Bloggenpucky

Ryan and I went up Canal Canyon last night at around seven thirty. The moon didn't come out at all during the walk and the stars in Orion seemed to have multiplied by a magnitude of three. Breathtaking.
It's only when the moon is absent and there's snow on the ground that I realize how much light the stars give. We were able to find walk the entire way without a light, only using the headlight to search for lion tracks and to look at the crystals in the snow.
The light given by the stars is gentle, only allowing for shades of gray and black. In that absence of artificial light, one sees the shimmering colors in the stars themselves, accentuated by the planet's unwavering hues of pink, yellow and blue.
We ended up up by the old sweatlodge site in an aspen grove surrounded by pine and maple. It's a place I've been going to for close to ten years when in need of some air and space, I used to go there almost every day while building the cabin.
A creek meanders down the hill there, beneath its frozen crust, percolating and bubbling in small resonant places between itself and the ice. Last night it got louder as the night grew older, whether that was because of some physical reason or our own senses heightening, we didn't know. Either way, it was fun to think about and provided something for the mind to focus on besides the smallness that comes on often after gazing at the stars and thinking about where one really is.
The way back down was too quick, and when we got to the truck, the headlights seemed rude as they lit our way back home.

What is voluntary simplicity?
I have heard it defined as the outgrowth of a desire to be a: less harried by the breakneck pace of the modern capitalist society; b: less of a burden on the producing poor of the world; c: less of a burden on the finite resources of the earth, or d: a combination of the above.
But what is the root of this free-will asceticism? Not that I'm a sociologist or anthropologist, but I've a few ideas.
Our society, being of the philosophically western, developed persuasion, has in recent years become increasingly crowded, economically divisive, debt-burdened, competition based and exclusionary. While there are many reasons for these adverse effects (and each of these have cycled up and down in our society since it began), the main reason for their sharp increase in the last few years has been the increase in population and comoditization of land into 'real estate.'
In the years between the fifteenth and the mid-twentieth centuries, a huge resource was exploited by humanity. Almost the entire landmass of North and South America was divided up between common people and corporate entities alike. The desires for individualist's elbow room and capitalist expansion of resource and market was satisfied in a manner and at a pace unseen before in history.
In the midst of this expansion (whether or not it was moral in the eyes of the original inhabitants and stewards) people were able to escape the confines of cities and social and religious persecution by the wide availability of land to be homesteaded or leased. They could be what they wanted to be, and with work and perseverance, they could make a go of being masters of their own domain, which by extension in human terms, is really the person himself.
If a person has a difficult time integrating into society nowadays, he has very little choice but to conform to the social and economic norm to be able to prosper and express his personality. Those who do not are written off as insane or deviant, ending up in prison or institutions, or at least marginalized to some extent.
Rules and laws have become more all-inclusive and in some instances increasingly restrictive, even in free societies such as that in the 'developed world.' Litigation is rampant, and in some ways, out of control. There is precious little 'space' for those who want other than that which the majority what and have, and the increased capitalization of our society will continue to bring divergent thinking to the surface of our society. Some will be like the voluntary simplicity 'movement' while others will exhibit more destructive behaviour until a more libertarian and capitally-flexible society can be brought about.
That's in essence what voluntary simplicity is, a retaking of agency over one's life and surroundings from society's expectations. Through simplicity is achieved freedom from a sort of social repression.

In Death Valley, an artist builds against the insistance of that eternal footman. I hear this story now and again, in magazines and newspapers, there are people like this here and there. In fact, my mom in law is kind of like this amazing woman, now that I think of it...

I just got done with the monthly cleaning of the stovepipe on our coal and wood burning stove. I take the stove pipe apart and vacuum the soot out of the pipe and the chimney to increase the airflow through the danged apparatus. It's a dirty job, and inevitably some soot flake wafts onto the carpet or a couch, then I vacuum it up gingerly and, of course, I smudge it into the couch or carpet. Sheesh.
Ah, but the fire will glow warmly tonight!

