Funny, I didn’t hear anyone rooting around in my brain...seriously can’t tell you how much this resonates. Thank you for making me feel less of a fraud, and less alone.
Ah yes, the black and white thinking conundrum... we keep getting tangled. I love maths. And stories. In my head they are linked. I love nature but I have no ambition to live off the grid, because I don’t think I could. Also I don’t really want to. I also greet magpies. And my neighbours. And I take a million photos with a device that would terrify my ancestors and annoy the hell out of my grandmother. So yeah the answer is yes to all the pulls or at least a shy maybe.
Found Lucifer just 48 hours ago, after being 567,000 years behind the rest of the world, getting Netflix only last weekend!! What a delight it is too 😈
Here for all of your modern and ancient tellings Jo, am sat like eager child at Christmas to hear more. I too have always felt positively ancient (in a v good way) 🌟
Fascinating. You have such a wonderful way of articulating the complexities of modern, and ancient, life. I mostly feel super grateful for the modern amenities we have, certainly don't want to live without plumbing and even a/c in climates that get very hot. Also very much appreciate modern medicine/science because without that I may not be here at 60, either. As humans we always strive for convenience, comfort and safety. I think in many ways we have actually reached the pinnacle of this but now, instead of working on making it accessible for most humans while reducing the damaging side effects on our planet, we disconnect from nature, community and our very (ancient) selves for what? More greed, more profit, more, more, more... That's what gets me, it's never enough. And I think that's why the call for a simpler life, for the ancient ways, and remembering our oneness with this planet is so strong for some of us - we are at the edge of the enoughness and we don't want to step into the void where our souls are indefinitely lost.
I could have written half these words. So relate. Thank you for how honest your words are. I feel the same about wanting to live closer to the land while loving my modern comforts!
You’re in my head a bit again, aren’t you, Jo? Cause yeah, much as I try to shake “comfort culture” - I was born into it, so it’s kinda ingrained and sometimes hard to even see. But I follow a bunch of zero waste people on Instagram, and I pick up and use what I can. I clean with vinegar most of the time now, use tea towels instead of paper towels, use “earth breeze” laundry sheets instead of buying huge plastic bottles of laundry soap ... but then, I still buy plastic bags (the ultimate in comfort culture, I think). Sure I try to offset that by washing and reusing them until I can’t wash and reuse them anymore ... but as you say (if not directly) there’s no way to do it perfectly unless we DO live off the grid (and even then: perfectly? Nah...impossible.) We have to make some kind of peace with this because it’s what it is, and it’s all we have, and it’s what we are.
Love this. We're such post-enlightenment creatures, we Moderns with our black-&-white thinking. I've come to accept that I'm embedded within the era I was born, and I'm such a product of it too. It's a System we're born into and we're so deeply enmeshed in its shit and its blessings. There's a lot of shaming and blame-shifting onto individuals for not being able - or willing - to step outside of the behemoth and reclaim some kind of glorious ancient & more "authentic" way of being. It's like telling someone caught in a rip-tide to "just swim faster!"
Having said that, I lived off-grid (90% off-grid anyway), for 5 years, and I do long to return to that way of living - though it's not easy. My bones and nervous system settle peacefully into that way of life, but it's not for everyone. The irony of it is that it's a privilege these days...
Thanks for pointing out Red Bead Woman! I ordered Shaw's Bard Skull recently, but didn't know about this one. And there I go, ordering a book that has to fly across the world to me. I'm too tired for guilt. xx
Thank you for your words and explorations as always. I've just returned from 4 days away, sleeping in an unheated yurt, gathering in circle every day, listening to the land, eating in community and with my phone turned off (I took a couple of snaps just before leaving). It felt like I'd be away for weeks! Now I can't quite believe that I've been home as long as I was away, and feel unsettled and overwhelmed! And then there were your words, and somehow they're soothing and reassuring. Thank you x
Ancient and modern
Funny, I didn’t hear anyone rooting around in my brain...seriously can’t tell you how much this resonates. Thank you for making me feel less of a fraud, and less alone.
