I hate jobs/careers with a burning, goddamn passion. In fact, I could claim that my life’s goal is to not have one of these things, and that every career maneuver I’ve ever performed has been with the goal of reducing the amount of people I’m required to take shit from. It’s amazing how high you can climb out of sheer annoyance.
The modern job is a complete abomination to humanity and has absolutely nothing to do with life’s work or purpose. Now, if you love your job, I am very happy for you, but I’m thinking that you may have a fair amount of cognitive dissonance happening — which is lucky. It’s hard to imagine a human being designing anything that I’ve ever seen termed “a job.” I believe it’s an unnatural act to wake up, go somewhere you don’t live at a time somebody tells you to be there, work on long series of tasks for 8-22 hours, then go back to where you live. Here’s a quick test:
- If somebody tells you when to eat lunch, you are not a free person.
- If you do something called, “vacation,” you are not a free person.
- If this “vacation” must be scheduled far in advance, you are not a free person.
- If you’ve ever wanted to walk away from the giver of money (called “job”) but didn’t, you are not a free person.
- If you are the “boss” but really — have a boss, you are not a free person.
Dont’ worry. I’m right in there too.
Whenever I meet somebody who claims to “looooove my job” I’m both skeptical and jealous. I’m skeptical because I think you may have realized a way to deal with the prospect of doing the same or similar shit for 40 or 50 years then dying. I’m jealous because I think you may have realized a way to deal with the prospect of doing the same or similar shit for 40 or 50 years then dying.
This is a similar reaction to people I meet who have found God. “But… but, I have Faith.” Oh, really? To me this type of leap is both incredibly awesome and incredibly naive. I am both skeptical and jealous, but I don’t dare scratch too hard at a person’s religion whether it be a Christianity or Corporationianity because I hate seeing people’s firm beliefs crumple in a fire. Anybody else see a Sunday/Monday connection? Anybody else think it’s convenient that an afterlife exists for people who are obedient and have Faith?
It’s going to be hard to convince me that jobs are meaningful regardless of what you do. It’s going to be equally difficult to convince me that God or an afterlife exist. I have spent so many years asking people about their jobs and their religion (I guess that’s considered impolite) and digging into the discomfort level, but I have never heard an adequate explanation. Inevitably people who are ready to defend their decisions (as we all are occasionally) will tell me they like their job because, “they get to help people.” Hee hee! I love it. Let’s examine these people we’re “helping” verses the people we should be helping…
- When you spend the VAST majority of your time and energy helping people who generally don’t really care if you live or die (I said, generally) are you really helpful?
- When the most important people in your life (assuming friends, family, and tribe) head to their respective institutional events everyday, how much are you really helping them? Is helping them paying for them to get some more of those jobs (think: school) in the long run?
- When the goal of nearly every job is to retire, can this really be considered your life’s work? Should it be? Isn’t retirement sort of a release from a type of sentencing? Isn’t corporate retirement like an afterlife? And, who is most excited that you’re retiring? I’ve been to dozens of retirement ceremonies and the toughest guys always cry and everybody else forgets about it 20 minutes later once the cake is gone.
- Can you remotely help your tribe without being physically present? Does money compensate for or replace your hands, heart, and mind?
But, listen, I’m really not judging. Do you know how many times I’ve played the “help people” card when discussing my job? In fact, I’d say that the more people you can justify “helping” the more respectable you may become. I’ve received medals for helping people. Of course, you may be fucking over the people who need you the most and ultimately fucking yourself over. Our choice.
I’m going to tell you a secret. You know the heroes we’ve been discussing lately? The cops, firefighters, soldiers, doctors, etc? They don’t really give a fuck about you the way you see in a movie or TV show. Of course, you already know that. Here’s the secret that you’ll have to lean in close to hear….ready? They get paid for that shit. It’s their job. Most of them become emotionally attached to their surrogate family and work for them — not you.
Once it became their job, they cared a little less. The obligation that money demanded sullied the purpose — maybe not at first, but it’s nearly universal. Most of the greatest minds I’ve ever encountered were flooded with just enough money to keep them quiet and focused on their jobs.
Now, if you’re disagreeing — just think: Why are you on this website? Did you work on your job shit this weekend because you really, really wanted to? Or, did you intentionally escape your job shit? If so, why would you escape your life’s work if that was what a job represented?
Free people exist, but it’s becoming increasingly rare. I’m not bullshitting when I say that I want to be one of them, and I want you to be one of them. I think free people have a certain understanding of the world that all the other human cogs can’t or won’t understand. Once we look around and ask questions like, “do I really need to be here?” we are challenging a system that does not give a fuck about you or your family. It is a system of order that we have created to serve a minority.
