I could pull many quotes from this that are pertinent to recent thoughts but this;
« I’m sure she recognised me too, but chose to feign obliviousness, or perhaps genuine disinterest. »
is immovable…
I wonder (often) how many people I pass in a day the feign disinterest simply due lack of will to discuss something/anything that they and I have heard a thousand times before..?
Do we not know politeness, kindness, humility w to listen.? Even to those who we don’t find particularly magnetic..? Do we have to run with the aloofness if the masses and join in with the general ignorance and nonchalance ?
This is a failing and it’s becoming the norm. It makes me want to cry…
Is not every living person worthy of kindness at least…?
Another brilliantly written and provocative missive Jonathan - I hope it is read by many.
May your weekend be filled with friendly acknowledgment of humanness.
"Is not every living person worthy of kindness at least" Yes. 100% yes. It's hard in a society that demotes kindness and promotes cold-hearted competition, but yes I so agree.
This piece is also (partially) about the way class defines and constricts behaviours. Recently I've had to encounter many of the very privileged "winners" in society and I'm always struck how the further "up" you travel in social classes the more brutal and cold the heart becomes and the more restricted your option are. Society, it seems to me, is a reflection not of all of humanity, but of those with the power to shape it and it is tragically those people with the least capacity to create a safe and warm society. I think simple kindness and patience with each other are massively underrated in this machine of a society.
Anyway, I so appreciate your insightful and generous comments Susie, thanks so much. Genuinely, thanks :)
I agrée entirely, however, there is also a perverse leaning towards snobbery within the less privileged societies, likely caused by those who have everything they don’t and the envy it causes…
I will never understand either, I try not to harbour hatred but when one takes all into consideration, the brutality, absolutely, is evident and it is hard to retain neutrality. The reason, or one of them, I am happy to be isolated here on my hill. And in the end, that in itself is privileged too…
You once wrote before about your hill and being privileged and in a way I see what you mean, but I also think a human being finding solace in their natural habitat is a natural right, not a privilege, and why should you not claim that right from within this enforced lunacy in which we live? All power to you Susie for living close to and rejoicing in nature and sharing your fine writing. We are all privileged that you've claimed your right.
As for the rest of the madness swirling around, well, deep breaths, deep breaths ;)
“…we stood hand in hand gawping toward the far horizon, ever reliant on each other, and ever hungry.”
And this beauty;
“Are we not in fact all interdependent and overlapping? Each one of us a kaleidoscope of butterflies that perpetually flutter through one another, alighting upon each other, birthing dreams and memories and love, forever affecting and altering those we pass through, forever being altered by those who pass through us.”
Seems some glitch along the universal path changed everything. Was it technology? Maybe we’ve lost our humanity , the characteristics that define us as human. Losing the link that connects everything and everyone around us. Compassion. I can’t imagine a way to get it back. David Graeber, gone too soon. Probably our hope lies with him.
Compassion? Yep. seems to be a dwindling resource as the market boys say. When I write these things I find myself trying to weave together the massive and the tiny experiences that make up our experiences. And I've noticed that the larger the scale the worse the problems seem and the smaller the scale the more human we are. On a societal scale there is no compassion at all, but on an interpersonal scale we can, if we allow ourselves, be overwhelmed with kindness and compassion. On my scale of concern the world is a cold place, but on my scale of influence the world can be much more gentle and kind.
I’m not sure fascinating is the right word, but thank-you. Just trying to keep up😊.
Yeah, if we can individually effect change with kindness and compassion ,then I am up for the task. And more than happy to accept a little reciprocity if it comes my way.
Beautifully written, Jonathan! Here's my wonder, and its a question, too, I guess, because I don't honestly know the answer: do you think it's a matter of people not wanting to look too closely at themselves, lest they see what's inside and/or that people have been hurt so much, we have all put up tower walls around our hearts, out of protection for ourselves? I am honestly asking because, though I may be entirely wrong about this, I have slowly learned to trust others and am tearing my walls down and there isn't much I'm not afraid to talk about. I have a couple of friends, so maybe my personality scares people away...XO
Thanks so much for another poignant comment Danielle 🙏🏽
For me, I think both of your suggestions are true. People do protect themselves from pain and they find it difficult to look closely at themselves (broad brushes here but you know). I think we live in an increasingly harsh society where we are not offered dignity and respect for just being, but rather expected to prove our "worth" whilst being diminished and exploited.
There is so much inter-class, inter-group and interpersonal aggression (and exploitation) that the reactions you mention (which are both attempts to avoid struggle and pain I suppose) make perfect sense. Instead of diagnosing people, I feel more comfortable diagnosing society itself, which is extreme and incredibly affecting of peoples psychology and emotional state.