Listening to The World to KUER this afternoon while on an errand, I heard a story about golf in South Africa. One interview with a young man struck me. He spoke of golf as a "gentleman's" game, filled with honor and sportsmanship. He also talked about stepping onto the course as "entering another universe" from that of his normal environment in a poverty stricken tenement.
The image of this young black African stepping from an underprivileged everyday to the lush greens of suburban privilege remains in my mind's eye. Interesting story.

I have managed to ftp this blog to its new home! What a chore. If tutorials didn't presuppose a host of common terms and procedure between technicians and English teachers, it would probably be easier. Next step: move the whole darn thing to Movable Type. If anyone happens upon this wee scribble who might be able to help, get in contact, neh?

Ryan David has returned from his long weekend sans-bloggage. He has some photos and laughs to share about a too-long put off outing.

Today was an interesting day at the old school. We had a couple of former students do a mini-assembly on decision making and the importance of going to school.
Both students described their lives of petty crime and brushes with the law. They described people they knew and loved and differing levels of estrangement from the same. They also described how many of their friends and wanted to help them, who didn't want to continue enabling them to further hurt themselves with drugs and alcohol. There were also those who couldn't help them with employment because of their lack of a high school diploma.
One of these young men told of holding his mom up at knifepoint for twenty dollars have money to buy a fix. He described nights spent homeless, penniless and without food. He related times of desperation and plots of assault for a few fries when he hadn't eaten for days.
The audience was speechless. These young men in front of them were their old friends, upperclassmen whom they respected and looked up to.
Both told about their recently born sons, children they hadn't seen for months because of difficulties with the mothers. One's former girlfriend was scared to death of her child's father. He stood here, penitent, ashamed, and struggling to share his experiences with our students, so they wouldn't follow him where he was.
Lonely and very alone.
They both went on to express admiration and gratitude to their friends for helping them come back. They also had words of thanks for their former teachers, people who tried to keep them from where they had been, from having to learn the hard way. They basically told the audience that the teachers weren't only teachers.
We were all at least close to tears.
I hope they got through to a few people, enough to keep at least one of our students from going as far as they did into despair.
These two former students of ours are at different stages of recovery, in different places on their road back to sanity and hope. Both are as strong and capable of healing as they were capable of actions of self-destruction, abusing themselves and those around them for selfish and blind reasons.
I pray for them, and too many others like them.

I drove to work without incident, no deer on the road at all. Quite a relief, I have been driving the last few days afraid that one was going to jump out and finish the job the last one only partially completed.
The weekend was full of work. It sure was nice to be at the house, the kids are sure fun to be around until it's time to clean up.

Things are so subjective from person to person. According to perception and attitude, the smallest can fill or the largest can breed want. The job of each heart and brain is to place the self at a point where it is comfortable in relationship to its surroundings.
Those surroundings can be true, they can also be an illusion. From whence come these illusions? Those same perceptions that protect the self from assail from the possibilities of day to day perception.
Suddenly, the world can shudder like a tin building from the blow of a single word, or remain utterly nonplussed at the death of a half million in another country. One might visit a new mansion for breakfast and see downcast eyes and wanton looks for the unfulfilled promises of a broker or politician On the same day, the destination could be a flooded tenement made of cardboard and plastic at sundown and dance in the street for the return of a brother and friend from war in the mountains. The mind is a universe of mythic size and means, purpose is the rhythm that can move the heart to smile toward song.

