GRACEFUL AND GRATEFUL

WHAT WOULD I TEACH MY YOUNGER SELF?  I THINK — GRACE AND GRATITUDE.  AND THERE IS INHERENTLY AND NECESSARILY A LARGE COMPONENT OF SILENCE, OF UNDISTRACTED TIME, TIME TO ATTEND TO THE MOMENT AND THE SIGHTS AND SOUNDS OF THE PLACE IN THE MOMENT YOU ARE LIVING.  THAT IS WHERE I THINK IT ALL ENDS UP, IF YOU ARE LUCKY ENOUGH TO LIVE LONG ENOUGH.  AND THAT IS SOMETHING I WOULD LIKE TO TEACH MY YOUNGER SELF.

CLUB PARADISE

BIG SHINY NEW PLACE.  SOME EAGER PROPRIETORS TENDING BAR.  IN COME THE CUSTOMERS — GREECE, PORTUGAL , IRELAND, SPAIN — AND THEY START RUNNING A TAB.  THE BARTENDERS ARE SERVING DRINKS AS FAST AS THEY CAN MAKE THEM. THE CUSTOMERS ARE GETTING HIGH, PROPRIETORS WINKING AND NODDING TO EACH OTHER, THINKING ABOUT A VISIT TO THE PORSCHE DEALER IN THE MORNING, THEY ARE MAKING SO MUCH MONEY.  EVERYBODY IS HAPPY.  THE NIGHT WILL LAST FOREVER. 

BUT WAIT.  IT IS CLOSING TIME. THE CUSTOMERS ARE SO DRUNK THEY CANT REMEMBER WHERE THEY USED TO LIVE.  THE BARTENDERS ARE EXHAUSTED.  TIME TO GO HOME TO BED.  SO — SUDDENLY THERE IS TROUBLE IN PARADISE.  THE CUSTOMERS WONT LEAVE.  THEY CANT PAY THE TAB.  SOMEBODY IS GOING TO HAVE TO THROW THEM OUT, BUT IF THEY DO THEY WILL NEVER GET THE MONEY.  YOU CANT HAVE THEM ALL THROWN IN JAIL, THERE WONT BE ANYBODY TO COME TO THE PARADISE TOMORROW.  IN THE END YOU CALL THEM A CAB.

YOU KNOW WHO THE BARTENDERS ARE — THE GERMAN BANKS, THE FRENCH BANKS, THE INVESTMENT BANKERS ALL OVER THE WORLD (MEANING MAINLY BRITAIN AND THE US).  WHAT DO YOU THINK IS GOING TO HAPPEN? 

THEY ARE GOING TO HAVE TO TAKE IT ON THE CHIN AND HOPEFULLY — MAYBE — THEY ARE GOING TO LEARN A LESSON ABOUT DOING BUSINESS.  YOU CANT PUT THE WHOLE WORLD IN DEBTORS’ PRISON — YOU WONT HAVE ANY CUSTOMERS.  AND YOU CANT MAKE THEM PAY IT ALL BACK BECAUSE IF YOU DO, BEFORE THEY EVER FINISH THE LIGHTS WILL HAVE GONE OUT FOREVER ON THE EMPTY, GLOOMY CLUB PARADISE. 

IT IS TIME TO GIVE IT UP.

NOW TELL ME, DO YOU REALLY PITY THESE GUYS?

DEVELOPMENT

in terms of progress from this time forward, as reflected in the media debate, almost everyone seems to be fastened on economic development.  but beyond a certain minimum level of security of the person, economic development may not be the most enlightened form of development or the development that is most necessary to keep the world and its occupants healthy and secure.  there are other types of development which should be moving to the fore now.  we have essentially solved the problem of how to feed and clothe and house a decent number of human beings on the planet earth (even if proper distribution is lagging behind and overproduction of nonessentials is contributing to planet degradation).  we are not about to go away because we arent economically advanced enough.  but we may be going away because of other failures, because we have neglected to continue to advance in other more important, and actually more interesting, ways.  there is nothing beyond being fed, clothed and housed and safe from attack that is so particularly significant about our physical wellbeing at this point in our evolution.  increased wellbeing will come from increased understanding of what life is, of what human life is, of what human beings are, of what animals are, of how singular is the story called ‘life’, of what the whole cosmos is about (or not about, in fact).  spending time and treasure in pursuit of this more interesting and increasingly needed understanding will prove more useful and more rewarding to individuals, to societies and to the planet itself, and will make us much safer and more secure in our future here than continuing our narrow focus on economic wellbeing.  the progress that will come through understanding, understanding that comes increasingly from reliance on science and education for all the world’s people, is now the most important path to future security.  in fact, it may be the only path.

