Needs and addictions
Products of an Industrialized and Colonized Mind
a response to the great Texas Freeze of 2021 by Tyagaraja Welch
In the world of the privileged, what drives one to a breaking point? Needs or Addictions? Even those that prepared for this storm are still driven by both. Those that could not or did not prepare are struggling even more. For those of us that have basic needs met, it is quite easy to serve our addictions, and those without basic needs, forgo an addiction to simply survive, and sometimes feed addiction because actually surviving and living can be much harder. I feel for all my fellow humans and creatures of this Earth. None of us could be ready for something that has literally never happened in our lifetimes. Because I spent so much time there and a good sum of my friends are from Houston, I will be focusing most of my energy, prayers, thoughts, and solution-based visions for them. So many have been continuously pummeled and tortured by natural disasters, lack of smart infrastructure, and now that we have gone through the disasters and the vail has been lifted, the most oppressive form of torment Houstonians have been subjected to is the self-interests of mega conglomerate energy corporations that move money and commerce through the old oil port town. By circumstance, I listened to a bit of John Mackey on Rogan speaking about how Capitalism is the greatest thing to happen to the modern world, and while I understand a portion of his point (education, innovation, medical advancement, etc.); it is glaringly obvious now that a structure that is designed to marginalize many and give luxury to the few is in no way sustainable. Moreover, it leads to loss of precious life, and trauma imposed during every waking and sleeping moment. Is it not the duty of those who have to provide for those without? Isn’t that what makes us human, the family cares for the one that cannot care for themselves… My sister works for the City of Austin. She was the only one on her communications team with power during the freeze, she worked for her community all through the night and into the day, in a week maybe slept 10-12 hours, and still she told me she would have done what she did for free, because she cannot stop herself, when there are those in need she feels duty-bound to provide a response due to her privileged position. And she too is human, Cara still has her breaking point. It is in our nature to pressurize our natural systems. Our bodies, hearts, and minds need rest, exercise and food, and there is only so long we can go without. When I was listening to Cara’s voice on the phone I could tell she was stressed, and I wasn’t listening to what she was saying but the tone in her voice, and being that I’m psychically connected with Cara I knew what she really needed is something she has trained herself never to ask for. I’ve taught my 5-year-old daughter that feeling is “closeness…” deep love, love that is not shrunken. Aside from our basic needs, we need closeness… we need closeness with our progeny and blood relatives, we need closeness with our friends and family. Through the pandemic some have had extra closeness with their loved ones, and some have not, some closeness can be a wonderful thing and for others sharing space with an abuser can be dangerous. My immediate response when my loved ones need closeness is not only hugs and warm hearts, it’s also warm food. I made a pot of food and brought it to her because she had only eaten canned or frozen food for days. The food I prepared for her was nourishing, and the ability to look a loved one in the eyes and give them a hug simply cannot be measured and is in desperate need well before the pandemic and especially now.
Our basic needs, and subtle needs are what drive our decisions, wants and desires. When I observe the disaster level lines running around grocery stores, gas stations, fast food establishments and more, like a thread pulling a needle in the heart, I can see the needs and addictions of my fellow humans and myself, in our faces, stature and demeanor. Not being well prepared itself is a breaking point. Some are there because of hunger, some will forgo hunger for a pack of cigarettes, whatever the need or addiction or both, our fellow creatures are driven to these measures reducing the rest of our privileged lives to trivial pursuits. Now only the most basic needs and addictions can be met. For the life of the Houstonian, they have seen Hurricane Alice, Katrina, Harvey and more. Fence line communities have had toxic wastes poured into their drinking waters, creeks, rivers, and lakes. Their stress levels and patience have been tested in more ways than one, and then a once-in-a-thousand lifetime freeze lay like an ice blanket across the city and millions are without these basic needs and addictions. If the basics are gone what is it that makes us continue to survive…? The will to live? I would also say it is closeness that gets us through. Even the thought of closeness, that deep-inner longing to be with those you love, will drive you to survival, thus one of our strongest and purest needs.
