaviour from those on the world stage. It comes in the form of reprimanding, scaring, humiliating, condescending and trying to control and dominate, making a minority feel inferior. When those who call the shots behave in such primal and destructive ways, it leaves us with a massive task to attempt to truly grow as a people. Why are the rules governing our world in favour of such monolithic and wasteful organisations such as oil giants, agricultural tyrants and junk food companies?

This is a cause for concern among sane and caring people all around the world. We talk about it when we take home our salaries, when we hear about wars in the far corners of our earth. We watch documentaries about this shadow cast by such ominous organisations.

But what is happening as a result is truly amazing. One can now see the solutions and indeed the cures for these problems and insane behaviour starting to surface; arising organically in the form of organic food production, a move away from animal testing, a stronger focus on renewable energy, a rise in the importance of womens’ rights and the list goes on. This is so inspiring and is proof of the inherent good and resilience of the human spirit. It does create a contrast between what is possible for us as a species and what we have been lead to believe our value is in this world. We are not only capable of violence and destruction, but we are capable of loving one another despite our differences and creating a beautiful world for all to enjoy. It shows how ignorance can be debilitating and how important it is to love yourself, educate yourself, don’t follow the crowd if it doesn’t feel good and speak up! If you ignore your true self, you will fall prey to someone who wants to exploit you and this is where we have found ourselves as the human race – lead by those who have no interest in environmental sustainability or personal sovereignty – obsessed with short term profit, long terms selfishness and alienation.

Wind turbines in South Africa (I hope this doesn't look like an ad for Land rover)
I hope this doesn’t look like an ad for Landrover

We don’t need to be afraid of taking responsibility for ourselves and for our future. For me, this takes the form of eating locally, buying products with minimal packaging, recycling, avoiding highly processed food and chemical laden products, speaking up about injustice, saying no to violent movies and reckless companies and trying to find and support people and organisations who are committed to a sustainable future. I do believe that we have been and are constantly lead astray by many an irresponsible company, politician or celebrity. But it is becoming increasingly easy, affordable and rewarding to lead a balanced, healthy and successful life without supporting unethical organisations. I hope this article is filled with hope and not despair – knowledge is power.

Maybe I’m wrong.

by timospace, posted in Be conscious

Maybe I’m wrong.

 

I think that most of the problems in our society are due to a lack of efficiency from government. Private companies should take a more significant role in taking on societal challenges. They are all that we can rely on. But maybe I’m wrong.

 

All green people are greedy and can’t be trusted. They all eat the same thing and they smell funny. I’ve never been friends with a green person and I’m sure I never will be. But, maybe I’m wrong?

 

If we are unable to question our own ideas and opinions, to look in the mirror and ask whether we are wrong, how are we to progress? To have the courage and the humility to challenge your own ego and test whether perhaps your thoughts are dragging you down, is essential. It is a challenge to cultivate patience and to carefully ask yourself whether you are still on track. As long as we cling to ideas which are outdated and no longer relevant, we will struggle to progress as individuals and as a society. We have so many big challenges as the human race in this time of rapid population growth, diseases of affluence, technological advance, environmental pressure and space exploration to name a few modern trends.

 

In life we establish ideas based on what we observe in our environment, but once the environment or our perception of it changes, we need to change our behaviour as well. When the time comes, we need to update our old selves, make new connections and move into new areas of thought and action. If we sincerely listen to what others have to say and to what the environment tells us, we will have the opportunity to shift into more efficient and more pleasant forms being. The inability to become aware of irrelevant and useless concepts keeps our potential dormant and prevents us from fully realizing who we are and what we are capable of.

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“Many of us go through the motions in life without fully realizing our potential for greatness…Passing routinely through the events in one’s lifetime, from one to the next without honest reflection or examination of the meaning in them and how each experience shapes us personally, denies us that potential.”

Chirsty Turlington in Living Yoga.

 

An individual or an organization may decorate their outdated ideas with clever words or marketing schemes, but ultimately the truth will decide the fate of such a person or group. Here are some examples of ideas or concepts which I believe should be revisited with regard to their relevance to society. Hopefully these organisations and concepts can adapt and become better suited to our ever changing world, before they collapse and cause collateral damage. I may be totally ignorant with regard to some of these ideas, but maybe you can shed light on some of these topics and help me to update my own beliefs? Thanks!

