two australian stories

aussies try to make sense of life

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making time for what's important

Susan and Brad were IT and design professionals in Sydney before they became dissatisfied with the pace of life in the big city, and the way they felt disconnected from other people. "We started getting dissatisfied with the unconnectedness of people in the big city. It creeps into your life in every respect. You have very few friends - they are all mainly business acquaintances and we were very disillusioned about that."

So they quit their frenetic eastern suburbs lifestyle for the slower pace of a 6 hectare property on the far north coast of NSW. They bought a six hectare property of partly regenerated rainforest and now have a hectare of land under commercial cultivation.  Since moving, they have found their slower pace of life allows them to relax a lot more, and spend more time with people. Income is lower, but so are living costs. But as they develop an organic food business, the potential to put themselves under pressure arises. "You feel the pace creeping in again. You have to make a concerted effort to pull in the reins."

emptiness and fulfilment

Mel Gibson has been one of Australia's most successful Hollywood actors. But in his mid 30s, even though he was an Oscar-winning director, wealthy beyond his wildest dreams and a celebrity, he was crippled by a deep emptiness that led him into deep despair. "I got to a very desperate place ... very desperate. When you get to that point where you don't want to live and you don't want to die - it's a desperate, horrible place to be. And I just hit my knees. And I had to use the passion of Christ and [his] wounds to heal my wounds. And I've been meditating on it for 12 years."

Out of that experience and meditation came the successful film, The Passion of the Christ. Sociologist John Carroll says of the popularity of this film: "That there is a crisis of meaning in Western Societies is not new - expressed by individuals dissatisfied with me-me-me consumerism, in desperate need of something higher in which to believe, that might give shape and direction to their lives. ...... What is startling is the return to Western culture's main sacred site, where its once commanding teacher and exemplar was killed."

This was written well before Mel's more recent and much-publicised arrest for drink driving and ugly anti-semitism. I decided to retain the example because it still illustrates something of human nature and happiness.

Original stories: Susan & Brad  Mel Gibson

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