But I'd say I'm okay with the idea of progress being finite. The great futurist ideas of conquering the stars and other such grandiose plans never seemed like mature predictions so much as the manic phase of a bipolar episode.
There may be bleak centuries ahead, but we don't live in centuries. We live in days. And we can still use those days in the way that we see fit.
2 comments:
I gave up trying to record my dreams years ago for the simple reason that by the time I was awake enough (and had light enough) to write I'd not only forgotten most of the dream I'd been dreaming but I'd have trouble going back to sleep. So much for that exercise. Besides, like you, what I have remembered about them is always just strange.
It's funny that right next to geomancy Greer mentions the I-Ching. The only time I've ever indulged in anything that could be descibed as geomancy was when I looked for advice in the I-Ching. It's pretty fascinating because the answers it gives (I'd just open the book to a random page rather than throwing coins or yarrow sticks) are ambiguous enough to allow different interpretations. You also don't have to learn complex divination processes.
I haven't been able to read new sci-fi but you're right about much of the older stuff - I prefer the satirical to the maniacal.
There may be bleak centuries ahead but hopefully most of us will be spared the worst and live our day by days as best we can. Greer has had some interesting thoughts about how civilizations end and it isn't all depressing by any means.
Sorry for the long comment.
I can see where your interest in recording your dreams came from. Jung and other interesting psychologists, including Freud himself, found a language of imagery in their patients' dreams. And you sometimes hear of artists, musicians, etc. getting ideas from their dreams. But I don't think it's necessary to recall them in every detail to get creative inspiration from them. And some of those who claim to remember every detail are revising after the fact anyway.
The I Ching predates pretty much everything familiar to us in Western Culture, dating probably from the 9th century BC. For the use of the I Ching to have continued until the present day its adherents must feel they're getting something out of it. I've never felt the need to practice divination myself so far but I can't dismiss it.
The satirical as opposed to the maniacal is a good way to put it. Science fiction that remembers the human.
There are things coming up that we as individuals aren't prepared for. Hopefully the coming generations will adjust. The thing about ruins is that something always grows out of them. Puts things into perspective.
No need to apologize for a long comment. I like reading your thoughts.
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