Technology in my world has a limited place. If all electricity shut off tomorrow, it would be the first day of an epic adventure that I have been looking forward to for all my life. That’s right, I see the ‘End’ as the beginning of an adventure, and definitely a new way of life! I’ve been living my life in such a way to survive this cataclysmic change headed our way. This is what would make me an anarchist to some people but a peaceful one at that. I don’t believe in any form of violence except against the most evil rulers and tyrants of the world, and those that commit murder, and abuse innocent children.
Like a coyote minding his own business, most people get the wrong perceptions of me or what I am up to. But the coyote is usually just trying to survive while chasing after the insects, and rabbits & living from day to day. Make no mistake about it, it is a matter of survival though! Life is supposed to be simple. Instead this modern world of the “career” is causing troubles amongst humanity. We are becoming less human and more dehumanized. It is taking us away from the harmony of being with our families, wives, husbands, and a healthy world environment.
I’m do not oppose general labor or hard work because in the old days it required serious effort in hunter & gatherer societies to survive and innovate. They spent a lot of time observing the natural world and copying what they observed. Those life-ways could become life and death struggles, if people strayed too far from the pattern. If you didn’t search for food all day in the warm months of spring, summer and autumn you may have run the serious risk of not being able to survive the winter months that followed and would starve to death. On the same token, you were always surrounded by your family, your loved ones, and perhaps you had more leisure time than in the world of busy bees and daily salaries.
Here’s the root problem of the modern civilized world. At the heart of this culture, pop-culture, American/Westernized culture is greed. Everything in this society hinges on the green-back dollar bill. In this pseudo-culture money does buy happiness and leisure time, to be more creative. But without it, the poor are either barely plugging away, or they are very destitute. Without the riches, you become a nuisance, a bum, a hobo, a welfare recipient, a vagabond, an outlaw, gypsy, hippie, cowboy, recluse, etc. But the greatest threat to our humanity & the world, to Mother Earth, is the same greed that’s at the heart of our culture, and machine. Even the recession is a result of it.
Amongst the Mormons, our belief is that the love of money is the root of all evil. Our Mormon leaders tell us that money and financial matters are becoming intertwined with spiritual matters. Being financially sound and stable is the key to spiritual happiness in the “civilized” world of the green back dollar bill. Lame Deer called the green paper; ‘Frogskin,’ which often had no value in other cultures but swiftly changed the way we evolved as human beings.
Don’t get me wrong. I love electronics. I love using twitter, and Facebook, and listening to my music on my iPod. The influences of technology on our lives seems almost limitless and amazing. Heck, I love technology and what it does for me; it’s how I keep in contact with the world, my friends, and my family. But mentally, I am preparing for a sudden change, when things can stop abruptly.
What if all the electricity in the world shut-off, suddenly? Are you ready? It’s a serious question when you sit down and consider your own welfare. When I am on the mountain or in the deep canyon and listening to the wailing wind and bickering crow, these feelings loom in my heart and mind; it is a strange peace when growing used to this uncertainty. I know something is headed our way, I just can’t place my finger on it. Somehow the greed in this world is going to stop because something has got to give. It’s kind of like a reservoir dam trying to hold the water back as it begins to crack.
I don’t have answers, only more questions, thoughts, feelings, and dreams. But I am ready. I’m bracing myself and learning. I’m listening to the wind, and thinking how beautiful life can be. My life is beautiful and I love the people in it. But I am just like the coyote usually minding my business and simply trying to get by in an increasingly dehumanized world.