Ah yes, the black and white thinking conundrum... we keep getting tangled. I love maths. And stories. In my head they are linked. I love nature but I have no ambition to live off the grid, because I don’t think I could. Also I don’t really want to. I also greet magpies. And my neighbours. And I take a million photos with a device that would terrify my ancestors and annoy the hell out of my grandmother. So yeah the answer is yes to all the pulls or at least a shy maybe.
Vendana Shiva is a force! (Thank you for the link to that interview. I hadn't seen it.)
Found Lucifer just 48 hours ago, after being 567,000 years behind the rest of the world, getting Netflix only last weekend!! What a delight it is too 😈
Here for all of your modern and ancient tellings Jo, am sat like eager child at Christmas to hear more. I too have always felt positively ancient (in a v good way) 🌟
Fascinating. You have such a wonderful way of articulating the complexities of modern, and ancient, life. I mostly feel super grateful for the modern amenities we have, certainly don't want to live without plumbing and even a/c in climates that get very hot. Also very much appreciate modern medicine/science because without that I may not be here at 60, either. As humans we always strive for convenience, comfort and safety. I think in many ways we have actually reached the pinnacle of this but now, instead of working on making it accessible for most humans while reducing the damaging side effects on our planet, we disconnect from nature, community and our very (ancient) selves for what? More greed, more profit, more, more, more... That's what gets me, it's never enough. And I think that's why the call for a simpler life, for the ancient ways, and remembering our oneness with this planet is so strong for some of us - we are at the edge of the enoughness and we don't want to step into the void where our souls are indefinitely lost.
I could have written half these words. So relate. Thank you for how honest your words are. I feel the same about wanting to live closer to the land while loving my modern comforts!
You’re in my head a bit again, aren’t you, Jo? Cause yeah, much as I try to shake “comfort culture” - I was born into it, so it’s kinda ingrained and sometimes hard to even see. But I follow a bunch of zero waste people on Instagram, and I pick up and use what I can. I clean with vinegar most of the time now, use tea towels instead of paper towels, use “earth breeze” laundry sheets instead of buying huge plastic bottles of laundry soap ... but then, I still buy plastic bags (the ultimate in comfort culture, I think). Sure I try to offset that by washing and reusing them until I can’t wash and reuse them anymore ... but as you say (if not directly) there’s no way to do it perfectly unless we DO live off the grid (and even then: perfectly? Nah...impossible.) We have to make some kind of peace with this because it’s what it is, and it’s all we have, and it’s what we are.
Love this. We're such post-enlightenment creatures, we Moderns with our black-&-white thinking. I've come to accept that I'm embedded within the era I was born, and I'm such a product of it too. It's a System we're born into and we're so deeply enmeshed in its shit and its blessings. There's a lot of shaming and blame-shifting onto individuals for not being able - or willing - to step outside of the behemoth and reclaim some kind of glorious ancient & more "authentic" way of being. It's like telling someone caught in a rip-tide to "just swim faster!"
Having said that, I lived off-grid (90% off-grid anyway), for 5 years, and I do long to return to that way of living - though it's not easy. My bones and nervous system settle peacefully into that way of life, but it's not for everyone. The irony of it is that it's a privilege these days...
Thanks for pointing out Red Bead Woman! I ordered Shaw's Bard Skull recently, but didn't know about this one. And there I go, ordering a book that has to fly across the world to me. I'm too tired for guilt. xx
Thank you for your words and explorations as always. I've just returned from 4 days away, sleeping in an unheated yurt, gathering in circle every day, listening to the land, eating in community and with my phone turned off (I took a couple of snaps just before leaving). It felt like I'd be away for weeks! Now I can't quite believe that I've been home as long as I was away, and feel unsettled and overwhelmed! And then there were your words, and somehow they're soothing and reassuring. Thank you x