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On the route to visit our horses, there is a pretty little stream we cross over. About a month ago, a beaver decided to do a little upgrade, and soon the stream had turned into a small pond. The work was quietly done by the forty-five pound rodent, such that one day we were driving along and there it was – a new pond on the landscape.

Fast forward to yesterday. As we approached the stream, we saw that the road was blocked. A huge truck was parked on the side, and a neon-coated man stood next to the hulking mass of a 10-ton backhoe. Traffic was stopped on both sides of the stream, as the massive machine belched smoke and moved about on its tank treads, trying to undo the work of the little brown furry dam-builder.

It struck us as odd that we human beings choose to use our resources that way. Beaver dams are well constructed. But do we really need such enormous machines to open one up? Perhaps it’s only a matter of advancing our technology. Where before we had to use massive rockets to thrust heavy spaceships out of our atmosphere, we may soon be sliding up space elevators with much less effort and noise.

Or is it more a matter of our view of nature? If our worldview sees ‘progress’ as our ability to mold nature to our wills, it only makes sense to crush and re-form as much of the world as possible.

Perhaps the question is one of progress. For instance, have we made progress in medicine? Most people would undoubtedly say ‘yes’. But is living longer a good thing? If we enjoyed every moment, certainly so! But for many of us, our long lives are just an excuse to use more of those years preparing for a ‘future’ which never comes. After all, 60 is the new 40, right?

It all depends on what we consider to be important in life. Are more years important, or is the ability to enjoy those years important?

What about architecture? Do we consider skyscrapers to be an improvement over yurts? Perhaps we do. Or perhaps we acknowledge that if everyone lived in yurts (if you want to live in one, here’s where to get one), we might have developed very differently in our social and family structures. Who knows?

Do our computers enrich our lives, or clog them? Do our microwaves improve our relationship with food? Are cars better than horses or feet or bicycles?

If we want to maintain our current state of affairs, cars are certainly ‘better’. But is the current state of affairs making you happy? We have the convenience of cars and sprawling homes (even if you live in an apartment, your home is probably pretty sprawling compared to a yurt). But we also go to work each day to maintain our home and our car and our cell phones and cable TV and internet access.

I really can’t say what’s better or worse. But at least we can develop an awareness of what it is we’re working so hard to support all our lives. Instead of just buying into the cultural idea of what ‘progress’ is, become a free thinker and see if you can decide, for yourself, what constitutes progress in your life. This, of course, takes a high level of awareness, because you’ve been programmed with a set of stock answers to that question. But what do YOU think? If you think that more money equals progress, take a really good look at that statement. We like to imagine that if we had more money, we’d spend our time on the beach in Acapulco. But for most of us, the truth is that we’d quickly adapt our spending to our income, and would be working and worrying just as hard if we were making a million a year as we were when we were making $40,000 a year.

If you’re honest with yourself about your ideas of progress, you could actually find yourself immensely happier next year. But if you spend your life chasing the goals of our culture (which are basically more, more, and more), you’re going to find yourself striving just as hard a year from now.

Take a good look, and decide for yourself.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 13th, 2006 at 8:35 pm and is filed under Quick Thoughts. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will be queued for moderation and posted as quickly as possible.