THE CRITICAL QUESTION

WHAT MAKES BOTH LUNDBORG'S SKEPTICAL ENVIRONMENTALIST AND RIDLEY'S RATIONAL OPTIMIST SO FLAWED IS THAT BOTH BOOKS ESSENTIALLY ASK THE SAME QUESTION AND GET THE SAME RESULT: ARE WE BETTER OFF TODAY THAN WE WERE FIFTY OR A HUNDRED YEARS AGO?  MEASURED IN HEALTH OUTCOMES, LONGEVITY, MEDIAN INCOME AND SUCH, THE ANSWER IS A RESOUNDING 'YES'.  THE PROBLEM IS, THEY THEN CONCLUDE FROM THAT (WITH A VERY BIASED ANALYSIS) THAT IF WE KEEP DOING THE SAME THINGS INTO THE FUTURE, WE WILL CONTINUE TO IMPROVE OUR LOT.


THE CRITICAL QUESTION IS NOT 'ARE WE BETTER OFF THAN WE WERE FIFTY YEARS AGO?'  IT IS, 'ARE WE BETTER OFF THAN WE WILL BE FIFTY YEARS FROM NOW?'  AND I AM AFRAID THE ANSWER TO THAT QUESTION IS ALSO A RESOUNDING 'YES'.


IF YOU WANT TO GET AN INTELLIGENT ANSWER TO A QUESTION VITAL TO ALL OF US, TO INGEST AND ASSIMILATE QUICKLY THE MOST RELEVANT DATA IN PLOTTING A COURSE FOR MANKIND, THEN YOU BETTER ASK THE RIGHT QUESTION.  THESE BOOKS AMOUNT TO NOTHING SERIOUS.  THEY ARE MERELY APOLOGIES FOR DRAGGING THE STATUS QUO IN ALL ITS MOST GRIEVOUS FORMS FORWARD INTO WHAT SURELY WILL BE OBLIVION, OR AT LEAST A HOT DANGEROUS WORLD OF FIFTEEN BILLION PEOPLE, WHO WILL HAVE SHED MANY OF THE THINGS WE HOLD MOST PRECIOUS FOR OURSELVES AND OTHER CREATURES IN THE BIOSPHERE AND THAT WILL AFFECT THE HISTORY OF NOT ONLY MANKIND BUT THE EARTH ITSELF.

OF CAMUS

I CONNECT TO HIM BECAUSE HE WAS A SERIOUS MAN AND I A SERIOUS YOUNG MAN (WHEN I FIRST READ HIM).  AND THERE IS SOMETHING I STILL NEED — THAT THREAD OF CONNECTION — NOT TO JUSTIFY MYSELF, MY CHOICES, THE TIME IVE SPENT, BUT TO FEEL SOMETHING LIKE ME BEYOND MYSELF WHERE I BELONG.

ABSTRACTION

EXCERPT FROM NOTEBOOK FOUR — ALBERT CAMUS, SEPTEMBER 1944

...abstraction is evil.  It causes wars, tortures, violence, etc.  Problem:  How does the abstract view continue in the face of physical evil, ideology in the face of the torture inflicted in the name of that ideology?

WHERE ARE THE DISINTERESTED PEOPLE?

EXCERPT FROM NOTEBOOK FOUR — ALBERT CAMUS, MARCH 1943


Any life directed toward money is a death.  Renascence lies in disinterestedness.

A CLEAN SHIRT

EATING ANIMALS MAY HAVE BEEN THE BEST OR THE ONLY WAY FOR HUMANS TO SURVIVE THE ICE AGES BUT NOW WE ARE LIVING AT A TIME WHEN EATING ANIMALS IS PROBABLY CHOKING THE PLANET.  THE SAME CAN BE SAID FOR INTERTRIBAL WARFARE AND THE WHOLE INDUSTRY SUPPORTING INGROUP/OUTGROUP HOSTILITIES — ALSO FOR SELFISH DOMINATION OF OTHERS WITHIN GROUPS.  WE NEED TO STUDY FITNESS, NOT ONLY  IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND HOW WE GOT HERE BUT TO UNDERSTAND HOW WE CAN CONTINUE TO STAY HERE.  AND THIS INVOLVES CHANGING HABITS TO SUIT CHANGING CONDITIONS OVER TIME.  ISNT THIS THE LESSON OF EVOLUTION?  THAT THE CREATURES THAT ARE THE MOST ADAPTABLE AND ABLE TO EVOLVE IN THE FACE OF CHANGING ENVIRONMENTS ARE  THE ONES THAT ALWAYS HAVE THE BEST CHANCE OF SURVIVAL?  


