In 1911, John Scott Haldane posited an idea to prevent coal miners in Britain from dying from the odorless gas carbon monoxide.

He suggested that miners carry caged canaries down into the tunnels

with them. Canaries are particularly vulnerable to airborne poisons. If the animal became ill or died,

that would give miners an opportunity to evacuate. The idiom canary in a coal mine is now popularly used to denote someone

or something that is an early warning of danger.

Welcome to Commune, a global wellness community and online course platform featuring some of the world's greatest teachers.

We are on a mission to inspire, heal, pass down wisdom, and bring the world closer together.

This is the Commune podcast, where each week we explore the ideas and practices that help

us live this healthy, connected, and purpose-filled life.

So since about the third week of quarantine, I've been obsessively thinking and writing

about the erosion of social cohesion and the continuing efflorescence of

sociopolitical polarization. And even if you don't contemplate these subjects, they are hard to avoid.

Just open your Facebook app and it will take you about 10 seconds to get swept away by the invective.

NVIDious all-cap screaming matches about mask wearing or hydroxychloroquine.

This should not be confused with public debate.

These are private acts happening in public,

solving nothing except to further our atomization

and fealty to our political identities.

And we have myriad salient societal problems, the starkest currently being COVID and racial justice

and potentially the most existential being global warming and rising authoritarianism.

And there are countless other interrelated issues jabbing us on the nose,

including but not limited to, income inequality, chronic disease and poor nutrition,

...