Jenna Orkin
No links, due to a recent inability to sit for long stretches.
But the horizontal position in which I've spent most of the last week affords a new perspective, particularly given the guidance of whoever it was who recommended Neil Postman several posts ago. (Thank you!)
Brilliant guy, particularly in his classic work, Amusing Ourselves to Death.
The thesis of said slim but nonetheless magnum opus is that we are not marching into oblivion to the tune of Orwell's 1984; rather, we are dancing there to the tune of Huxley's Brave New World. Going out not with a bang nor even a whimper; we exit jiving to a jingle. We have opted for euthanasia via television. Big Brother, to paraphrase Postman, turns out to be Howdy Doody.
And this was written in 1985, the good old days. If someone would like to research what Postman had to say regarding 9/11, the result could be interesting. Though he died in 2003, offhand I can't find anything.
While the basic tenet of the core members of this blog is that this is the time to cultivate one's garden in a more literal sense than Voltaire ever intended, it never hurts to gain perspective. The reknowned literary critic Dame Helen Gardner, when she was a student at Oxford, was once chastised by a friend who was reading (majoring in) medicine for embarking on the frivolous study of English literature.
"But my dear Margaret," Helen replied, "What will your patients do when they get better?"
We are not confident we ever will "get better" since another tenet here is that things are going to get a whole lot worse first. But perspective is still illuminating and Postman offers it in spades, to continue the gardening theme. From the seven-hour Lincoln/Douglas debates to the literacy rate of seventeenth century America (over 90% for free white men, 60% for unenslaved white women) to the impressive tidbit that Americans learned the technique for making wheels out of a single piece of wood from Homer.
Almost makes you proud til you remember that the point is the opposite.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
18 comments:
Sorry to hear about the inability to post links. To help cover for you, I have posted a few links on my blog for the new junkies out there.
Hope you're feeling better...or whatever.
I think it's more, what will doctors do (and pharmaceutical manufacturers and industrial agricultural producers and our educational system and our entire government) do when patients get better. That's completely why it's designed that they won't.
One of your best writing yet Jenna. I'm sorry that you allude to an illness but it seems horizontal suits. I rarely post but read daily and this was excellent.
The Postman always rings twice.
There's a good post on TOD by Peter Goodchild, author of Survival Skills of the North American Indians.
Peak Oil And World Food Supplies
A fitting title might have been dieoff by the numbers!
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/5558
Ruthie & David wish for you a pleasant and timely return to wherever you most desire being.
Ah yes, Jenna... "perspective" determines illumination, and is what informs us that things must sometimes (as they have been for quite a number of centuries, now) get as "worse" as they need to in order to "get [any] better" than what they are. Please do read on, and please do enjoy:
Who WE Are; bottom line - #3
An imperative of Earth's human kind species is that a significant number of its members become fully knowledgeable of the 'how & why' -- i.e. fully knowledgeable of the 'means & purpose' -- of Homo sapiens sapiens' relationship with existence. Without such knowledge, Earth's human kind are ever-destined for eventual/certain extinction. And, if so, then might there be a simultaneously overarching/underpinning perspective in such an allegation? Short answer: "yes".
ALL human kind are always/continuously required to eventually/generally/periodically understand how & why WE exist for the express purpose of CONTINUING to exist. And, it should be evident to all that this speaks of the nature of existence, itself, of which WE are integral components/products/beneficiaries/actualizers. Such knowledge, therefore, when fully personally assimilated, leaves one/us ultimately without anything real to grieve over whatsoever... other than one's/our occasional personal to species-wide lapses into ignorance of such matters; which ignorance, in fact, is exactly what WE unwittingly have long been regularly grieving over virtually since our advent here on Earth right on up through these very days, and why these words are here to inform us of such things and thereby help us free ourselves to transcend the onerous circumstances which we otherwise have no choice but to continue enduring as the consequence of our otherwise unresolved fundamental ignorance of existence and ourselves. Which is to say:
By overcoming fundamental and pervasive ignorance concerning the nature of existence it is possible to recognize that WE are actually experiencing a grand moment in the evolution of Earth's ("Gaia's" would indeed be an infinitely preferable and more proper term of reference) human kind species. And, as for specifying "Earth's 'human kind' species", it is first because that which most fundamentally constitutes that which WE are is our eternally living spirit selves coupled with our consciousness of the nature of existence and our relationship thereto -- whereof our physical bodies are but bio-ecosystemically specialized agglomerations of physical criteria which our spirit-mind selves in intimate conjunction with the whole of existence routinely (re)produce & utilize to augment & enhance the spirit-mind talents and potentials of existence. Next, it is also to point out that 'human kind' -- i.e. "WE" -- occur and exist in a myriad of other forms and means throughout the entire field of existence. Bottom line:
There truly are no "aliens", and there truly is no "evil". Such are but utilitarian word-terms specific to ignorance of reality's actual construct. Nonetheless, across the entirety of our living existence ignorance will continue being an inevitable, natural, periodic and necessary adversary to overcome, just as it is now being overcome here on planet Earth by certain ones of Gaia's human kind species of physically-embodied spirit-mind selves/souls. And thus, some of the same as well as all of the new is always forthcoming.