SO IT MUST BE FOR US.  WE HUMANS WITH THE BEST CHANCE OF SURVIVING INTO OUR IMMEDIATE FUTURE ARE THOSE AMONG US WHO CAN UNDERSTAND THE FORESHADOWING OF COMING CONDITIONS AND ADAPT TO THEM IN THE MOST TIMELY MANNER.  


PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW WHEN TO WEAR THE FAMILIAR AND WHEN TO PUT ON A CLEAN SHIRT.

EARLY (AND CONTINUING) THOUGHTS

WHEN I WAS SEVENTEEN I WAS ALREADY MARRIED AND LIVING BRIEFLY IN THE HOME OF MY INLAWS.  I HAD GOT USED TO THE FACT THAT MY WIFE SNEEZED NINE TIMES WHENEVER SHE SNEEZED IN OUR FIRST FEW MONTHS ALONE TOGETHER — SHE WAS INCAPABLE OF SNEEZING ONCE OR TWICE — AND THOUGH IT WAS UNLIKE ANYTHING I HAD EXPERIENCED IN MY FAMILY I CAME TO SEE IT AS A ROBUST AND RELIABLE CHARACTERISTIC OF HER BEHAVIOR.  WHEN I FIRST ENCOUNTERED HER DAD SNEEZING IT STRUCK ME AS INCREDIBLE — HE SNEEZED NINE TIMES AND ACCORDING TO MY MOTHER-IN-LAW HAD ALWAYS DONE SO.  THIS BEGAN A LINE OF THOUGHT IN ME THAT HAS CONTINUED TO THIS DAY.  WHEN LATER I JOINED THE RANKS OF STUDENTS IN HIGHER EDUCATION I HAD MANY QUARRELS WITH THE CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY TEACHING OF THE DAY — THE LATE FIFTIES — AND EARNED THE WRATH OF MORE THAN ONE RATHER CONFIDENT PROFESSOR.  ACCORDING TO THIS ORTHODOXY AN INFANT WAS MORE OR LESS A BLANK SLATE AND EVERYTHING THAT THEY BECAME WAS AS A RESULT OF THEIR ENVIRONMENT.  I COULDNT UNDERSTAND WHY THEY ALL THOUGHT THE SAME THING, WHICH BEGAN ANOTHER CONTINUING LINE OF INQUIRY FOR ME, AND DIDNT THINK FOR A MOMENT THAT THERE WAS MERIT IN THIS VIEW OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR..  THE FACT THAT MY WIFE WOULD HAVE LEARNED TO SNEEZE THAT WAY BY IMITATION OF HER DAD, WHO WOULD HAVE IMITATED HIS PARENT OR SOMEONE ELSE IN HIS CHILDHOOD, SEEMED TO ME ABSURD.  MY WIFE’S SNEEZING WAS COMPULSIVE AND TRY AS SHE MIGHT SHE COULD NOT ARREST THE PROCESS ONCE BEGUN.  NEITHER COULD HER DAD. 

I HAVE NOW LIVED LONG ENOUGH TO SEE THAT BOTH THESE IDEAS — CRIPPLING CONFORMITY AMONG PEERS AND GENETICALLY CODED BEHAVIOR — HAVE MORE OR LESS COME AROUND TO WHAT I THINK WAS PROBABLY OBVIOUS AMONG MANY PEOPLE WHO DID NOT CONSIDER THEMSELVES EXPERTS IN PSYCHOLOGY.  LIKE THE KIDS IN GRAMMAR SCHOOL — I WAS ONE — WHO THOUGHT AFRICA FITTED RATHER NICELY INTO SOUTH AMERICA, ONLY TO BE TOLD BY OUR SCIENCE TEACHERS THAT THE IDEA WAS ABSURD, SOMETIMES I FIND THAT EXPERTS ARE THE LAST TO KNOW.  AFTER ALL, THEY HAVE THE MOST TO GAIN BY NOT KNOWING, INVESTED AS THEY ARE IN THE IDEAS THAT ARE PERSUASIVE IN THEIR FIELD IN THEIR TIME.  IT IS ALMOST AS HARD FOR  MOST PEOPLE TO SAY ‘I WAS WRONG ABOUT THAT’ AS IT IS FOR THEM TO SAY ‘NO, THAT IS TOO MUCH.  I WANT LESS.’  AND THAT IS A VANISHINGLY SMALL PART OF THE POPULACE I OBSERVE IN MY TIME ON THE PLANET.