Crush this system — one by one. It’s time for it to fucking die. It is time to be free because I just can’t stand this bullshit anymore.
{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }
Very powerful shit, full of truth and resistance. Thank you.
Kerri, descending into nihilism isn’t powerful, but it is shit. You can follow this line of reasoning for every single thing we humans do. How is the destruction of belief systems resistance? In fact, because Western Culture has embraced critical theory whole-clothe, enunciating the underlying tenets is hackneyed.
Our author is correct in questioning the mundane, but notice he hasn’t offered an alternative. “As a matter of cosmic history, it has always been easier to destroy than to create.” Spock 2285
Great stuff, Tommy…why I come here.
I tried to put it this way recently, “Most people are getting paid to perform a hobby that they don’t like at the behest of someone else.”
In other words, the things that most of us are doing are not necessary to our lives. These things are done for money that is necessary for us to live in the money-based economy. When I had a broken leg treated poorly, I realized that if it happens again, I will seek an auto mechanic. I want someone who likes to fix shit, not someone who wants to make a lot of money or make me ‘feel better’.
Working for an inventor gave me some strange experiences about how things work in this world: what kinds of work are encouraged and what kinds are not (those that make money for someone else or the government and those that don’t), what “quality” really means (consistency, not usefulness), what “useful” means to people vs. what it means to nature (don’t get me started with the “people are part of nature” bullshit).
We imagine we are not required to participate in nature’s processes, and then greedy bastards come along and use that delusion to suck us all into a narrower and narrower niche of the environment, dependent on resources that are only available to do so for a limited time period, thus increasing their power even as we are failing to spread away from them in our bell curve.
I live in at least 3 worlds now; the farm’s nature, my family’s civilization, and an imagined idealism of the past where I got paid a lot and a future where nobody should get paid more than anyone else, and I have this luxury because my wife is a warrior.
I’d say Amen….but I’m not religious
I learnt this lesson at 22. Having a job is serfdom. I’ve been trying to get out of the system for the last 11 years. I feel like I’m nearly there. The end is in sight and it makes it easier, but I still look around and laugh at this matrix humans have built for themselves. The cognitive dissonance is hard to stomach these days.
FWM said: ” In fact, because Western Culture has embraced critical theory whole-clothe, enunciating the underlying tenets is hackneyed.
Our author is correct in questioning the mundane, but notice he hasn’t offered an alternative. ”
Just because someone doesn’t have an alternative doesn’t mean they can’t see what is wrong. Leaving the solutions to the next person is fine, too. I’m horrible at ‘creating’, but if someone sees a problem, I will find a solution.
FAILURE to question belief systems is the root of evil actions.
FAILURE to question consumption and ‘jobs’ and ‘money’ leads to people doing whatever the system of systems can coerce them to do in order to increase consumption and accumulate power in a few hands: whether that power is in a system of money or a system of beliefs and fears.
Being able to stand up and say, “The king has no clothes!” is courageous and useful in waking up others to go get a robe for him. Standing around saying, “The king has never had any clothes, so people who keep saying so are wasting our time” is tantamount to running off the cliff with the other lemmings.
The current paradigm of capitalism/ opportunism is based on a huge system of fears. Living in constant fear, even if you don’t know you are, is not healthy (I might stink, so I better get the latest deodorant!). The “critical thinking” paradigm has some faults, primary of which is that most people don’t have the time to fully engage in the determination of cause and effect. Half-ass attempts to reconcile Belief systems and critical thinking lead to more opportunities for exploitation (Templeton foundation). A little critical thought combined with a little blind faith simply enhances the ability of the Mean to take advantage of the mean. The smarter you think you are, the easier it is to manipulate your ego (You have been nominated for an entry in “Who’s Who in Left Handed Cement Mixer Salesmen”). The harder you Believe, the easier it is to get you to buy the expensive trip to visit your Holy Land, even if you can’t afford it.
The more you believe in “entrepreneurship”, the easier it is to get you to mortgage the house to “develop” your “idea”, even though ideas are like armpits and everyone has at least 2 and they both stink.
With U-6 @ 22% (shadow stats) I think the 40 year boring job problem is taking care of itself!
