May 9, 2020
LUCKISM® AND THE PLAGUE (2)
What better than a worldwide plague to encourage us to think about a better future; even better than the immediate past for which we now long?
In particular, I'm thinking how a new "religion," namely, LUCKISM® would place us in a better position than the one in which we find ourselves and the one in which we were before the latest plague. Why? At bottom, because it provides something which has been glaringly absent from the prevailing conduct of world civilization, namely, reverence for the chance activity of life and nature. A civilization which gives the resulting modesty a central place in its zeitgeist would have long ago achieved the proper perspective from which to deal with a plague and would be in the best position to handle future plagues.
Picture this; an intelligent animal comes to believe it has the ability to eventually know everything worth knowing and to control everything worth controlling on earth. Even though its sciences begin to reveal a vast zone of "unknowability," and "unpredictability" this creature continues to live as if it was destined to rule the universe. Its favorite poem is "Invictus" (which means "Undefeated") by William Ernest Henley. That insane hymn to human determination ends with
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.
Along the way, the poet boasts,
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Then, along come submicroscopic nothings called "viruses," with barely enough complexity to be called living things, and they bludgeon the entire human race, from head to toe. And they do so repeatedly, with a frequency which ought to get the rapt attention of an intelligent creature.
One thing the poet got right. It was chance that hit him and us. Not because it was evil, but because it was omnipresent, because it was built into reality and we were stupidly not ready to encounter it.
Can you imagine a creature so deluded it cannot comprehend or respect something that is everywhere all the time? On top of which, the creature concocts fictional deities to explain the activity of that omnipresent and eternal force. And, as the final absurdity, it fantasizes that these deities have granted special rights and privileges to Homo sapiens! Dominion, conquest, numerosity, life after death or maybe even life without death.
From a narrow point of view of current plague events, it began with the unpredictable mutation of a particular virus into one capable of infecting the human animal. Chance was involved in the first infection, whether it was transmitted in a so-called "wet market" where wild animals are sold to be eaten or whether it leaked from a laboratory or whether it just blew in on the wind. Chance then operated in innumerable, unpredictable ways to spread the infection in the world population and to kill those who are most susceptible to its activity. Chance also affected the type and degree of care received by those who were infected and it is affecting the development of cures or protective vaccines.
From the wider point of view, the major choices made in the pursuit of progress by modern civilizations, under the illusion of control of nature and "progress" were made without giving proper respect to the operation of chance in nature. For at least 700 years we have been aware of plagues. More recently we have become familiar with the microscopic and submicroscopic world. But only a tiny fraction of the resources of the world have been allocated to that area; a pittance compared to what has been dedicated to weaponry, electronic communication devices, entertainment devices, transportation equipment etc.
If LUCKISM® was a guiding force in the world, the concept of progress, at least since since the so-called scientific revolution, would be much more focused on the natural world, both as a source of sustenance and of potential danger. People would know more about the contents of the natural world, including viruses and microorganisms, than they know about pop singers and movie actors. More financial and human resources would go into study of nature than into matters of importance to industry or the military. School curricula at all levels would give priority to subjects with direct impact on the natural world and relations between living things. There would be less banging of atomic particles and blasting-off of space rockets.
The work that remains is enormous. We have the insight. We know the truth of the fundamental facts. Now, how do we apply this to the ten thousand things in the world? I use "ten thousand things" as a shorthand term in the Daoist sense of "everything that can be named in the world." What has to be limited? What has to be changed? It will all flow from learning how to bring ourselves into harmony with the dance of order and chance.
The material in this ramble may be somewhat disorganized and sketchy. I will continue working on it.
END
No comments:
Post a Comment