Licking the Razor's Edge (2015)

Addiction #36 – Freedom from RESIGNATION
“All over the world there is constant pressure to make people feel that they are helpless,
that the only roles they can play in life are to either obey the decisions of others or be
pleasured by their own possessions.” ~ inspired by Noam Chomsky
Though seemingly harmless, it is no accident that Resignation occupies the place of
honor as the last addiction discussed in this book. Not only depressing & de-Meaning in
its own right, it is our addiction to resignation that actually keeps all our other addictions
firmly cemented to our existence …
*It is resignation that has us believing that we cannot do anything of importance to solve
the world’s problems or abate our own society’s evils …
*It is resignation that has us believing that we can’t make any real difference in the lives
of others …
*It is resignation that keeps us glued to our television sets instead of actively volunteering
in our communities …
*It is resignation that has us believing that things “simply are the way they are” – that life
is simply “unfair”, and that we simply have to learn to “make the best of it” …
*It is resignation that has us believing that we are all “only human”, and that our progress
– both as individuals & as a species – will be only slowly attained or not attained at all.
*It is resignation that has us feebly complaining to one another about injustice & poverty
& bigotry, instead of actively confronting the same …
*And it is resignation that has us ignoring, discounting or even ridiculing those
courageous few who are championing “radical Kindness” — instead of actively joining
them in their cause.
Make no mistake: this is not an isolated problem. In-deed, almost everyone I have ever
met has displayed at least some symptoms of hopelessness. Maybe Thoreau was right;
maybe most of us do “lead lives of quiet desperation” –- feeling stuck in jobs lacking in
Meaning, feeling stuck in relationships devoid of intimacy, feeling stuck in
neighborhoods steeped in fear &/or countries soaked in indifference.
Perhaps this moroseness arrived in response to the moments of powerlessness we all
endured in childhood. Perhaps it is simply a reasonable response to living on a planet
suffocating in a very real state of crisis. Perhaps it is a logical consequence of being
bombarded with news of imminent ecological collapse, being confronted by intensifying
economic instability, being hounded by the shrill specter of international terrorism, being
throttled by the debasements of political corruption, animal cruelty & human slavery, and
being inundated by the seeming omnipresence of material greed.
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