I have a theory, and it ties in with Agent Smith’s theory from the Matrix. Mine is, that as soon as we remove one cause of stress in our lives, we add at least one new one to replace it.
The kind of society that “won out” over the other kinds we’ve tried is definitely a contributor. When Europeans were integrating with the plains Indians in the US and Canada many of them noted how the “less-civilized” people seemed to be a good deal more civilized than themselves in a lot of respects (like with mutual aid, division of labor and resources, etc.). But there’s no reason to think we can’t get there again.
Is there evidence of this? Most historical writings on colonial attitudes towards Indigineous people is that they were seen as primitive and backward for not having similar infrastructure, focussing on sustainability rather than productivity and not being Christian.
It would be fascinating to hear of there were more balanced voices back then but the general attitude of European settlers at the time was we are here to take land and control trade because our God ordained it.
There are numerous contemporaneous writings that are either (a) in French or (b) hard to read because of flowery Enlightenment-era English, but Dave Graeber and David Wengrow do an excellent job of collecting together a lot of the relevant information in The Dawn of Everything. There are also plenty of other really good histories of the Wendat and Huron people and Pacific coast potlatch societies though I can’t think of the authors I’ve liked right at the moment.
Its a fascinating postulation that Indigineous thought leaders may have influenced enlightenment thinkers. Its unfortunate (understatement) that the European colonial machine ultimately chose to create a racist counter narrative to justify generations of genocide despite this.
During the colonial era the West was often very quick to take credit for knowledge imparted on other regions while quietly neglecting to cite sources when they learned from others.
Its too bad that they who adopted such wisdom could not see the humanity in those it came from.
I have a theory, and it ties in with Agent Smith’s theory from the Matrix. Mine is, that as soon as we remove one cause of stress in our lives, we add at least one new one to replace it.
Maybe we’re just not meant to live in a utopia.
The kind of society that “won out” over the other kinds we’ve tried is definitely a contributor. When Europeans were integrating with the plains Indians in the US and Canada many of them noted how the “less-civilized” people seemed to be a good deal more civilized than themselves in a lot of respects (like with mutual aid, division of labor and resources, etc.). But there’s no reason to think we can’t get there again.
Is there evidence of this? Most historical writings on colonial attitudes towards Indigineous people is that they were seen as primitive and backward for not having similar infrastructure, focussing on sustainability rather than productivity and not being Christian.
It would be fascinating to hear of there were more balanced voices back then but the general attitude of European settlers at the time was we are here to take land and control trade because our God ordained it.
The “noble savage” trope is an example of this.
There are numerous contemporaneous writings that are either (a) in French or (b) hard to read because of flowery Enlightenment-era English, but Dave Graeber and David Wengrow do an excellent job of collecting together a lot of the relevant information in The Dawn of Everything. There are also plenty of other really good histories of the Wendat and Huron people and Pacific coast potlatch societies though I can’t think of the authors I’ve liked right at the moment.
Its a fascinating postulation that Indigineous thought leaders may have influenced enlightenment thinkers. Its unfortunate (understatement) that the European colonial machine ultimately chose to create a racist counter narrative to justify generations of genocide despite this.
During the colonial era the West was often very quick to take credit for knowledge imparted on other regions while quietly neglecting to cite sources when they learned from others.
Its too bad that they who adopted such wisdom could not see the humanity in those it came from.
I really think that’s just what “the system” wants us to think. We should at least never give up the hope and faith that good things can happen
Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure it would be nice. It just feels like there’s a constant resistance to our lives, in total improving too much.
Maybe meditation and inner peace are just elaborate coping mechanisms that exercise the muscle of rising above chaos so you can breathe, for a bit
The Buddha coped so hard he was considered to have escaped our reality. Lol.