 

The following is a broad list of concepts which I think are slightly archaic and may require revisiting, rethinking and some even eradicating:

 

  • The military and how murder is acceptable in the name of ‘national defense’
  • Dirty energy
  • Patriotism, racism, homophobia and other forms of arbitrary hatred
  • Land fills and non recyclable or non reusable products
  • Chemicals in food and water, genetically modified organisms and junk ‘food’
  • Television and invasive forms of advertising
  • Prison systems
  • Animal testing
  • The pharmaceutical industry
  • The definition of luxury and the arbitrary assignment of value eg. Fashion
  • Unnecessary packaging of products
  • The safety of alcohol, cigarettes and caffeine
  • Factory farming 

 

And pop music.

Prioritise your needs

by timospace, posted in Be conscious

What is the most important human need?

Some seem to think that it is health. Many people spend countless hours developing their bodies and trying to eat right to maintain good health. Others spend most of their time and energy focused on making money and accumulating material possessions in the name of security and comfort. Artists feel the need to express themselves at all costs us while thrill seekers jump out of planes to have their rush. Beyond all of the targets that we set, perhaps what we need and truly desire is much more simple. What we need to keep us going and what gives us deep satisfaction may not be as difficult to acquire as we think.

A person may have all the wealth and health in the world but without someone to share it with, is it much more than a day, a week or a months enjoyment? Beyond the thrills and pleasures that materials and sensations give us, I think what really matters is feeling loved and accepted. Only once our ideas and our abilities have been approved by our peers do we feel a sense of joy and accomplishment. I believe this is what we crave and seek beneath our more glamorous and crude desires. Success is, after all, relative and constantly changing. I know that on the days when I feel like I have so much to offer yet have no chance of sharing it with others I feel unfulfilled. The connection we feel when sharing thoughts and sharing experiences is much more valuable than a wealth of inanimate objects or a lonely idea.

Busy

If this idea is indeed relevant, the trick is finding out how to make others feel loved and accepted first and then allowing yourself to feel this way as well. If this is achieved, if we could feel appreciated and recognised simply by being who we are,  perhaps we would not spend so much time and effort in a struggle to acquire things and experiences in an effort to fill ourselves up? I don’t think we should shy away from experiences or aim not to acquire things that we enioy. What I’m suggesting is that we have it backwards; we value and put most of our time and effort into activities which we hope will bring us closer to what we seek, when all we have to do is simply recognise the joy in appreciating ourselves and one another.

The need to be accepted and loved is more fundamental and therefore more important than the need to have or the need to experience physical pleasure. It should thus be the foundation for pursuing and enjoying our experiences. Take a deep breath and acknowledge yourself and how far you have come. Allow yourself to feel happy and fulfilled. It may then be easier and more enjoyable to go out and pursue our goals supported by a solid foundation of self worth and a relaxed state of mind.

Path

When Boundaries Dissolve

by timospace, posted in Be conscious, Nature

Each piece of land, each property in a town or city is a certain size with a certain colour wall surrounding it. Within these walls the workings of each family, business or organisation operates in unique ways. However, beneath all of the walls, fences, gates, roads and buildings, it is all just one big piece of land. Every town and city is ultimately just one piece of land. The whole world in fact, is just one giant sphere with a plethora of landscapes. It’s interesting to then consider how we draw arbitrary lines across the earth and assign one side to a group of people and the other side to another group of people, in very simplistic terms.

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We then turn most of our focus inward and develop our world within those borders. We call ourselves certain names, create our own songs and design flags and rituals as part of our identity. This I think is a positve thing. Cultural identity is something that perhaps we need to feel. A certain amount of ego is perhaps healthy and gives us a sense of unity and well being.

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If we zoom in and consider the family home as a microcosm of the larger outside world, we see similar patterns of identity; family names, values, ambitions and ways of behaving. These identities allow us to feel comfortable and give us a foundation on which to build our own unique story.

However, I think it is when we fail to see past the border, fail to recognise that we all live in the same neighbourhood but with different identities and beliefs, that we let our unity become potentially destructive. We then gather our forces to oppose the people on the other side because they are different, because we fear for the existence of our own identity. We forget that what seperates us is simply a border; a fundamentally imaginary line which allows us to enjoy our unique identities but which also divides us and acts as a catalyst to distort our feelings of compassion for our neighbours.

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I suppose what im trying to say is that perhaps the walls around our homes, our places of work or even our countries are there for practical purposes and not to serve as a boundary confining your curiosity or your compassion within. The walls are there to make us feel safe and united, not necessarily to keep out the percieved enemy.

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The earth and the sky run freely underneath, around and above all of the walls, gates and fences. Your imagination and your sense of connection with others do not have to be confined to the boundaries that physically surround you. We are not here for very long and there is only so much time to connect with those around you. Take a chance. Don’t let borders stand in your way.

