| [ |
mood |
| |
 happy |
] |
Today, I went to the Obon festival, which we try to visit each year. I missed the drums again, which makes me a little sad, but I caught the dancing, and came to a very calm, clear realization.
Every culture has unique rites for honoring the dead, for giving thanks for the harvest, for giving thanks for life and living – that somewhere in our "base level" as a species, we are fundamentally gracious, thankful, and offer up artistic and meaningful rites and sacrifices to "the powers that be".
This is a harsh contrast to many of my previous views of humanity and our negative, destructive tendencies.
Still, it makes sense that there would be a time of departure from the "old ways", when we questioned or (temporarily) abandoned all that we knew* and tried something else. The "slash and burn" mentality rampant in America and much of the global economy isn't completely surprising.
To put it simply, we don't know any better. Or, perhaps I should say "we're more thoroughly learning again what we already know".
It doesn't take a genius to realize that pumping billions of gallons of crude oil out of the ground, refining it, and burning it into the atmosphere isn't the best idea for us and our planet. Take any child or non-"modernized" person to an oil drilling site, and tell me they look completely "at-home" and comfortable. We know it's a bad idea, but we do it anyway – much like curious teenagers playing with matches.
And, much like adolescence, there is a learning curve involved. Every culture has its own tales of the hero/hunter/warrior going out into the world, interacting, changing, maturing, and then arriving back where s/he began. And so, it is the same way with us – and you can see the results every day. "Scientists verify that chicken soup really does help cure colds". "Research shows that eating a variety of fruits and vegetables is much more healthy than eating at McDonald's". "Ketchup is not actually a fruit". Who doesn't know this on some fundamental level**?
Just as in the old stories, I believe we will arrive right back where we started. We'll confirm our original knowledge that exploiting labor from our fellow man in the long run is a bad idea. Burning the rainforest isn't the best way to expand farmland. Using oil or coal for fuel causes more problems than they're worth. Creating unnatural synthetic materials only leaves mountains of waste that can only be broken down again by costly industrial methods.
I look forward to the day when we re-emerge from our stone-cut houses, put on our wool and cotton blend garments, tend our non-nitrogen-oxide-enriched fields, and get together to celebrate the turning of the seasons, and the quiet company around a campfire. I'm sure we'll have our company of nano-machines, atmospheric sensor arrays, and medical aid droids in the mix, but at least they'll be bio-degradable. ;)
* "What we knew" refers to a collective set of simple patterns in all cultures that have transcended time and place. "You reap what you sow". "The truth will eventually emerge". "No one suspects the Inquisition!". :)
** Not to be confused with "who doesn't know this but convinces themselves otherwise?".
|
![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
firetalon's journal
weird
pensive
Spicy
uncomfortable