I read this blog because it forces me to think outside my normal parameters and to consider alternative points of view. I am deeply grateful for all who choose to spend their precious time reading and corresponding on this site. That being said, I feel as if today’s post was actually a waste of my time and very disappointing. Tommy, you are better than this rant. The assumptions that are made regarding people and their choices is staggering. There is zero consideration for the inherent complexity of the human organism as well as the profound forces of history. If you follow this logic to its conclusion, there is no such thing as a “free” human being, period. 10,000 years ago we were slaves to seasons, migration patterns, climate, plate tectonics, etc. 1000 years ago we were slaves to kings and war lords, tyrants and empires, disease and famine (this still applies to much of the “less-developed” world sadly). Today we are slaves to economical/political/social systems and technology. Life is a long story of operating w/in parameters that are most likely not of our choosing. To insist that there is some possibility of a liberated utopia of free people is as delusional as your criticisms of an “afterlife.” Whether working on a farm or on wallstreet, we are all subject to some form of what you would call “slavery.” True religion, and you cannot understand this until you have lived it (ah, the problem of faith!), frees a human being regardless of where they find themselves, whether that be in a cave, a prison, on a farm, or in an office. There are enlightened monks everywhere, wearing a suit and a tie, who have all the looks of a corporate schmuck but yet are more liberated than you and I could ever hope to be. Why? Because their identity is not anchored in what they think or what they do. Their Truth is something vastly larger, profoundly simple, and devoid of ego: there is no self. Once this is understood, all this anger, resentment, and confusion ceases to really matter. The problems will still remain, but one is no longer blinded by emotions or false identification w/ the mind and its intellectual position. One is then free to truly engage in changing the world.
ECOPAX,
I respect you because you strike me as a free-thinking, all-things-considered type of person. The fact that a person with your background would come in here and spend his time challenging and developing says a lot about you. You don’t have to waste your time with guys like me, yet you do. So, I appreciate it because I believe you’re trying to make something better, so I am listening.
You’re right that I made some staggering assumptions, but judging by the online (and offline) reactions, something I’ve said struck some chords. I’ll assume some of the assumptions are correct. I wasn’t really thinking about plate tectonics, or even the progression of zombification of a group of complex organisms. I was thinking about how somebody can get up on a Monday morning and continually do shit he hates — knowing it doesn’t make sense and knowing it doesn’t matter. I’m 38 years old and a lot of my peers are wondering the same thing.
I don’t expect a liberated utopia anymore than I expect to go to Heaven. If it happens, that’d be fantastic yet totally surprising to me. Some people will fight to not have to think, choose, or be responsible for their actions. Some people will defend it as a “right.” Yes, it is a very utopian idea, but what I’d rather see is a whole bunch of people find meaning in each other and in this place we live. I actually believe this is inevitable, and would prefer to see it in my lifetime. It’s not so easy to break down invisible barriers safely. I never claimed it is, and this space is a lever for action toward it. We’ve got to break it in order to rebuild it. We’ve got to stop the truck in order to change the tires, so to speak. As difficult as it is, choosing this will be far easier than digging out of a rubble heap when the tires all explode at once.
I do hope to be as enlightened as the suit-wearing monks you speak of, yet I feel fully engaged with the changing world. So, are you saying one needs to pursue being a monk in order to not be angry by the face of senseless dehumanization and ecological destruction? To me, this is a convenient copout and those monks are 100% reliant on guys like me to fix shit and provide those suits they’re wearing. “Enlightenment” sounds incredible… hence, my “jealousy” remarks. It’s true. I’d love to be that. How is that done? It seems like a formalized form of saying, “ahh fuck it. It’s in God’s hands.” Religion seems to be the only thought process that needs no proving — it just needs our respect to make it run. It’s the ultimate untouchable.
I had to look up the word, “nihilism” in the dictionary. Good word. I understand why that would be used to describe the content here except that I think meaning is all around us. We’re standing on it and giving birth to it. Why are we treating it like shit? I don’t think everything is meaningless… just stupid things that continue anyway — which just happens to be the dominant paradigm that you’re defending. I’m continually perplexed how groups of smart people can universally agree that “XY&Z” is a problem, yet continue to do it anyway. I’m amazed that few people are even talking about it.
I sort of thought this whole site was dedicated to solutions, and thought everybody might be sick of hearing about it. But, I’ll work on a comprehensive list. I think it could be a useful assignment. There are plenty of paths to freedom that we don’t take.
This site is called “freedom guerrilla”… not “freedom success story.” I think it’s a worthy quest that others are interested in. I chronicle my journey alongside the journey of those I think are getting it right. Piece by piece I construct, and sometimes I smash my construction and start all over. Have you ever tried to create something out of hot metal only to have it warp when it cooled improperly?
There are plenty of times in history when following the dominant paradigm was probably an excellent idea. There have been times when it was essential for survival, revival, growth, and loving. This is not one of those times in history. This is the time in history when we should be questioning absolutely everything (bravo, for questioning my words!) and fighting against mental machinery. This is exhausting, and I would like to help and receive help. There’s a leaking oil well in the Gulf that is speaking to us right now on that very topic.
Tommy,
Awesome post.
I believe a fundamental flaw with Western cultures, particularily the U.S., is that we are programmed from a young age to “out do” our parents, especially in the context of material wealth and status in a career.