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Realising potential

by timospace, posted in Be conscious

What good is a thought in your mind alone? What good is an idea or a concept if it is not met with expression? I believe that intelligence only truly becomes useful when its potential is realised. We have such powerful imaginations and an idea may seem amazing as we replay it in our minds but when it comes to stepping out into the world of action we find it far more difficult to translate that idea into something tangible. Once you start expressing an idea, articulating it to yourself and then talking about it with others, at least you can discover whether it is plausible or not. Once you have spoken or written about it you can then see it more realistically and decide whether or not it is possible or feasible for you at that particular time in your life.

Thinking alone can be a debilitating thing. Seeing the world through the lense of your thoughts without experimenting, without testing your ideas to see whether they have validity can lead to feelings of dissatisfaction and can further demotivate you. Instead of constantly thinking about something, it may be far more rewarding to put your idea to the test. Get out there and talk to someone about it and try out what you’ve been considering. Perhaps we should give thinking a break and experiment a bit.

Instead of wandering around in our minds we should try wandering around in the real world. That’s all for now 🙂

How do we ensure a clean and sustainable water supply?

by timospace, posted in Be conscious, Ethics, Nature

Water makes up the majority of our own bodies and the majority of the planet itself. It quenches our thirst on a hot day or when we have had one too many drinks the night before. But I find that in both the western and the eastern world (the limited parts that I have been lucky enough to visit) we waste it as if it were infinite and indestructible.

I think it’s strange how we pour the wastes of our world into the most pure, delicate and important substance we have. So important that without it we would die in a matter of days. So amazing that it quenches thirst and nourishes without any additives. Yet we pollute it with our own excrement, use it carelessly and mix it with chemicals so harmful we wouldn’t touch them. Only later to find clean, drinkable sources depleted. We may be drying up our planet and ourselves with our disingenuous means of waste disposal and our dangerous affinity for harmful chemicals.

Of course there may be ways to clean up our water supply and hey, the world’s seas and oceans are an abundant source, but I believe that nature will not be forgiving if we squander and abuse what we have now. Surely there is a better way to use this life giving substance. Surely we could have a little more consideration for the importance and delicacy of this vital substance.

Water-less toilets? Organic dish washing liquid and other cleaning materials? Using grey water instead of pure and precious clean water? Paying attention to the amount of water one uses when washing dishes or showering and taking care not to be wasteful.

This is something that really affects the sustainability of our ever growing global society and simple changes we could easily make would transform our world.

Vote on the poll and let me know what you think the most effective solution to sustaining a clean water supply may be.

The Search For Quality

by timospace, posted in Be conscious, Ethics

Are you in a good industry?

Well, do you mean do I work with people who do good things for their community or for the environment? Or are you pondering whether are they smart and fun to work with? Perhaps you’are asking how profitable the industry is? You may even be wondering whether I work in a business which is in some way geared to improving society in some way.

Whatever you may be asking, I am confused. Your question was too vague. We as human beings have created language as a highly sophisticated means of communication. Words carry meaning and using words in whichever way we please gives us the ability to express ourselves in such a refined and specific way. This truly is a gift and is one of the reasons I started writing this blog. In an attempt to express myself as honestly as I can and to encourage others to express themselves honestly as well, leading to a more meaningful conversation about the world around us.

When we are lazy in the way in which we use language, we waste that gift. This reminds me of pop music. Pop music is all around us. We hear it in stores, on the radio, at parties, at events and on the television. Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Psy and many more. The melodies of these songs are all so similar and the lyrics are shallow, meaningless and repetitive. We are constantly subjected to this stream of low quality expression and as a result I think we accept that this is how we should be communicating and expressing ourselves.

I believe that with just a bit of effort, by really focusing on what we mean when we speak, being clear of our intention, we can articulate ourselves in such a way that we feel connected and we feel alive when we speak. The listener is also treated by the coherence of your words and that sound travels into them and activates that part of them that wants to understand deeper and will attempt to respond in an equally thoughtful and harmonious way. This is what we are capable of, not merely junk expression with a few severely overused words, phrases and even ideas. The times when we simply repeat stories of what we did on that vacation or what someone said to you earlier are disappointing and a waste of energy. Think about the cliches that run through endless streams of mainstream films, songs and music videos. All of these interactions train your brain to go sleep. There is nothing to figure out, nothing to wonder about, only new faces carrying out the same old plots.

Surely we can push ourselves to explore and to be on the lookout for quality and new ways of thinking, speaking and acting. This can apply to how you interact with people, how you express yourself and even how you live your own life, day to day. Do you say the same things to the same people in the same way every day? Or do you stay open as to what may happen if you do things a different way, choosing to see the potential of your words and actions to be more effective and more meaningful.

Don’t settle for the same old. Turn your back on low quality and embrace your ability to articulate yourself clearly.

Clarity in nature
Clarity In Nature