Our Lady Burns: Civilization Is Over-Rated

(But the only thing more over-rated than civilization are symbols of civilization.)

If we believe the narrative that is fed to us, this thing we call civilization is the epitome of human existence. The most logical and only desirable arrangement of the human experience, realized.

We have become civilized therefore we have, become.

But what is civilization?

Is it a socioeconomic arrangement? 
Capitalism Vs Socialism?
Is it intellectual thought?
Is it agriculture? 
Domestication?
Is it technological and scientific development?
Is it culture?
Is it religion? Language? Art? Literature? Politics? 
Is it global interconnection/ interdependence via modern forms of communication and travel?
A combination of development of all of the above?

We are told it is something to revere and without it we will surely perish. Without it we are nothing and we will return to a form of existence that was 'nasty, brutish and short.' This is a myth that has been busted many times.

Really, civilization is nothing but symbols. Abstract ideas that ultimately life does not require. It is a collection of ideas that often get in the way of the very things we are told depend on it. Harmony, quality of life, connectivity, a meaningful existence.

To blindly accept that pre-civilization, we had none of these things, is arrogant and incorrect. A number I like to quote often, is that for 99% of human existence we were not civilized. We were not domesticated, we did not farm, we did not have much of a religion (if any), our technology was very rudimentary, language was not necessary, and art was not needed or prevalent. What we did have was direct lived experience with very few symbols disconnecting us from real life. Arguably, day to day life was art, was religion, was science. We can look to the few remaining gatherer-hunter tribes for evidence of quality of life, pre-civ. 

Ultimately, untouchable abstract concepts do not substitute lived experience.

When we watch the flames of Notre Dame lick the Parisian sky, we naturally mourn the loss of a massive symbol of civilization and its achievements. Yet, we aren't mourning in quite the same way, the breaking up of the ice bergs, species extinction, young black men shot by police, Palestinian homes getting wrecked, the murder of trans-gendered person, kids dying in ICE detention and on and on. Yet, these are the natural outcomes of civilization. Religion, technology, economic disparity, politics, 'society,' are killing the planet and pitting us against each other. Now one of civilizations greatest symbols is up in flames, so perhaps it is a good time to seek some perspective and to ponder what really matters to us. Whether this thing we call 'civilization' is really all its cracked up to be... 

Nothing lasts. 

It will fall. It will crumble. It will burn. 

But everything that matters will survive.

Don't believe me? Or want to consider this more?

Start here:

-The Hazda
-Against Civilization
-The Garden of Peculiarities 
-Abundance Without Affluence
-A People's History of Civilization
-Why Hope?
-Feral

Black Metal Beach 2016

Oxwich, St Illtyd's Church

6th Century

Pennard Castle

Happy Earth Day from Pripyat

Photo by Gerd Ludwig. Check out, The Long Shadow of Chernobyl

Though they go mad they shall be sane

Ceri Richards 'And Death Shall Have No Dominion'

And death shall have no dominion. 
Dead man naked they shall be one 
With the man in the wind and the west moon; 
When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone, 
They shall have stars at elbow and foot; 
Though they go mad they shall be sane, 
Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again; 
Though lovers be lost love shall not; 
And death shall have no dominion. 

And death shall have no dominion. 
Under the windings of the sea 
They lying long shall not die windily; 
Twisting on racks when sinews give way, 
Strapped to a wheel, yet they shall not break; 
Faith in their hands shall snap in two, 
And the unicorn evils run them through; 
Split all ends up they shan't crack; 
And death shall have no dominion. 

And death shall have no dominion. 
No more may gulls cry at their ears 
Or waves break loud on the seashores; 
Where blew a flower may a flower no more 
Lift its head to the blows of the rain; 
Though they be mad and dead as nails, 
Heads of the characters hammer through daisies; 
Break in the sun till the sun breaks down, 
And death shall have no dominion.

-Dylan Thomas

"I have always looked upon decay as being just as wonderful and rich an expression of life as growth."
-Henry MIller.

What became of the paradise  my friends and I built and destroyed about twenty years ago...