WORRY, BLAME AND INEVITABILITY

A LOVELY FRIEND ASKED ME AT LUNCH YESTERDAY IF I WERENT WORRIED ABOUT THE INTERNET REMAINING OPEN AND FREE FROM CORPORATE OR GOVERNMENT DOMINATION.  I REPLIED THAT THERE WASNT MUCH THAT I WORRIED ABOUT THESE DAYS, THAT I THOUGHT THE INTERNET WAS FANTASTIC AND CONTAINED INHERENTLY WITHIN ITSELF THE SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEMS IT MIGHT FACE OVER TIME, BASED AS IT IS IN ALL THE PEOPLE. 

ABOUT WORRY IN GENERAL, AGE SEEMS TO HAVE WINNOWED IT DOWN TO A FEW BIG THINGS.  I WOULD NEVER WORRY, FOR INSTANCE, ABOUT THE ECONOMY, ESPECIALLY JOBS, THOUGH I MIGHT WORRY ABOUT WHAT PEOPLE DID WITH THEIR TIME AND FOR THEIR SUSTENANCE.  THE ESSENTIAL QUESTION IS NOT WHETHER THEY ARE WORKING BUT WHAT THEY ARE PRODUCING THROUGH THEIR EFFORT.  THERE ARE A FEW THINGS HOWEVER THAT I DO PRIVILEGE WITH ACTIVE CONCERN: GROUP IDENTITY HAS OUTLIVED ITS BEST BEFORE DATE — IT IS TIME WE IDENTIFIED WITH ALL — ALL THE HUMANS, ALL THE CREATURES, ALL THE PLANET.  FROM THAT FLOWS TRULY EGALITARIAN RECIPROCAL DISINTERESTED JUSTICE.  FLOWING FROM THAT IS THE ELIMINATION OF FORCE — EITHER INTIMIDATION, DESTRUCTION OR MURDER — IN THE CONDUCT OF HUMAN RELATIONS.  FLOWING FROM THAT IS THE ELIMINATION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS, THE ONLY TRUE WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION, AND FLOWING FROM THAT IS THE ELIMINATION OF ALL THREATS TO THE ENVIRONMENT CAUSED BY HUMAN ACTIVITY.

I DO NOT THINK IT IS USEFUL TO BLAME THIS OR THAT GROUP FOR THESE LARGESCALE PROBLEMS, WHICH ARE SYSTEMIC — ROOTED IN OUR GENETICALLY CODED EMOTIONALLY BASED BEHAVIORS — AND ARE UBIQUITOUS THROUGHOUT THE BIOSPHERE AND THROUGHOUT THE CULTURES AND SOCIAL SPECIES OF EARTH.  THERE IS A CERTAIN INEVITABILITY TO THIS HISTORY OF OURS AND THE NOTION THAT ANY PARTICULAR INDIVIDUAL OR SYSTEM OF GOVERNANCE OR CULTURE IS TO BLAME — THAT IF THIS ABERRANT BEHAVIOR HAD NEVER EXISTED OR COULD BE OVERWHELMED EARTH WOULD HAVE BEEN DIFFERENT TODAY — STANDS ON PRETTY SHAKY GROUND.  THERE IS JUST NO EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT ALTERNATE EVOLUTIONS OF EARTH.  BUT THE NOTION THAT EVOLUTION STOPPED WHEN WE WERE BORN OR IS STOPPING NOW IS EVEN MORE FANTASTIC.  RATHER THAN WASTE ENERGY AND TIME PURSUING ENEMIES WITH THIS SORT OF RETRIBUTIVE PUNITIVE SO-CALLED JUSTICE WE WILL BE BETTER ABLE TO TRANSCEND OUR FOLLY IF INSTEAD WE USE THE TIME TO EXAMINE OUR OWN ROLE IN THE PARTICULAR FAILURES OF MANKIND.  THERE IS MORE THAN BLAME ENOUGH TO GO AROUND, WHICH MAKES BLAME A GENERALLY USELESS EMOTION AND A PARTICULARLY USELESS PURSUIT IN TERMS OF BOTH INDIVIDUAL AND COLLECTIVE EDIFICATION.