Gather Around Boys & Girls!
I'm thrilled to announce that Brother Canary Alan is back on my blog today. Yes, he is a regular guest and it's always a joy to have him on the blog. Below are some of his thoughts from the Atlanta Leavers discussion list. My comments are in black. Really, I wish some of my Canary friends would write books or at least keep blogs. They have some great things to say, and it is an honor to share some of their ideas.
From Canary Alan:
I have a love/hate relationship with my own species; I like people and find some truly wonderful things about this culture, Warm cozy meals with friends including coffee, wine, and fish and many things that would not be available without commerce...
I like Christmas with its warm and friendly gatherings of people, but I don’t need a $1000.00 worth of gifts. A pretty seashell that my granddaughter gives me will do nicely. I like electricity but I don’t need 1000 devices to make my life easier and more complicated at the same time. I wouldn’t mind electricity being rationed so I could choose between the computer, music and moderate lights at night.
I believe family as the only true way to organize the human culture, but many of us have had bad experiences with family. That’s not because family is bad, it’s because this culture pulls them apart instead of ensuring their survival. This is the main failing of our civilization. We must have children in moderation and their well being must come first, this mean sacrifice from everyone else in the tribe especially mom and dad, all day long. I believe you must build a new culture from the ground up not by throwing a bunch of enlightened intellectuals together from various living situations. Culture is not about individuals it is about the collective good, and that’s where mother culture fails at an ever increasing rate.
I dislike the human race as it forms our culture, but the pieces could be reorganized into a modern thinking groups with traditional family valves without the religious superstitions.
I think we need a new religion, but our track record isn’t good. For example you start out with a pacifist healer who preaches love, charity, giving unconditionally, and you end up with religions in his name that are so twisted it can produce a Pat Robertson, creationism, no birth control, and the Klan, how lovely.
For me [Daniel] Quinn was an epiphany, but I still disagree with him on some issues. Our present Culture is not the only thing preventing us from taking the next step to a more civilized perspective on who we are and where we fit with universe. I think we are basically animals driven by instinct a lot more than we care to admit, and many of the things that helped us survive in the Pleistocene Period must be modified if we are to survive now. We need to look at what works in Leaver cultures and what works in modern cultures and blend the two for the future. Then we can consider what is a reasonable use of sunlight for human activities, and build our culture based on that prime limitation.
Also these are collective ideas and I’m very much an individualist so all this must be done while ensuring the individual in all of us can flourish. But I believe that a little group collectivism can create more opportunities for meaningful individualism through art, gardening, cooking and creative problem solving on at the personal level.
Yellow Canary Seys: Wow, this is really excellent. I just want to leave this as is and read it again and again. It is like a fine piece of perfectly seasoned food that you want to smell and admire before gobbling. The thoughts above really give me some clarity for the next steps I need to take in my crazy, insane, cocked, plan to save the World.
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