WHAT BUSINESS IS IT OF YOURS?

IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, WHICH HAS BLED HEAVILY INTO THE TWENTY-FIRST, EVERYTHING IN  AMERICA WAS BUSINESS. IN MY YOUTH I HAD NO INTEREST IN IT.  I OPENED MANY DOORS THEN, LOOKING FOR SOMETHING ELSE; BEHIND EACH DOOR, INTO EACH ROOM I PEERED, I WAS DISAPPOINTED TO FIND JUST ANOTHER ENTRANCE TO THE GREAT HALL OF BUSINESS. THIS INCLUDED DOORS LABELLED MUSIC, ART, LITERATURE, FILM, MEDICINE AND EVEN MY PRECIOUS SCIENCE, ALSO SOME ITEMS I DID NOT VALUE PURSUING LIKE RELIGION. THIS WAS A CENTRAL DISILLUSIONMENT WHICH CAUSED MUCH OF MY ALIENATION AND HAS COLORED MUCH OF MY LIFE EXPERIENCE.  IN EUROPE  SO-CALLED EGGHEADS AND LONGHAIRS FARED BETTER, RECEIVING A LEVEL OF APPRECIATION IN THEIR RESPECTIVE SOCIETIES THAT SEEMED TO AMERICANS LIKE CRAZY ADORATION, RATHER THAN THE ADORATION FILM STARS AND GANGSTERS AND SPORTS HEROES AND ESPECIALLY WEALTHY PEOPLE OF EVERY CALLING INCLUDING MAFIA TYPES ENJOYED IN AMERICA.

MY SOLUTION WAS BASICALLY TO LEARN TO LIVE ON THE SMALLEST POSSIBLE INCOME AS A DEFENSE AGAINST SPENDING ALL MY TREASURE - MY TIME - PURSUING GOALS I DID NOT VALUE.  I READ AND REREAD AMERICANS LIKE HENRY THOREAU AND WALT WHITMAN, GAINING RESOLVE AND LESSENING MY FEELING OF ISOLATION. THERE WERE MANY OTHERS - ALAN PATON, TOLSTOY, JOYCE, DOSTOEVSKY, CAMUS; PLAYWRIGHTS LIKE ARTHUR MILLER, TO SAMPLE JUST A FEW; COMPOSERS LIKE CHARLES IVES, HENRYK  GORECKI,  RANDY NEWMAN; FILM DIRECTORS AND SCREENWRITERS, DE SICA, SATYAJIT RAY, JIRI MENZEL AND MANY EUROPEANS FROM EVERY COUNTRY.  THESE WORKS FROM THESE COUNTRIES WERE LARGELY MADE WITH SUPPORT FROM GOVERNMENTS IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, AS THE GREAT WORKS OF OTHER CENTURIES HAD BEEN SUPPORTED BY DYNASTIES AND RELIGIONS AND OTHER ELITES.  NOW IT SEEMS TO HAVE FALLEN LARGELY TO THE PROFIT MOTIVE TO FUND THESE WORKS AND THE GREAT BULK OF IT IS SHABBY AND CONTEMPTIBLE.  PAINTING IS A BUSINESS, A GALLERY BUSINESS, LITERATURE IS A PUBLISHING BUSINESS, ALSO LARGELY STEERED BY PERCEIVED PROMOTABILITY NOT LASTING WORTH, AND THE EFFECT IS BEING FELT AROUND THE WORLD.  PROSPERITY AS A GOAL HAS CONTRIBUTED TO OVERPRODUCTION AND USELESS PRODUCTION AND EVEN SUICIDAL PRODUCTION, LIKE NUCLEAR AND OTHER WEAPONS OF WAR, ALL IN THE NAME OF SOMEBODY'S PROFIT, EVEN OBSCENE PROFIT IF AT ALL POSSIBLE.  THERE SEEMS TO BE NO REASONABLE LIMIT TO THE LUST FOR WEALTH AT ALL COSTS, INCLUDING HUMANS WASTING MOST OF THEIR TIME AND MOST OF THE PLANET.

I DOUBT AN ALTERNATIVE REALITY WAS AVAILABLE AT THIS STAGE IN THE EVOLUTION OF THE ANIMAL, I CAN ONLY HOPE THAT A SUBSEQUENT STAGE WILL ARRIVE BEFORE THERE IS NOTHING LEFT BUT ASHES.