Robotic efficiency is raping your soul.
The world has become dangerously obsessed with productivity and computer-like efficiency. It’s normal to forget to eat. To breath. To sleep. The problem is, humans are meant to eat, and breathe, and sleep … and laugh, and play, and make mistakes. Machines don’t do any of those things. They are objects. They are made to be sold, bought, used, and replaced.
Lessons on humanity from Boko Haram
Last night I read a CNN article about Boko Haram kidnapping more than 200 Nigerian girls.The chilling headline of the article says it all:
‘I will sell them,’ Boko Haram leader says of kidnapped Nigerian girls
The article goes on to quote the Boko Haram leader as saying, “There is a market for selling humans. Allah says I should sell. He commands me to sell. I will sell women. I sell women.”
His words are sickening, to say the least. Humans are not factory-made commodities. They are not meant to be sold on the open market. Anyone with even a thread of moral fiber would agree with that.
Are you for sale?
And, yet, many of us have put ourselves up for sale. We’re holding up an invisible sign that says:
“For sale by owner – will work with computer-like efficiency at the expense of my own happiness and wellbeing. Now accepting American Express.”
We are working harder, smarter and faster for the profit of everyone but ourselves. The idea of living life on our own terms is a radical concept. We are lead to believe that only freaks and misfits would choose a life that looks different than the norm.
But life can’t be color-coded and tucked neatly into a three-ring binder. Sorry. Authentic living is messy. It spills over the edges, colors outside the lines and delights in shades of grey (all 50 of them).
What makes you beautiful
Move into yourself. Move into your human unsuccess. Perfection rapes the soul.” — Marion Woodman
Living a life that is true to ourselves makes us more valuable than anything Humans R Us can manufacture. It is our way of telling the world, “I’m not for sale. I do not belong to you. I belong to myself.”
You see, the trend toward mechanical efficiency overlooks the simple fact that flaws are beautiful. They are what make us human.
Japanese mended ceramics perfectly illustrate the value of imperfection. Broken stoneware is repaired with golden lacquer. Thus, flaws are highlighted and celebrated, instead of hidden.
How to break free
The rigidity of a robotic life threatens to suffocate your soul. Don’t let it. Allow your true self to stretch beyond the limits of the status quo. Be unapologetically authentic. See your flaws as golden threads that bind together the shimmering pieces of your humanity.
Take down your For Sale sign.