Reviving: How To Survive Really Hard Times (link to old thread)

greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread

I thought this was a good thread to revive at T-92 and counting.

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=0011Lt

How To Survive Really Hard Times

"It is my bizarre theory, Julie, that the people of your culture are destroying the world not because they're vicious or stupid, as Mother Culture teaches, but because they're terribly, terribly deprived -- of things that humans absolutely must have, simply cannot go on living without year after year and generation after generation. It's my bizarre theory that, given a choice between destroying the world and having the things they really, deeply want, they'll chose the latter. But before they can make that choice, they must see that choice.", 'My Ishmael', by Daniel Quinn

--She in the sheet upon the hilltop, singing the Uni-verse,...

-- Donna (moment@pacbell.net), September 30, 1999

Answers

Donna, Thanks for posting that quote from one of Daniel Quinn's brilliant works! Having read all his books and heard him talk several times, I can't help but wonder if y2k-caused chaos will be our impetus to go "beyond civilization" (title of his next book, due out in 2000 unfortunately). I fear, however, that even after the "end" we will retain our belief that what we have here is not only WORKING, but divinely intended. In order to prevent the whole thing running its course again, more of us must start to see our culture for what it is -- a crumbling, failed experiment that feebly attempted to replace thousands of sustainable cultures that had evolved over hundreds of thousands of years. For the uninitiated, a short lesson can be had by reading "Ishmael" or (better yet) Pages 239-325 in "The Story of B" by Daniel Quinn. Nora

-- Nora Lenz (nmlenz@sttl.uswest.net), September 30, 1999.

Nora, I just finished reading B. Quinn's works have had some discussion here in the last 16 months. I know that "Ishmael" is on Ed Yourdon's list of titles. I'd so like to see more threads, as some of us have written, about something better beyond. I have the same concerns about the number of humans still humming along with Mother Culture's song of "that's all there is, so don't even think it." I realized while reading B this week, that I have been becoming B for quite a few years now; feeling as Quinn has noted, that 'stranger in a strange land' feeling. I cannot be put back to what I was.

How good to find you here.

--She in the sheet upon the hilltop,...

-- Donna (moment@pacbell.net), September 30, 1999.


I was thinking about what a less-than-worst Y2K might look like and an interesting image came to mind: the Israeli west bank settlers. Maybe all of us interested in living through possibly hard times in potentially hostile country should take a look at what those folks have improvised over the years of the Palestinian Intifada.

WW

-- Wildweasel (vtmldm@epix.net), September 30, 1999.


Moderation questions? read the FAQ