This is the most pivotal time in human history.
I know every generation always thinks that. However, I do think in this case it might actually be true, and here’s why.
For the first time ever, what so much of humanity has long been striving toward technologically is coming to fruition.
The mission has largely been accomplished.
We now have instant access to choose what we want when we want it.
This has been the utopian goal of the technological progress we’ve been moving toward as long as I’ve been alive.
I call it: The Great Optionality.
We’re now living in a time in human history where the average person right now can:
Get any question that’s ever existed answered instantly
Watch any movie or TV show that’s ever been made
Listen to any song that’s ever been recorded
Talk to, or text, anyone who desires to communicate with you, anywhere, anytime
Read any book or article that’s ever been published
Watch any online video that’s ever been made
Watch any live or recorded sporting event
Play any video game that’s ever existed
Watch any kind of pornography that’s ever existed
Listen to any podcast that’s ever been recorded
Have whatever food you want delivered directly to your home
Have any physical object in the world delivered to your house within two days
And yet, while this is now all available to anyone with Wi-Fi or cell access, something surprising has happened.
As the era of great optionality has dawned upon us, it has actually not increased happiness, fulfillment, or well-being as promised.
In fact, study after study shows people are concurrently now:
More depressed
More anxious and worried
More confused
More lost
More suicidal
More mentally ill
More divided
Than before.
That’s not even to mention the skyrocketing levels of:
Obesity
Disease
And collapse in physical well-being
The era of instant access has not brought the utopian peace, joy, and contentment that was dreamed of.
But why?
Amazingly, I’ve noticed most of the most joyful moments in my life have not come from wanting to choose something different. They’ve come from being fully present with what is.
They’ve come through learning to love and embrace this simple moment.
I’ve also observed this truth in the coaching clients I’ve worked with and surrounding friends and family.
The core question in regard to well-being is not:
What else could we choose to be experiencing right now besides this?
It is:
How do we more fully receive the full wonder, appreciation, and gratitude for what’s already here and freely available to us?
Perhaps technological progress had to give us what we thought we wanted so we could then discover something deeper.
Well-being comes not through other options, but actually through an internal transformation in how we relate to what IS here and now.
What’s next?
Maybe The Great Optionality becomes a major stepping stone in the evolutionary journey of humanity. A lesson learned.
I’m not naive enough anymore to think all of humanity is about to suddenly awaken to unitive consciousness together.
I think much of humanity will continue heading down a very dark road of desolation and despair, searching for more and more options to escape themselves.
However, I do think people are going to be astonished by what’s about to happen. In fact, it’s already begun happening over the last few years. Have you noticed?
You’re seeing huge masses of people (often the ones you least expect) rediscovering the wisdom and truths in the structures of traditional religion, reconnecting to spiritual practices, and seeking to more deeply know our Creator and our divine purpose.
You’re seeing more people return to making human relationships a priority, embracing family values, and reconnecting to the land.
I think the very unnecessary and harmful, multi-hundred-year war between science and religion will begin to mend as they find their symbiosis together.
I think you’re going to see an integration of the best of science, psychology, and religion working in partnership toward learning what truly brings a human being joy, fulfillment, and well-being.
For what is true science but the observation and study of God’s laws of creation, reflected in every star, tree, and ocean?
What is true psychology but the observation and study of our minds that have been humbly made in God’s image?
And what is true religion but the genuine quest to know who we truly are, why we’re truly here, and how to truly live our lives in divine purpose and fulfillment while journeying in shared fellowship?
This is a movement I’m personally passionate about being at the forefront of.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with having more choices. The more choices we have, the more possibilities we have as to what we can create together.
Yet continually increasing the amount of options alone will most certainly never provide the happiness or fulfillment we seek.
Perhaps we’ve been given the clear opportunity now to discover what the great sages and saints have always known:
The greatest freedom, and deepest love, is not in having more options.
It’s in having no choice at all.
The only option a saint wants is to fully and joyfully surrender to God’s eternal surprises.
— Brian Piergrossi
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Where do you think we are right now culturally?
Where do you see society going from here?
How is your own life currently being challenged, or benefitting, from modern technology ?
Where do you see your own individual life going from here? What intentions are you committed to?
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