Not much to report, aside from beautiful weather and a few muddy walkways.
Living in the country can be great and for those who have made a choice to live rurally or have lived there all of their lives, but it presents its own set of challenges.
among them are limited choice of readily available consumer items. There is always the internet these days, but one is not assailed by signs, windows and shops everywhere. Nor can one really easily indulge in the suburban and urban rites of "shopping," unless one counts the occasional WalMart or Associated Food Store.
These can be great when one has chosen to not immerse one's self in the consumer economy to the extent that many in our times and society have, but at times it puts one at a marked disadvantage socially when competing with others in the marketplace, whether speaking of jobs or commerce.
Sometimes, this disadvantage is nothing more than psychological. When one takes TV or movies as the cue for social currency, one can feel pretty low when living in a disintegrating century-old home with a coal stove and fifteen year old autos. The inferiority complex I'm speaking of is very subjective and results from a loss of perspective. The ideals behind conscious frugality or even, poverty are pretty difficult to maintain in our society. Much works against such a position, through the media, social pressure, and even engineered obsolescence.
But I am committed. In many ways, we are locked in. Six children on a single educator's income is an exercise in frugality.
When there is expectation to continue education and training and supplies and curriculum needs that are unfunded by the workplace. It adds to the financial pressure. Not at all insurmountable with a little bit of creative thinking, but still, going somewhat against the flow of the majority.
Feh. Things work out. Money isn't everything, but it sure does open doors more easily. Without it, ya just gotta think harder.

I spent the day up at a neighbor's house who is faced with a lawsuit if he doesn't clean up his mathoms of useful junk from off his property. A bunch of people from our little town got together to get the biggest stuff out before the Local Affluent and Retired Old Women and Men With Too Much Time On Their Hands decided to make good their threat.
My neighbor's a good man, with more than his share of challenges from the world around him. He is one of the smartest men I know, with skills and knowledge spanning diesel mechanics to accounting, but his interests and intensity get in his way some times. Especially with those who think that this world is one of a competition between know-it-alls and property values.
Boy, he has some heavy stuff. My back is toast.

faced with thinning hair
and constant reminders of time's
rhythmic metate,
night day night day night day
the body of a loved one thrown
from birth into a furnace
the oven of the consuming fever-
death, the constant white-hot fever
life, the alienation of those whose
feelings are torn from the potency
of self to be forgotten.
Christ the tiger
schooled by mystics and a new father
dragged asunder by a frightened class,
though power would be theirs for only
a few more years)
the intervening years have only served as
place-mats for their progeny.
throats made raw by the oven and consuming fever
no manna from heaven. no rain from on high
slakened thirst found only in the
hallowed grave
hunger for peace in the sleep
from wrung minds
eons of similar slogans and tearing nails
driving green generation s into
self-pronounced frenzy
groveling prayers and cathartic supplication
from whence do these come and
to where will we go?

Now, from a different perspective, I turn your attention to the French filmmaker, Jean Renoir, "Our present-day religion is the bank and our language is publicity. The key word is output, by which we produce more. When the world market is saturated we start another war to get new customers. The aim of warfare is no longer conquest but construction. When the building is destroyed, the wheels turn again. We build skyscrapers in the ruins of pagodas and this fills the belly of the working man, who would otherwise revolt."
I found this quote in one of the books over there on the sidebar, Dancing on the Stones. I know that at times I exhibit a marked tendency toward talking out of both sides of my mouth, but one of my deepest frustrations with society is that I don't believe that we can ever know the whole story. Causation and rational are deeply cloaked in individual humans, so when speaking of a global and multifaceted society, I don't think one is gonna have much more luck in discerning the truth behind controversial events and decisions.
Besides that, our times are truly complicated in rational and the voices calling for satisfaction in any given issue. It would truly be hard to do anything authoritative in our world without some sort of disinformation. That's just what I perceive reality, not approbation or surrender to such.
A measured, reasoned, and non-reactionary approach might benefit this world. But then, maybe there would be more politically ineffectual, locally oriented, idealistic, family-focused people like me. Who would run the political and corporate machines then?

Yesterday, Michael Totten wrote about the current global conflict in clear terms, using salient examples. Check it out and see if it doesn't bring your ideas on our current war into an at least slightly different focus.

A real master of complaint response turns coat and gets just what he wants!