But I think what you are doing, being actively brave and open to trust and tearing down your walls, is the healthiest (and a noble) way to cope in a crazy society. And I suppose it's the only way to build trust too. But I guess it's worth thinking that when people hurt you by breaking your trust, forgiving them is easier if you accept that they too are suffering from our society's strange and cruel ways.
I honestly don't know the answers, Danielle, which is maybe why I enjoy writing so much I guess, because it's my way to think about and feel my way the complexity of life :)
I’m also struggle with numeracy so counting flaws is beyond me, describing them perhaps, although tending toward what lacks, is as you say not worth a graph, but definitely a belly laugh!
I'm with you all the way. The system we created is flawed. We are all flawed in one way or another. The real question is--and let's not drag life into this (although I do love the little poem you penned)--those of us who see this, can we change it?
Mmmm, the eternal question, how do we steer away from a certain fate when the wheel is firmly in the hands of the crazed?
I've grown, over the years, to favour witnessing and acceptance as a coping mechanism. After all, collapsing civilisations are a common occurrence since the Neolithic Revolution. Although, the current consequences will be on a planetary scale rather than just locally devastating, there's unfortunately nothing new in hierarchical exploitative systems eventually collapsing (at least the social and economic structures that define them).
The thing is that these systems are self perpetuating because they are always underpinned by symbolic values systems that face inward, toward human constructs, rather than facing outward (as once they did) that recognise the wholeness of the system. Which means collapse is inevitable.
So without tackling the ongoing values that have driven typical hierarchical human power/civilisation systems for, say, at least 3000 years, we will be looking toward a future of more of the same, although of course, a future that would be decoratively different.
So, how do "we" transition toward values that not only are sustainable for the planet, but also don't end in multi-crises or collapse?
(Can we even hope for revolution considering that revolution requires a vision of the future that's not born out of and embedded in the values of the past?)
I do not know. I think we will likely experience the same as previous civilisations, which is to continue toward our cycle of collapse, then experience a period of technological and social innovations that will lead to a renewal, so for a period of time it will appear that we have solved the previous problems that led to collapse.
But, if we can avoid extinction through loss of biodiversity and environmental devastation, then collapse might just be a matter of perspective. After all, previous collapses might well have destroyed the complexity of hierarchical systems of inequality (which they all are), but they didn't destroy the underlying human experiences and interaction of actual people in the long term. They just transformed the dominant structures that held the whole thing in place. Remembering that history is written by the powerful, these collapses are always described as complete disasters, but are they? And are the new social/economic hierarchical arrangements that follow actual improvements? Just in recent time scales, did Feudalism actually collapse or merely transform into Rentier Capitalism? Is Techno Feudalism emerging from Rentier Capitalism actually progress of any kind? (You can thank Yanis Varoufakis for that lovely turn of phrase :)
Graeber and Wengrow's book The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity is a brilliant way to raise your optimism levels through their clear understanding that human civilisations of the past that were socially fluid and flexible and seasonally changeable in their internal organisation were in fact much more common than we've been led to believe, and mch more sustainablein the long run, as long as they don't morph into the common inequality of power distribution that characterises "civilisations". And they might be a wonderful blueprint for the future. There's hope in those pages.
I'm sorry. I've been going on and on and haven't actually answered you question. But as usual, I don't have an answer, just lots of pondering and question of my own. I hope this isn't an annoying reply :)
I should have known when I asked the question--your response made my mind go spinning. I need to read the book, because honestly, from what you share on the matter I don't get a very optimistic feeling :)
I am no match to your writing, but I sure do love it.
In Gary Snyder's "In The Practice Of The Wild" and the 'Bioregional Perspectives' chapter I read something that could possibly be a solution or at least a possible way to make things better for us (as a community) and our relationship to this planet, but my original question still remains unanswered. What bugs me always is the how. How do we bypass/override/change the system?
So let me read Graeber and Wengrow's book. The truth is that I need something to hope for.
PS
The Surre(gion)alist Manifesto and Other Writings by Max Cafard may be of interest to you.
I could pull many quotes from this that are pertinent to recent thoughts but this;
« I’m sure she recognised me too, but chose to feign obliviousness, or perhaps genuine disinterest. »
is immovable…
I wonder (often) how many people I pass in a day the feign disinterest simply due lack of will to discuss something/anything that they and I have heard a thousand times before..?
Do we not know politeness, kindness, humility w to listen.? Even to those who we don’t find particularly magnetic..? Do we have to run with the aloofness if the masses and join in with the general ignorance and nonchalance ?
