The Collapse

[pan]

OK, I'm an idiot - how do you upload video?

Watch this

[waldopaper]

Sorry B.  Hope everything turns out better.  Families are casualties of the collapse.  At least mine is.  Don't even know them anymore.  What is your boy angry about?  What do you think he is trying to escape?  Guess if I were asked the same question... wouldn't have a clue.  

[Cal]

Wow - we're all doing this mid-life stuff in ways I used to relegate to bad fiction or newspaper stories about other people who screwed up thank-god-that'll-never-happen-to-me.  I use audio books - the comfort & companionship is greatly enhanced by hearing someone else talking to me replacing the voices in my head.  I don't know which particular one it was - David Whyte "Midlife & the Great Unkown" I think (or James Hollis a Jungian analyst or Rumi or Ranier Maria Rilke) - but the guy made a comment about the dismay teenagers face as they realize that all that lies ahead of them is capitulating powerlessly soul-dead lives in order to survive & how few authentic adult mentors are out there to teach & inspire ways of living that are meaningful & alive.  I'll catch the quote next time I listen through.  His point was they either committed suicide or tried escaping into pain-killing pharmaceuticals or managed to meet the "suitable corporate candidate" criteria & enter slavery.  I've got the T-shirts on options 2 & 3, periodically contemplate Tshirt no. 1 - but seeing if I can pull off something a little more impressive than that by reading poetry, coming to terms with mortality, mindfulness .... some guys have gone before us & managed to articulate maps to the territory if I can just get my compass bearings & improve my mapreading skills.

Dante's Comedia starts with

In the middle of the road of my life
I awoke in the dark wood
where the true way was wholly lost

While I still have breathe & soul I may as well try to emulate the courage of those who shouldered those truths as creatively as they could.  Rather a wide topic to squash into an RBC chat box .... if I master the art I'll try moving on to blogging it, practicing it, maybe encouraging others to practice it to keep the hope and sheer beauty of a life of freedom alive.

.... have I gone mystic ... I think so ... it beats pessi-mystic when I get it right.

[Cal]

On the "family collapse" side of things - I am intrigued to find people like my youngest sister & her husband holding fast to the bond & value of family.  It's rare & I feel very privileged, more than a little awkward but intuitively feel that it is "good" - the right thing to do.  They are building onto the Bed&Breakfast facility & the new units are going to be frail care orientated so that none of us have to worry with old age homes.  Jeez - they think I'm a nutter for being more attached to my "dog with issues" than any other creature & planning my life around him and think my vegetarianism is completely self-indulgent - but they feed me vegetables, are building a Jules-proof wall & have invited me to share their lives.  The other half of my family flatly refused to contemplate sharing accommodation with someone as impossibly eccentric as me with smelly dogs shedding dog hairs all over their sanitized version of a socially acceptable home.

[hannah j]

PESSI MYSTIC ALICE COOPER - YouTube

[BO]

Thanks, Waldo.

"Families are casualties of the collapse." Yep. A direct cause and effect.

My kid never liked sports ball. He was born with enough smarts to know the game is rigged and meaningless. He's an iconoclast and pretty nihilistic. Sound familiar? Rebel without a cause.

[pan]

Just got back from a reunion of my high school/college homies after 40 years.  We did some reminiscing about all the really fucked up stuff we did when we got really fucked up. 

Just have to hope that your son has a sense of survival and doesn't put himself in too stupid a situation too many times.  The fact that he is in communication is a very good sign.

[hannah j]

I seem to be one who is not dealing with the family stuff, or relocation stuff (though we have talked about splitting our time between here and western oregon or washington, or northeaster oregon)/  
But i have already been divorced 3 times, lost a child, pulled up roots majorly without a job prospect 3 times.  I have one house crumbling from neglect that i had thought i would restore when i moved here.  my grandmothers.  not going to happen i think.  one little house we might move back into.  one big house on 10 acres, thinking of selling it with 2 acres and keeping the rest.  a building downtown with a crap roof we should sell for not much.

I never was corporate, or academic, or wage slave.  I had a few mortgages, affordable, but made up my mind in 1988 when my son died to never have another, or have any other debts to speak of.  

So we are here, with enough, though because of the patriot act i have no drivers lic.  long story, and no soc sec, because of them not accepting my divorce decree as a name change.  but i will deal with that soon.  plus no medicare, but that's the same problem.  My children are doing great,  and by that i mean, stable sweet relationships, living lightly, except the two meat eaters....and still love me.  

And the world is still turning to crap for so many in the short run, and all in the long run.  

[BO]

Da kid came back today. About all I did was say hello and tell him I was happy to have him home. Via this episode, I've discovered how poor my parenting skills are. Gotta let the pros guide me. And my wife...who is immensly more capable than I am.

Watched a thing by Chris hedges yesterday. I can't think of anyone who has a better grasp on what's happening in our world better than him. Pure una-dolt-erated truth. Doesn't help with my Pessi - Mysticisms about our future, but there's solice knowing there's actually a media figure who shares my point of view ... 100%. Of course this site has been comforting as well. I appreciate the concern we all seem to have for each other.

 

[Cal]

Yes ... this site is one of those strangely inexplicable things about life .... how did the bunch of us end up gathering here into a virtual "house of belonging" ....?

[BO]

I think we all appreciate the 'group therapy.' S'pose we owe Waldo a round of applause for bringing us together. 

[pan]

This is one of the few places I can come and feel like I'm an optimist in comparison. (insert winky emoticon here)

[hannah j]

me, too, i guess!