As a result, many of us were expected to go to college, graduate, immediately land a great job, and start a climb on the corporate and property ladders.
I know several people under 30, some already divorced, possibly a single parent, and bemoaning the dead-end nature of their lives. Do you think they were encouraged as a child to view life as a potentially long journey (80-90 years), and to explore what paths best suited them before making big life decisions?
I have a story I want to tell. Normally I’d be paragliding today, but I’m not because I whacked myself in the hand with a hatchet during a recent camping trip to the Washington coast, and had to get five stitches. My camp-site was just across the Columbia river from where Lewis & Clark spent the winter of 1805. Fortunately the hatchet was sharp, the cut was straight and clean, and I didn’t sever a nerve, tendon, or my finger itself. I can still type and play the keyboard and guitar. This wound is a gift, and I’m very lucky and grateful it was not worse.
I thought a lot about my status as a “guerrilla” and some of the concerns raised on this site while experiencing the “freedom” of nature and having the real world problem of a profusely bleeding wound that I needed to deal with. Amen for the Illwaco emergency room and modern medicine. A few of Lewis and Clark’s men injured themselves badly with axes and knives, and had no such luxury. After getting stitched up, I was back to camp within two hours, made a splint out of a small stick and electrical tape, then kept myself busy collecting driftwood on the beach for my fire. I definitely felt in survival mode, and realized the gravity of fucking myself up in a place where no one might be there to help. I had weird thoughts about society being destroyed and being stuck on the coast to survive on my own. I started checking out my neighboring campers and their resources, wondering if we’d work together or end up killing each other in a worst case scenario. I wondered if I could be pushed to eating their dog, deciding I’d prefer to exhaust all other possibilities first, but ultimately would if I had to.
It became rather obvious that taking over a yurt (by force if necessary) would be preferable to remaining in a tent enduring the strong incessant wind, but then I’d have the problem of keeping someone else from taking it during my absence while foraging or hunting. I determined my gold in such a situation would be far less useful than a fishing pole, gun, net, spear, or sling-shot. Aside from raccoons, crows, seagulls, chipmunks, and (conceivably) fish, I didn’t see much to eat. Without the appropriate weapon or tool, I’d be stuck harvesting the few mushrooms I saw, which in general I view with suspicion.
I realized that if I lived long enough, at some point I’d have to figure out how to replenish my clothes, mourning the loss of manufactured boots in advance. In the meantime, I’d have to collect firewood every day and somehow keep it dry in a place where it rains almost constantly. There weren’t that many other campers, but I didn’t think it’d take long before we used up all the available resources and would have to move on. I entertained the idea that we’d have to assess all our remaining gear, the available vehicles, how much fuel they had, and then determine if it would be to our advantage to hit the road or make a go of it at one of the nearby forts. I foresaw arguments and conflict, with some being afraid to go, some being afraid to stay, and both justifiable depending on a person’s perspective. Everything started going through a threat filter in my mind, where my personal safety and security became paramount. Having already demonstrated my proficiency with the hatchet, I felt better having it than not, in the event I would need to defend myself. An ugly prospect, but better than the helpless feeling of being unarmed. On and on my thinking went as I watched my provisions deplete over the next four days and imagined what I’d do if there was no city, job, and money to go back to for buying all the stuff that keeps me alive.
Three days later I put fifty cents in a nearby coin-op shower and got three minutes of hot pressurized water. On the walk back to camp I stopped at a drinking fountain, pushed a button and drank cold, clean water for free, acutely aware that my quality of life camping in America is luxurious compared to the standard of living most people in the world must endure.
Certainly if I could choose my own “Corps of Discovery,” I’d want it to be my best friends, who are unfortunately all far away from me. We’d be a tight unit with purpose, we’d get shit done, and we’d survive. It wouldn’t be easy though. Far from it. Having recently read the journals of Lewis & Clark, and visited the place they wintered, it is strikingly clear how tough and skilled a true freedom guerrilla would really have to be. I stand in firm agreement with TK about crushing the system, but I also got a vivid glimpse of how easy it would be to die without it.
Fantastic article, Tommy. I loved it. I’m sure it speaks strongly to many (and far from a “waste of my time”). Rant all you want. I’m not always looking for a solution from you. To be completely honest, I’m not in the business to “help” people (friends and family aside), nor can I envision any such future scenario for myself. I don’t think that is why I am on this planet. I just want to provide something of value to the world, and hopefully something that endures. If the world went to shit I would want to be as far away from people as possible. Sure, there is value in teamwork and helping people, but I want to live in a world where people help themselves. Unfortunately, this is impossible in the overpopulated state that we exist in today.
