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by and large the 'progress' of which the author speaks is driven by individuals who are otherwise outcasts in society, and are generally reviled as lunatics in their lifetime. If there is one consistent thing about the entire span of human existence, it is this.
I am all for celebrating the human condition. I wish we spent more time doing that rather than trying to kill one another, or trying to jail one another, or trying to sue one another, or trying to maim one another, or steal from one another and so on.
However, that has never been the case. In the overall history of the species, we have exhibited a cruel and callous disregard for the suffering of others, and a complete lack of empathy for people with perspectives other than our own. We've dressed things up a bit with technology, but the essence remains the same: Status quo rules the roost, and deviance will not be tolerated. I think this goes back to a survival strategy from the days when humans still ran in packs, like wolves. Deviance cannot be tolerated in the pack, and those that do deviate are expelled.
While this works for wolves, it does not work well for more complex social constructs, like modern human society. However, the tendency remains. It is this tendency that feeds the fascist uprising that we now face. "You're either with us, or against us."
The end result is that humans are not allowed to be human. We're taught -- we're forced -- to give priority to work (trading our lives for a pittance) over aesthetic pursuits, like music, art, dance, etc.
Having lived as a 'starving artist' for more than a decade, and having finally given in to 'work', albeit only briefly in an effort to better fun artistic pursuits, I believe I've lived through this first-hand, first-person. When I chose not to enter the workforce -- when I dropped out of college for the first time -- I was given grave warning that I was making a dire mistake from which I would never recover. Accepting that, I moved forward with living my life as an artist. I 'worked' as little as possible, and focused on writing and music and graphic art. I spent many hours at these pursuits. I published some short stories, made a few thousand dollars over the years, but nothing to speak of, really. It wasn't about the money, though, it was about the art. And for that, I was looked down upon from the various aspects of the community: friends, family, employers, the occasional passer-by, and so on.
I was an 'unperson' while traveling, with no 'permanent' address, and I was 'white-trash' when I was living in an attic somewhere. It is a difficult path, at best, and takes more perseverance than most people can muster.
Then one day I had a vision: Freedom of movement while traveling. I would stop focusing on my art, and stop traveling and focus on 'the work' for awhile and save up some money so I could travel where I wanted when I wanted.
It seemed like a good idea at the time.
That was ten years ago, thereabouts. I'm coming up to the deadline I set for myself to take what I've earned and return to dedicating my life to my art. The Work, however, has taken its toll. It's taken more than I ever could have imagined, and I some days wonder if I'll even make it to that that date.
So herein lies the point I'm trying to make: I dedicated a vast amount of time and energy and spirit to the corporate grist mill because it was means to an end. It would accomplish the goal.
What if the goal were to better ourselves, though? What if the goal of society was TRULY progress and enlightenment and the pursuit of Quality in the aesthetic? It seems to me that is really what life is all about, and yet it is both scorned and adored by society.
As long as this love/hate relationship exists with what is 'new' or 'different' or 'deviant' in our society, we'll continue evolving nowhere fast.
Thanks for listening.
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