Bodie, CA

3 8

Enlow Photo 

So I'm getting very close to the big 38. This is a crucial age for me, as it is a magical number in my family. Now, some people and rightly so, make fun of me for this, but making it to 38 without the old ticker exploding is quite uncommon with the males along my maternal line of descent. Back in 2009, I had more than a mild panic about this. You can read the details here or in Foulweather #3. Long story short, I got into the ring with death, not literally, but I wrestled the unavoidable beast and dodged his scyth... for now...  In hindsight, confronting my mortality and the subsequent depression I had to struggle out of was one of the most profound experiences of my life and what I regard as the true beginning of my adulthood. It is a journey, perhaps a healthy indivdual should undertake at twenty-one not thirty-three, but I'll blame Western culture for much of that. I feel many people continue to cruise through life, avoiding the big looming inevitability of all inevitabilities. It is all too easy to avoid familiarity, acceptance and eventual comfort with death in the presence of so many distractions, consumer pressure, career/ life expecations, mass media, social media, popular perceptions of youth, beauty, aging and so on. All I can really say, as with many other things in life, you have to put in the time and effort, to reap the rewards. Backward steps are possible of course, and I take them often but like my acupuncturist said now that she has 'opened the gates of hell,' and I walked through it, there's no going back to that state of panic, where I was once consumed by terror, paralyzed by hopelessness and meaninglessness. 

Anyway, I haven't made it to 38 yet. It is still a few weeks to go. So is this just another excuse to post photos of myself? 

I keep meaning to get back into meditation and Tai Chi to facilitate 'the journey' but there is simply too much skateboarding to be done. I'm slowly beginning to accept that skateboarding is going to have to be my meditation and Tai Chi and I have to say I think it is serving me well, even though it is more acceptable to drink beer while skateboarding. Getting older on my skateboard has been somewhat profound. It is teaching me some amazing lessons, in focus, when and what to let go of; how to celebrate and dive into the little stuff while shrugging off the big stuff and how to work towards perfect form. Before, I was an adult my approach was spastic and unrefined. I cared little for proper technique. I just wanted to get the job done and move on quickly. Now, I am an old man I appreciate working towards a proper form as if it was a  yoga pose of Tai Chi sequence. The proper deck check, the proper foot position and so on, while stilling the mind (hence the RnR Photo above). There is immense but calming satisfaction and joy in this pointless pursuit and I'm going to ride it out as long as I can for it not only connects me with 'everythingness' but because I might only have a few more sessions to go before the ticker goes 'boom.'

I must also acknowledge that I feel a little uncomfortable celebrating my life while my father-in-law is in reality far closer to death than myself, with likely mere months left on this plane of existence. At the same time, I know he appreciates it when other people have passions and pursue them with vigor. Bob was dealt a shitty hand and watching such a strong man, prematurely decay is heartbreaking but at the same time, as I mentioned a few weeks back, I feel like the dying open magical portals that the rest of us would do well to find the courage to look through. 

If anyone is still reading this tripe, I hope your journey is going well.

When Shall We Meet Again?

From Richard Harris' 'Death: A self-potrait' exhibit, currently showing at the Welcome Collection in London.  I hope I get to see this one day.

I meditated on death on the journey home

they told me it would help

it did indeed make me chuckle

as I blazed through traffic

could I go right now?

yes

but

would I be just as ok with a slow cancerous death?

I came home and popped the cap off a far too strong stout

and sat down in front of the writing machine

put on some sad music

dove into the symbols

I really should write I told myself

I’m not here to send a bloody message

this is no way to

send

a

message

the keys pissed me off

I misstruck them frequently in inebriation

then I glanced down at the desk

and I saw a fingernail

was it mine? I wondered

last week

putting on my socks

I noticed  how white one of my toe nails looked

so I picked at it

and then it fell apart.

I pulled it out

with little pain

it was soft and mushy, a malformed nail

maybe I have a horrible disease I thought.

how is my tolerance for pain?

but this nail was not one of mine

it was yours

you shed it

you are usually pretty good about clipping your nails in a sanitary manner

unlike me

it felt peculiar to hold a piece of you in this way

I rubbed it between my fingers

in between typing

and it broke apart

brittle

write a poem about me

you asked not so long ago

I don’t do that anymore

can’t

either I’m fixed or know too much

to write anymore

I put the same song on repeat

like the old days

to hold onto the distraction

milk it

milking the fucking symbols

wallowing in the disconnect

it is so crude and undignified

symbolic compensation

instead of looking for metaphor in your discarded fingernail

I should take you to the bedroom

and take every part of you between my fingers

even if everything is not OK

even if we are confronting the only truth