A great word brought to my attention by Ryan Syme, elementary educator extraordinaire: Koviashuvik—an Inuit (Eskimo) word meaning "living in the present moment with quiet joy and happiness."
Translation is a rough trade, so who knows what exactly what it means. The point is that a culture has an actual word for that sentiment that takes in our language an entire sentence.
And what an important sentiment it is, no matter what language.

It's a foggy day here, the sun showing through at times like a small child listening from behind a grey velvet curtain. January is a month of extreme weather here, as cold as it gets, as dark as it gets, as bright as it gets with the moon and snow at night or with sun and snow during the day. Sometimes a claustrophobia can descend when one realizes that this is how it is and it's not really getting better for months.
January can also sparkle so brightly and bite so crisply that it makes one realize that one is truly still alive.
I reckon that extremes are what life is all about. The middle can be like so much gauze over the eyes or fog over the sun, everything just goes grey.
Viva January!

I ambled along, noticing how pretty everything was after all the snow and three days of sub-freezing temps. The county road between Spring City and Pigeon Hollow was still snowpacked, even though the overnight temperatures the night before had been in the twenties instead of below zero, as it had been during the previous two nights.
I checked my brakes for traction, and though it was better than it had been last night on the way home, I decided to slow down a bit more. Further along, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a deer bounding full-tilt toward the highway. "Oh, great," was my first thought. This was followed by quick calculations and decisions on braking, swerving and accelerating on a very slick road surrounded by small borrow pits, stout fenceposts and junipers on either side. With not much I could safely do, my next intelligible thought was something like "shit." Though I cannot be exactly sure, my next few thoughts were along those same lines. (I am not terribly proud of that, but I reckon I've relearned at least one thing about initial reactions through this experience.)
The next few moments went by quickly, and suffice to say that any adjustments to speed and course I made, the deer seemed bound and determined to counter. I hit him dead center, ending things on his side with dispatch.
I continued my course off the road, attempting to make it back to the road before my momentum faded completely or I hit another, more immobile obstacle. The language arts that followed as I jumped out of the truck to survey damage was very similar to the thoughts afore mentioned, though with an amazing level of volume and a bit more creativity. Again, shame on me, more because it was reflexive than a conscious masterpiece of colorful linguistics. There was a quite a bit of adrenaline to deal with right then. Besides, on that lonely country road, there was only the dead deer and me.
And my truck. 'Twas running, so I popped the hood to check for damage. Gracias a Dios, the plumbing was untouched, though the front metal and right fender took damage that will take work and some money to undo.
After collecting a few of my wits, I went to the deer conspicuously unmoving at the end of a long patch of earth skidded free of the snow that had previously covered it. He was a young buck, antlers beginning to bud their third point. That's where his progression toward maturity will end for this life. Though I wasn't completely recovered from the anger at the circumstance and small inconveniences ahead, I was at last beginning to feel for this young deer. I don't know why he was so determined to cross the road at that time, he had to be close to his top speed when metal met flesh, but his was the fate that was final. My old Toyota will run for at least one more trip down the road, and might be fixed in a week or so, but that buck had met the light at the end.
Tingling from adrenaline, sad from the tragedy of the moment, but somehow awakened by the crossroads met by both the buck and me, I placed my hand on his head. Mumbling my apologies and saying a small prayer for his spirit and my still present and integral soul, I walked away through the chaotically tracked snow to my still running truck turning my four-wheel drive hubs to get back onto the road.
Getting in, I drove slowly up the borrow and away to my normal day's work.

NASA just released a color photo from the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit. Looks like a big Red Desert wash to me. Amazing times these, neh?

