crikey
I have some strong criticisms of Vinay’s position ( e.g. his naive anthropocentric, technocentric optimism, lack of understanding of the neo-primitivist critique, other minor matters ) but I greatly admire his courage, and that he gives his whole heart and soul to his struggle, and he’s actually achieved something worthwhile with his impressive hexayurt project. IMHO, we need a lot more folks like him who can face the bleak and bitter horror of the predicament we are all in, and lay it out clearly, honestly and fearlessly.
I think you are a bit confused, Lyne. ‘We’ is an abstracted concept, there can be hundreds, thousands, of ‘we’s’ and until the precise referent is defined, nobody can be clear as to whom or what is being talked about.
Likewise with the notion ‘we are all one’. That may well be the ultimate truth, in a religious or philosophical context, ( personally I believe it is ), but then to pretend that the distinctions and divisions don’t exist is ridiculous. Such airy-fairy polyanna nonsense isn’t going to solve our problems, is it ? It would be nice if everyone could raise their consciousness to a higher level, but what chance is there of that happening ? To build a strategy upon that premise is as unrealistic as planning your personal life upon the assumption that you will win the lottery.
You and I are separate beings, two, not one, and have individual self-centred interests and pursuits which may remain forever opposed. To pretend otherwise is delusion, isn’t it ? And so it is for all groups and entities.
To lump all humans into an aggregate of ‘we the people’ may sound good rhetorically, but it’s meaningless, it’s like saying ‘we the fish’, and ignoring the fact that some fish survive by eating other fish, some fish require niches that others do not, and so on.
I do believe that every single ‘thing’, that we distinguish as an independent form or entity, are all facets of the One, the greater Universe, sure, that’s not hard to grasp or even to demonstrate scientifically. And if, say, I’m walking in the countryside, that’s a great way to experience being. However, if I’m in a fight or conflict, I have very well-defined boundaries, where I stop and all the rest begins, and I’ll defend those boundaries, just as all the other living organisms do, with violence if necessary. Don’t blame me for that. I didn’t design the system. Great White Sharks and Orcas eat nice cuddly seals. Foxes eat chickens. They have to do it, not a choice. So, whilst everything is One, everything is eating everything else, all the time. We people are merely constituent parts of that system.
You can insist that there is no ‘you’. Okay, lay down and let the hungry tigress devour you, to feed her starving cubs. It’s your right and privilege to do that. It’s probably a generous and noble act, if it’s done with complete understanding. But to expect everyone else to have that attitude is delusion. Starving sailors adrift in tiny boats draw lots to decide who will be murdered and eaten so the others can survive.
When resources are abundant, wealth easily come by, then we can all be friendly and relaxed and generous. But in times of hardship, shortage, crisis, extreme competition, what happens ? Look at history. There are lessons to learn.