Here's a gratitude game I play with myself.
I pick a modern object and ruminate over how much history went into making it possible. Take this rig: the metal components come from tens of thousands of years of metal-craft. The paints and rubbers come from synthetic versions of natural dyes and fibres that cost hundreds of thousands of lives to industrialize. Then there's the engineering, and the distribution challenges...
We live on the shoulders of so many.
And we take *such* gifts for granted.
yes, we take so much for granted, such a short-sighted species.
i think the anthropocene era will be a short one in comparison.
the Kali Yuga is supposed to be a short one. perhaps the ancients remembered.
@MLClark Love this game, and I also think about which of these things "stick". We've come up with a lot of enabling technology. Some is flash in the pan, other stuff endures for decades/centuries. The monograph, stairs*, fax machine, qwerty keyboard, basic wheelchair. Could fill a book...
*stairs are even deadly but we keep 'em around.
Yes! The fleeting nature of new tech is also a humbling marvel.
(And I totally hear you on the stairs. I still have to tell myself, when I'm at the top of a steep set, that this is *not* how I'm going to die today. 😅 Good motivator for descending slowly!)
one time long ago, when i smoked, i was on acid and, as i struck a match to light another one, suddenly the whole history of our learning to handle fire ran through my imagination.
it struck like lightning.
caused cosmic laughter at human stupidity. i quit smoking, but it's not easy.
@holon42 @MLClark A friend told me several stories of his acid trips. He should have been a stand up comic.
e.g. His mom was watching TV that had a raging fire coming out of it. Since she didn't react, he decided he was hallucinating and went back in his room. 🤣
This fits him so well because he always analyzed everything. He could even rationally analyze being stoned out of his mind.
yes, i did that too. in those days it was alternative therapy because psychedelics open new pathways and we sorely needed them.
still do💪🏾
i'm waiting for mushrooms to be legalized. it's coming but the us forces against increasing consciousness are fighting it.
@holon42 There is more news about therapeutic use of hallucinagens.
Yes indeedy.
I know a ketamine derivative is now prescribed sometimes for bipolar, but I have a strong aversion to drugs after a bad marijuana trip made me realize I was *very* susceptible to being one of the not-insignificant few who can have schizophrenia triggered by weed or other drugs.
I'm super glad it works for some!
I still have to find other ways to manage my bipolar II longterm (& do, though some seasons in the world are tougher than others to survive). Cheers!
oh yes, it's not for everyone. there are pitfalls and dangers, as with any drugs.
i was prescribed lithium and a series of "mood stabilizers".
they mute all emotions, yuck.
meditation and cannabis are working for me, along with qi gong and nature.
Sodium valproate, a lithium analog, for me - but it definitely muted emotions. It was a step up from the "horse tranquilizers" I was given in an outpatient program when I was in my worst bipolar crisis, but I don't engage medically with bipolar management in Colombia. Keto, though, did wonders for breaking the nervous system inflammation that made my lows especially agonizing, and CBT helps a lot for monitoring when I'm entering a low so I can take steps to mitigate the worst of it.
And nature is THE BEST. :)
Thank you so much for taking good care of yourself in the ways that work best for you now. 🤗 It really matters, as do you.
and you too. we have to trust our cells to tell us what we need and don't need.
my cannabis scrip doctor, by phone (yes‼️❤️) asked if i ever get strange thoughts or ideas from cannabis.
i wanted to say, yes, it's fun, but knowing what she meant, i said, yes, but i know it's just my brain acting up, so it's not a problem.
she laughed out loud and was still laughing when we signed off on my prescription.
🤷♀️
@MLClark Your post reminded me of the TV series Connections (with James Burke), which was broadcasted on PBS when I was growing up. I think some episodes are available on YouTube. I loved it back in the day.
I think I've seen some of those! Thanks for the nudge to skip down memory lane! :)
@MLClark I propose "FUBARcene" ... 🙄
😆 That has a great ring to it! And also a sense of fatalism, so we'll definitely put that into practice once there's no turning back.
@MLClark I don't know if I agree. One of the greatest aspects of human power is their capacity to organize in these ways. I see the outline of the concept, but to at least my perspective, I cannot separate humanity from the patterns and organizations of community they naturally create which has been their blessing and curse throughout their history.
That unifies humanity in a way that doesn't reflect our many different ways of living with and in the world. We love to flatten humanity to certain modern industrial formulas, but even now that's not how all humans live with their world.
But I recommend the listen.
As it notes, the anthropocene covers much more ground than our current problems - so the word doesn't adequately address the acceleration in recent centuries. Conversely, the technocene foists too much onto our tech and ignores our agency.
Ergo the host proposing a word drawn from Hobbes' Leviathan, a term that depicts the body-politik and what *it* creates (via corporations, governments, etc.) above and beyond individual human choice.
@MLClark A most intriguing point! I shall give it a listen. Thank you for sharing this with me.
Sorry if my reply was a little formal - I'm doing the crossword with my street vendor friend right now, and sneaking in response time when he's serving customers.
Here's an apology-bee I just saved from my coffee. Silly bee! Caffeine for me, not for thee! 🤗🐝
@MLClark No apology needed! It fits with the topic of discussion, I feel. ^_^ Academia has its ways ^_^
All aside, his voice alone is absolutely epic for this.
@MLClark Wonderful talk. Yes, it does seem that states and corporate entities are the problem and need to be remade if we are to save ourselves.
Oh, I'm glad you found it so. Vocabulary can be quite powerful for articulating the challenges we face, and giving us a new way to move through them.
@MLClark Thinking of them as leviathans is a great way to change the conversation from, "We individuals humans need to change our nature in order to save our world" to "What we have created is no longer working for us. Let's change that creation and build something that does." It is actually a very hopeful idea.
Relatedly, I quite loved the latest Past Present Future, which argues that "Anthropocene" is the wrong word for the era we're moving through, with which to confront its pressing challenges.
The problem isn't *humanity*; it's a form of human organization that's lately caused terrible outcomes. Drawing from Hobbes, the host proposes the "Leviacene" as a more fitting description of this moment.
An excellent reflection on differences between inherent & constructed crises.
https://pca.st/episode/2625f60c-ccb6-4706-aab2-256d2b630846