This is a failing and it’s becoming the norm. It makes me want to cry…
Is not every living person worthy of kindness at least…?
Another brilliantly written and provocative missive Jonathan - I hope it is read by many.
May your weekend be filled with friendly acknowledgment of humanness.
"Is not every living person worthy of kindness at least" Yes. 100% yes. It's hard in a society that demotes kindness and promotes cold-hearted competition, but yes I so agree.
This piece is also (partially) about the way class defines and constricts behaviours. Recently I've had to encounter many of the very privileged "winners" in society and I'm always struck how the further "up" you travel in social classes the more brutal and cold the heart becomes and the more restricted your option are. Society, it seems to me, is a reflection not of all of humanity, but of those with the power to shape it and it is tragically those people with the least capacity to create a safe and warm society. I think simple kindness and patience with each other are massively underrated in this machine of a society.
Anyway, I so appreciate your insightful and generous comments Susie, thanks so much. Genuinely, thanks :)
I agrée entirely, however, there is also a perverse leaning towards snobbery within the less privileged societies, likely caused by those who have everything they don’t and the envy it causes…
I will never understand either, I try not to harbour hatred but when one takes all into consideration, the brutality, absolutely, is evident and it is hard to retain neutrality. The reason, or one of them, I am happy to be isolated here on my hill. And in the end, that in itself is privileged too…
You once wrote before about your hill and being privileged and in a way I see what you mean, but I also think a human being finding solace in their natural habitat is a natural right, not a privilege, and why should you not claim that right from within this enforced lunacy in which we live? All power to you Susie for living close to and rejoicing in nature and sharing your fine writing. We are all privileged that you've claimed your right.
As for the rest of the madness swirling around, well, deep breaths, deep breaths ;)
I shall hold on to that thought..! And yes in the meantime breathe, in, out, in and out… without too many minds ;-)
I’m seeing this play out so clearly, great writing, love the Graeber quote, I’m going to try, how it could be??!!
I love that Graeber quote too. What a fabulous original thinker he was.
I love that you say you can see this playing out, sometimes, when writing I have a very cinematic scene running through my head. Thanks so much :)
Flipping trivialities and deadly serious things. Great observation. thanks for all of it.
Everything is inside out and outside in. My pleasure :)
“…we stood hand in hand gawping toward the far horizon, ever reliant on each other, and ever hungry.”
And this beauty;
“Are we not in fact all interdependent and overlapping? Each one of us a kaleidoscope of butterflies that perpetually flutter through one another, alighting upon each other, birthing dreams and memories and love, forever affecting and altering those we pass through, forever being altered by those who pass through us.”
Seems some glitch along the universal path changed everything. Was it technology? Maybe we’ve lost our humanity , the characteristics that define us as human. Losing the link that connects everything and everyone around us. Compassion. I can’t imagine a way to get it back. David Graeber, gone too soon. Probably our hope lies with him.
I’ll be thinking on this for a time.
Thanks Lor, fascinating as always.
Compassion? Yep. seems to be a dwindling resource as the market boys say. When I write these things I find myself trying to weave together the massive and the tiny experiences that make up our experiences. And I've noticed that the larger the scale the worse the problems seem and the smaller the scale the more human we are. On a societal scale there is no compassion at all, but on an interpersonal scale we can, if we allow ourselves, be overwhelmed with kindness and compassion. On my scale of concern the world is a cold place, but on my scale of influence the world can be much more gentle and kind.
But maybe this is just me on a good day 😂
I’m not sure fascinating is the right word, but thank-you. Just trying to keep up😊.
Yeah, if we can individually effect change with kindness and compassion ,then I am up for the task. And more than happy to accept a little reciprocity if it comes my way.
ditto :)
Beautifully written, Jonathan! Here's my wonder, and its a question, too, I guess, because I don't honestly know the answer: do you think it's a matter of people not wanting to look too closely at themselves, lest they see what's inside and/or that people have been hurt so much, we have all put up tower walls around our hearts, out of protection for ourselves? I am honestly asking because, though I may be entirely wrong about this, I have slowly learned to trust others and am tearing my walls down and there isn't much I'm not afraid to talk about. I have a couple of friends, so maybe my personality scares people away...XO
Thanks so much for another poignant comment Danielle 🙏🏽
For me, I think both of your suggestions are true. People do protect themselves from pain and they find it difficult to look closely at themselves (broad brushes here but you know). I think we live in an increasingly harsh society where we are not offered dignity and respect for just being, but rather expected to prove our "worth" whilst being diminished and exploited.
