“As many have noted, the mass of men and women lead lives today of unquiet desperation. A frantic busyness pervades our society wherever we look - in city and country, among young and old and middle-aged, married and unmarried, all races, classes, sexes, in work and play, in religion, the arts, the sciences, and perhaps most conspicuously in the self-conscious cult of meditation, retreat, withdrawal. The symptoms of universal unease and dis-ease are apparent on every side.
We hear the demand by the conventional economists for increased ‘productivity,’ for example. Productivity of what? For whose benefit? To what end? By what means and at what cost? Those questions are not considered. We are belabored by the insistence on the part of our politicians, businessmen, and military leaders, and the claque of scriveners who serve them, that ‘growth’ and ‘power’ are intrinsic goods, of which we can never have enough, or even too much. As if gigantism were an end in itself…” Edward Abbey
This post might seem like an excuse to be a lazy blogger, but I feel that it is particularly relevant during this “economic downturn” to consider our reasons for participating in what is increasingly becoming an obvious farce, the economy. I recently read 2 online travel articles; one about how to travel the world for free (termed vagabonding here), and another defending the first against the onslaught of angry responses from people calling vagabonders irresponsible, hippie bums. The author tries to explain that travelers have their own goals they are trying to achieve, which are outside of the conventional axioms regarding success, such as living in the Now, enjoying the present, and discovering one’s self. He also spends a good portion of the article deconstructing the conventional notion of success.
Here’s my real reason for posting this blog. I want you to think about the above quote by Ed Abbey, and post a comment here (see the “comment” button below). What do you think about the quote, particularly his assertion that most people are leading lives of “unquiet desperation”,”frantic busyness”, and “universal unease”. Have your ideas of success and security changed due to the recession? Would you consider living as a vagabond for a while?
I am really excited to read your comments. Please leave one or my ego will be greatly injured. Come on, I haven’t reached enlightenment yet.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
So....I hate to be the first commenter, but the link you have to the article you want people to read doesn't work....
But I'm sure people would happily read it!
While I am as big a fan of Ed Abbey as anybody (Anyone who doesn't take this seriously enough should be dragged out in the street and shot; anyone who takes this too seriously should be dragged out in the street and shot), and I DO think more folks ought to take up vagabonding for a spell, my devil's advocate has the following to add:
How are we gonna eat if everyone is off seeking enlightenment on the trail to Tajikistan? Somebody somewhere has to keep the lights on, the bus running, the cattle fed, the wheat harvested, and so on. A key source of unquiet desperation, in my eyes, is the lack of production on the part of so many. Folks these days don't produce anything, have nothing to show for their days labor, and so are over quick to become either pathologic consumers, parasites, or to chuck the whole system and take up the life of a wandering bum.
Don't get me wrong, I think more folks should be wandering bums for a while, it would do everyone a world of good. And I don't support increased growth and production for its own sake (the mantra of the cancer cell, to again paraphrase ed abbey), but I do think folks should take responsiblity for production of something, if for no other reason than a measure of responsability and self reliance, which will do much to cure desperation (to be a part of something bigger than one's self). All of these thoughts are influenced by my time spent in the middle of the US, where production outweights consumption considerably, and my family being ranchers, we remember that somebody out there is producing all these trappings of civilization we forget about (Lights, roads, food, transpo).
As ever Mo, I admire what you're doing, am incredibly jealous and wish I were doing it too, and hope you'll share whatever enlightenment you find when you come home (and that you do eventually come home, because you have a lot to give the world).
We all have a journey, and not everyone’s journey leads to the same end. I agree with the comment left above, if every one is off on a “journey”, who is tending the fires at home so to speak. It’s about respect, noticing people who have a different quest to yours, theirs is not incorrect, it’s just different, and it’s about you as a fellow earth dweller respecting their quest. We all have a purpose and reason for our existence. You may be on the journey that they have already completed, which is why they are content in their reality. Is reality perception? The “unquiet desperation”,”frantic busyness”, and “universal unease” is one persons perception, and lacks an individual approach, is narrow minded and condescending. You can not think that yours is the only truth, you then live in a vacuum with windows! All you can hope to do in this life as an individual, is to impact positively on other peoples lives; (and the earth we have been given as our home), while they are on their journey, not judging, not trying to redefine their reality, but accepting them as they are, sending them love and hope. As for a recession, no down turn can change or challenge your life path, that is your path, what you do with it is your decision when you make it.
Post a Comment