That novel you start with made me think of the DORA concentration camp within Nazi Germany. I think it might have been in Penemunde (sp?). Unfortunately, it is politics that influences our lives and the circumstances under which we live.
The ascetic life has been an antidote to the harsh conditions of existence for a long time.
But presently, it seems to me that, we are mired in a different kind bind. There's no lack of ideology to supplement the raw logistics of organising ourselves. Particularly in the west, we have invested heavily in a secular philosophical framework, in fact many competing frameworks of the libertarian democracy model. Supposedly to help lift our collective fate into a new paradigm to replace theological doctrinal politics of the majority of the last thousand years. Have we succeeded? Not entirely. Though we have bettered our physical circumstances in terms of health, education and material wealth. We are simultaneously facing a crisis of confidence over the unintended consequence of the scientific industrial revolution (pollution and climate change).
In so doing, we have destabilized both our own purpose of existence from survival towards some unknown destination, or at least an unspeakable, perhaps unarticulated, purpose. And also the fixed background of infinite toil that made the ascetic approach a revolutionary exit strategy a long long time ago. But is it disassociation, rather unified progress or spiritual growth?
Lastly, the information technology wave sweeping us towards the data mine rather than the coal mine, is pressurering the need to find humanity's purpose. What are we for? Are we trying to make ourselves obsolete, or will it just be a side effect of our drive to automate everything and free ourselves into oblivion. To finally find respite from the burden of carrying the responsibility of our fate. To alleviate the need for politics and spiritual uncertainty, as well as the messy business of procreation that established the burden of care in the first place, deep in the private sphere.
That novel you start with made me think of the DORA concentration camp within Nazi Germany. I think it might have been in Penemunde (sp?). Unfortunately, it is politics that influences our lives and the circumstances under which we live.
So good!
Love this one! Great novel, too!
What seeds are we planting? Indeed.
The ascetic life has been an antidote to the harsh conditions of existence for a long time.
But presently, it seems to me that, we are mired in a different kind bind. There's no lack of ideology to supplement the raw logistics of organising ourselves. Particularly in the west, we have invested heavily in a secular philosophical framework, in fact many competing frameworks of the libertarian democracy model. Supposedly to help lift our collective fate into a new paradigm to replace theological doctrinal politics of the majority of the last thousand years. Have we succeeded? Not entirely. Though we have bettered our physical circumstances in terms of health, education and material wealth. We are simultaneously facing a crisis of confidence over the unintended consequence of the scientific industrial revolution (pollution and climate change).
In so doing, we have destabilized both our own purpose of existence from survival towards some unknown destination, or at least an unspeakable, perhaps unarticulated, purpose. And also the fixed background of infinite toil that made the ascetic approach a revolutionary exit strategy a long long time ago. But is it disassociation, rather unified progress or spiritual growth?
Lastly, the information technology wave sweeping us towards the data mine rather than the coal mine, is pressurering the need to find humanity's purpose. What are we for? Are we trying to make ourselves obsolete, or will it just be a side effect of our drive to automate everything and free ourselves into oblivion. To finally find respite from the burden of carrying the responsibility of our fate. To alleviate the need for politics and spiritual uncertainty, as well as the messy business of procreation that established the burden of care in the first place, deep in the private sphere.
Good questions...