When I see how insightful many of the contributors to my L.A. Times are – I wonder when we will reach that critical mass necessary for the next step in our social evolution?
For folks who haven’t read Arthur C. Clarke’s Childhood’s End (which I was pleased to hear was his favorite [cuz it is definitely mine!]) – Arthur C. postulated the following: that children would someday be born with unique abilities (‘powers’ if you will) and they would come together to create vortices that would destroy the humanity that could not make that next evolutionary jump for survival (their parents for instance). There were also some cool biblical allusions – but these will not be the domain of this essay.
Now I am not asking for people of similar minds to come together in some type of literary vortex to destroy all-of-the-denialists (that’s a bona fide new word by-the-way [it’s meant to describe those folks who refuse to buy into a mountain of facts that would contradict something in The Bible, or, global warming for instance]) – because I’m not that sure that the letters I see printed in my beloved Times are written by people who see the big picture.
For instance, though this foray is dated 8/29 – I am actually composing it on the 10th anniversary of 9/11. So even though I read letters by folks who agree with me on-all-sorts-of-things (Republicans; Arnold; Michele and Sarah; education; religiosity; Obama…and the list goes on-and-on) – I’m betting that many-of-these-same folks were waving flags today and shedding a tear for those who perished in the demolition of the twin towers. I can’t abide by such provincial, naïve beliefs. And since I’ve written about this elsewhere – I won’t belabor the topic and my disappointment with those who only see bits-and-pieces of the big picture in-this-here, attempt.
So, how will the naivete that we are currently mired in – that doesn’t seem to foster an evolution (unless we are meant to become artificial intelligences in synthetic bodies) play out in this current, mortal coil? Are the Mayans going to vibrate back into this dimension (like HG anticipates)? Or, will the demons the Mad Turk wrote of in the Necronomicon and the LSD experimenters wrote of in their journals; finally break through into this plane? Or, will we finally blow the fuck out-of-ourselves (or die en masse of some contagion?)?
Always seeking answers and solace, I found solace in the soundtrack to the Aussie film, “Mad Bastards” (which I saw on the plane on my recent trip there). It’s by The Pigram Brothers. I gather they were accompanied by a famous Aussie singer by-the-name-of Alex Lloyd. Anyway, the film blew-me-away – with its theme of estranged fathers-and-sons of indigenous/native persuasion (courtesy of the White Man).
My favorite song has a refrain that goes:
We can change all hearts and minds
If we listen to the tide;
If we listen to the tide
We can change all hearts and minds…
I rather like this notion – that our species might unite by listening to the tide: the ebb-and-flow that dictates the real rhythm of our sojourn here. Because I-for-one would hate it if I failed to notice a childhood’s end that excluded me…since I am a parent…and a grown up…