Now I've put out a post based on this piece: "Uh oh for modernity/We maintain endless growth at the expense of our humanity": https://suzannetaylor.substack.com/p/uh-oh-for-modernity. Kinda weird it's just you and me here,. I keep looking for others on this platform that's more literary than revolutionary. Hellooooooo. Anybody rabble rousers listening?
I've paste essences I took from your long piece for what to grapple with. That first sentence is the best at making clear what’s going on.
I picture a cat shooting up a tree in fantastic form (the easy direction, given claws), but then getting to a great height and having no obvious graceful way down. garden variety imagination lacks imagination. I would seriously question our ability to preserve what we call modernity without fossil fuels Modernity rose to its current magnificence on the back of fossil fuels, and could very well ride the pulse back to zero. Live by the sword, die by the sword. Only if we put ecological concerns above energy do we stand any chance of survival. replacing our fossil fuel habit with renewable energy would require a substantial increase in material extraction (mining, scraping) on the planet—translating to more deforestation, more habitat loss, more pollution (tailings), more processing, and more extinctions. modernity has come at the expense of ecological health and the vitality of the community of life. It is not at all clear if modernity can exist any other way. Modernity could very well be a self-terminating prospect for exactly this reason, as humans can’t survive without a functioning ecosphere. Right now, the ecosphere is gasping for breath. I would say that it’s on life support, or in the ICU. But no—that would imply concern and remedial action. It’s just bleeding out in a ditch as we motor past, largely oblivious to its condition as we inflict even more damage. would require putting non-human concerns first. The entire 10,000-year lineage of modernity has held expansionist, exploitative beliefs centered on humans. short-term human concerns above all else—to the exclusion and detriment of the community of life—will surely fail we must do something about the supremacist culture.
Now, to “do something about the supremacist culture” see what I just left on your love piece. Change humanity’s mind about who we think we are and we’ll change what we do. If we see ourselves as sacred creatures in a sacred universe this smart species will serve the good of the whole. Your analysis is refreshingly informative, but have you missed the track of Teilhard to Thomas Berry to Brian Swimme? Adopting the Universe Story, where we’d come from the whole, Brian says is a bigger change in societal perspective than Copernicus taking Earth out of the center of the universe. If the world gets it, Brian could go down in history like Gandhi and Mandela, in a category beyond Nobel Prizes.
Now I've put out a post based on this piece: "Uh oh for modernity/We maintain endless growth at the expense of our humanity": https://suzannetaylor.substack.com/p/uh-oh-for-modernity. Kinda weird it's just you and me here,. I keep looking for others on this platform that's more literary than revolutionary. Hellooooooo. Anybody rabble rousers listening?
I've paste essences I took from your long piece for what to grapple with. That first sentence is the best at making clear what’s going on.
I picture a cat shooting up a tree in fantastic form (the easy direction, given claws), but then getting to a great height and having no obvious graceful way down. garden variety imagination lacks imagination. I would seriously question our ability to preserve what we call modernity without fossil fuels Modernity rose to its current magnificence on the back of fossil fuels, and could very well ride the pulse back to zero. Live by the sword, die by the sword. Only if we put ecological concerns above energy do we stand any chance of survival. replacing our fossil fuel habit with renewable energy would require a substantial increase in material extraction (mining, scraping) on the planet—translating to more deforestation, more habitat loss, more pollution (tailings), more processing, and more extinctions. modernity has come at the expense of ecological health and the vitality of the community of life. It is not at all clear if modernity can exist any other way. Modernity could very well be a self-terminating prospect for exactly this reason, as humans can’t survive without a functioning ecosphere. Right now, the ecosphere is gasping for breath. I would say that it’s on life support, or in the ICU. But no—that would imply concern and remedial action. It’s just bleeding out in a ditch as we motor past, largely oblivious to its condition as we inflict even more damage. would require putting non-human concerns first. The entire 10,000-year lineage of modernity has held expansionist, exploitative beliefs centered on humans. short-term human concerns above all else—to the exclusion and detriment of the community of life—will surely fail we must do something about the supremacist culture.
Now, to “do something about the supremacist culture” see what I just left on your love piece. Change humanity’s mind about who we think we are and we’ll change what we do. If we see ourselves as sacred creatures in a sacred universe this smart species will serve the good of the whole. Your analysis is refreshingly informative, but have you missed the track of Teilhard to Thomas Berry to Brian Swimme? Adopting the Universe Story, where we’d come from the whole, Brian says is a bigger change in societal perspective than Copernicus taking Earth out of the center of the universe. If the world gets it, Brian could go down in history like Gandhi and Mandela, in a category beyond Nobel Prizes.
See if maybe you want to join forces...???