Where are we running to serve these needs and addictions? Where are we looking for the solutions to these issues? We are running to corporations and grocery stores for food, we are running to capitalist and politicians to enact change.
Both the corporations at the geo-political factions exist because of Industrialization and Colonization, and John Mackey had no rebuttal on this point, because no matter the good it must be made aware that both these inherently destructive factions are the cause of not only how we got to this unsustainable infrastructure and inequality; they are also the drivers of the climate change that brought the storm here in the first place. Let’s not stop there. They are also in charge of the mind prisons we keep ourselves in because we continue to go toward these industries to produce the change. I’m sure it is obvious by now that human beings can see clearly. Change lies within us taking care of our communities down to the tiniest worm and creature, change will rely on us getting on with or without those industries, change relies on localized food economy and a real understanding of what an intense service it is to bring that form of life to the community. Change relies on us Integrating with Mother Nature to find the solutions to these globally transformative issues. Instead we run toward industry, we criticize politicians that only have self-interests at heart in the first place, we run to addictions, we run to spew our feelings on social media rather than remaining inward, still, and quiet. It is too late, and it is our fault. We have not taken the duty-bound steps as integrated beings of this world to preserve, worship and care for it. The changes are too massive, and the upheaval is upon us, and there’s nothing we can do about it except brace ourselves for impact. There is nothing we can do but turn inward and find a minimalistic path forward.
It feels ridiculous to say… in the future… let’s just say within the next year, we will be planning all year long for one “weather event.” We are not having “seasons” anymore. We are having what I would call “weather events.” Only two days ago it was 21 degrees with ice covered roads, death, social and economic chaos everywhere, and now it’s 78 degrees and the highways are ablaze with activity as if we should not all be trying our best to live as minimalists. Seasons are long natural progressions in which the wildlife prepare their hibernation. During Hurricane Harvey I told my Houston friends to observe the birds, if they heard birds chirping or saw them flying around it was a good sign that the rain is stopping, and the storm is going away. For the winter blast, that’s how I knew how dramatic and destructive, when observing the birds I began to notice them low to the ground, as if their wings where numb and could only fly short heights and distances, and also in a somewhat incoherent way as if snow drunken, slamming into the fence and house before fasting into a tree. I was keeping all my inventory for the farmers market in our garage with grow lights. Even in this warm place it was close to below freezing. I bent down to check a plant and a little yellow belly sparrow flew out of a plant and to a corner of the garage where I couldn’t see it anymore. The wildlife was also scrambling to find refuge… not a good sign. An Omen of what’s to come… a real look at what our choices lead to and the alignment of magnetic forces marking the turning of an era. Clashing ideologies, war, poverty, daily choices that feed pollution, rage and addiction… To the real Mother Earth… the Shakti or the Sacred Energy that holds the Earth together… a change of a few degrees is very minor… The Earth will go on living with or without us. It is only going to affect us, and We are the ones with the ability to integrate with nature and learn from Her, the right way forward.
