What should somebody do with their time and effort in the world today?
Hello community
I am here on Steemit looking for an answer to a question I have been asking myself for about four years.
The question for me is basically, what should I do right now that is actually important and that I can actually impact.
I am tired of what feels like doing nothing.
Until I had this guilty thought, life through the system was normal and I was on track to have a future without any real issue. I was going to have work, money and property.
This began to change when I gave up on institutionalised education after putting four years worth of debt into it, and dismissed the thought of wanting anything for myself.
I then took an underpaid job for two years to work on something that I felt was important. But looking back I can see that I made little difference even though I did it well.
I've explored parts of two continents but didn't find anything. It just felt like wasting time and money even though I had good experiences.
I've gotten rid of everything I don't need, changed my diet to not consume anything I don't have to, and am trying not to negatively impact freedom and the life of the planet.
Right now I am working physically hard each day. But it's only for money.
I have family, friends, security and intimacy, so everything is fine. It is just this question that I need answered so I can do something.
I have ideas of what I think is important but I wanted to find out what the community thought.
Your Thoughts Needed
Please leave a comment of what you think somebody should do with their time and effort in the world today.
This is a question that is completely open to interpretation and I am just interested to read your comments and have a conversation.
Hopefully the hard physical work will bring more than money -- physical fitness, alertness, sound sleep, to name a few things.
Every interaction with another person is an opportunity to make choices and these choices in turn contribute to our development, or detract from our development. Sharing information with others is important . It's a chance to give and interact. I'd say learn as much as you can about human nature and then share it. Each time you share you'll learn more about human nature and about yourself.
Of course you could choose any subject other than human nature to learn and share. It depends on your own predilection.
You are right that sharing information is important. What do you think is important to share nowadays? What are the biggest issues?
Your comment was spot on what I have tried to do so far. I was teaching for two years but made little difference looking back. There were definitely moments but the system was very restrictive I couldn't personally stay. It seems like the right path and I have plans to continue, but out of every subject or issue, what is actually important or pressing?
The only person you can really help to become better is yourself (assuming, of course, you are not already perfect). The sharing with others and helping others depends on how they respond so there's no guarantee it will help them. The only way you become better yourself is by making choices one by one throughout the day in your work, study, and interactions.
Sounds like you're on the right track. If you're living with the right intent, then you can't help but improve and this improvement will rub off on people you interact with.
Also, the more you improve the more your focus should improve and thus you'll eventually be guided to your specific place to fit in.
You asked what are the biggest issues. Where to begin? If you're concerned with improving society then the first major area to concentrate on, I think, is government corruption (at all levels) and in all major western nations. The best way to illustrate is by way of example. Case in point: The Brian and Janice Docherty case This case is one of the most egregious cases of government corruption and the case is ongoing. There's a brief description of the case at that link as well as 5 hours of an audio interview with the subjects of the case. I've listened to the whole interview and it backs up everything mentioned in the brief summary. What we learn from this is that much of the corruption is tied up with abuse of children and the blackmail of those involved in the abuse of children. What's also disturbing is that this particular brand of corruption is happening not just in the UK but in the US, Canada, and many other countries.
Santa Clara county in California has many of these types of cases. This video is from a meeting of concerned citizens, social workers, and attorneys in the adjacent county of Santa Cruz.
The people at ukcolumn.org do a news report every weekday and they keep up to date on the Docherty case. They recommend that people share the information with friends and associates and write to their members of parliament. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, have written in to MPs, police chiefs, etc but mostly the response has been do nothing but kick the can down the road. The pressure on government is building but more people need to know about this and put more and more pressure on government.
Well, this might give you some ideas anyway. I hope I haven't dragged you down a rabbit hole with slippery sides. That's how I felt when I first learned of some of this stuff. Of course, remember to focus on yourself first.
Thank you for the conversation. You've written a lot and I appreciate that.
I agree that western government is a huge problem and I will be following your links tonight to delve in more definitely.
The part that jumps out at me is that we can't really help someone other than ourself. I don't agree with this and I think we take this way too far.
Well I do agree. I agree that we focus on ourself so we are not hurting or dying, but if I am not dying and it doesn't look like I will soon, then I can do a lot for something else. Like making a plan to curb government corruption.
On the other hand I will be dead soon enough so focusing on some future vision of the world that doesn't include me might be a good priority to have too.
I am far from perfect and won't be, however being the normal kind of selfish we have today seems very abnormal.
I will look into government corruption more because to me you are right. Is it the biggest issue? Always more questions.
Thanks for your response.
I didn't mean it to sound like you can't help anyone else besides yourself. I'm trying to make the point that an individual is responsible for his own spiritual growth and development and it is largely dependent on the choices he makes. You can of course help him by widening his choices. Further, when you help others it helps you to grow spiritually yourself.
I kind of just threw in the word 'spiritual' without any definition. By spiritual growth I simply mean that one acts more out of love than out of fear. The two fundamental emotions are love and fear and all the rest of the emotions stem out of those two.
So of course you can help others and actually I think we all have a responsibility to help others. The responsibility arises since we are all in this together or we are all one so to speak.
Is government corruption the biggest issue? It's something I've spent a lot of time coming to grips with recently so it's what immediately came to mind. You could also describe government corruption as just another symptom of the human condition. You might then conclude that the human condition is the biggest problem. It's possible that my ego is getting in the way by telling me I know more about government corruption than most people and I should 'set them straight'. Still, I think the information (on corruption) needs to be spread. I chose those two examples because no one is disputing the facts in those cases so one can't be accused of being a 'conspiracy nut' for sharing the information.
