…No Particular Place To Go

I usually write here on the basis of some idea gleaned from something I have read elsewhere, or in order to link to someone else’s writing considered to be of value.

Today, I found myself so overwhelmed by the host of world events which are unfolding before us at this time, that I couldn’t pick a single one thing to focus on to the exclusion of everything else.  I have increasingly felt that way for some time now and even though I keep reading, watching, storing away in memory, all of the things that are happening, it all begins to seem like a moving blur across the vision screen of my mind.

I find myself with  …No Particular Place To Go…..

So, I decided to try to express that in a FaceBook status update, which I repeat unaltered, here:

I decided to write a sort of op-ed, without linking to anything in particular.

As usual, I have been scanning the world situation, not just or even not especially through the mainstream media (knowing that is not the arena to get a handle on what is going on), but including a range of less biased or ‘influenced’ sources.

I have concluded (actually just reminded myself) that the world (of man) is rapidly disintegrating into chaos. This is not a change of opinion, I stand behind everything that I have said heretofore on Facebook and elsewhere, but I can’t find any one thing among the many, many currently unfolding events and situations around the world and at home that I can focus on and talk about (at least right now) as being a major issue worthy of being singled out for discussion, thought, contemplation, whatever.

Yes, there is still beauty in the world. Yes, there is still good to be found in the world. Yes, there is still hope to dream and work for better times to come. But not in the near term. Maybe not in your, my, our, lifetime.

When you look around, if you take the time to look around, which is not an easy thing to do these days; When you look around, and see through all the hype and gloss, shadow and deception, that is imposed to render unclear our vision of reality, you begin to understand that, as insignificant and unimpressive as it is right now, this is the best it is going to get. Things can only go downhill from here, as they have gradually been doing for at least the past four decades or so. The world we know and love, or endure because it is all we have got and perhaps have ever known, is falling apart around us. The stage scenery which has provided the backdrop to our existence for so long, is fading, becoming worn out and increasingly is falling over to reveal glimpses of the emptiness of the world we have constructed for ourselves. No amount of paint jobs, patch-up work or new and flashy replacement boards hurried into place to cover up the gaps will be able to maintain the illusions we have been living under for much longer.

We need to see the ugliness of what we have created. We need to either turn our backs on it, starting afresh, with a clear vision of what is possible without the window dressing we are used to seeing and having, with the faint but enduring hope that we can rescue some form of viable and enjoyable future, or we have to choose to hang on to those things we see and for the time being possess, vainly clinging to the hope that this will last and eventually something good will happen to take us through to a brighter day.

Either way, the immediate future looks grim no matter which path we choose. For a little while longer, the choice, some choices at least, are still ours to make. We may be able to keep propping up the scenery for a while yet, but not for long.

I was going to say ‘don’t despair’ but on reflection I think it will probably be despair that finishes a large number of us off. I remember a quote, it may be from the Bible, which says ‘Without a vision, the people perish’. We need a goal or vision of a future that can sustain both us, our fellow creatures and a healthy, natural Planet. I wonder if we can at this stage even imagine such a future. If we get to that stage then the life we experience will be so different to the life we now know, as to be unrecognisable, looking back. But I expect we will be much, much happier, truly happier, more self-reliant, more satisfied with what we have, more like what we were meant to be, than we are now.

We, or just a viable remnant of us, need to be able to reach that point, if anything that has gone before is to have any meaning.

Er… that’s all folks.