Cities Are Human Zoos.

[Frogfucius]

I live in a city, and it definitely has its benefits. I have a cozy job and home, and there are lots of activities to do nearby. But damn, the more I do this spiritual journey, the more the city feels like a cage.

When I was a kid, I grew up in a more rural area. I would play outside in the trees, and right down the street was a lake. Something went wrong with my psyche when I became older, and yearned to live in the city where my family lived. Well, it happened when I became a teenager, and I haven't lived in a rural area since. In fact, I used to look down on possibly living in one, thinking it would be boring.

When I take a walk in a quiet field or forest, my mind instantly escapes itself from its mental issues and worries. My job, relationship, personal problems melt away. The sound of birds or humming insects just feels so right. The most therapeutic experience is becoming absorbed in nature, and is city folk are blind to it because the comfort of a concrete based society. It feels like I'm a caged animal - there's a vast, gorgeous world out there, but will I be fine leaving the comforts of my cage?

I like to take a walk near where I work - there's a small little path that has a lot of trees, and it's free from traffic and noise. At least, it used to be. They're tearing down the trees and creating businesses and parking lots. I notice more and more trees marked for destruction every day I walk the path. Soon, my beautiful path will be like any old sidewalk.

And probably worst of all, the night sky is polluted by artificial light. I can only see maybe four or five stars each night out of the year. Back in my rural area, I could see stars all across the night sky, and they were a beautiful thing. Living in an urban area does not even give a tiny glimpse of the wonderful universe we live in. Everything is short-sighted. Kids are left to play on concrete, and forbidden from going too far.

I yearn to someday disconnect from modern society. I want to live in a cabin in the woods. I know that enlightenment is possible anywhere, even an overcrowded city. Maybe especially an overcrowded city, where suffering is so intense. But what good is it if I can't appreciate the true nature of stillness? Nature is perfect and is without judgment or worries. Cities are factories of illusion.

Edited October 11, 2016 by Frogfucius

[ajasatya]

you can think like that. you can also think that the city is where human beings need help.

why don't you start a meditation group or something like that? a zen sangha, maybe?

if you want to do so, i can help you with that.

[jjer94]

38 minutes ago, Frogfucius said:

And probably worst of all, the night sky is polluted by artificial light.

Here's another perspective to chew on.

What you call "artificial," is really an artificial distinction. Everything could be considered "natural" because nature itself has spontaneously brought about the human race as it is. It is only the human mind that says something is "artificial" or "unnatural". Humans have thought themselves to be separate from nature with their civilizations and cities and such, but it is this very thinking process that is a spontaneous, perfect, natural unfolding. Thus, on a fundamental level, everything is perfect and flawless exactly as it is.

So to say that "the city feels like a cage" is likely a projection, reinforced by you saying that when you walk in nature your mind "escapes" from all your issues. It's as though when you walk in nature you look away from the mirror, and when you're in the city you look into the mirror and see all of your apparent problems. But even in nature, that mirror is still there; you're just looking away. In order to get rid of that mirror once and for all, you have to look into it and dive into your apparent problems. But what you seem to be doing is establishing this "City is a cage" belief (probably by listening to Leo ramble on about becoming a yogi) and using it as an excuse to avoid what you fear. A question you may want to ask yourself is: "What am I so afraid of?" Or maybe, "What am I running from?"

But what the heck do I know? It's your life.

Cheers.

[Frogfucius]

@jjer94 I know everything humanity does is natural and it's supposed to be that way. That doesn't mean inherent beauty in the psychological mind can't exist. Humans are naturally more drawn to pictures or paintings of a hilly pasture or rain forest than a city atmosphere. Humans are usually more depressed in overcrowded urban environments than habitats hardly touched by humans. Why? There's some truth to the calm beauty in nature, clean from major human influence.

I'm not running from anything. I'm seeing the beauty in stillness. There can be beauty in chaos too, sure, but I'm drawn to stillness. It's just my personal preference. I'm seeing the limitations of city life, when before I thought it was the best way to live.

Edited October 11, 2016 by Frogfucius

[Prabhaker]

2 hours ago, Frogfucius said:

Humans are naturally more drawn to pictures or paintings of a hilly pasture or rain forest than a city atmosphere. Humans are usually more depressed in overcrowded urban environments than habitats hardly touched by humans. Why?

You are the problem; Cabin in woods will not be of any help. It is not London that disturbs you or Paris or New York; it is You! And it is not that London has created you: you have created London. It is not the traffic and the noise and the mad rush: you have created this -- you and others like you. Look! The cause is within you. It is not that you are tense because of noise. The noise is there because you are tense, and you cannot live without it. That is why it is there. You need it, you cannot live without it. And in villages people are suffering. They want to come to Paris or to New York or to London.