I think freedom is a state of mind more than anything. If you factor out everyone around you, each of us can do whatever we goddamn want whenever we want to. People just get in the way. When you choose to live in a society, you lose a little freedom. It also all boils down to taking responsibility for your actions (something we do a poor job at, and thus lose our freedoms).
Hey Will,
That’s hardcore about your hand, and probably even a little more hardcore about your thoughts. I’m not sure I’ve ever read the words, “this wound is a gift.”
I really don’t think we have to do without things like well-made boots or fresh water. What we have to do without is WASTING things like well made boots and fresh water. I don’t think we have to unlearn things we already know. I just don’t think we’ll need 16 pairs of boots and 9 gallons of water per day per person.
Murray,
You are an anti-human badass.
“People just get in the way.” I suppose that’s right. Void of massive amounts of people, imagine Earth. Wow. What a paradise of endless fascination of natural creativity and constant innovation. Insert massive amounts of humans and we inherit the shit heap.
I still believe it doesn’t need to be this way. I still believe that future generations of humans will know exactly what to make of consciousness and not waste such a thing.
Murray Neill: The world must be a terrifying place for you. For that, I am sorry.
Will: Thank you for that honest and poetic narrative.
Tommy: This is a good space to wrestle with tough issues. I too have tried to create something only to have it deform in my hands, most notably, my life. It has been the deformities that have set me free.
“I was thinking about how somebody can get up on a Monday morning and continually do shit he hates — knowing it doesn’t make sense and knowing it doesn’t matter. I’m 38 years old and a lot of my peers are wondering the same thing.”
Some people do it out of love, some out of duty, some out of delusion. To say it doesn’t make sense nor matter is incredibly problematic. The truth is you have no idea why people do what they do. Do you really know why you do these things yourself, your motivations? How does it serve you to judge so severely?
“Yes, it is a very utopian idea, but what I’d rather see is a whole bunch of people find meaning in each other and in this place we live.”
Amen!
“We’ve got to break it in order to rebuild it. We’ve got to stop the truck in order to change the tires, so to speak.”
Do you know what you are breaking? Are you the master mechanic and designer of the truck? Did you build it? Or do you only know your specific part? You may be a master of tires or brake pads, but to disassemble an entire vehicle because the one part that you know is faulty would be a disaster. There is a serious lack of humility on this blog, and it is a lack of humility that has led to the disaster in the gulf, warmongering, and the decline of our precious home, this beautiful planet.
“I do hope to be as enlightened as the suit-wearing monks you speak of, yet I feel fully engaged with the changing world. So, are you saying one needs to pursue being a monk in order to not be angry by the face of senseless dehumanization and ecological destruction? To me, this is a convenient copout and those monks are 100% reliant on guys like me to fix shit and provide those suits they’re wearing.”
The monks are not in denial; far from it, they accept the present in a way that would terrify an unawakened person. Their ability to handle the stark truths of our basest nature would deter all but the most vigilant of inquirers. This is the genius of a Jesus and the serenity of a Buddha. It is not escapism: such liberation can only come from accepting the truth of what is. Anger over the acknowledgement of an injustice is merely a step in the evolution of consciousness. We are not meant to stay there. Have you honestly ever seen real, positive, tangible results flow out of pure anger?
As for dependence: Do the monks depend on you? Absolutely, just as you absolutely depend on them. Their consciousness and interaction in the world can only affect you positively, whether you recognize it or not. You might stitch their suits, but they are bringing the world closer to unification. You both are helping each other. Your sense of independence inherent in this questioning is the delusion.
” ‘Enlightenment’ sounds incredible… hence, my “jealousy” remarks. It’s true. I’d love to be that. How is that done? It seems like a formalized form of saying, “ahh fuck it. It’s in God’s hands.” Religion seems to be the only thought process that needs no proving — it just needs our respect to make it run. It’s the ultimate untouchable.”
Enlightenment is nothing more than the acceptance of what is real and eternal. Human beings run in circles living in the past, in the future, in another time zone, and in their heads. We do it in church. We all do it daily on this blog. We judge and criticize, measure and weigh. The question is, is it real? Is it eternal? Infinity is right in front of our noses, if we could only adjust our vision and see. Some folks do see this, and they are transformed. Its not magic or supernatural, but rather the acknowledgment of the only thing that is natural: the here and now. How much pain and misery we contribute to this world by refusing to see this truth!
Religion is totally touchable, and the actual words of most of the world religion’s sacred texts emphasize this point. In Christianity the gospels are replete with admonition for empty religious practices and supportive of transparency. True religion invites inquiry, criticism, and dialog. Touch away.
“I don’t think everything is meaningless… just stupid things that continue anyway — which just happens to be the dominant paradigm that you’re defending.”
