Is that an office building or a jail?

Safely back in Oslo after the celebration of jól down south, I found myself with a new understanding. Or not new, but reinforced and articulated. While watching the BBC soap The Office with a friend who got the DVD for jól, from a friend at his office, I suddenly felt the urge to write down two words on somebody’s business card: Frivillig fengsel. Voluntary imprisonment.

What had dawned on me, or further crystallized, was the thought that we voluntarily go to the same office — or most of us do — every day, year in and year out, and for no apparent reason. We voluntarily limit our scope and creativity and freedom and opportunities, and we put ourselves in captivity for a very big part of our lives.

Back at the office the hours barely passed, they crept by like snails, like slow, slimy slugs. And I was bored as hell. And for two days it was like that. Then I googled for some inspiration. I found Mother Anarchy again, the great mother blog, and read about schools with barbed wire fences, that look like jails. Or concentration camps. And I followed her link and read more about unschooling.

Then I noticed once again her praise for Daniel Quinn’s novel Ishmael. I’d noticed it before and already decided to read it, and I also remember seeing it over at DarkGreen.org, at the home of the author of the brilliant feral novel Die Urmutter.

Walking home from the office I went by the library to turn in a DVD. Not expecting the book to be in the library, I casually made a search for Ishmael at the catalog computer. It turned out they had both the original and the Norwegian translation. Made my day! I borrowed the English 1997 edition and started reading it the minute I got home.

The fascinating thing as of tonight is that it sets out to answer some of the biggest questions I have been pondering for the last couple of weeks. Or more to the point: I’ve been trying to formulate what’s the Mother of All Lies — sort of the Alpha Lie — in this sea of lies that we call society. And it’s a feeling, but stays just a feeling, for most of us, unless we go after it and try to articulate it.

You have a feeling there’s something wrong with the world.

I will stop short of revealing what this supreme lie actually is; you should really go check it out for yourselves, if you read me this far!

Tagged unschooling, ishmael