How much do we let in to our lives every day that is more than we need - to the point of creating more harm than benefit?
Naval brilliantly illustrates the "Modern Struggle" in the podcast episode with Joe Rogan that "Modern diseases are diseases of abundance".
I had seen this video before and it resonated deeply as I am sure it does for anyone who watches it but it's one thing for a message to resonate and something entirely different for Transformation to occur. I am revisiting this notion today after an AHA moment making some tea this morning.
Nature provides pure essence of things and if we can access this essence in that which we consume we need not over compensate.
Tea is made by taking the raw material (the plant) repurposing the material (drying the leaves or petals), and finally there is a consumption (straining the tea leaves into hot water to drink).
What does Tea have to do with over abundance? Well it is a wonderful example of something that has a limited effect on an individual. There IS an overabundance of tea sure (in the sense you can buy boxes or cans or even go pick your own)... but the reason that it does no harm is that it's very simple to regulate consumption. Tea has preserved it's essence in consumption. You drink too much you have take bathroom breaks more times than you'd prefer... it stimulates the body and has minimal stimulation on the mind. Chances are you will not get so consumed by the tea that you drink non-stop reusing it and straining it out until there isn't a hint of flavour or colour left in it at which point you just eat the leaves before getting a new teabag or trying a new flavour... you don't because you're body is quickly satiated and there is no more pleasure to be gained from more. Making tea beautifully strains out the essence of the raw material with a naturally proportioned effect and no craving for limitless consumption. You get just what you need and are not trapped in the disease of over abundance.
Compared with something that stimulates the mind primarily vs the body such as movies, tv and social media... there is a similar process where the raw material is repurposed to provide something that can be consumed. Like a vision or personal expression or intent that is shared through a medium to a consumer who upon consuming it gets a different sort of pleasure, one that we try to sustain through more of the same... more movies, more tv, more social media... the effect on the mind is so complex and nuanced that weeks may pass before we realize how much time we've wasted or how disconnected we have become from the natural essence behind the original consumption. We feed the mind that has an enormous appetite and an incredible resiliency to becoming satiated. The trouble is... when(or more accurately IF) it does become satiated then the conditions for such a satiation are often an exhaustion in keeping up the pleasure chase.
This is promising. For once one has become exhausted with the distilled and overabundant stimulation... the question naturally arises... what is the essence in all that I seek and consume... and the process of removing destructive habits can begin to eventually reveal lasting nourishment.
In everything that one consumes... through hearing, seeing, reading, interacting with, eating, playing, learning etc. what is the essence - what is natures nectar that we were looking for, are we compensating with over consumption or have we accessed what satiates us.
It's time for an evening tea.