Often when I've shared information with family members about politics the result has been luke-warm. Judging by your response perhaps this particular information will be received more warmly than usuual.
It seems you've helped me to better define some of my own thinking so Thank You for that. I have certainly enjoyed the conversation. Hopefully I have been of some small service to you as well. I'd like to hear what you think about the links I mentioned once you've had a chance to look at them.
Reached the limit of nested replies. I hope you see this sometime @sirloins
You didn't say that you can't help anyone but yourself. I looked back at what you said and I must of been projecting myself into that too much.
I read the link and watched the Docherty video and part of the meeting. And it is something that I knew nothing about.
Well for some reason the name Docherty does sound familiar but consciously no I didn't know the story.
And it is unbelievable. But I do believe it.
Who was the accused paedophile? Were they important in the area? Were they being protected by the authorities? They had a lot of money to offer, is this linked somehow? Why were the authorities and government workers turning on the family? Did the family have any other evidence other than their story? How can this happen through the system without any crime, or even suspected crime attached to it? Is information being buried or is this happening in the open?
You should really do a post on this if you haven't already.
Sceptically, either the story is true and for some reason the accused paedophile is protected and the family is being destroyed unjustly by the system, or the story is not true, there is no paedophile, and the family is being destroyed by this extreme and targeting system.
I don't know if there was more evidence to back the family's story?
Either way, something is going terribly wrong, people know about it, and nothing just or moral is happening here.
I think this type of thing can be focused on, even one person can have a good try at impacting this. I wouldn't say it is the human condition, but some humans' condition. And the other humans can and should do what they can to prevent this.
I can imagine many types of corruption like this that I have no idea about.
Only you can really answer that question. Some people find meaning in travelling. Some people find meaning in doing hard work. Some people find meaning in family, relationships and raising children. Some people find meaning in climbing the corporate ladder.
What's right for everyone else isn't necessarily right for you. Your path will probably involve a lot of trial and error, experimentation - before you find a situation that's right. Then you'll look back, draw all the dots together and it'll make sense.
Personally what's always interested me is how people function, make decisions - how they think. I did all kinds of jobs - salesman, writer, marketer estate agent and masseur (among others) - to get experience and exposure to a wide range of people. I've come to the conclusion that there's a lot of silent unsaid struggle in society - causing a lot of mental illness.
I then studied a lot about psychotherapy and counselling. This can work. But then I realised a lot of these problems stem from a core physical tension in the body. Most commonly not breathing properly and lots of tension in the back/legs. What I'm now reading about is Bioenergetic Analysis - which is how these issues can be diagnosed and resolved physically.
I don't know where this will lead (if anywhere). But it seems like the right thing right now. I hope that helps
That is really interesting. And it sounds like wellbeing is the big issue that you have spotted personally. In particular physical health affecting mental health and wellbeing.
It is important. People are not well. What is the root cause affecting them physically? Diet, exercise, line of work, society? And what do you want to see changed or how can people change this?
I talked about doing something and making little impact. I believe I was working at the end of the line, not making any difference to the root cause or issue. Like an ambulance at the bottom of a cliff. And what I really want to know is what are the fundamentally important things that need work. And how can we work on them in a way that impacts long term.
Hello @freedompains, I saw your reply but could not respond to it directly, like you said it was 'beyond the nesting limit of steemit'.
There's an open letter about the Docherty case here and it sums up the case very well -- however, leaving questions unanswered due to stonewalling by Irish, Scottish, and UK officials. There were no other witnesses to the offer to buy the child, just the father and the alleged perpetrator. His name was mentioned somewhere but I don't remember in which video or audio interview. I think it would have been put into court records at some point. They probably would not have enough evidence to prosecute the perpetrator, however the authorities are doing everything possible to cover up the facts. I think it was also reported that he is a middle aged man living with two teenage boys not related to him. The perp was possibly a former employee of Police Scotland. The only explanation seems to be that the authorities are protecting the perp. Perp may have info about other government officials. It is often the case that one member of a pedo ring will threaten to bring down the whole ring if he is allowed to be prosecuted. He also made a statement to the father (Brian Docherty) that he (the perp) would not be denied access to the child. He did not state what would happen if he were denied but it was an obvious threat. Your other question 'How can this happen?'. This is the question for the authorities, and we need to keep asking them at every opportunity and demanding answers. Also, think about why the BBC will not even mention this case. The BBC is 100% funded by government and corporations so the answer seems pretty obvious and they need to be pressured as well.
You should definitely write a post about this and detail what people can do from home to help.
You could lay out the process of contacting the appropriate people to pressure. Listing the right contact details and possibly a template to use.
This needs exposure and like you said more people need to demand an answer.
It seems impossible to get exposure on Steemit unless you are part of the main crowd, or trying to get in, or by spending money. This place has people with much more influence over things then everyone else, and sounded cool at first, but is feeling like a popularity contest.
But at least the post will be part of the blockchain and won't disappear.
I have given some thought to posting directly about this. Ideally, it would be put up as an introduceyourself by someone involved in the case; either the Dochertys themselves or David Scott who is doing the open source investigation.
Meanwhile I definitely will keep interjecting it in conversations online or off.