For the Benefit of Mr. Kite
The human race is standing on a precipice where there is no going back but possibly no going forward either. At least not without a parachute. All signs are pointing to impending doom, not just a few. Doom is a little harsh and over-worn. Let’s say its the culmination of our time on Earth celebrated with a retirement party. Our presence as 6 billion* creatures strong is suffocating the earth and we continue to push longevity to new lengths with the help of technology and the fact that our only predators are bacteria and ourselves.
*I wrote this a month ago. Population is now 7 billion.
As temperatures skyrocket and ocean levels rise we feebly hope we can diminish the pollution that fuels global warming while at the same time our increased numbers demand more pollution. The optimists say there is still hope of reversing global warming if we cooperate in shutting down our fossil-powered machines and run them on green energy sources. In other words, there is little hope. The machines and the fossil fuels belong to the ruling class of big businesses who will relentlessly fight anything that reduces profits. Transforming society into sustainable, clean energy would be extremely expensive.
The obvious solution to the planetary crisis is simply to eliminate the polluters. Eradicate humankind like you would a cancer and the Earth would heal itself effortlessly. Perhaps Ebola was an antibiotic the Earth created for that purpose, but we didn’t see it as that. We worship Homo Erectus too much to see ourselves as a disease in a larger organism. To us, our demise would be a holocaustic disaster. Is that how we interpret the tragedy of the mass destruction of leaves in autumn? Obviously, we think we’re more precious than leaves. We can also deduce that the rotted remains of plants are the foundation of all that is currently living. Can’t we see that the same is true of the next age of life on Earth after our extinction? The way we’ve been underperforming, we may turn out to be less precious than leaves.
Other signs illustrating the abyss before us are of the non-physical types. We are at an impasse in our understanding, for one. The universe has gone into reruns. Capitalism must find ways to sell new smart phones that are already hand held computers, televisions and even an AI companion that will answer our questions, play any piece of music ever recorded, guide us to the restaurant, deposit a paper check in our bank, provide a Swiss Army Knife of applications, take photos and movies, connect us to everyone else’s photos, movies and status and one other thing; what was it? Ah! Make phone calls. There isn’t anything new for us to know, just another version of what we’ve already done. I like to write down profound revelations that come to me from beyond. Then I read these same heavy-revvies that someone else wrote 3000 years ago. Ponder the plight of television producers who labor in vain to come up with a sitcom with a new premise. The universe has gone into reruns.
Scientifically, we passed the 20th century age of enlightenment ushered in by Einstein and friends that is generally referred to as “Relativity”. The term implies a relationship between this and that. Relativity is yet another sign of what the species was experiencing at the time. The World Wars, global finance and the civil rights awakening, all out-pictured our relationships and how they’d been intensified by technology. The current scientific toy is the next stage of our evolution. They call it the Unified Theory. Bong! Heavy revvie! From relativity to unity. What’s going on outwardly at the same time? — a global consciousness. The Internet is connecting humans like brain cells in a global mind. You can buy Chinese or Russian stocks from your home office at the speed of light. Hell, you can buy them on the beach with your smart phone! Technology is also taking away privacy. You have to build a bunker to get away from cameras and Big Brother can still locate you if you keep your phone with you. In this election cycle, the corruption in campaigning and voting that has always happened is no longer happening in the shadows. There’s a feces-storm of investigations into the mischief of the establishment instigated by a well-connected society who are monitoring the campaigning, voting and electing. You want to spy on us, Big Brother, well, we’re going to spy on you. It’s not fun now, is it, Bro?
This is another billboard pointing to the state of a species that is reaching the end of a road. Like the environment, like atoms that are neither here nor there, like our funny-money that has no substance behind it, we are living a hollow existence that can no longer be sustained. We were able to keep it going when we had faith that it was real, but now we know too much. We sense that we’re on the wrong path but the right path is so far from here, we don’t know how to get back to it. I believe this is described as being lost in the woods. That suggests an interesting option. Build a simple shelter and a fire and look for food.
Since all these convolutions, evolutions and revolutions are pointing in the same direction, the natural thing for us to do is follow their lead. Stop fighting and surrender. We may not have long to live. If we’re ever going to let go of our obsession with a future happiness, this is the best opportunity. If we can see the precious treasure in our hand (that’s faithfully blipping, displaying and notifying) as tomorrow’s piece of junk, maybe we can also relent from the mad charge forward into more refined junk that carries an even higher price. If we agree that there’s nothing down this road we’re on but more disappointment, more debts and more pollution, we can at least slow down the destruction by not wanting more of it. If it dawns on us that this may be as good as it gets, we might sit down in the woods for how ever long we have left and for the first time, perhaps, hear the birds, feel the sunlight streaming through the branches, take a few slow breaths and realize we’re alive now and can be happy now and that that’s the only real thing we’ve ever had.
