This Book - Part One

 

Now, I wasn’t sure I was going to blog about this book. It’s a tricky read and not something you’d want to delve into if you have a tendency towards any form of panic, anxiety, doom or gloom. But if, like me, you are up for a bit of a fight, then dive in and be outraged. I was. I found it empowering, actually. I read it through once and then went back to read it again and make notes along the way. 

It’s about living within a society that is collapsing because of our human activities. The main idea I got from it personally is that we’ve just become too big for our boots and too clever for our hats. We’ve lost sight of how easy it can be to live simply because the idea of growth is being pushed all the time, and no one knows how to say, ‘Okay, let’s rein things in, let’s tread water rather than keep pushing for bigger and better’. Because, actually, bigger isn’t always better, is it? One quote from the book states, ‘We human beings now have the power to exterminate ourselves; this seems to be the entire sum of our achievement.’

How stupid of us is that? How sad?

I learnt about the theory of moloch. Moloch was a God in the Hebrew bible who rewarded the sacrifice of children with victory in war.’ Basically, killing the one thing you were supposedly fighting for. Sarah Morgan gives a light example of moloch at work. She says, ‘You’re at a concert. Someone in the front row decides to sacrifice their comfort and stand up to get a better view. This, of course, forces everyone behind them to also stand up. Soon enough the room is standing, competing to get a better view. The upshot? Everyone has to stand for the entire concert. Everyone loses!’

Insane and self-destructive. That’s the sum of where we are at now because no-one knows how to stop. Because stopping means someone will lose. But by NOT stopping, well, everyone loses. In order to win at life, Morgan continues, what humans need are collaboration, cooperation and communication. 

I’m going to stop now, because I don’t want to toss everyone into a pit of despair. I’ll be back again with Part Two tomorrow. It’s been raining again today, with sunny intervals. The grass is getting greener by the hour; isn’t Nature just wonderful and clever? The second batch of swallow babies have been coming and going, and I don’t think it will be long before they head southwards, chasing the sun and avoiding our Winter. Sensible birds. There have been A LOT of wrens strutting around the courtyard like they own the place. Which they probably do. 

I’ve been having a chat with my niece, the one who is expecting a baby. All is progressing well and she seems very buoyant. She claims to be the size of a house. I didn’t dare tell her how much one expands in the final three months of pregnancy! 

Yesterday I raked up a big dumpy bag of leaves. In August. I mean, I ask you…🙄