Yes, I was thinking about this either/or looming ahead of us this morning on my drive to work. Either you are in the system of total control, and get shelter and food or you are homeless. I am sure there are people in situations where they may be able to elude this ugly choice, at least for a little while longer. Is this why collapse often seems like the better alternative, with all its likely horrors? How to even think clearly about it?
I also share your hope. In my own way, I have tried to talk about the need for real, lived communities. The word community has been so debased to mean some odd sociological category of people who may or may not have ever met or know of each other's existence. It is a hard sell, even to those who are aware of where things are headed. Even forming little pods of 10-12 people and sharing with one another and mutual care and support seem to fall on deaf ears.
Maybe things are going to have to get worse first. We are still too comfortable in the "first world". We are addicted to that comfort. It reminds me of a line from The Unintended Reformation, by Brad S. Gregory. It was something like: we hear that you can't serve God and Mammon, but in America, we say, "I don't know, I think we can!"
Well, I think we are going to find out what that confusion means. Lord give us the strength to bear the cost of making the right choice. Lord, lead me into the desert.
Mutual care and support is a hard sell for sure. We donтАЩt even do it for our own families. Even our churches fail at this. I think we have to learn how to do that again.
I donтАЩt know how to change it culturally but I can as one person be more caring through acts of service to my family, church members, neighbors. It takes time and a willingness to get to know others. If you donтАЩt know them it is impossible to know their need. I still bring a gift to new neighbors and make an effort to reach out, not always received though. People are so very busy. I think the machine is very good at keeping us so busy that we have no time for each other. We, I need to do better.
Those final two lines are a perfect summation for so many people's lives nowadays. So busy chasing around frantically trying to pay the bills there is little time for anything else.
As you say Suzanne, all we can do is endeavour to set a good example and hope that the love spreads.
I don't think so, Hermit. There is a lot of gray there. It is not a binary choice. Look at Paul and his friend Mark Boyle. Paul has one foot in one world, at least partially and one foot in his family's holding. He can use a scythe as well as a keyboard. Mark is a special case who has chosen to try to live without the encumbrances of the machine. His book "the way home" reminds me of Thoreau and tells in vivid detail what it is like to live outside the machine. If you want an inkling of what the future might look like for many of us, check in with Mark.
I really do hope you are right and I am wrong in this. It does seem to be bearing down on us fairly quickly. At times--now, for instance--it seems hard for me to see a way out. I appreciate your challenge to think more broadly and deeply about this. The gray areas...
I hope there is a lot of gray area in this. The less dependent on the machine, tucked away in some lonely corner, maybe the better off one could be. I am in the middle of it. I am completely dependent on it. Even the people who see what is coming, don't want to get out, even if they could.
If I had a few stalwart friends, I would gladly find someplace on the fringe and hope for the best. I don't believe in survival at all costs, but I don't want to live a meaningless life of consumption and distraction either--and be socially controlled by sociopaths. Rather the pursuit of purity of heart in silence and simplicity in a small community, even if difficult, would be my choice.
Interesting conversation, both. I have to say, I think that times are going to force our hands.
I have indeed lived with one foot in each camp, so to speak. Mark wouldn't mind me saying (he's written about it himself) that one difference between us is that I have a family and that he (through choice) doesn't. It is easier to live outside the Machine if you don't have children to raise. We have raised ours in the country, homeschooling them, and there is still no escape from electricity, the Internet and car ownership, even as we try to minimise it.
But I have a feeling that a time is approaching where it is going to be made very much harder to maintain the grey zone. How much longer will I be permitted to live without a smartphone, a credit card and a vaccine pass? I don't know. I think a time may come when we have to make a choice. Until then, as Hermit says, taking some kind of Benedict Option will not happen for many, because we are comfortable enough. When enough of us are driven to it, I think then things will begin to change. For some that is already happening.
