Prep Perspective On How We All Wait For Meaning
I enjoy reading the comments to Greer's posts almost as much as the main posts. Often I'll find little gems like this:
Robert Martini said... [www.blogger.com/comment.g]
Oh My God John Michael Greer,
I woke up this morning and read your newest post first thing as I usually do. I read it completely through, satisfied with your analysis and walked into the kitchen. As soon as I did, the repercussions of the mythos of progress folded over me at once like a warm summer breeze. I immediately realized some of the not so obvious convictions I have held ever since my gradual exit from the church of progress.
1. Technology and all forms of convenience are only cosmetic or aesthetic differences between the modern world and say the medieval dark ages. Time literally doesn't tell us anything in the long-run.
2. The same core struggles exist in societies today as they did in the medieval or any other period of time. The reconciling of a belief system of society and the undercurrents of reality. Resolving the conflict and reaching equilibrium exist in every human era.
3. Science in the mythos of progress has always been promised to eventually resolve the conflict between belief and reality. This is a lie and an physical impossibility. Science can tell us what is quantitative, but will never give our lives meaning or purpose in the qualitative realm.
4. Here in America, there are a massive amount of people who have no purpose because they are literally waiting for science to give them one, to fulfill their personal religious narratives.
5. I think this all ends at nature worship as a suggestion for a purpose and belief system...
I think I've been going through the process of understanding the truth about limits and peaks for longer than some. I remember thinking as a teenager that these kinds of things were patently obvious. However, adulthood came, and I forgot to pay attention to what I already knew-- though I at times dabbled in the apocalypse vs savior scenarios from time to time. Then I "came back" to this point of knowing what's coming, but it wasn't as shocking for me. It was more of an "oh yeah..." than a great revelation. I blame the Others of course. Or credit them. Whatevers...!
But reading this comment in particular brought home to me how far of a journey that is-- because of course this guy is right. And of course on some level we all know it. However, rarely do we allow ourselves to bring it into the light of day and talk about it openly.
There is a dearth (or lack) of meaning to most people's lives today. We're busy, distracted, etc.-- but most, in those few quiet moments we rarely allow ourselves to indulge in, realize that we WAITING for something. That feeling of waiting has been with me forever. I feel like I'm in a perpetual state of "...and..?"
Part of the problem is that when you lose your faith and have all your paradigms smashed (and alien abduction will do that to you) its difficult to find hope in faith ever again. It seems like we're all living in a world ruled by the insane, and unless you go along with the asylum's program, you lose your mind yourself. Its an impossible dilemma: join the insane or freak out all by yourself. Opting out of the madness is possible, but not easy, and much of prep in a way is doing just that-- easing out of the crazy, so you're not so dependent upon your crazy keepers with their hush drugs and restraints!
I'll talk more about that in Sunday's post.
Robert Martini said... [www.blogger.com/comment.g]
Oh My God John Michael Greer,
I woke up this morning and read your newest post first thing as I usually do. I read it completely through, satisfied with your analysis and walked into the kitchen. As soon as I did, the repercussions of the mythos of progress folded over me at once like a warm summer breeze. I immediately realized some of the not so obvious convictions I have held ever since my gradual exit from the church of progress.
1. Technology and all forms of convenience are only cosmetic or aesthetic differences between the modern world and say the medieval dark ages. Time literally doesn't tell us anything in the long-run.
2. The same core struggles exist in societies today as they did in the medieval or any other period of time. The reconciling of a belief system of society and the undercurrents of reality. Resolving the conflict and reaching equilibrium exist in every human era.
3. Science in the mythos of progress has always been promised to eventually resolve the conflict between belief and reality. This is a lie and an physical impossibility. Science can tell us what is quantitative, but will never give our lives meaning or purpose in the qualitative realm.
4. Here in America, there are a massive amount of people who have no purpose because they are literally waiting for science to give them one, to fulfill their personal religious narratives.
5. I think this all ends at nature worship as a suggestion for a purpose and belief system...
I think I've been going through the process of understanding the truth about limits and peaks for longer than some. I remember thinking as a teenager that these kinds of things were patently obvious. However, adulthood came, and I forgot to pay attention to what I already knew-- though I at times dabbled in the apocalypse vs savior scenarios from time to time. Then I "came back" to this point of knowing what's coming, but it wasn't as shocking for me. It was more of an "oh yeah..." than a great revelation. I blame the Others of course. Or credit them. Whatevers...!
But reading this comment in particular brought home to me how far of a journey that is-- because of course this guy is right. And of course on some level we all know it. However, rarely do we allow ourselves to bring it into the light of day and talk about it openly.
There is a dearth (or lack) of meaning to most people's lives today. We're busy, distracted, etc.-- but most, in those few quiet moments we rarely allow ourselves to indulge in, realize that we WAITING for something. That feeling of waiting has been with me forever. I feel like I'm in a perpetual state of "...and..?"
Part of the problem is that when you lose your faith and have all your paradigms smashed (and alien abduction will do that to you) its difficult to find hope in faith ever again. It seems like we're all living in a world ruled by the insane, and unless you go along with the asylum's program, you lose your mind yourself. Its an impossible dilemma: join the insane or freak out all by yourself. Opting out of the madness is possible, but not easy, and much of prep in a way is doing just that-- easing out of the crazy, so you're not so dependent upon your crazy keepers with their hush drugs and restraints!
I'll talk more about that in Sunday's post.