I was just thinking today that one of the reasons that human society is on such shaky ground is that we really don’t care how much damage the current system does to the mental space of people.
Depending on who and how much you read, modern life is screwing us all up to a small or a large degree, making us all dependent, semi psychopathic, despondent and depressed. This is only taking into account those of us lucky enough to be in developed, western countries. For people in the third world, or currently suffering through war or extreme poverty i can only barely imagine the day to day stresses that it places on man, woman and child.
People broken inside are not going to be thinking for ways to turn the system around, to build a better world for their children and start caring for the physical space around them. No, they are most likely to be looking at ways to drown out the nagging voice inside them telling them they are wasting their lives, or consuming more and more to feel like they are winning a game of which there are only losers.
We have to realise that the total health of all of our personal mental realms is just as important and valid as the physical realm we all live in. To build a different system, one that we will need when this endless cycle of growth and consumerism has reached its limit (very soon) we need everyone to know the unlimited potential that we as humanity hold.