Dr. Bernard Furshpan

 

by Bernie Furshpan. (Article #2 in the Series)

 

All day, you think about the things that you want to have or things you want to avoid, which you believe will improve the quality of your life.  These things can include a wide variety of real and virtual things, such as culinary delights, vacations, relationships, financial success, and so on.  You realized, a long time ago, that in order to experience all of these wonderful things that bring you a sense of happiness and security, you must first jump through hoops and find your way through a maze of activities just to get to what and where you want.  You’ve grown accustomed to getting past many daily security measures, as well as shielding and protecting yourself and the things you own just to keep adding to your experiences.  Let me explain.

In order to go on a vacation, you have to login to your computer or mobile device with a username and password.  You then need to set up an account on a travel website using more passwords and pin numbers.  Then of course there are the ticket and hotel reservations, using your credit card’s CVV code, pin, personal info and confirmation emails.  At the airport, you’ll need to get past security checks, present various proofs of ID, and go through X-rays and pat-downs.  Almost every activity in your daily life requires you to use keys and combinations to lock and unlock doors and gateways, security codes and pins, purchase fraud protection and liability insurance, seek legal counseling, turn on alarms, subscribe to scam alerts, set up security cameras, buy pets for protection, take self-defense classes and go through a number of security measures to protect yourself from others, and others from you.

You would think that as a “team,” the human race would be more concerned about smaller and larger natural threats, such as microbes, beasts, tornados and meteor showers.  However, the more daunting efforts in protecting yourself are the protection, safety and security from other human beings.  Ladies and Gents, it’s boiled down to this — we have to protect ourselves from one another.  This realization is one of many that establish disillusionment of humanity.  And though I’d love to trust all of you with my assets, I’ve been hardened, as all of you have, to watch my “things.”  It seems that as long as civilization and technology advances, there will always be more things to have and to hold, and the more things there are to desire, the greater the anxiety that you’re missing out on something. This creates a cloud of fear, and based on reality, that others will steal from you what they can’t have.  Certain security-type products use fear-mongering advertisements that are making you more cynical and distrusting of others… and it’s all because of the “stuff” that you and I desire.

In conclusion, what you fear most are not natural threats, but other people.  For thousands of years, people huddled around fires and worked as a team to protect and destroy outside threats.  Nowadays, threats come from within the team and we’ve become more isolated from one another as we’ve created a virtual bubble around each of us.  The Internet is a perfect example of this virtual bubble.  The average person feels safe to express their opinions and to be outspoken, much more than they would in a real social setting.  It’s a false sense of security and in order to move into this virtual iron-clad bomb shelter, you have to login with a username, password, pin, etc.

My point to my readers — don’t lose hope in humanity.  Do what you need to do to feel safe, but be careful about wanting more “stuff,” because the more you have, the more you’ll need to protect.  More stuff equals more insecurities, which drives you further into isolation.  Free yourself of attachments, a little at a time and you’ll actually feel more at ease with life.  Yes you work hard for your things, so keep it balanced with some relaxed time with those in your “team” that you love and willing to share your stuff with.