I’m not talking about the fun kind of trance where you dance freely around a room with a bunch of other interesting and fun people to good music and let yourself go! I’m referring to the kind of trance when someone is talking about the state of politics (because I’m from the U.S., we’ll say American politics) or the media coverage of news and politics etc. or just how you may be out shopping one day and find yourself buying something that you don’t even really want, much less need.  That kind of trance.  The lemming trance.  

Going back to college to finish up a degree many years from when I was 18 has been a real eye-opening experience for me.  There is so much information to be had from what we learn in class to just being in the cluster of students living their lives like I did many years ago.  So much to process!  Did you know that violence is used by Hollywood so much because it “travels” well which means that no matter what country and what language(s) is being spoken, most people understand violence.  That doesn’t mean to say that all countries like and accept violence though.  In fact, in Europe they are much more strict about violence on the screen but a also a lot more lax about sex than the U.S. Wonder if reducing violent movies and television shows in the U.S. could be as simple as us making it not as easy to travel across our country? Hmmmm.

Re-learned a concept called “Euro-centrism” which means that it sanitizes Western history while patronizing and even demonizing the non-West it thinks of itself in terms of its noblest achievements-science, progress, humanism–but of the non-West in terms of its deficiencies, real or imagined.

I suspect most countries have their own form of centrism but I can sure see my own country’s Eurocentrism when traveling abroad to other countries.  So what does that mean about us and our perspectives?  Are we just nothing but chunks of protein for the dazzling soup recipe that our advertisers and talking heads want us to soak in? 

If you were to sit back where you live and take a few minutes to look around what would your surroundings say about you? Mine probably says a lot!  And I feel good about what I surround myself with because it is all items and furniture that I really, really enjoy (not because I’m being influenced to buy it)!   Would I love do some re-designing and refurbishing of my home? Oh sure. Always seem to find something that needs fixing or changing, but I’m not changing something because I’m in a trance about how it “should” look.  Nothing more startling to me than to walk into somebody’s home which looks like the inside of a department store showroom.  No personality. Who is home anyway? Stepfordization must just be around the corner?!?!

Being in country-sized trance is something I’ve been pondering about lately. Because after all, if we are all really “connected” then I sure don’t want to find myself pulled off a cliff with the crowd!  Enjoy your life and how you show up in it today and let yourself be who you really are!