Musings & (Mis)Adventures
“Clocks slay time…time is dead as long as it is being clicked off by little wheels; only when the clock stops does time come to life.” –William Faulkner
“You can’t go back.”
“We must go forward.”
Yeah, ok…
…now take a moment, look away from the computer, and think of a pink elephant hovering over your head.
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The view from McMurdo.
“The land looks like a fairytale.” — Roald Amundsen (1872—1928) about Antarctica.
“Great God! this is an awful place.” — Robert Falcon Scott (1868—1912), also about Antarctica.
Antarctica. What does that have to do with primitivism?
Probably not much. In fact, maybe just this: Antarctica told me that Mars sucks. Oh, and that Star Trek is a load of bull.
Yeah, honest. That’s what she said.
Now let me explain.
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“Traditional people of Indian nations have interpreted the two roads that face the light-skinned race as the road to technology and the road to spirituality. We feel that the road to technology….
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“The accusation that we’ve lost our soul resonates with a very modern concern about authenticity.” –Patricia Hewitt
Alright, since I’m traveling down in the southwest at the moment…Colorado to be exact, I’d like to share with you one of my favorite old cowboy sayings. And ironically, it fits real well with most cowboy culture here in colorful Colorado.
The saying goes: “That cowboy is all hat and no cattle.”
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“But what is happiness except the simple harmony between a man and the life he leads?” — Albert Camus
On a recent overnight flight between Los Angeles and Aukland, I beat back boredom by watching an in-flight Australian reality T.V. show on, of all things, the subject of happiness. The show took a group of eight chronically unhappy middle-class people from Sydney (seriously!) and put them together with a team of “happiness therapists”. At the beginning of the program, they took a psychological test in which each of them rated well below the national average “happiness score” for the typical Australian.
Then the team of therapists went to work, and at the end of the program these folks were tested again. All of them tested happier. What I thought was most interesting (from a primitivist perspective) were the interventions used.
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“By working faithfully eight hours a day you may eventually get to be boss and work twelve hours a day.” — Robert Frost
“Work sucks.”
For most of us, this cliche rings true. And in my experience, the exceptions tend to prove the rule. A tiny minority seem to get joy and fulfillment from their jobs, but such folks usually have jobs where most, if not all of society’s “dirty work” is left to others. Like the primitivist writer Bob Black, I tend to define work as “forced labor”, so that makes perfect sense — after all, it’s the labor we don’t want to do ourselves that we’re tempted to force on others.
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“A man can be short and dumpy and getting bald but if he has fire, women will like him.” –Mae West
I sure hope that’s true. Especially the “fire making up for going bald” part.
Anyway, as I mentioned in a previous post, I once participated in a year-long primitive skills immersion in the Northwoods of Wisconsin with some mighty-fine folks. However, when we went into the forest to make camp, we kinda over-did the building of our first hearth.
“Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature…. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing!” — Helen Keller
In an earlier post I wrote: “Life being good is maybe one of those deep dark profound and scary secrets that virtually nobody in America really believes anymore…”.
Now I’m sure some readers ran right over that without hardly a second look, but others might have stopped and thought: Really? What is this guy talking about? How can it be “scary” for life to be good? What is so “deep and dark” about that?
Well, think about it.
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Because you and I are savages.
OK now, I understand you might not like being called a “savage”, but before you do something rash (like stop reading), let me explain.
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“Primitive” is an Adjective. The dictionary wraps these words around it: First (see PRIME) 1, Existing in the beginning or the earliest times or ages; ancient; original. 2. Characteristic or imitative of of the earliest ages, uncivilized. 3. Not derivative; primary; basic. 4. Of, or having to do with a culture with a relatively low level of technology. 5. Primordial, fundamental.
“Practical” is also an Adjective. The dictionary defines it as: 1. Of, exhibited in, or obtained through practice or action. 2. Usable, workable; useful and sensible. 3. Concerned with the application of knowledge to useful ends, rather than with theory, speculation, etc. 4. Given to, or experienced from, actual practice. 5. Of, concerned with, or dealing realistically and sensibly with everyday activities. 6. Matter-of-fact.
