Lost Art Press is having a sale on their book Anarchist’s Tool Chest. Also, they have a great FAQ on what they mean by anarchism: individualist, non-revolutionary, and no bombs. Which fits nicely with my own anarchism.
The Luddite comic I posted a few days ago mentioned a couple of movements I hadn’t heard of before so I followed it up by watching a couple of videos. Actually, a few seconds of a couple of videos, because it quickly became apparent that the videos were part of yet another trendy lifestyle. “I tried slow living for thirty days and it changed my life.” More would-be influencers with clickbait titles trying way too hard.
But, listen, I get it. It’s easy for me to mock these folks because their style is most definitely not my own. But underneath that style? I get it.
We’re all so damned self-conscious. So many of us are trying to live authentic lives (whatever the hell that means) but the best we can do is define ourselves against the regnant culture and slap together practices wistfully imitating lifeways that have been destroyed by … well, pick your destructive system. There’s a lifestyle trend available for opposing whatever you hate.
It’s the self-consciousness that gets me. Maybe we’d be better off without it. Maybe it’s what the Adam and Eve story is about. Maybe it’s our “happy fault.” I just don’t know. There are times when I envy the apparent mental freedom of wild animals; their lives may be short but at least they don’t blog.
Consciousness feels like an unbridgeable gap. Are Buddhism and Taoism not pointing to the abandonment of self-consciousness as the solution to our suffering? What is ultimate human happiness in Christianity but the beatific vision, the abandonment of self-consciousness in union with God All-in-All? And what are we dirt worshippers looking for if not a rapprochement with the nonhuman world and a more “animal” existence?
Aren’t we all just wishing for our long-lost, unselfconscious primate existence on the African savannah? Who knows. Anyway, it’s going to be a nice weekend and I have work to do.
New use for chatbots: having it rewrite a blunt statement into a more professionally acceptable sentence. Example:
We have too much slack in the budget. If you need new funds, please reallocate from your existing budget.
Rewritten by Microsoft Copilot as
Our budget currently has excess flexibility. If you require additional funds, kindly consider reallocating from your existing budget.
Pretty colors across the street this morning.
I want to be a conscientious objector to the culture wars. I want to hold fast to a belief in the dignity, preciousness, humanity and yes, changeability of people who don’t just disagree with me but may even hate me, no matter their political position, identity, age or anything else. I believe it because my tradition teaches me to, but also because it is better for us all when we do.
This is so good.
Despite an unusually warm February, there doesn’t seem to be any early wildflowers in the woods so far. Mostly wild garlic and garlic mustard.
Ted Goia has a good follow-up post on his dopamine culture piece. In the follow-up, he focuses on ritual as one of the resistances to dopamine culture.
Two more things from the show last night:
- They opened with “The World Can Wait.” Linford said the song was about JOMO: the joy of missing out.
- They played some new, unrecorded music. Folks, when you get your ears on “Bella Luna,” you’re going to love it.
The Over the Rhine show last night was…well, they seem to get better with each passing year. The music that just seems to flow out of them is unmatched in my experience. It feels effortless. Their live shows are always deeply moving experiences for me.