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Hello Dishwasher,
I am a 42 year old male and lived in the countryside all my life. I live
simply on very little money. I tend to 8 beehives. 15 years ago my land
was far from urban development and my lifestyle was not that different
than my farmer neighbors. More recently city sprawl has moved in my
direction bringing with it the attributes of money and wealth, faster
pace lifestyle and more people and I’m now living in a constant
comparison (in my own mind) of Who I am and the values I have. I’m
beginning to question and doubt The reasonableness of what I’m doing. I
can feel the judgment of This new society (or old) that tells me I’m
poor, should have finished My computer science degree and participate in
the American way of life, Earn more and spend more. Strangely enough I
feel defeated in the face of this more polished and powerful money
driven consumer army that has settled all around me. My solar powered,
garden fed homestead seems quaint and out of place...there really isn’t a
food shortage in Missouri. Should I go back to school, get a high paying
computer job and buy All that cool stuff in the Sharper Image catalog.
Outnumbered
Dear Outnumbered
During the 19th century in America there was a flourishing of utopian
experiments. Had those ideas taken root back then, more of the
experiments succeeded our culture could have taken an altogether
different path, less materialistic, less individualistic. One took place
in New Harmony, Indiana around 1830. You might enjoy reading about
Robert Owen the British industrialist who inspired Karl Marx and settled
in Indiana with a boatload of scientists and educators from New England.
You might also like to read Autin Tappin Wrights Utopian fantasy "Islandia".
I mention that as a preface to the idea that our
particular cultural experience may indeed be a dead end not very notable
experiment in the human condition. I'm not trying to sound pessimistic
or cynical just giving a perspective. It's ok to feel an outsider in the
face of what appears to be the strong and everlasting march of consumer
society… It's really not likely going to last or make a positive stamp
on human history. The contribution, however, that you are making leaves
spiritual footprints all around you and as you know you're not alone. It
may feel like that in Cumming Corner Missouri.
Take a day off and hit the mall and stroll thru what
is indeed a foreign culture, take a cheap camera and binoculars. Be
respectful and observant and you'll find a few bright spirits (mostly
children) that will brighten your day. Don't fall into elitism that
comes so often with intelligence and make human connections where ever
possible. Bad society is full of very good people trying to figure
things out.
Being in the moment and being present where you are
does not harm the spirit, but nourishes it. Feed the Gods with
generosity and beauty. Make art, make friends and be an influence,
you're living in a foreign land. Avoid "woe is me why was I born in the
21st century"
One caveat. There are some very harmful things in
this foreign land that you should avoid. One is the food, take in
moderation. The other is television, specifically what is called the
"news." It is a form of brainwashing used inadvertently to perpetuate an
economic system by showing pictures and telling human stories of real
atrocities and personal human tragedies juxtaposed to pictures of human
luxury, all forms of human pleasure and peace that can be obtained by
purchasing various items. This desensitizes the watcher and over time
will interfere with his ability to make real human connections and
participate in the richness of human life.
You might read
Martín Prechtel
overlook the New Agey stuff and read his comparison and understanding of
Mayan Culture compared to ours. They thought the tourists were simply
dead relatives that were lost trying to come home to the center of the
universe which is where they thought they lived. The language tourists
spoke was Mayan backwards, they never ate indigenous food (tourists were
so paranoid of getting sick) and the pale skin all pointed to this one
conclusion.
Austin Tappan
Wright
Colin
Wilson - Read his first book "Outsiders"
Yours,
The Dishwasher
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