If you place a frog in a pot of boiling water, it will immediately try to jump out.
Yet, if you place a frog in room temperature water, and gradually turn up the temperature, something very interesting occurs: instead of jumping out, the frog will show every sign of enjoying himself. As the temperature gradually increases, the frog becomes groggier and groggier, until he is unable to climb out of the pot — though there is nothing restraining him.
At times, it feels like our culture is in a similar pot. The temperature gradually increasing, both literally and figuratively. Yet, we continue to sit here, as if nothing were happening.
Why does this happen?
A frog’s internal apparatus for sensing threats to survival is geared toward sudden and drastic changes in its environment. Our culture is influenced by a similar system. The primary threats to our survival come not from sudden events but from slow, gradual processes: the arms race, environmental decay, the erosion of public education, inequality, chronic health ailments.
Yet we sit in the pot and act as if these things aren’t occurring.
This is driven by our fixation on events. We get distracted by the “news” — things that are short-term in nature. This is largely a result of our evolutionary programming. In our caveman days, it wasn’t vital for our survival to contemplate the cosmos. It was more important to see the saber-toothed tiger over our left shoulder and react quickly.
However, our paradigm has shifted. Today, contemplating the cosmos — our impact on the environment, inequality, access to health care — is vital to the survival of our culture.
Focusing on events and solving the problems of the day is easy and gives us the illusion of feeling accomplished. However, it is just that — an illusion.
To create the world we want to live in will take a long-term perspective. We must learn to slow down. Step back from our social media activity and the news of the day. Start paying attention to the subtle as well as the dramatic.
The path is harder but the rewards are real.