Msg: 2874 *Conference*
07-19-92 20:34:30
From: DREW BLANCHAR
To : RICHARD HANSON
Subj: VP RUNNING?
<the following is from "Dysfunctional Civilization" > < from Sen. Al Gore's book "Earth in the Balance" > < caught it in the latest issue of "MAN!" #15 > .......... To define the essence of who we are in terms that correspond with the analutical activity of the neocortex (high brain section capable of abstract thought) is to create an intolerable dilemma: how can we concentrate purely on abstract thinking when the rest of our brain floods our awareness with feelings, emotions, and instincts? .......... The cleavage in the modern world between mind and body, man and nature, has created a new kind of addiction: I believe that our civilization is, in effect, addicted to the consumptions of earth itself. This addictive relationship distracts us from the pain of what we have lost: a direct experience of our connection to the vividness, vibrancy, and aliveness of the rest of the natural world. .......... The false promise at the core of addiction is the possibility of experiencing the vividness and immediacy of real life without having to face the fear and pain that are also part of it. Our industrial civilization makes us a similiar promise: the pursuit of happiness and comfort is paramount, and the consumption of an endless stream of shiny new products is encouraged as the best way to succeed in that pursuit. The glittering promise of easy fulfillment is so seductive that we become willing, even relieved, to forget what we really feel and abandon the search for authentic purpose and meaning in our lives. But the promise is always false because the hunger for authenticity remains. In a healthy, balanced life, the noisy chatter of our discourse with the artificial world of our creation may distract us from the deeper rhythms of life, but it does not interrupt them. In the pathology of addiction, this dialogue becomes more than a noisy diversion; as their lives move further out of balance, addicts invest increasing amounts of energy in their realationship to the objects of their addictions. And once addicts focus on false communion with substitutes for life, the rhythm of their dull and deadening routine becomes increasingly incompatible, discordant, and dissonant with the natural harmony that entrains the music of life. As the dissonance grows more violent and the clashes more frequent, peaks of disharmony become manifest in successive crises, each one more destrructive than the last. .......... Our relationship to the earth may never be healed until we are willing to stop denying the destructive nature of the current pattern. Our seemingly compulsive need to control the natural world may hae derived from a feeling of helplessness in the face of our deep and ancient fear of "Nature red in tooth and claw," but this compulsion has driven us to the edge of disaster, for we have become so successful at controlling nature that we have lost our connections to it. And we must also recognize that a new fear is now deepening our addiction: even as we revel in our success at controlling nature, we have become increasingly frightened of the consequences, and that fear only drives us to ride this destructive cycle harder and faster. ....... Are the vice-presidential candidates allowed to run or do they just follow the presidential candidate's lead???? I like the sound of the Honorable Senator.