I recently saw the documentary movie I AM, written and directed by Tom Shadyac. This film explores questions about the neurobiology - the hard wiring - of the human brain and nervous system as it relates to violence, competition, cooperation and compassion, how the natural world functions regarding these qualities, as well as other questions pertaining to the development of human culture, economy, values, the good life, happiness, spirituality, and the state of the world. If this all sounds ponderous, I suppose it is, and yet the film manages to do all of this in very human terms, and with very personal and accessible meaning.
One of the interviewees in the film is Thom Hartman, a radio talk show host, former psychotherapist, progressive political thinker and author. Given my biases, I was especially able to relate to Thom's perception and language in identifying the view, among indigenous peoples, that behaviors such as the accumulation of more than one needs are a form of "mental illness". In the context of the film, and its examination of the rabid consumerism of contemporary developed society along with its implications and its consequences, this characterization makes a lot of sense.
Shadyac himself has become a reformed insane consumer, selling off his gargantuan accumulations - he had been an enormously successful director of mainstream box office smash hit comedy films - giving away much of his fortune, and pairing down his global and social footprint to include such things as moving into a mobile home park, and riding his bike to work. Here's a guy who is walking his talk.
So, we learn in the film that we are indeed hard wired for compassion and cooperation, and not, as we have all been taught to believe, for violence and greed and narrow self aggrandizement, and that Nature functions primarily according to these principles as well.
Oh, see the movie, and get a good idea of what mental and spiritual health consists of. Then do what you can to make the necessary changes in your life
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