The end isn’t nigh; it’s always here. This is what I’ve come to realize, even if mostly only intellectually. It’s less satisfying that having a luxury box overlooking the eternal damnation of those I despise, but I have to be satisfied with the knowledge that they are living in the cages of themselves. It is simply not my business whether or not they realize that.
I used to wish I were a better prepper, but I, too, see that there’s no point. If we succumb to thinking in static terms, we just get another stupid technocratic failure. My focus is on principles and dynamics; everyone wants the armageddon homestead, but the thing that’s going to save us is social networks. If I do a hard thing, that hard thing is going to be forcing myself to keep engaging with other people, even when I want to crawl into my cave.
In-person social networks (what used to be called "community") really are key. One of the lessons life keeps on presenting me with is that community is not necessarily going to be made up of people who see things the way that I do, and that it's still possible to a) be unapologetically myself, and b) work well together with others, without an ideological frequency match. The main requirement to working together seems to be having mutual respect and a common vision for the thing at hand. It doesn't have to be a sweeping vision. This seems super obvious when I type it out, but it never felt super obvious to me before.
I agree, and I also have concerns about being able to truly trust any community that doesn’t share certain important values. I felt, during Covid, that many of my neighbors weren’t genuinely safe people for me to be around, in the sense that they would readily see my rights severely abrogated and abused in the interest of their ideologies and neuroses.
I guess I’m coming to the belief that rights abuses are not really real. There are only rights exercises, it seems to me, with or without the approval or cooperation of others. But yeah, if they want you locked up for living your life then that crucial aspect of mutual respect is definitely missing and you can’t do community with someone like that.
“This is an instruction for how to unite heaven with earth, spirit with matter. It’s how to begin to feel that heaven is within you and all around you. Accept the crisis. Feel the heat, succumb to it, receive your revelatory message, cooperate with the fire. And be reborn.”
Thanks for this. Your post today really speaks to me. It reminds me of Dostoyevsky when he says that the line between good and evil crosses through the middle of the human heart.(not the exact quote but I think you know what I mean)
I love that quote, but isn't it Solzhenitsyn? In any case, it resonates on a core level, and is one of the bits and pieces that, years ago, sent me down the path I am on. Thank you for commenting, Dennis!
You should look up the "Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis" - about 12k years ago, give or take, there is evidence that a series of meteors may have been what brought about the end of the last ice age by pretty much instantly melting the Laurentide and Cordilleran ice sheets and causing a flood - perhaps THE flood - and burying under mud a lost worldwide civilization.
But remember:《A Grasshopper frolicked while an Ant stored food for the winter. When winter came the Ant was comfortable; the Grasshopper not so.》—Aesop
I think, rather than being sent here to earth to devise hiding spots for oatmeal packets, I am here in part to give people things to think about. Well, my work here is done. 🦸♀️
The end isn’t nigh; it’s always here. This is what I’ve come to realize, even if mostly only intellectually. It’s less satisfying that having a luxury box overlooking the eternal damnation of those I despise, but I have to be satisfied with the knowledge that they are living in the cages of themselves. It is simply not my business whether or not they realize that.
I used to wish I were a better prepper, but I, too, see that there’s no point. If we succumb to thinking in static terms, we just get another stupid technocratic failure. My focus is on principles and dynamics; everyone wants the armageddon homestead, but the thing that’s going to save us is social networks. If I do a hard thing, that hard thing is going to be forcing myself to keep engaging with other people, even when I want to crawl into my cave.
With apologies to Thich Nhat Hahn,
Everyone wants to build a bunker.
No one wants to go make friends.
In-person social networks (what used to be called "community") really are key. One of the lessons life keeps on presenting me with is that community is not necessarily going to be made up of people who see things the way that I do, and that it's still possible to a) be unapologetically myself, and b) work well together with others, without an ideological frequency match. The main requirement to working together seems to be having mutual respect and a common vision for the thing at hand. It doesn't have to be a sweeping vision. This seems super obvious when I type it out, but it never felt super obvious to me before.
I agree, and I also have concerns about being able to truly trust any community that doesn’t share certain important values. I felt, during Covid, that many of my neighbors weren’t genuinely safe people for me to be around, in the sense that they would readily see my rights severely abrogated and abused in the interest of their ideologies and neuroses.
I guess I’m coming to the belief that rights abuses are not really real. There are only rights exercises, it seems to me, with or without the approval or cooperation of others. But yeah, if they want you locked up for living your life then that crucial aspect of mutual respect is definitely missing and you can’t do community with someone like that.
“This is an instruction for how to unite heaven with earth, spirit with matter. It’s how to begin to feel that heaven is within you and all around you. Accept the crisis. Feel the heat, succumb to it, receive your revelatory message, cooperate with the fire. And be reborn.”
Thanks for this. Your post today really speaks to me. It reminds me of Dostoyevsky when he says that the line between good and evil crosses through the middle of the human heart.(not the exact quote but I think you know what I mean)
I love that quote, but isn't it Solzhenitsyn? In any case, it resonates on a core level, and is one of the bits and pieces that, years ago, sent me down the path I am on. Thank you for commenting, Dennis!
"It’s been a few hundred thousand years."
You should look up the "Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis" - about 12k years ago, give or take, there is evidence that a series of meteors may have been what brought about the end of the last ice age by pretty much instantly melting the Laurentide and Cordilleran ice sheets and causing a flood - perhaps THE flood - and burying under mud a lost worldwide civilization.
. . .I honestly can't wait.
Just wish it would hurry up and get over with!!
Like John Michael Greer is fond of saying, apocalypse is just the equally flawed opposite of utopia.
While civilization collapses, I am learning to play the guitar and sing along.
What a profoundly beautiful essay. Brilliant advice on how to think about the apocalyptic nature of our age, and inspiring as well. Excellent work.
Be a happy Sisyphus, —Camus.
But remember:《A Grasshopper frolicked while an Ant stored food for the winter. When winter came the Ant was comfortable; the Grasshopper not so.》—Aesop
I think, rather than being sent here to earth to devise hiding spots for oatmeal packets, I am here in part to give people things to think about. Well, my work here is done. 🦸♀️
Thanks for the comment!