Many years ago, I worked for the state of Mississippi, and at times during my tenure there, I'd interact with some of my fellow state employees within other agencies (relative to project management). On one occasion, I met a young man who'd recently mortgaged a home within a small town outside of Jackson with his girlfriend, and the interesting thing about their situation to me was their decision to forgo a residence that had any climate control. To be more specific, no central air or heat and no window A/C units. Now, if Mississippi's weather was like that of southern California, I'd understand their rationale, but it isn't at all like southern California (climate or otherwise).
My great-grandmother lived in a dogtrot house in rural Humphreys county, Mississippi 'till her death in the late '70s, but even she had a couple of window A/C units within a few rooms, despite the fact that the hand built structure had what amounted to zero insulation. Keep in mind though that she didn't hole herself up within those A/C rooms throughout the day. Instead, most days, she could be found out of doors, swinging on her front porch. Contrast this to my grandmother (one of her three daughters) who relegates herself to her tiny climate controlled home 99% of day, constantly complaining about the weather outside being either too this or too that for her liking. To me, she's like a goldfish in a fishbowl submerged within the ocean depths.
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One of the identifiers for us as human beings is our ability to calibrate ourselves emotionally and intellectually to what we believe is most readily controllable. I don't believe we do this instinctively, instead, as a stimulate to our grey matter - which due to the information age, is constantly being piqued.
As humans, we're designed to adapt well and to reap the hardships or rewards of that adaptation, but within our current modern-day environment, it is our minds that are consistently stimulated, and in turn it tends to govern our moves to calibrate ourselves relative to this culture of technological advances time and time again.
To calibrate is to "set your watch by" or "buy into" something in terms of your lifestyle routine, establishing it as your norm within your mind, and thereby receiving in turn instant gratification relative to your super satisfying decision. Within the environment we live in, our daily routine(s) is more often than not mundane and repetitive, and this is the driver towards the brain calibrations we've culturally mated ourselves to. Huge swaths of our global economy from entertainment to food & beverage to small appliances / electronics exist because of the normalization of this monotonous existence.
So, what gives us the impression of being most readily controllable...thereby stimulating our "bored-to-tears" brains?
Have you ever observed a child or teen eschew a touchscreen controlled device like a pocket or tablet computer, instead preferring to pick up a book? Not likely.
Have you ever observed the machines at the gym collecting layers of dust compared to the free weights and benches? Never.
Have you ever witnessed theatrical productions garner more interest than film? Nope.
Machines, machines, all manner of machines!
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I've been an automobile aficionado most of my life. I find the auto industry fascinating to track, research, and ponder on. Obviously, the basic automobile was perfected long ago, and of course our country embraced it wholeheartedly. So now, what we're faced with is an industry that's constantly looking to create a car that seems to be an extension of its specific owner relative to his / her comfort, communication, and mood / experience. And every manufacturer is heading in that direction despite their different user base and branding, though I would argue they're each becoming more and more alike with each passing year.
Subsequently, for me, cars are no longer about beauty / style. Instead, it's a race to hand seemingly more and more control over to the owner, giving him the impression that he's no longer been gifted a motorized steed but actually somehow instead been born into his own personalized mobile cocoon.
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Have you ever watched / listened to someone tell you about their decision to forgo something that everyone else assumes is impossible to live without? Like my A/C example earlier in this piece?
The first time this happened to me was in church, and it was a guest preacher who openly criticized cable television during his preaching. And he wasn't referring to a specific television program either. Instead, he was referring to the entire cable television industry as something only imbeciles invested their time in.
Now that got my attention due to the fact that preachers are typically only concerned with one underlying thing: man's heart.
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Growing up in the '80s (the decade of the shopping mall), I clearly remember the edification of consumerism through the experience of shopping. To be human in this era meant you were a consumer (by right!), therefore what you consumed and where you consumed it from synced up precisely with who everyone was meant to be by definition during that era - a consumer! And the same could be said for entertainment during this era which included music, film and television. Our culture during this time over produced everything (that cannot be emphasized enough), and in turn, due to the novelty shock to our systems, we bought into it hook, line, and sinker. Momentum from this era continues to reverberate today despite it being translated into seemingly endless digital means of "user experience customization" which essentially is just over-produced calibration to the nth degree.
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We've known newlyweds who've forgone television during their first year of marriage.
I've known men who've relinquished their smartphones for dumbphones.
I've read about couples who've downsized into smaller homes in order to live cheaper.
I know of a couple who only has one automobile.
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Adaptation works on man's heart, and this is the portion of ourselves that God is most concerned with. But, adaptation is hard to experience within a world that elevates / normalizes the notion of our having a right to brain stimulation through calibration.
Therefore, make a point going forward to upend who's / what's being catered to as you consider your whole self. Intentionally diminish hierarchically the value of your brain today by forgoing opportunities for it to be appeased (as detailed above), and in turn, give credence to your heart! Give credence to your heart! Give credence to your heart! For it's all that matters in the grand scheme of things.
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