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Sunday, March 3, 2019

Don't know what to do? Make it up!


I recently heard someone say they are tired of hearing how bad the future is going to be with climate collapse––they want to hear what to DO, how to live in the coming bad future.

Wouldn't that be great, a foolproof list of What to Do?
I might like that, but who would compile this list? 
Survivalists have a list.
So do neo-Nazis.

I do think it'd be good to think more about how to live in a scary future, and not to focus to the point of paralysis (or ignorance) on how scary it is. 
That's part of the appeal of zombie stories right now:
The Walking Dead is an exploration of what to do when the lights go out.


Here's what, though:
The Future doesn't come with instructions, right?
The future's not going to be like the past, and it never was.
Like everyone else in history, we have to figure out what to do as we go along. 

We might have guidelines, or we might practice along lines that might be helpful. Maybe learning how to survive in the woods would be helpful:
to build a sense of self-sufficiency, for instance. Helpful in a zombie apocalypse. And in a concentration camp?
Maybe meditation would be a better bet?
Both? 

Neither? 
Who knows?

It's all improv.

The life of Frenchman Frederic Ozanam (1813-1853) overlapped with Victor Hugo's and Honoré Daumier's--a terrifying time of social injustice, poor governance, and revolution.
Social unrest removes the illusion that the future is stable. (It might be an illusion, but it's a comforting one.)


In this time of heightened uncertainty, Ozanam founded the Society of St Vincent de Paul––not just to help people in poverty, but to remove the causes of poverty.*

He said this thing that would make a cheerful refrigerator magnet. But he was talking about knowingly launching into a hurricane. 
(I posted this yesterday, but I keep thinking about it--in the light of his times, and mine.)
“Do not be afraid of new beginnings. Be creative. Be inventive. You who have energy; who have enthusiasm; who want to do something of value for the future:
Be inventive, launch out; Do not wait!”
 In other words, Make that shit up. Start now!
____________________________

* Ozanam also said [via],
 "We should occupy ourselves with the people, whose wants are too many and whose rights are too few;
who are crying out, and fairly, for a share in public affairs, for guarantees of work, and against distress;
who follow bad leaders because they have no good ones...."
 Article from Vicentians.com:
"Frederic Ozanam and Social Justice"

5 comments:

  1. I think one of the difficulties people have in addressing today's global issues is that they seem so BIG. Literally global in scope! Bigger than French politics in the 1800s -- not that that means Ozanam's advice isn't still pertinent. It's just harder now.

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  2. Thanks for commenting, Steve!
    Yeah, the possibility of culture collapse or even the end of our species is pretty hard to take on.

    Not sure it's a matter of scale though:
    Reading history, it doesn't sound like it was any easier in the past when you "only" had to try to grapple with the end of civilization as you knew it...

    But it's not a contest!
    I totally agree the current threats stretch our comprehension beyond its limits--and so we get a lot of denial and inaction and psychological shut-down.

    HOW TO BE CREATIVE in the face of that? I don't know--that interests me, and people like Ozanam somehow rose to the challenge--as do some people in our times.
    They're always rare. (And I'm not one of them!)

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  3. P.S. I don't mean to pick on people:
    psychological shut-down is a good survival strategy!
    Probably evolutionarily advantageous.

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  4. I like the emphasis on life on earth and doing a good job here.

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  5. SPARKER: Yes---St Vincent & Co were very into the physical realities of life on Earth. Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit people in prison, etc.

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