As I withdraw more and more into a direct, localized, simple, hands-on kind of lifestyle, the things happening elsewhere and getting mediated through the web become increasingly surreal to me. I haven’t collected any news for this digest in months. Unless another bout of research mania befalls me, this current edition may very well be the last you’ll ever read.

I wish to add a few words of concern about the state of the activist movement. What I’ve seen recently really only allows one conclusion:

Damn, what should one humble guy think when a major scientist cannot recognize the very thing he coined a phrase for, or when an eco-spiritual writer and teacher is threatening to sue against the translation and republication of her collaborative work with someone who has fallen into public disgrace, based on allegations that are so obviously fabricated by the powers that be that it’s a shame to even consider their factuality when, at the same time, the whole planet is literally burning. Sad to notice also that a whole bunch of previously seemingly sane activists are jumping on the case as if there was no tomorrow (oh, wait, there actually isn’t!) and turn the scene with all its great information it has compiled into an infight club. Various activist publishing houses have been quitting business due to not enough income, but at least the websites of the combattants generate surplus traffic (i.e. income) with their pointless bickering. One person saying that, in the face of impending doom, he is planting trees, hoping to mitigate the impact on humanity, is getting banned from a facebook climate group for this very idea, while, in another formerly radical activist group, a guardian of the status quo may promote carbon taxes and advertise electric cars (“Plant trees, drive free!”) not only unhinderedly but is receiving likes for it. Shall I say it again?

And it’s sort of ok. I mean, I’m not putting out this rant to tell anyone what they should  or should not be doing in order to “save the World”. Just go ahead churning out hot air about whatever it is you are trying to cook up, and then act in the exact opposite way. We are past numerous tipping points, so it doesn’t play much of a role anyway. Be happy raising awareness, same like I still do, though half-heartedly. I especially like the 99% meme because it is almost true — except for the missing point-nine-repeating: almost all of mankind is stuck in virtual existence with absolutely no willingness to contribute anything substantial to the continued survival and wellbeing of their species, other than words. 

Awareness, my arse.

I confess having been — and partly still being — complicit in both wrecking the biosphere and then letting it go to waste. What can I say that makes any difference at all? None. It’s likely to be not a matter of words or deeds, rather a matter of silence and stillness and non-compliance that healing could occur. I don’t know for sure, so who am I to rail against others who say they do.

In the end, they will tell you all kind of crap about how to avoid plastics in a civilized manner without having to reduce your consumption. But the documentation of the plastic tsunami is graphic.

“The Hiroshima ginkgos, the tenacious older siblings of the tender green trees in front of our North Carolina house, were able to resist the most devastating outcome of science and technology, the splitting of the atom, a destructive power that could turn the whole planet into rubble. Those trees’ survival was a message of hope in the midst of the black rain of despair: that we could nurture life and conserve it, that we must be wary of the forces we unleash.”

The SMS & Twitter culture doesn’t rock me at all. It’s leaving out more context than permissible, but hey – such are our times. For those who’d like to have a short introduction, though, into how to see the world differently, get a taste with this nutshell article. Five (not 5, and not at all brutal) insights (not truths) about life which can help with understanding your mind (not making you a better person or making you feel better) are given. There are many more (and they are not only rooted in Buddhism but in mystic traditions around the world) but this is as good a start as any. Try implementing one of those insights, you’ll be busy beyond imagination. And don’t worry, you won’t have to give up science or subscribe to religion. “In Buddha’s opinion, … to train in dissolving our assumptions and beliefs is the best use of our human lives” [quote from article].

What’s worse, ecovillages would have been a great idea fourty years ago. We are too late to save our species, let alone our pathetic society. “The problem of civilization” is our “endgame”, as Derrick Jensen put it so brilliantly in his book’s title. Still, building alternative social and material structures is the right thing to do; it lessens the burden on the community of life and allows for a more decent, humane existence.

The train of civilization & the ascent accident of humanity

[previous issue / later issue]