I don’t see how I am defending the dominant paradigm. Your logic and criticisms reflect the dominant thinking paradigm much more than mine. While you find discomfort within our society, you subject yourself to the same flawed logic as those you would seek to change or overthrow. I am merely trying to question the validity of your arguments, not your heart or spirit, not your “truth”. You may be on the opposite side of those you criticize, but you walk the same fence.
We play with the toys we are given. We have this world, this nation, this economy, this gulf coast, and no other. We are not disconnected nor should we strive to be. Our only hope is to recognize that we work together. The assumption made by Neill that joining a society forfeits freedoms is asinine. I have heard this argument before and it rarely holds sway outside a junior high classroom. If it weren’t for society and its profound interest for community, we would have no notion of the concept of freedom at all. Everything we write about on this blog is only possible due to the gifts and sins of our fellow human beings. None of us were born in a vacuum and conceived of notions like freedom by ourselves. Freedom is a construct of life together, like everything else.
Anger and the dismissal of human complexity will not see us through on this. People resonate with today’s post because it is already on their radar. There are an infinite number of blogs that give another story, neither better nor worse, but different. Do you follow another blog that challenges your world view? Do you make recommendations to other sites/resources here that contradict your viewpoints? The danger of these blogs is that they become not merely nihilistic but narcissistic as well. You’ve done a wonderful job avoiding these pitfalls thus far, and I hope you continue to do so.
Man, I am having a host of thoughts banging around in my brain after this piece and the following comments.
Let me start by saying what I like about Tommy’s writings. I like that you are an in-between kind of person – as it happens, that’s exactly what I feel like. By being someone with a military background, but also in b-school, but also something of an anarchist hippie (whatever else are we going to call you?), you avoid many of the pitfalls of other writings. I’ve read enough of the hippies to get a sense of where they stand on most things. I’ve read enough doomer and survivalist lit to get a sense of how those guys think the world is going to fall apart. I’ve read enough contrarian financial stuff to know what they think.
But you somehow bring strengths from all these different perspectives and put them together in new and interesting ways. And perhaps ways that will move us forward. The military provides the “embrace the suck,” the clarity of focusing on this particular role, the rational partitioning of social processes into steps, breaking down goals into attainable processes. The b-school provides an understanding of how the game works, of how truly interconnected it is at a global level. The anarchist hippie brings in a libertarian, wilderness-loving, approach to personal freedom that is radically anti-statist, and focused on individual awareness and meaning.
This is important because I’ve sat around campfires discussing these issues for twenty years, and while I often agree with people, I am almost continually frustrated with their inability to see the big system for what it is. The doomers can’t see why the whole thing doesn’t fall apart tomorrow and why everybody isn’t hunkering in the basement with guns and gold. The military types could be helpful when the world falls apart, but are sometimes completely saturated with pro-military, pro-usa propaganda and sometimes simply cannot think about the larger strategic goals. The anarchists are unwilling to recognize that regular people might like regular things, and that’s ok. And the b-school types are simply unable to recognize that not everyone is making 125 a year and there might be problems out there.
But you overcome almost everyone of these problems. I had almost given up on “change” and “revolution” because it’s always the same old people saying the same old things and falling into the same old intellectual traps. And nothing ever seems to happen anyway.
Therefore, I think I might understand what Pax is getting at. If I were to put words in his mouth they would be “The Matrix was a decent movie the first time, and the special effects were better.” Rage Against the machine, Public Enemy, Bob Dylan, Malcolm X, Ed Abbey, you name it, this meme and its mythology have been explored by a variety of different people.
But my read on FG goes beyond this, focusing on breaking the walls between the disciplines, bridging gaps between b-school, military, hippies, theologians, sociologists, and cross-dressing farmers, and hopefully avoiding the mythology and the ideology to see what people are trying to do to move forward in this time of upheaval.
In closing then, those answers are going to come from the myriad of ways in which people are living their lives and dealing. From the guy in Maine building solar electric cars out of bicycle parts, to the couple in Minnesota trying to get off the grid with their chickens, garden, and cow, to the dude who dropped out and built a timber frame shack in northern Wisconsin, to the ex-bank guy who got canned in the great depression and started counseling at the funeral home helping folks deal with all the paperwork of a loved one’s passing, regular people are out there trying to figure this out. I think a kernel of it is happening here at FG.
Ecopax:
A wonderful response, but here’s a couple of things :
First, I think you have confused “religion” and “philosophy”. Buddhism is not a religion except in some lawyer’s paperwork. It is a philosophy (this is not from me, but from a Buddhist friend). You said, “True religion invites inquiry, criticism, and dialog. Touch away.” Though this is true in the religious BOOKS I’ve studied, it is not true as a paradigm in the populist religions (which are really just marketing systems) I’ve been married in, nor in the consumer culture: Blind Faith is required to be a member.
