Roadkill and the Stairway2Heaven

This is the stairway to heaven in the middle of a world gone nuts.

A beneficial byproduct of getting well is learning. It doesn't take long for one recovering from dietary and drug abuse problems, emotional dysfunction, and the difficulties arising from lack of exercise to realize that this country, and indeed much of the world is living all wrong.

Like the Sorcerer's Apprentice, the architects of the modern world created a Frankenstein's monster of mechanized, petroleum-and-money-fueled landscapes now beyond our control. This zombie behemoth has devastated the planet, and possibly all life on earth along with it.

Roadkill is the unintended consequence living "normally" in our horrible and frightening world of money and machines, a world with a calculator for a mind.

But there is a way out, and that's to live as much as is possible in harmony with this intelligent earth and universe of ours, and abjure the world of money and machines, and "Throw away the cars and the bars and the wars," as the poet said.

And I did say "intelligent universe," even though that sounds like "creationism." Rabbits, those frequent roadkill victims, are numerous throughout the world, but overran Australia when humans decided to import them there. They dealt with few predators there, and proliferated to a point that would have been impossible in the balanced environments usual in the natural world, ecosystems so complex and minutely balanced the human mind can scarcely perceive them.

"It does not seem to me philosophically retrograde to attribute intelligence to the universe as a whole," says South African writer J.M. Coetzee, "...an intelligent universe evolves purposively over time, even if the purpose in question may for ever be beyond the grasp of the human intellect and indeed beyond the range our idea of what might constitute a purpose

"...People who claim that behind every feature of every organism lies a history of selection from natural mutation should try to answer the following question: Why is it that the intellectual apparatus that has evolved for human beings seems to be incapable of comprehending in any degree of detail its own complexity?"*

Coetzee goes on to explain why we can never really know anything definitive about this intelligence, and how his belief in an intelligent universe is not an argument for the existence of God, much less "a God who demanded to be believed in, a God who had any interest in our thoughts about it ('him'), or a God who rewarded good deeds and punished evildoers."

So waste no time or energy on vain and pointless speculations on the existence or nature of God. It's enough to know we're children of this intelligent earth and thus belong on it. So do no harm. Be kind and compassionate. Be what we used to call back in high school "a nice person." Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants, and plant a garden if you have space and time enough. Exercise appropriately, and don't abuse drugs and alcohol. Stay away from rage, cynicism, resentment over trifles, anxiety when facing the unknown, and sharp practices. To the extent that it's possible to do so, lose the car. And don't plug in an electricity-driven machine to do something you can just as easily do by hand.

This is all simple enough stuff. The only hard part is living it, but it's doable. It's important for me as a student, a teacher, and an example, to practice these things in my own life.

None of this will change the world. But circumstances are afoot that will gradually force the race to adopt more sane and rational modes of living which people will realize are better once they're established.

--30--

Quoted from J.M. Coetzee, "Diary of a Bad Year," (2007), pages 84-85.