Low Mental Footprint

Low Mental Footprint

One of today’s buzz-phrases among the environmentally conscious is “keeping a low carbon footprint,” which means being mindful of natural resources and using them wisely, i.e., minimally. This is definitely an important and laudable attitude, but what about keeping a low mental footprint?

THAT is a concept you won’t hear bandied about on the radio or TV, because nearly everyone in modern society thinks mentality is king. A recent CNN article lamented the view that American children are far behind those in other cultures in basic educational standards, and will not be able to compete on the world stage in coming years. Although this may in fact be true, the measure of intelligence should not merely be based on conceptual and theoretical parameters.


After all, the “smarter” the world has become, the more insanely destructive it has grown. In no other century than the last have so many people – hundreds of millions – been brutalized and murdered through the sophisticated use of man’s inventions, motivated by his perverse and immature character.

Schools may teach children to be clever, but they do not teach them to be wise. And wisdom, far more than cleverness, is what the people of earth need. Global survival depends upon it.

So what can we do? We can start by keeping a low mental footprint ourselves. This certainly does not mean to sit down with the family and watch “Dumb and Dumber” on television. Such celebrations of idiocy are merely the opposite polarity of a fixation on mentality as the overriding driver of human interaction and meaningfulness. They represent an understandable, but nevertheless useless, reaction to the culture of false intelligence that has dominated society for millennia.


Keeping a low mental footprint means to live from the heart, to allow the feeling nature to expand and navigate your daily pathways. This doesn’t lead to less awareness of detail in ordinary things, but to greater, to a more balanced perception of events in your sphere of activity.

Wisdom gained is wisdom shared, because the heart is able to communicate beyond form and concept, and spread its influence wordlessly.

Shall we work to save the planet? Then let us stop thinking so much.