I guess it was something i ate. I'm fine and back at the nosey grindstone.
Utah trivia for the day: Statehood day is today! On 04 Jan in 1896, two years before our house was built, Deseret gave up finally and forever any hopes of nationhood, becoming Utah, the 45th state.
Salient quote on my mind for some time now: "Our perception that we have "no time" is one of the diistinctive marks of Western culture." -Margaret Visser, Author

The kids are in bed, all laughing, singing and talking. Drie and I are sitting here taking stock of the day. I sure am grateful for all we have here. I hope we do a decent job of this little project we have undertaken. Life has quite a bit of guesswork involved in it.
On a different note, I don't know how many areas of the country have such a great resource, but the University of Utah Marriott Library has undertaken the project of putting their archive of Utah dailies and weeklies into a searchable digital image base. I got wind of it early last summer, looking into some of my wife's family's history in Fillmore, Utah. It's much more comprehensive now, though I'm sure much is to be done. Amazing site, invaluable to the history professional or just people looking up family history. Fun to just browse, too, especially if one has any experience or relatives in this area of the world.

First day back. School is the same as it ever was. I'm experiencing waves of nausea that I only hope are caused by something I ate, not the flu. Life's little rollercoasters.
Kinda like teaching at an alternative high school. Sometimes up and others down, often quite suddenly fluctuating.

What is Perspective? My perception is that perspective is analogous to point-of-view or “pars momentum,” the direction of movement. The person who has a certain drive or deep desire will unconsciously see the world in such a way as to justify or support previous judgment or decision.
Herein lies a mystery. How does an individual set a course in such a way as to be self-correcting and independent of self-imposed inaccuracies because of pars momentum?
One might argue that the perfect strategy would be to rely on an outside source of ideology e.g. religion, philosophy, nationality, business outcome, etc. For some, this might be an adequate compass by which one might guide one’s life. Each decision could be guided by such an end goal or external ideology, correcting the human tendency (to such a degree that it can be negated) to rationalize pars momentum.
Unfortunately, each of these ideologies has its own individual on collective pars momentum built in. They are human interpretations of ideals, “God’s” laws, community consciousness or individual ambition. If one chooses one of these external compasses, one should choose well, and consider combining two or more to involve mutual exclusions and one’s own reason temper inherent pars momenti within ideologies.
Among some, there is an argument that God or a creator has put in to motion an external locus for correction and understanding of our individual pars momenti. If in fact this exists, one could make the argument that this creator-locus would be a good source of information and correction for our own limited perspectives. One could argue that such an agent of a higher consciousness would be perfect in aiding a person trying to negotiate a difficult path to true betterment.
The question at this poit is whether or not this supernatural power exists.
The common name for this power is the holy spirit. It is said that this “spirit” can enter into a person’s conscious mind and suggest or confirm that which is “true” or right in a given situation or dissuade from incorrect decisions, paths or perspectives.
The beauty of this concept is that this supernatural aid uses feelings and some say at times words to persuade and suggest, leaving the subject freedom to choose the path or perspective he or she is going to continue on.
In my experience, I have tried to follow my conscience as “guided” by what I perceive as promptings of what I have a hope are the “holy spirit.” Some instances have turned out well, others much the opposite. Not exactly a scientific survey or an ideal set ofr a proof of guidance by such a supernatural guide.
At the same time, the possibility exists that my perception is at fault and that this isn’t a anecdote toward disproving the existence of the creator’s guide. Enter our greatest friend, our true enemy, Catch-22. If, then, therefore, but…
With Catch-22, every religious or spiritual tenet that comes up, one can never come to a logical or conclusive end. Certainly not one that would be reliable for those who desire a cut-and-dried relationship with deity, or proof of such a God.
Thus, we arrive where we started. Pars momentum is at best difficult, if not impossible to govern sensibly without constant study and discipline. That will be explored later. One of these days.
Boy, that was a ramble.

Snow photos! Click on the link for wintery, eleven degree farenheit joy!

Sunday morning, sunny day. Sparkling snow all over; covering the cars, fields and, here in our small town, on the roads- until it melts of its own accord. That's a great thing, as far as I'm concerned, because the snow covers everything. Man-made, natural, you name it, things stay white for a while. All iced in bright, incubating, amnesiac snow. The rest from the stark borders of roads, grass and fields is refreshing.

