Commandment(s)
Monday. Feeling as if this is the first day, the first page of six more to be filled, hour by hour with my life. I am not alone though. Around me are others, working, playing, worrying, exploring, celebrating, and fucking up. All of us, with rare exception know that we are on the cusp of unprecedented, disorienting change. Today we are due relief from the low 90 degree heat which has blanketed the Mid West for many days. The warming of the seasons, weather extremes are indicative of the future. There is bound to be more, much more to come.
An absence of awareness is not our problem. An agreed upon, clear concept of what to do is the problem. While reading the current issue of Adbusters Magazine, a Canadian publication, it seemed appropriate that I share with you a small sample of the content. Adbusters is nothing if not “in your face,” boldly asserting vectors of action to countervail the transformations which our lifestyle-of-affluence has brought about.
I am one that resists a compulsory, imposed constraint whether from an alleged deity or from any other authority source for that matter. Still does not our condition warrant a severe, radical response if we are to nudge the needle away from the red zone? It seems so. I offer these elements, a radical advisory for action for your consideration:
Thou Shalt
drop your decadent, two-planet lifestyle
and lead a messier, more forgiving
kind of life.
Thou Shalt
pry your fingers off
your device.
Thou Shalt
squirm, wriggle & slip out
of your political
straightjacket.
Thou Shalt
start reversing many things in your life…
shed constraints you never asked for
choose their opposite
the stuff of the real world over digital simulacra
traditions over fads,
mystery over certainty,
pathos over logos,
listening over pontificating,
child’s play over exegesis,
the collective over the individual,
yin over yang,
sharing over consuming,
the long-time planet horizon over the quick payoffs…
***
Our world is failing. Climate shocks are displacing millions. Inequality is stoking massive unrest. Genocidal wars are breaking out. We may be heading for a total collapse. But it doesn’t have to be this way… This could turn out to be an exciting and successful era in human history.