So don't think that because of the modern life you are so much in anxiety. It is because of you, not because of modern life, and you will be in anxiety anywhere, in any type of civilization. Go to a village for a few days -- two or three days -- and you will feel good for a while because even diseases need readjustment. But within three days you will be adjusted to the village, and then anxieties will start coming, disturbances will be felt again. Now the causes will not be the same, but you are the same.

Life has always been so, modern or primitive. Tensions are there, anxieties are there. Objects change, but man remains the same. Two thousand years back you were driving a bullock cart; now you are driving a car -- but the driver remains the same. The bullock cart has changed -- things are different now, you are driving a car -- but the driver remains the same. He was anxious about his cart, tense about his cart; now you are tense and anxious about your car. Objects change, but the mind remains the same.

Always try first to find the cause within you. How can the artificial light disturb you? How? If you are against it, it will disturb. If you have the attitude that it disturbs, it will disturb. But if you accept it, if you allow it to happen without any reaction, then you may even start enjoying it. 

[Xpansion]

Im with you frog. The city is like a cancer on the land and we are the ones causing it. The sad part is that we are/have lost touch with nature. It's like we are disconnected from it. We think it's something to conquer, something to rape and pillage rather than something we are a part of.  I too have a strong urge to move into the wilderness. 

Cities are like mobile/cell phones. People have forgotten how to live without them. Forgotten that it was not long ago they did not even exist. Now they are iPhone zombie wage slaves wandering mindlessly in a concrete cage.

Edited October 11, 2016 by Xpansion

[Frogfucius]

I’ve reflected on this further. Prabhaker and jjer94 are correct, I am the problem, and I think I just feel butthurt from society’s conditioning. I never was content anywhere I’ve been, no matter the circumstances, and no matter how much I tried to convince myself I was happy. I was always focused on the future, and how things could be better. No matter what I have achieved, I have felt outcasted and disassociated from almost everyone, even if I never truly have been alone. I keep moving up and up society’s hierarchy of materialistic achievements, and yet I continue to feel more disconnected. Feeling more at peace with nature untouched by human hands is an escape. I’m running from the demon I have created. I think if I run away for a while, things will get better and I’ll be able to integrate back in normally. But even that is probably not true, because I’ve worked towards a better future my whole life, and it has never panned out how I wanted.

How do I correct my anger and feelings of hopelessness? Through more meditation and self-inquiry?

[cetus]

@FrogfuciusDon't squander valuable time while you have it for in the end it all happened in one blink of the eye.

 

[Xpansion]

5 hours ago, Frogfucius said:

I’ve reflected on this further. Prabhaker and jjer94 are correct, I am the problem, and I think I just feel butthurt from society’s conditioning. I never was content anywhere I’ve been, no matter the circumstances, and no matter how much I tried to convince myself I was happy. I was always focused on the future, and how things could be better. No matter what I have achieved, I have felt outcasted and disassociated from almost everyone, even if I never truly have been alone. I keep moving up and up society’s hierarchy of materialistic achievements, and yet I continue to feel more disconnected. Feeling more at peace with nature untouched by human hands is an escape. I’m running from the demon I have created. I think if I run away for a while, things will get better and I’ll be able to integrate back in normally. But even that is probably not true, because I’ve worked towards a better future my whole life, and it has never panned out how I wanted.

How do I correct my anger and feelings of hopelessness? Through more meditation and self-inquiry?

This may be true for you but it doesn't change the fact that cities are destructive polluting machines. Products of a disconnected capitalist throwaway society obsessed with the economy.  They are designed to disconnect and enslave people to keep them producing and consuming.  As soon as you can no longer produce ie the elderly, the disabled, the homeless, the mentally ill, you will be discarded like a worthless piece of trash. 

We must all take responsibility for our own lives and if we are unable to change a  situation we are unhappy in then we can change our minds and make the most of it. 'Wherever you go there you are' and 'it is what it is' but let's not deny the damage we are causing on this earth. We don't need to live in massive concrete megalopolis'   We have been funnelled and lured into them by the hope that we can make money to survive. I don't see any other reason for their existence.

 

Edited October 11, 2016 by Xpansion

[Deep]

@Frogfucius I think you're just experiencing symptoms of increased awareness and intuition. Don't judge what you're feeling as bad. Maybe your whole lifestyle might change in the near future. Follow your heart!