Second, you said “I have heard this argument before and it rarely holds sway outside a junior high classroom. ”
You are imagining some world other than the one I’ve lived in. Fully half of the people I’ve met don’t get beyond the “government is bad” part, which is the same as “society steals your freedom”.
I don’t agree with it, as I think society is a worthy trade in the right circumstances between individual hardships and shared easing of labors. “Many hands make light work” so to speak (but it only works if they DO the work). This gets to what I said about most people not having the time to fully evaluate cause and effect relationships. “Beyond junior high” is unavailable to them.
I really see what you are saying about enlightenment. It relieves some stress about life, but it requires no belief system in ‘eternity’ because that is imagined. The relief from stress comes with realization and sensibility and pragmatism about how humans really make choices (at the cash register or when the bear is chasing them).
Tommy will readily admit when he doesn’t know something. A certain amount of strong confidence (not hubris) is apparent here because the conversation and participants are in the context of transition from the complexity of our culture to simplicity. The process of doing so begins with a certain amount of contempt for complexity and confidence that if we simplify things, we will have fewer problems to deal with and less resources consumed.
Murray has taken this to an extreme with the individual loneliness of the survivalist. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, just another perspective. I’ve been in that perspective as a misanthrope for most of my life, and only recently have seen that there is a spectrum of possibility between the mindless complexity of current Systems and the individual living in a cave. I prefer the cave most days, but I value the tribe for its conveniences. Why is it only recently? Because I spent most of my life fixing the whole truck and burdened with the ability to fix the whole truck/airplane/missile/network/math problem. I’m willing to bet that there are millions of people like me that decided to keep their mouth shut most of the time because once people find out you know something, you become their fucking mule on that subject. Unfortunately, I still like to do things for people, so I don’t say “no” nearly enough and I build up a contempt for their inability to ‘deal’.
I’ve been to many of those other blogs. My wife is an addict of them. From Crunchy Conservative to Post Secrets…we cover a range of what is being talked about and that’s just the point: it’s all fucking talk. FG is about not talking so much and doing stuff (like Will Allen at Growing Power). The contempt for complex society comes from our attempts to build things and getting slammed by authoritative correctness or political correctness and property rights and misinterpreted building codes written by those who make money selling ‘code ready’ products. We are seeking the ways to do the things that need to be done, without wasted resources to create ‘jobs’ for people to tell us we can’t do those things because “it just isn’t done that way”. There are some intelligent people in the System of systems, and this blog is about reaching them and recruiting them to help streamline the world toward usefulness and away from consumption. Murray finds the best way is to do it all himself and manage his own local effects. Tommy sometimes finds the best way is to start a fight and see who can end it. I find the best way is to do what comes up each day in the best way I can and enjoy the simple pleasure watching the System’s cancers eat it out of house and home and the ridiculous discussions about worthless subjects as though they are going to ‘change the world’. The internet is public radio without the grant money or a time limit.
Michael: Thanks! You said it better than I could.
I started my post earlier and had to go do something. I came back and finished it and saw your post. I wouldn’t have said it if I had read your much clearer perspective first, but maybe I will irritate someone….;-)
Whoa. This string is more enlightening and valuable to me than a $300 textbook. I’ve read everything about 5 times. I feel grateful.
Ecopax,
I judge so severely because I am certain there are many people (note: not “all”) who do not want to make that commute, live that lie, and leave that legacy that comes along with a “job.” Humans lived for thousands of years without the American version of a job, and we’ve managed to nosedive in about 100. When I judge, I’m judging myself too, putting myself on a hook, and exploring how far we can take this. It’s easier to draw strength from people willing to support each other. If you’re happy, great. Maybe you could help me and others figure it out. But, if you want out, I want to help because I’ve spent a few decades upholding a pile of bullshit and just fairly recently decided to leave the pile.
I’m constantly exploring other people’s viewpoints that conflict with mine. I call that “22 hours per day.” The other 2 is spent here. No, I haven’t recommended any blogs that are bent on overconsumption, waste, fraud, big government, intimidation, silly economic theories, exploitation, etc. I wonder how that would fly.
I am no master mechanic, but I know this thing has a terrible knocking noise, the rings are shot, and the tires have been bald for about 120,000 miles. However, we’re still in first gear with the pedal buried at 7000 rpm and going about 32 mph toward a cliff. I doubt you disagree we’ve got some fixing to do before the crankcase explodes. Or, let it explode. Not sure which is better to be quite honest. I don’t see the sustainability or reasoning behind unnecessary consumption of natural resources, financial math tricks, protracted war, blah, blah, blah. Maybe “we’ve got to break it…” is too extreme. Maybe, “we’ve got to bring it to a coasting, gentle stop” is better.