Yes, I was thinking about this either/or looming ahead of us this morning on my drive to work. Either you are in the system of total control, and get shelter and food or you are homeless. I am sure there are people in situations where they may be able to elude this ugly choice, at least for a little while longer. Is this why collapse often seems like the better alternative, with all its likely horrors? How to even think clearly about it?
I also share your hope. In my own way, I have tried to talk about the need for real, lived communities. The word community has been so debased to mean some odd sociological category of people who may or may not have ever met or know of each other's existence. It is a hard sell, even to those who are aware of where things are headed. Even forming little pods of 10-12 people and sharing with one another and mutual care and support seem to fall on deaf ears.
Maybe things are going to have to get worse first. We are still too comfortable in the "first world". We are addicted to that comfort. It reminds me of a line from The Unintended Reformation, by Brad S. Gregory. It was something like: we hear that you can't serve God and Mammon, but in America, we say, "I don't know, I think we can!"
Well, I think we are going to find out what that confusion means. Lord give us the strength to bear the cost of making the right choice. Lord, lead me into the desert.
Mutual care and support is a hard sell for sure. We donтАЩt even do it for our own families. Even our churches fail at this. I think we have to learn how to do that again.
I couldn't agree more. This ability to live shared lives in love has generally atrophied. We need each other. How does this change?
I donтАЩt know how to change it culturally but I can as one person be more caring through acts of service to my family, church members, neighbors. It takes time and a willingness to get to know others. If you donтАЩt know them it is impossible to know their need. I still bring a gift to new neighbors and make an effort to reach out, not always received though. People are so very busy. I think the machine is very good at keeping us so busy that we have no time for each other. We, I need to do better.
Those final two lines are a perfect summation for so many people's lives nowadays. So busy chasing around frantically trying to pay the bills there is little time for anything else.
As you say Suzanne, all we can do is endeavour to set a good example and hope that the love spreads.
I don't think so, Hermit. There is a lot of gray there. It is not a binary choice. Look at Paul and his friend Mark Boyle. Paul has one foot in one world, at least partially and one foot in his family's holding. He can use a scythe as well as a keyboard. Mark is a special case who has chosen to try to live without the encumbrances of the machine. His book "the way home" reminds me of Thoreau and tells in vivid detail what it is like to live outside the machine. If you want an inkling of what the future might look like for many of us, check in with Mark.
I really do hope you are right and I am wrong in this. It does seem to be bearing down on us fairly quickly. At times--now, for instance--it seems hard for me to see a way out. I appreciate your challenge to think more broadly and deeply about this. The gray areas...
I hope there is a lot of gray area in this. The less dependent on the machine, tucked away in some lonely corner, maybe the better off one could be. I am in the middle of it. I am completely dependent on it. Even the people who see what is coming, don't want to get out, even if they could.
If I had a few stalwart friends, I would gladly find someplace on the fringe and hope for the best. I don't believe in survival at all costs, but I don't want to live a meaningless life of consumption and distraction either--and be socially controlled by sociopaths. Rather the pursuit of purity of heart in silence and simplicity in a small community, even if difficult, would be my choice.
Interesting conversation, both. I have to say, I think that times are going to force our hands.
I have indeed lived with one foot in each camp, so to speak. Mark wouldn't mind me saying (he's written about it himself) that one difference between us is that I have a family and that he (through choice) doesn't. It is easier to live outside the Machine if you don't have children to raise. We have raised ours in the country, homeschooling them, and there is still no escape from electricity, the Internet and car ownership, even as we try to minimise it.
But I have a feeling that a time is approaching where it is going to be made very much harder to maintain the grey zone. How much longer will I be permitted to live without a smartphone, a credit card and a vaccine pass? I don't know. I think a time may come when we have to make a choice. Until then, as Hermit says, taking some kind of Benedict Option will not happen for many, because we are comfortable enough. When enough of us are driven to it, I think then things will begin to change. For some that is already happening.