Just finished a famcam with my brother and sisterinlaw. The kids sure enjoyed seeing them in Phoenix, live and in color, from our little 1890's house in a rural town of around seven hundred inhabitants. Amazing times, goldarnit.
Coincidently, we wish them a happy chick-movie experience for the rest of the evening.

Jess and I just went out to get more coal for the night, and btw, it's snowing again. Blessed water from the sky. It'll turn soon to mud and muck, but August feels better already.

The snow's finally starting to taper off again. Maybe just a little bit more...
I went out to play with the kids, they had been outside for at least two hours straight. Three against one are not very good odds, but I'm still quite a bit larger than any of them.
We had a great time until I blew out my poor old Sorrels. The uppers have come off completely on the right, so I reckon it's time to investigate some new ones after eighteen years. Not a bad run, neh?

As of 3:00pm, it's snowing after an hour's hiatus at around noon. This is nice.
With no training in html, I keep trying to tweak this blogger template to be a bit more content-rich and well, attractive. I hope it doesn't start disintegrating like my previous attempt at a webpage. If it does, I think momentum is with me and I'll be able to fix it pretty quick.
The kids are running amok here in the newborn-house, with mom abed and dad spending too much time at the keyboard. It it fun to listen to them play their games downstairs, squeals of delight about the "hot lava" that someone's about to step in or the "panda bear cowboy" who is here to save the day. I'd probably just ruin their fun completely and have them clean up the mess and do laundry if I went downstairs now. It's a balancing act, this parenting thing.
Let it snow! (repeated three times)

It's snowing right now. Salt Lake City and Ogden to the north got huge amounts from a big Christmas storm, but we only got around three inches. Last night and this morning alone, we've gotten at least four. I do like it when it snows, if it's gotta be winter and cold, we might as well have snow!
I also enjoy watching national weather advisories for our area. They change from hour to hour, including whatever is going on weather-wise to make the prediction seem more feasable. The day before yesterday, I checked and it said "winter weather and locally heavy snow increasing tonight and decreasing until noon ." It'didn't snow at all. Around noon the advisory called for snow in the afternoon and decreasing after midnight.
It actually started snowing at about 4:00pm. The advisory had changed when I checked it at around 8:00 pm to evening heavy snow decreasing after six am. Here's the official word right now,

...Snow Advisory Through Today...
The Snow Advisory continues in effect for the Sanpete and Sevier valleys and southwest and west central Utah through today. Snow will increase and become more widespread this morning and continue through the day today. Snow accumulations of 2-6 inches are expected with heaviest snow amounts expected along I-15 from Cedar City to Scipio.
Those traveling through the area today should be prepared for winter driving conditions

Hah. Like i said, it's snowing right now, and it'll snow until it stops. And I'm glad of that.

This just in from KSL News... Psychic Grant Gudmundson has seen the future of Utah, and it is... a large financial company! (And an end to the drought.) Phew. I'm relieved.

Aliens and global warming? A very interesting speech by the author, film maker, doctor and thinker Michael Crichton outlining what he sees as a serious crisis for science. Extrememly thought provoking, please take the time to check it out... (Via Instapundit)

Here's a tonguetwister: Loveable cake of soap. Not so much twisting as quite a workout for the mouth. This is the last real day of my Christmas Vacation, afterall. I need to work out the last bits of nonsense and drivel.
Not along the same lines at all, if you've never read Orion, you ought to check it out. It's often a very insightful publication.

WalMart. Necessary evil by virtue of its economic footprint? Not fast breaking news, but here's a short interview with the CEO of SpraWlMart. Another of the side issues that plagues my mind at times like an angry yellowjacket.