There is so much inter-class, inter-group and interpersonal aggression (and exploitation) that the reactions you mention (which are both attempts to avoid struggle and pain I suppose) make perfect sense. Instead of diagnosing people, I feel more comfortable diagnosing society itself, which is extreme and incredibly affecting of peoples psychology and emotional state.
But I think what you are doing, being actively brave and open to trust and tearing down your walls, is the healthiest (and a noble) way to cope in a crazy society. And I suppose it's the only way to build trust too. But I guess it's worth thinking that when people hurt you by breaking your trust, forgiving them is easier if you accept that they too are suffering from our society's strange and cruel ways.
I honestly don't know the answers, Danielle, which is maybe why I enjoy writing so much I guess, because it's my way to think about and feel my way the complexity of life :)
"The wrong beach" they landed on and the wrong turn we took somewhere. I wanna clap hands and cry at the same time.
Isn't a tear drenched applause
the perfect epitaph
for life?
Let's not be hasty to tight the gauze
around the rigid cenotaph
for life
will burst into a belly laugh
as we're counting each other's flaws.
I’m also struggle with numeracy so counting flaws is beyond me, describing them perhaps, although tending toward what lacks, is as you say not worth a graph, but definitely a belly laugh!
A small applause for the loosened gauze 🙏🏼
I'm with you all the way. The system we created is flawed. We are all flawed in one way or another. The real question is--and let's not drag life into this (although I do love the little poem you penned)--those of us who see this, can we change it?
Mmmm, the eternal question, how do we steer away from a certain fate when the wheel is firmly in the hands of the crazed?
I've grown, over the years, to favour witnessing and acceptance as a coping mechanism. After all, collapsing civilisations are a common occurrence since the Neolithic Revolution. Although, the current consequences will be on a planetary scale rather than just locally devastating, there's unfortunately nothing new in hierarchical exploitative systems eventually collapsing (at least the social and economic structures that define them).
The thing is that these systems are self perpetuating because they are always underpinned by symbolic values systems that face inward, toward human constructs, rather than facing outward (as once they did) that recognise the wholeness of the system. Which means collapse is inevitable.
So without tackling the ongoing values that have driven typical hierarchical human power/civilisation systems for, say, at least 3000 years, we will be looking toward a future of more of the same, although of course, a future that would be decoratively different.
So, how do "we" transition toward values that not only are sustainable for the planet, but also don't end in multi-crises or collapse?
(Can we even hope for revolution considering that revolution requires a vision of the future that's not born out of and embedded in the values of the past?)
I do not know. I think we will likely experience the same as previous civilisations, which is to continue toward our cycle of collapse, then experience a period of technological and social innovations that will lead to a renewal, so for a period of time it will appear that we have solved the previous problems that led to collapse.
But, if we can avoid extinction through loss of biodiversity and environmental devastation, then collapse might just be a matter of perspective. After all, previous collapses might well have destroyed the complexity of hierarchical systems of inequality (which they all are), but they didn't destroy the underlying human experiences and interaction of actual people in the long term. They just transformed the dominant structures that held the whole thing in place. Remembering that history is written by the powerful, these collapses are always described as complete disasters, but are they? And are the new social/economic hierarchical arrangements that follow actual improvements? Just in recent time scales, did Feudalism actually collapse or merely transform into Rentier Capitalism? Is Techno Feudalism emerging from Rentier Capitalism actually progress of any kind? (You can thank Yanis Varoufakis for that lovely turn of phrase :)
Graeber and Wengrow's book The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity is a brilliant way to raise your optimism levels through their clear understanding that human civilisations of the past that were socially fluid and flexible and seasonally changeable in their internal organisation were in fact much more common than we've been led to believe, and mch more sustainablein the long run, as long as they don't morph into the common inequality of power distribution that characterises "civilisations". And they might be a wonderful blueprint for the future. There's hope in those pages.
I'm sorry. I've been going on and on and haven't actually answered you question. But as usual, I don't have an answer, just lots of pondering and question of my own. I hope this isn't an annoying reply :)
I should have known when I asked the question--your response made my mind go spinning. I need to read the book, because honestly, from what you share on the matter I don't get a very optimistic feeling :)
I am no match to your writing, but I sure do love it.
In Gary Snyder's "In The Practice Of The Wild" and the 'Bioregional Perspectives' chapter I read something that could possibly be a solution or at least a possible way to make things better for us (as a community) and our relationship to this planet, but my original question still remains unanswered. What bugs me always is the how. How do we bypass/override/change the system?
So let me read Graeber and Wengrow's book. The truth is that I need something to hope for.
PS
The Surre(gion)alist Manifesto and Other Writings by Max Cafard may be of interest to you.
Marvellous
I hear that kind timbre in your voice my friend :) Thank you