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Escapism |
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Walking through an alley between two tall buildings in downtown Chicago, along a wall in the distance, I saw what seemed to be a skillfully crafted mural. Exited by my fascination with graffiti, I ran to get a closer look. But the nearer I got to it, the more I saw the talentless scribbles of a vandal. Written with a mean-streak marker and with simplicity was the word ESCAPISM. Disappointed after my high expectations and the unfamiliarity with the word, I walked away.
But as I thought about that word, it seemed the more I did the more I wanted to understand the meaning. Flipping through a dictionary, that day, I carefully began my study.
“Escapism: the tendency to escape from daily realities or routine by indulging in daydreaming, fantasy, or entertainment. An indication to retreat from unpleasant realities through diversion or fantasy” (2000 dictionary.com).
Reading those words, I began to understand the complexity of our human nature. Believing that we can find peace and solace in a make-believe world, an increasing number of people, young and old, are using artificial means to escape the reality of life and to seek comfort in an unreal world.
Escapism is often looked upon negatively in our society. Many people understand it as the inability to cope with or face the realities in our world. But escapism finds many different forms, from extreme sloth to the ultimate in healthy living to the devastation of heroin addiction. In its simplicity escapism is nothing more than offering an escape from our own consciousness by heightening the sense of self, giving to us a feeling of aliveness.
Life is becoming more and more complicated. Society is feeding our minds a lifestyle that is so contrary to what we live in, setting the standard of normality to a happy life. And just within reach we find almost every kind of escape including television, cinemas, fairs and circuses, or even worse, intoxicants such as narcotics, alcohol, and at times sex.
Even if one does not seek such worldly diversions, the alternative is often spiritual intoxication: going to a place of worship and mindlessly repeating prayers or performing ceremonies. Doing so may not seem as harmful as worldly distraction but for a time the mind remains engrossed in these diversions. Sooner or later the problems that lie concealed in its depth will again surface, and if force has been used to suppress the problem it will again erupt but with equal force. Diversion and suppression therefore do not eliminate the complications or the suffering, they may actually increase it. To many people escapism is the only way to survive. But ultimately escapism is escapism and beyond the fantasies, the colors, and the city lights, we find Escape.
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Bibliography:
all me baby
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