A bit inline with RadD's post - there is an interesting article from Discover Magazine. The title is "The Biocentric Universe Theory: Life Creates Time, Space and the Cosmos Itself"
http://discovermagazine.com/2009/may/01-the-biocentric-universe-life-creates-time-space-cosmos/?searchterm=biocentric
The topic has its roots in Quantum mechanics which "makes some of the most persuasive arguments that conscious perception is integral to the workings of the universe."
With Jenna's post, it seems those that aren't just simply trying to survive to see a new day, are indeed being sucked up by the electronic trivialities (web surfing, e-mails, web porn, games or whatever). Our "awareness" of self and what's around us is becoming greatly diminshed.
As RanD (and others) has said many times, the coming couple of years will be an unbelievable opportunity to totally reevaluate who we are and what is really important to us.
Will many make the best of this huge shift in conciousness? Will many evolve to the next level whatever it may be? My guess is not likely.
Anyway, read the article after you've pondered the fine posts on this blog. Time for some real critical thinking ... or not.
Jenna, being horizontal out under a tree in the soft grass soaking up sunlight, lift and inspiration might be a good option. May you be comfortably vertical soon.
namaste
Some mind expanding posts - thank you all! This site continues to scare, entertain and educate me in equal measure!
Get well soon Jenna! We will struggle to survive without your encyclopedic posts somehow (with a little help from our friends!)
thx for all the comments, guys! i only put in that explanation of necessity.
vertically yours
Baby steps towards "Point Eight",or wishful thinking on my part?
Govt considers limits on energy trading
http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_12932166?source=rss
It is Official: WHO Recommends Mandatory Injections to Almost Two Hundred Countries
quote
(NaturalNews) Executives from Baxter, Novartis, Glaxo-Smith Kline, and Sanofi Pasteur have seats at the advisory group that on July 13th recommended mandatory H1N1 vaccination of everyone in all 194 countries that belong to the World Health Organization (WHO), according to a report just issued by journalist Jane Burgermeister.
unquote
The article then goes on to suggest the vaccine components and its possible effects....
quote
Three-stage vaccinations may create perfect cytokine storm
and...
Even if this described scenario does not develop, Jordan points out that the current "swine flu" vaccine is made with an adjuvant that may contain a material poison, salmonella, or typhoid fever toxin, along with squalene. Although not known with certainty, the second round of injections given to the soldiers in 1918 is believed to have contained typhus.
Squalene produces auto-immunity and eventually death in everyone who takes it. Squalene contributed to the cascade reactions known as Gulf War Syndrome that left GIs with arthritis, fibromyalgia, lymphadenopathy, photosensitive rashes, chronic fatigue, chronic headaches, ulcers, dizziness, weakness, memory loss, seizures, mood changes, neuro-psychiatric problems, multiple sclerosis, lupus, and other diseases.
unquote
If true, very scary stuff indeed...
mayor says no
Problems with the Obama stimulus in middletown
I have a 5 yr. old Granddaughter, last Monday we went to the parking garage.
There is a "Out of Order" sign on the elevator, my Granddaughter asked what it said, she understands out and of, but "order" was new to her, she can recognize the word "broken", but not spell or write it; she knows broken means "does not work".
She said at Preschool, if they talk without raising their hand they are out of order, & that their jackets and papers must be where they belong, so she thought that they had taken the elevator somewhere else!
I enjoy the ambiguity I find around me, and on this Blog, while I find that sometimes an item is of no interest to me, as are most of the links, I KNOW that the post has meaning for someone, & possibly could for me in the future.
RandD and Agapa agree on most things, I enjoy reading RandD, I can detect the difference in their thought expressions, but as they post as a unit I will not try to recognize (Please search out my ambiguous intent, THINK), who is which!
My posts are about understanding,unifying, & making people think, I know I can not
save anyone but, what/how you think can save YOU (and only you)!!
Time?
http://discovermagazine.com/2007/jun/in-no-time
http://comics.com/peanuts/2009-07-26/
http://www.doonesbury.com/strip/dailydose/index.html?uc_full_date=20090726
http://www.parade.com/news/2009/07/26-the-race-for-the-secret-of-the-universe.html
Amae.
Hikikomori was here too... for whatever reason...
agape wins and Hikikomori and FTW...
These are special times, we are doing well, the future is bright. With tears in my eyes and a smile on my face, RanD is grateful for being here with you.
Two words - Bowen Therapy. Be well.
Post a Comment