Eh. My dear brother says "major announcement." Warning to visitors with no previous experience or expectations: lower those levels still more!
I always think about what I write for at least days afterward. Sometimes I have second thoughts, sometimes just second syntaxes. Do I ever wonder where THAT came from? Yes, quite often, and for wildly divergent reasons.
I speak sometimes in sweeping generalities for the sake of getting things off my chest. I am aware of these generalities most of the time, but for the sake of paring expression down to something less than fifty pages with footnotes and references, I sweep with one of those mondo high school gym dustmops at times.
I tend also toward verbosity, a dear friend once nicknamed me "maximum verbosity" for my sometimes unwieldy and youthful poetry, but I try to economize a bit nowadays. Nevertheless, expression fascinates me.
All else is well here in Central Utah for the Burninghams, the kids are well and the Momma Extraordinaire is recovering smashingly from the recent birth of our sixth.
If you enjoy heartfelt opinion and insight into unstable psychology, please come back often to see if my cup hath again run over! You could even check out the three years of interspersed rantings in the archives to see if there is any baseline at all. At any rate, welcome.

Blogger is experiencing some difficulty right now, so I’ll throw a few down in WordPerfect. Darned Blogger.
I’ve been thinking much about the causations and factors behind relationships, both successful and un. There is so much one has to do in order to keep a relationship in working order, while at the same time it can be so easy to strike a new one up.
People have very little training in inter-personal communication and in giving and interpreting communication signals. While we are very similar in appetites and desires at a basal level, each one of us is unique in our ways of communicating those ideas to others. There are even similar personality types that many of us fit or at least communicate with more easily, but outside of those similar types, we often find ourselves at an impasse when communicating.
That’s when conflict can occur and build to points where a relationship is impossible or even undesirable to continue.
There are usually at least a few of these wrecked relationships floating like withered leaves in our experiential rivers. They usually are the kind that at some time in the past, we have spent a tremendous amount of time and effort on, but at some point the two paths diverged. Sometimes there is a cordial parting and in other instances, there are long and wrenching periods of struggle on the part of one or both to reconcile and continue.
Often those relationships are the ones that leave us feeling like there is more lost than won in these attempts, but only through these instances can we learn our own grasp of communication with others as well as with our own selves.
That is when growth comes and can show the way to future and more pleasantly fruitful interchanges.

We seem to have come to a unique place in our society, one where we have joined our brutal and primal roots with the ultimate expressions of our current culture and left little room for that which enables us to transcend to become better.
Our civil roots were planted deeply in power and the exercise thereof to further our own procreative exploits. Through the years, we created infrastructure to enable ourselves time to more thoughtfully pursue these ends if not transcend them as base modus operendi. Our families and extended families fulfilled the needs of the individual while enabling that same individual some time and physical wherewithal to expand the existential self. As tribes came together, they served the same purpose to both the individual and the extended family and tribe in a correspondingly expanded manner. And with time and experience, villages, towns, cities and city-states, and finally nations were came into being, often (but not always) enabling the individual more energy for self-discovery, education and relationships.
Not everyone afforded these luxuries took advantage of the opportunities for transcendence. Many chose to use this time and energy to expand their primal urge’s sway and power. Despots, raiders, brutes and general bad-guys pepper history like so much coal soot on newly fallen snow, but that is original to mankind’s nature. That is why we must work to develop other talents, and often it is difficult, even in the latest incarnation of society.
It seems though, our current culture is a hydra, swimming in its own offal and eating its own tail. We have invented a culture where those who have no real regard or investment in family, community or even culture have huge power and sway in creating public opinion and environment. We no longer need to keep up with the Joneses, the TV and movies have supplanted them as the paragons of material and social appearance and affluence, even creating the illusion that they have more ability to please and interact with us than our Jonesian neighbor.
Our culture is one that has gone from a neglect and oppression of sex to a overindulgence and obsession with it. It surrounds us in forums that were previously untouched by its direct influence. It is the main focus of forums only recently invented or revised, such as popular media.
Sex and power have become the main foci and raisons d’etre once again in our culture. From one side, brutal and primal, to the other, every bit as brutal and primal, but seemingly oppressed in its ability to tell the truth about its motivations.
That’s irony.