One Planet, Many Worlds

Here’s the thing. You may think that our planet is dying. You may think that the oceans are full of plastic, species are starving, and Climate Change is making life impossible. You may also think that war in Ukraine and Palestine is causing fear and pain that should have been banished in the 20th century.

But young actors and actresses are still vying for roles on TV series. Producers are still looking for the next hot show, and sponsors are still looking to connect their marketing to those shows — an industry which has remained unchanged in those regards since Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz had the idea in the 1940s. The only changes have been in technology, and its ability to deliver product.

NASCAR is still drawing fans and drivers from all over the world. It has expanded to include the latest electric vehicles. But the big engines and loud exhausts are still as popular as when good ol’ boys used to outrun the revenuers. And do you want to talk about Monster Trucks?

Football and Baseball fans are still as loyal as we were to Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle and Joe Montana. That’s not going anywhere. And it’s been joined by soccer and hockey, tennis and golf. And the men’s teams have been expanded by the women’s.

In fact, we may all share one planet but we live in many different worlds. Many different dimensions of reality. Whatever industry you may work in — or desire to work in — is a separate reality from your neighbor’s area of business. You only touch at the edges!

It may be that it’s only in gigantic entities like the Military where a person can get a bird’s eye view of the whole picture, seeing how all these industries interconnect all over the planet. Even so, it’s only those at the top who would have that view. Each member of the rank-and-file will be focused on his or her own little section.

And maybe that’s the secret to happiness. Maybe contentment escapes us because we care too much about the big picture; we agonize over problems so massive that they are out of our control.

Maybe human beings are designed to be autonomous units functioning in a limited space!

I wonder how many people remember the Leonard Bernstein operetta titled Candide, based on the 1750 novella by the French philosopher Voltaire. After a lifetime of adventure and angst, the surviving characters finally settle down to tend their own home gardens. And that is where they eventually find peace.

Voltaire never says the world is perfect. He does not claim that we will never sicken and die. He doesn’t pretend that every year of our life will be easy.

He just says that if we want to find contentment for a little while, maybe we should do our best to tend our own little garden.

It isn’t that we don’t care about the world! It’s that world Dharma begins with personal Dharma.

A human, not an AI text generator, wrote this story. (More Info)