After the Bad Penny,
... an emerald sign,
above our lake of fire
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
a poem : "After the Bombers"
modernity pours
lakes of fire from up above ;
while Unnoticed,
Beneath our feet,
a green sign
appears...
lakes of fire from up above ;
while Unnoticed,
Beneath our feet,
a green sign
appears...
Saturday, May 7, 2011
post MODERNITY is pre COMMENSALITY , n'est pas ?
This blog argues that while the Peak of Modernity was the New York's World's Fair of 1939, Modernity was heading for its Nadir by 1945.
But !
But still hasn't hit its nadir yet - more than sixty five years later .
Post Modernity, which is the only world that the majority of the world's population (human, plant, animal,microbe) has ever known, is a hybrid existence.
It has elements of both the older Modernist Age and the newer Commensal Age co-existing in somewhat parallel streams, rather than having the two ideologies contesting each other directly and continuously.
This blog's job, as I see it, is to hasten MODERNITY out the door.
And, of course, to hasten on Commensality, before Modernity burns up this planet and renders the whole question moot.
But there is no way I am going to sprout cliches that we are "standing on the threshold of a totally new world, etc,etc."
All my talk of "LIFE 2.0" is rhetoric, not a fact.
We are changing, we have been changing and will go on changing forever.
No revolution - no revolution truly worthy of that name - will ever be televised : it will drift in slowly like early morning fog, speaking a language of its own new invention.
We will only truly realize that it has arrived ,at the moment of its departure - in the clarity of hindsight.
I don't know how COMMENSALITY will turn out and I am very mindful that most future-oriented predictions throughout history have been less accurate than flipping a coin with your eyes closed.
But this blog can (and will) imagine how it might look.
That is, it will express my personal hopes for the shape of the future, without pretending they are predictions worth betting the store upon.
I truly believe that the coming into being of The Commensal Age is already happening, without much conscious action on the part of anyone to make it so.
But I also believe a single individual can help speed it along and shape its path, to the fullest that their talents will allow....
But !
But still hasn't hit its nadir yet - more than sixty five years later .
Post Modernity, which is the only world that the majority of the world's population (human, plant, animal,microbe) has ever known, is a hybrid existence.
It has elements of both the older Modernist Age and the newer Commensal Age co-existing in somewhat parallel streams, rather than having the two ideologies contesting each other directly and continuously.
This blog's job, as I see it, is to hasten MODERNITY out the door.
And, of course, to hasten on Commensality, before Modernity burns up this planet and renders the whole question moot.
But there is no way I am going to sprout cliches that we are "standing on the threshold of a totally new world, etc,etc."
All my talk of "LIFE 2.0" is rhetoric, not a fact.
We are changing, we have been changing and will go on changing forever.
No revolution - no revolution truly worthy of that name - will ever be televised : it will drift in slowly like early morning fog, speaking a language of its own new invention.
We will only truly realize that it has arrived ,at the moment of its departure - in the clarity of hindsight.
I don't know how COMMENSALITY will turn out and I am very mindful that most future-oriented predictions throughout history have been less accurate than flipping a coin with your eyes closed.
But this blog can (and will) imagine how it might look.
That is, it will express my personal hopes for the shape of the future, without pretending they are predictions worth betting the store upon.
I truly believe that the coming into being of The Commensal Age is already happening, without much conscious action on the part of anyone to make it so.
But I also believe a single individual can help speed it along and shape its path, to the fullest that their talents will allow....
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
MODERNITY stole it from the Beatles - we're stealing it back
Before MODERNITY stole the term 'commensal' and tortured it out of shape , the concept had been used for thousands of years, to describe the particularly unique aspect of Jesus's physical ministry:
At a time when sharing the salt was only done with one's friends and family, Jesus was eager to be a 'diner at the common table' with just about anyone.
Including - or should I say particularly - those viewed with disdain by the general society.
Like it or not, we must all get along, share and share alike, if we are to survive Jesus told his followers.
MODERNITY Science, a sort of Stephen Harper clone with a PhD in Biology, turns a stone cold eye to the very idea that commensality actually exists for very long out in the natural world.
But this is to take a normative view of something in which we actually have no choice.
All Life on Planet Earth, willy nilly, is a 'diner at a common table' .
Equally some Life - the human sort - could take all the food on the table and leave the rest of Life to starve to death.
But since humans don't actually produce food but are only parasites on those beings that do, we will soon quickly starve to death ourselves.
MODERNITY hates the thought of being dependent on non-humans but the facts are that we must.
If MODERNITY can't adjust to that fact, then it must go.....
his willingness to share his table with just about anybody.
At a time when sharing the salt was only done with one's friends and family, Jesus was eager to be a 'diner at the common table' with just about anyone.
Including - or should I say particularly - those viewed with disdain by the general society.
Like it or not, we must all get along, share and share alike, if we are to survive Jesus told his followers.
MODERNITY Science, a sort of Stephen Harper clone with a PhD in Biology, turns a stone cold eye to the very idea that commensality actually exists for very long out in the natural world.
But this is to take a normative view of something in which we actually have no choice.
All Life on Planet Earth, willy nilly, is a 'diner at a common table' .
Equally some Life - the human sort - could take all the food on the table and leave the rest of Life to starve to death.
But since humans don't actually produce food but are only parasites on those beings that do, we will soon quickly starve to death ourselves.
MODERNITY hates the thought of being dependent on non-humans but the facts are that we must.
If MODERNITY can't adjust to that fact, then it must go.....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)