Levels of survival and civilisation

Levels of survival and civilisation
Existing by the moment, breathing because I have to, not because I want
to.
My brain goes through the motions of living with my body.
I have been on this planet for a very short time and already find it a
challenge to see light in this world.
I have had a useless education and did not acquire the skills to earn a
descent living. So I clothe, pay my rent and feed myself on money
borrowed from the bank.
I feel crushed by poverty and no longer have the hope I had as a child,
adulthood has ironed hope and dreams out of my psyche, and I feel
guilty complaining like this because I am supposed to be living in a
privileged society.
I am left with the mundaness of existence in a society where I have
tried to earn a living like everyone else, to switch off my thinking
brain, to be a robot in a materialistic society where everything
becomes so futile.
People seem too happy not to question why they are here, they have no
purpose except to make money and collect objects that in their eyes
elevate their status and supposedly provide them with comfort and make
their life easier.
Were we really adapted to live in a synthetic world apart and removed
from nature? This place seems so false to me, there is no sense of
compassion or spirituality in this society that we 'Westerners' are so
proud to be apart of.
We are frightened of our children whom seem capable of unspeakable
violence having adopted our deteriorating respect for other lives. Our
Youth culture cannot detach reality from non-reality because they have
grown up on television, instant sensationalism and a violent,
materialistic culture that is completely devoid of spiritual and moral
stability. This is our new conditioning. The western mind believes
itself to be superior to other cultures that incorporate spirituality
into their everyday lives. We label our 'democratic' culture as part of
the first world, labelling ancient civilisations 'third world';
civilisations that have built upon Mesopotamia, the Fertile Crescent,
Egypt and Teotehaucan. We look down on those who choose to live with
the natural world, such as the last indigenous cultures of Africa, Asia
and South America; we inflict debt onto these countries after pilfering
them and claiming resources for ourselves.
Large corporations take their land away in the name of economics or
politics at times masked by war, we relocate people into slums
peripheral to sprawling cities and land which is unable to sustain
small populations, some still rely mainly on hunter-gatherer techniques
and have a substantial knowledge of their local plants and animals used
for medicinal purposes, knowledge which is being wiped out in the name
of democracy?
This planet is in such a terrible state, there is truly no longer a
single great wilderness or natural habitat left on earth that has not
been damaged by humans.
New technologies cause a higher demand on sustainable resources
creating conflicts, war, poverty and starvation for 'third world
countries' where thousands of human beings die unnoticed because they
do not live in a western culture.
Where is progress of civilisation taking us?

Copyright 2000 by C.Shaw