I agree w/ Auntie. I think your vision of religion is completely different than what I’ve seen or experienced. It must be painful to watch Christians spending money on advanced, world class marketing campaigns. If it were true and inherently useful, Christianity would not be on a constant recruitment campaign — a different type of crusade. Just google search “Catholics come home.”
When speaking of organized, corporatized religion I don’t think I need to express humility. Yeeeahhh, nope. I think I’ll stick to contempt. Now, philosophic worldview is a completely different thing. The difference is, there is no flag, rites of initiation, or cash donation for membership. Just sit back, breathe, think, and interact.
Blogs are inherently narcissistic which sucks. I try to avoid it, but when you’re writing from the one-man show it’s difficult to not spin everything your direction (I think this, I think that, what do you think of what I think?, etc). The difference is that narcissists generally hate to be challenged. I can deal with that. I would love a guest post from you though if you ever wanted to. Is there a manifesto in you that needs to come out? I’d like to read it.
You have no idea how much you’ve already expanded my lens. I didn’t think it was possible to get a person like you in a place like this. You’re probably the ballsiest out there because it seems like you’re trying to do a repair job on your religion in a way that is foreign to non-believers. Please don’t go away. You have to remember, I’ve been told I’m going to Hell for thinking certain things… Christian ambassadors usually suck at spreading the message.
Michael,
Thanks for the assessment. I’ve read your writing too and understand where you’re coming from.
I remember being a kid who had absolutely no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up. I’ve always envied absolute conviction in one direction, but I’ve never been able to do that. There’s always a counter that makes sense, and I’ve come to realize it’s difficult to accept something unless you’ve experienced it yourself. Absolute conviction in one direction is sort of dangerous to me.
Other writers are convinced that you need to pick a topic and stick to it, stick to it, stick to it. Nonsense. Who thinks like that?
Auntie,
You — irritate someone? Never…
Tommy, Michael, Auntie, Neill: You guys scratch me right where I itch. I continue w/ this blog b/c I believe in the work you are all doing. Things need to change, the system IS broken. I suppose I just desire a little more compassion, and perhaps that is what I might offer this discussion. We need fighters too, and you all fit the bill. Honestly, just knowing you all are out there, doing what you do, fills me with energy and hope. So thank you all.
Auntie: You are absolutely correct regarding Buddhism. I have actually corrected others in the same regard and I slipped up. Worrying about an afterlife is counterproductive, whether you are Buddhist or Christian.
Tommy: It IS painful to watch Christianity forsake all that it should represent and embrace destruction. On behalf of Christians everywhere a sincerely apologize for our hypocrisy and lack of compassion. I am sorry for any negative thing a Christian has hurled your way: they’ve told me that I am going to hell too.
This is good stuff, and you all have given me much to think about and meditate on. It is a pleasure and joy working with you. Peace.
And Michael: Very insightful comment. It has helped me better understand this blog and what we are doing here. I am more grateful for it everyday.
Speaking of other blogs:
Everyone should enjoy this today:
http://www.joebageant.com/joe/2010/06/live-from-planet-norte.html
(snippet)”The mind is a cumbersome and inefficient way to go about escaping traps you build with your mind, but yes, it can be done. Most educated people in this science worshipping age prefer the convoluted path of logic and rational exercise, over calmly opening one’s eyes and heart to the world before us, as wiser men have done for thousands of years.
I can see why. Pay the money and put in enough university time, and it’s relatively easy to end up certified, acceptable, and equipped with the professional jargon necessary to impress yourself and others that you are an expert of some sort. One of society’s answer guys, the kind universities and corporations pay good money to own. But it’s downright hard to be calm, to maintain inner stillness. Beyond that, inner stillness does not much impress or frighten others in the rat fight for a good spot at the feeder. Worse yet, it’s free. No money it.
But stillness of mind opens onto the fathomless void, where we are dwarfed into utter insignificance. It makes clear how little we comprehend — how much we do not know and never will, and that the greater the fire we build, the more darkness is revealed.”
Ecopax: Not terrifying at all. Just stupid. I don’t live in fear, just dissatisfaction.
Neill: Are you making a categorical statement that the world is stupid?
Seriously? No, modern human society. We are all on this site because of some kind of dissatisfaction with the way things are going. I love the Earth and enjoy it every free moment I have. It’s perfect in its pure form.
I suspect Ecopax is a follower of Ekhart Tolle’s ‘Power of Now’.
Put what he says into practice and much of the stress and strife of our world melts away: challenging to maintain moind you, but is truly liberating.
stumbled upon this post from the “related” links from a current post, and , damn….
My thoughts on this post are best shown…I printed 3 copies, one for each of my kids, asked then to read and discuss. May they become freer than me, or at least skip the servitude side-trip that I bought and go direct…
