There is an 'unbearable lightness of being' these days Don, made worse by trying to read the book with the quote in title. My theory is that consumerism is a libidinal response to having nothing worth doing, superbly illustrated by Internet social networking on the casino model in which men show their private parts and flip on forever in search of a female respondent who doesn't want to charge. The key appears to be making life not worth living to the point where all we want to do is get lightened up. I've just watched Prime Minister's Question Time to remind myself how dire it all is before finishing a chapter and going off to the pub. A coroner has just declared that the deaths of 4 British troops (one woman, three part-timers) in Afghanistan was unlawful. Various government stories of locking the stable doors after the horse had bolted have been told and one idiot opposition speaker made repeated gaffs by claiming 'lack of adequate bomb-making equipment' was responsible, all making as much sense as an adolescent chat room. The pub will be miserable and not making money. This will be my last trip to one until I get over to the States in summer. I agree with Francis, yet with a strong current of Don's line. "Entertainment" is now so vapid it makes me feel 'heavy'. I actually feel lightened-up hearing serious conversation, now rarer than rocking horse droppings. I watched some physics stuff on the Higgs' Field a couple of days back and felt really good and some Bill Maher. It was a mistake to go to the pub, where some MTV clone channel was on doing 'porno-song' in which the blokes are pimps with bimbos throwing themselves at them, but most of the 'shows' are bimbo-singers doing robotic thrustings that can't raise a little whimper in me, let alone a big bang. A copy of the News of the Screws was available, telling me of a millionaire fullback, married to one of the cosmetic advert robotic thrusting cutie-pies, sending 'sexy' mobile phone messages to get some 'real sex' she appears not to provide him (or vice versa). I got well-heavied Don, because of all this lightness! 57 channels and nothing to watch is a very old tune these days. Actually, I wandered off to fix up some guitar lessons for my grandson. Lovely old shop, ace couple running it and a week later he is strumming a few chord changes and learned to read tabs. The rest of the town has nothing in it worth noticing, other than a couple of bakeries. The pubs, bar one, are squalid and the shops all chain stores and/or selling cheap shite. Do most of our shopping on line, grow our own and really feel weighed-down by dross from all quarters. The only answer is to be out of it as there seems no point of resistance to work against in the dark flow of lightness.
On 10 Mar, 12:05, rigsy03 <[email protected]> wrote: > The obsession drove ancient societies as well- it was called plunder > and pillage.//I read "somewhere" that around the turn of the 20th > century we entered the toss-away era by design, i.e. it was/is cheaper > to replace than to repair. > > On Mar 10, 2:47 am, frantheman <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > Yes, of course, Orn. But the "stuff" stuff is fundamentally a result > > of our obsession with consuming. Consumo ergo sum is one of the major > > memes driving modern society, with all sorts of consequences like > > planned obsolescence and the whole advertising industry. We look on, > > uncaringly or impotently, while our children are programmed into brand- > > fetishism (under which many of them suffer considerably) and are > > bombarded 24/7 with messages telling us that how we consume defines > > who we are - and the more the bettter. A culture of waste. And if we > > go on like this, sooner or later, we'll suffocate in our own shit. > > > Francis > > > On 10 Mrz., 09:22, ornamentalmind <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > While a commercial...the 20 min. video on the story of stuff is both > > > entertaining and informative as well as direct. > > > >http://www.storyofstuff.com/-Hide quoted text - > > > - Show quoted text - -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/minds-eye?hl=en.
