Search for Shangri-LA

It can seem easy to get bogged down in the apparent abundance of negativity of life which we can discover on the news, on the internet and even in day to day living. I think it would be foolish to bury our heads in the sand and pretend not to see much of it, not only would this be extremely ignorant but also it makes it very difficult to come up with solutions to the problems that exist in our world. Furthermore, it is also insulting to the people certain issues effect, if we refuse to acknowledge the struggle they endure. With this in mind, it is necessary for news channels and media outlets to inform everyone about disasters and horrors across the globe because much of the time it will require an effort from a large amount of the world’s population to reach a solution. With a global population of over 7 billion people, it should not be surprising to us that many terrible things happen on a daily basis; as do so many wonderful things. A real issue for us is that often it is the negative things which are deemed important for us to know, as an atmosphere of austerity and fear is created by the powers that be. The scale at which this is done can be debated but I personally don’t buy into the idea of an illuminati or some other small secret society controlling everybody else. However, we can all see how powerful moguls have influence in a variety of areas and self education is a potent weapon against this. Discovering the truths of the world for ourselves is no easy task, as the misinformation out there is vast but a rejection of blind faith and a vigorous personal aspiration to be not be deceived sets us free from the lies and fearmongering. To be overwhelmed by the knowledge of wickedness in the world can be the easy option, to accept that things will always be how they are because it seems a herculean effort to make the smallest change. The burden to appreciate beauty and positives in the world rests on our own shoulders and in all of us lies the power to make real change in the world simply by rejecting the notion that we are merely a small cog that has no control over the system it is a part of. On top of this, if one was to decide that they can discover no more meaning in life than to enjoy it, we must be aware of the filtration and censorship of the information we receive. We must know that the world presented to us by the news, media and politicians comes through a specific lens. Imagine how differently we would all see the world if we lived a few minutes of the day in each corner of the world, from the perspective of a billionaire in the UAE to a starving child in Africa to a woman in Saudi Arabia to a British teenager at high school. Just imagine the variety in experience of a few hundred kids in any given school year, the highs and lows they experience could be so different day to day that to make a broad judgement on the experience of one child on a random day would be hugely inaccurate. If we apply this logic to the global populace, we can start to comprehend just how difficult it is for any of us to really understand the variety of the human experience. There database is enormous, so why are do we allow ourselves to be drawn towards and consumed by the negative? For me personally, watching something like a silly 2-minute video of a dog and an elephant that have become best friends can be a pleasant reminder of the sporadic and strange sources of happiness in the world which occur far more frequently than we would imagine in a time when we are constantly bombarded with horrific information about terrorist attacks and brutal political regimes. These things are undeniably important and effect many people but to let these examples of the worst cases of human nature dominate our view of the world is to allow ourselves to be deceived. Remember the things of beauty we experience on a daily basis, there is an endless supply of daily occurrences which pleasure can be found in, just because it may not be worthy of a front page headline and won’t pull in ratings for a news channel, does not mean we cannot enjoy it any less.