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
posted by Unknown @ 2:28 AM
6 comments
6 Comments:
Hell yeah, the more Quinn readers the better. :)
I didn't read Ishmael for a long time after hearing it mentioned now and again in Continuum Concept circles. (The Continuum Concept being another great book.) While reading it, I didn't expect to discover anything new, but I did. Ishmael helped me to really see the bars of the cage. (For example, while I choose to wear a seat belt in cars, I resent that it's a law with punishment for not adhering.) It's a great feeling to let go of "have to's" and "shoulds." I don't have to keep off the grass, especially when I don't believe it belongs to someone, and it's a shorter distance and more pleasant to walk on.
Sara, you are so right.
And it's really always a surprise to me - again and again - to find that we are so far from being liberated, in our minds and in our daily lives.
We are quite frankly totally brainwashed, and have been for soooo long...
Returning DVDs? Using a Public Library? Surfing the Internet? How very anti-civilization of you. I think it might be a good idea to take a good hard look at what you are really fighting against, and you might find it isn't actually civilization at all.
You've got a point, absolutely... :-)
Having said that, would you care to elaborate a bit your critique?
When I read a few of the articles on your blog, I noticed a trend. Within your writing I saw many of the things I myself have at times felt. What I discovered after a little introspection is not that I disliked civilization, or technology, or even government. All of those things are either naturally going to occur when humans interact, or are only tools and tools are never to blame (spoons don't make people fat). What I realized is that I was angry with people. I looked around and realized how shortsighted, self-serving and fearful most of the people of the world are. Fear is what makes one group fight another, or try to legislate how other people will live or who they will love, shortsighted conceit allows some of the worst decision making imaginable. I realized it was people I was going to have to deal with... not those other things. I don't believe people are brainwashed, so much as they simply haven't stopped to think.
I see civilization as a natural extension of the human psyche. Civilization serves as a means of conflict resolution, and the only legitimate role of government I see is protection (of you from me, and of me from you, and of us from them). Anytime they extend beyond these roles we have a problem. I do not believe a law by virtue of its mere existence is innately moral, ethical or just. And we must avoid allowing them to come into being when we can, or kill them off should they appear. I don't support the idea of "pure democracy" with a rule by the majority. That is just another way of saying oppression of the minority, and of course the smallest minority is the individual. This is why I support Republic, with a rule of law designed to protect the individual from the masses. I am neither anarchist or collectivist.
I should mention I don't believe in "human rights". I don't believe rights can even exist without civilization and the State. To understand this we have to understand what a right really is. Anything that can be taken away from you is a privilege, and that includes your life. A right is nothing more than a privilege that is agreed upon, and defended, by the group. So without the group, there are no rights. This is why I say there are American rights, and German rights, and Iraqi rights. They may not be the same, even if they are similar. The governments role is to maintain this agreed upon set of privileges.
I cover many of these points on my own blog.
Hope that helps, and feel free to ask if you have any questions.
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