It’s never enough to point out commonly obvious societal downfalls, so what are some solutions? I had a dear friend ask me a very corporate office type question… What is one thing you’ve gained during the pandemic and one thing you’ve lost? For devotees it is always impossible to answer questions like this because of one simple reason… “Nothing is mine, so why would I lament if I lost or give joy when I gain? Everything is only for the Divine Joy of participation. All this Effort is for the Divine.” Nothing is mine… Nothing is mine…. Those jumping in front of me at the grocery store for water or chips or whatever packaged item feeding an addiction that will run out only in a matter of days are clinging to the idea that the world is theirs, “the joys, pleasures, and pains are mine and mine only to experience.” Our family life, our understanding, our grasp of what truly matters in life was already intact pre-pandemic, therefore other than all the other things that affected everyone else our lives remained relatively the same and thus manageable. When I give regular Yoga Courses, one common theme is a participant saying this, “I’m here because I fell off my yoga practice and I want to get back in alignment.” This is a noble statement and requires the most effort of the entire journey, to admit our lacking in anyway can be painful to the egoistic heart. It is not egotistical to say that true yogic discipline grants freedom within balance. To live and breathe a Yogic and Sanskrit based lifestyle that is devotionally oriented, we do not lose balance, we do not fall off the path, we do not lose interest, we do not loose energy, and the Vedic way is that of negation… Not this, not this, not this… THIS… We have already lived as meditating, minimal hermits, with true moral courage and devotion to a higher force. For us the pandemic has been solely a time of reflection, an opportunity to meditate and pray for others, a way of spending time to analyze what is our role in the devastation that has brought us here in the first place? I say all this because in order to answer a question like, “what have you gained,” I must first recognize that nothing is mine (a mentality that is free from oppressive tendencies), also because my service is for others I wish to gain nothing, and lastly there is nothing to speak of what has been lost or gained, because the gift of Sanskrit Based Yogic Living is Balance and Moral Courage. I cannot say this enough, it does not make us special. It is attainable by anyone that can sustain the balanced discipline. When we fill a pot slowly with water, we have to keep the hand steady so the water doesn’t spill, as the pot fills it begins to become heavy, our grip and strength intensify and we hold strongly, firmly, yet with calm balance not to spill. This is how we need to apply our force of mindful action at this moment in history. Now, to address the question and provide some solutions.
We have gained because we have listened to Mother Earth. She is giving us a warning of a transformative era, an opportunity for reflection, a reset button. We have gained because we have been honest and clear headed about our personal contributions and role in the current state of deprivation in the world. We have gained because we have not lost the lesson, and the lesson is that the only hope is to cling like the cucumber to the vine of our Devotion (whatever it may be, if it be based in individual freedom) and live life as a minimalist. We need look no further than the village or Indigenous Knowledge for our solutions… and by that, I mean Earth Integration. There is no sustainability without decolonization. When I was very young and observing highways full of traffic and commerce flexing its unyielding muscles, I knew then that there could be no way we could go on like this, with that level of extreme effort to over produce. In the village, the goods are made nearby, and traded within local areas. The humans absorb nutrients from plants cultivated nearest to the places in which they share microbes and familial lineage. These plants carry the updated “Pranic” (intelligent, life-sustaining energy) energy of the ever-changing Mother Earth, aiding us in our immunity and ability to truly feel life within our bodies. One may argue that it is Capitalism that has brought about the cure to many diseases and the vaccination to many viruses, and I would argue that it is those fowl industries that bring the imbalance that creates such pandemics in the first place; furthermore, that if one thinks it is their duty to “fight off” disease then we still have a very primitive and I dare say, industrialized and colonized way of understanding virus and illness. Just like life, illness is a teacher. Illness comes to us to teach us something. It too is a time of fasting, reflection, deep meditation, cultivation of right thoughts, actions and attitude, illness is a great opportunity for growth and human wellness. The illness in fact increases our immunity should we contract it and survive, because just like the locally grown plant, the illness is integrating us with what is literally blowing in the air whether we try to control it or not… I had to take a breath there… Obviously, the solution is the “Garden.” Am I wrong…? Through each and every hardship in our lives, the garden is always the one tangible place in which healing can be found. That is a sign, is it not? It’s not just the Garden… What is the reason why we feel so good in the garden…? With tears of love for Goddess it is much deeper than that, and it is what makes Gardening a true Spiritual Practice. When we see a beautiful waterfall, ocean, river, mountains, beautiful nature place, we have that “Aha” moment that everyone longs for… What is that feeling? That feeling is “Remembrance.” True Spirituality and connection with the Divine feels familiar, and to the seeker it is that feeling which makes it a truth. The feeling surging through our bodies whether we want it to or not when we are in the garden or in Deep Realms of Mother Earth, that shared human feeling is one of “Remembrance of that from which we came.” We are nature, we came from nature. We are blind if we think anything in a package, or made by a machine can give us a solution to the message Mother Earth is trying to give us… I not just talking about camping or going hiking and bringing all our worldliness with us. I mean truly taking ownership of our land, our duty to it, feeling and smelling the soil and making an affirmation, that is how you will make the effort to see growing gardens through generations… There is so much work to do, and as always, we only must get out of our own way.
