Originally posted on my Evolver.net blog.

It’s so odd to be enmeshed in a system or a culture that is based on exploitation. The will to exploit is rewarded and those who exploit, profit. At some point, people believe that the only way to profit is to exploit and that anyone who is rich has become so by exploiting people, animals or the environment at the highest levels.

People seem to have forgotten about truly adding value to a community or society and then naturally making a living that way. Where I came from (and this is still a pretty dominant ideology in America), a corporate job is widely believed to be the only acceptable way in which one can make a living. With the perceived need for a corporate job comes the attendant pressures to conform both ideologically and physically and before you know it, you’re surrounded by a life that bears little or no resemblance to you.

This is not the only way to live.

I wonder why something like starting one’s own small business is so frowned upon, in general. The same with trying to have a career in art. Instead of looking at those who have succeeded, many people will look at those who have failed and automatically assume that they, too, will inevitably fail. Anyone who succeeds, however, is immediately considered either an exception or a scam artist. Such an attitude only guarantees one a Lifetime Achievement Award in Armchair Criticism.

I want a real life.

A life replete with the necessary trials, failures and successes (both hard-won and seemingly accidental). What we traditionally think of as failure is essential to the process – and to be honest, I find it hard to categorize something as failure when it catalyzes learning and further develops thinking. We are always learning, growing and pushing towards eventual success.

I want a life that I know, love and understand.

Not a cookie-cutter, blandly conformist shortcut. I want, in my heart, to know I have really lived and not just distracted my way through an imitation of life. This strange culture is so prevalent that it is often believed to be “the only way”. Its foundations are exploitation, distraction, conformism and competition. It is only natural that such a culture should be causing such suffering  upon this planet. It does not seek to build relationships but to cannibalize. It cannot survive in the end because ultimately it is destroying itself.

Though I grew up in it, I am not a part of this culture. I seek regeneration, complete cycles and healthy relationships. Creating and sustaining this life takes time, patience and effort – as do all good things.

The end result is always love.