Closed lachlanhardy closed 3 years ago
Our knowledge endures because everybody carries a part of it, no matter how fragmentary. If you want to see the pattern of creation, you talk to everybody and listen carefully.
We can develop into a technological society (if we can become sustainable at that) and thus look for a similar intelligence elsewhere but that doesn't have to be how other higher intelligence manifests itself
A swimming pool was built on the initiation ground, means not being able to do the adults rites of passage. It also means there are now two generations of middle-age "kids", and within a couple more generations, there will be no elders. But also this raises the issue of not adapting to changing conditions.
Narcissism and Emu
The stories that define our thinking today describe an eternal battle between good and evil springing from an originating act of sin. But these terms are just metaphors for something more difficult to explain, a relatively recent demand that simplicity and order be imposed upon the complexity of creation, a demand sprouting from an ancient seed of narcissism that has flourished due to a new imbalance in human societies.
There is a pattern to the universe and everything in it, and there are knowledge systems and traditions that follow this pattern to maintain balance, to keep the temptations of narcissism in check.
Containing the excesses of malignant narcissists is a team effort.
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The combination of social fragmentation and lightning-fast communication today, however, means we have to deal with these crazy people alone, as individuals butting heads with narcissists in a lawless void, and they are thriving unchecked in this environment. Engaging with them alone is futile—never wrestle a pig, as the old saying goes; you both end up covered in shit, and the pig likes it. The fundamental rules of human interaction do not apply to them, although they weaponize those rules against everyone else.
The war between good and evil is in reality an imposition of stupidity and simplicity over wisdom and complexity.
that everyone is an idiot from time to time. Punishment is harsh and swift, but afterward there is no criminal record, no grudge against the transgressor.
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My feet, hands, and belly have become soft, and I use the term neoliberalism far more often than I use the word miintin (turtle). I may think to myself, “Oh, it’s the season to dig turtle eggs and yams now, and the wild pigs feasting on those things will have really good fat. I should go for sugar bag (wild honey) now too.” But I’m standing on a train commuting to work in Melbourne because I don’t have the patience and discipline to languish in a work-for-the-dole program in a remote community, waiting to chase pigs on the weekend.
New book: Sand Talk by Tyson Yunkaporta (Amazon, Readings)
Aiming to read:
MC: @lachlanhardy Notes: @elle
See you 12 pm Tuesday, December 8th @ https://whereby.com/blackmill
Ping gday@blackmill.co if you want a calendar invite and access to the low-volume Slack beforehand.