And, “What have we lost?” We have lost only now of losing, and that moment is when we lose the lesson… when we lose the balance. My sister felt at that moment when she had reached her breaking point that, “it was too late, People just won’t change, Greta Thunberg was right…”. Sounds pretty grim, and yea probably true. And the moment I know that to be true is when I witness that moment of losing the lesson. When the power came back on… what was the reaction? Was it, “Yay!” Well what I saw in Austin was a complete turn back to “normal” a normal that is destructive, self-centered, and wasteful. The compassion we saw during the crisis, only came from those that are already compassionate, already leading a minimalistic life. What of those that could use influence, that could use that, “Aha, I just saw the most amazing Ocean Scene,” kind of a moment? Well we know from experience that we can’t change anyone else right? So stop all the selfishness, build something that is beyond you, and look only within and to Mother Nature for that which is true and good, and seek those righteous things only with deep devotion in your heart… and all will be ok. This life is very precious, and it is not your own, so go out and perform the duty-bound service of giving to others in whichever way your skills and devotion drive you.
Our needs and addictions won’t likely cease. Just as the world wobbles so do our lives, the balance comes through faith. I keep hearing a narrative passed around by corporate media pandits which is not news, it’s suggestive… “It’s as if there is a faction of this country that does not believe in Science,” I would say that is not the problem, I would say it is the opposite, I feel that a devotional person always looks within or within prayer for the answer first, to first settle with how you “feel” about what the worldliness is imposing on you, instead of looking to science, or doctors for answers. The modern medical field is only reactionary, it will not assist in us settling our moral dilemma and that is truly what is at stake here. I’m not speaking of evangelical belief. A belief system is human made and can be shattered in an instance. Belief also leads to judgement because those beliefs stem from dogmatic authority. I speak of faith, and faith is all internal. Faith is simply Knowing Who You Are… So how can one ground, reflect, and internalize their thoughts and heartfelt emotions if one is running toward modern medicine, industrialized solutions and governmental systems that seek to manipulate the whole scheme anyway?!?!?! No, life is too precious to throw away, hours, days, and even years of our lives to be trapped in the industrialized and colonized prisons of our minds. We walk “freely,” we enjoy the benefits of capitalism, and inwardly we are tortured by general dread of what comes next. That is not how to live a faith driven - devotional life - that grants inner freedom through self-affirmed daily discipline. In a world where information is fragmented, and passed through a divisive algorithmic scheme, there is little value to inner reflection, time and space and silence to be alone with ourselves and alone with our personalized relationship with the Divine… Surrendered faith grants a deep self-awareness, and the pure realization of our duty-bound service to all living beings in the Mother Earth. If our needs and addictions are bound to us through time, and we to them, and there is no sight of separating us from them. It is my vision that we must seek to serve those needs and addictions with each other. If we continue to run to those that oppress us for our answers, we will be asking to be stuck in that wheel forever. Now is the time to just get on with it and never ask permission. Build your gardens of love, build your communities, communicate in person, in private and with hugs. Commune with your elders and value something sacred that you can hold as unshakable faith. Allow the sacred to be your polestar and mindful, informed, smart, conscious decision making will naturally follow in place. The world will likely be unrecognizable in the very near future, what will my daughter and future generations be walking or born into? It is our duty to support them now, mindfulness is not inaction or reaction, Mother Earth knows the way… we need to be clear and conscious enough to listen…
