Well, it's a new moon and I'm feeling a little morose. I guess that's to be expected.
I look at the trees and the moon, wondering how my ancient ancestors felt at a similar
moment. My people lived at a high enough latitude for the birth-life-death-rebirth cycle
myth to be a strong influence on their feelings. Around them they saw their goddess dying, and their abiding faith was
that she would be reborn in time; her death and that of her consort coinciding with the
winter solstice. The days grew longer after that point, and the cycle began anew.
I find it interesting to note that the calendar of my people sets the beginning of the new year at the
time that autumn turns into winter. Perhaps I should have said the death-birth/rebirth-life
cycle myth.
We tend to view these ancient, simple times with a somewhat glossed over nostalgia. Noble
warriors, happy peasants, all that rot. Rubbish. "Nasty, brutish, and short," is how James
Burke describes it. That's probably closer to the truth.
The neo-luddites
would have you believe that all technology is evil and must be destroyed. Bullshit.
Gaia's do-gooders and busy-bodies would
have you believe that we should abandon technology and move back to the agrarian model of
society. More bullshit.
There is a fatal flaw in these anti-technology rantings and ravings: The modern h. sapiens
cannot survive without technology. Sure we could all move back to the country and farm, but
that does not eliminate our need for technology. To farm you need a plow. Having a plow implies a metalworking industry to make
the blade, and foresters and carpenters to harvest and shape the wood. These things take
energy, which admittedly can be human energy. However, if you need a million plows, human
energy probably won't cut it. So you are back to needing technology.
Survival tip: The planet cannot sustain the current population without the help of
technology. Period. If you see a luddite in action, move as rapidly as possible in the
opposite direction.
Certain of these crazed anti-technologists maintain that even the agrarian model of
civilization is too burdensome on the human soul and the planet, and we should move back
to the tribal hunter-gatherer model. Please, spare me. Do you really want to be oppressed by
the tribe over the next hill and become a slave? That is what will happen. The human animal
is not very far beneath the surface of a civilized man. If I am bigger and stronger, or
just smarter than you, what is to stop me from oppressing you? Exactamundo:
Civilization.
Once learned, lessons hard won are even harder to forget. Feudalism is a natural progression
from the tribe, just as the tribe is a natural progression from the clan. Civilization is a
one-way street. Try to go the wrong way, and you are looking to get hurt.
I think about my pagan ancestors, worshipping the more natural feminine deity as opposed to
the masculine deity of more recent times. I believe that they knew, even then, that it was
too late to go back to the old ways.
Women taught men to talk, and the rest was as inevitable as sunrise.
As much as thoughts of a retreat to simpler ways appeals to the anachronism in me, I know
that it is hopeless to wish for it. Civilization happens. Just remember though: it's a one
way street. Now isn't that a happy thought for Thanksgiving.