17 April 2020

helpless




(Fun fact: the above sequence of the filming of the concert had to be edited as there was a visible blob of cocain dripping out of NY's nose - I have it from a good source.)

"How excellent that our arrogant species receives this collective slap-in-the-face reality check, waking us two-leggeds up to the simple truth that we are not at all in control, have never really been in control, that we live at the behest of powers—of a complex interplay of powers—far beyond our ability to fully fathom, to predict, or to steer. What hubris to have imagined we could do whatever we want with this exquisitely interwoven wonder of a world! And yet how awful that this lesson must come at the expense of so many unsuspecting human lives, so many innocent souls now shivering with fever and fright as they struggle to draw breath.
We’re finally being forced to recognize that no top-down institution, governmental or otherwise, can fully ensure our safety. That our deepest insurance against disaster is going local—by getting to know our actual neighbors and checking in on one another when we can, participating in our local community and apprenticing with the more-than-human terrain that surrounds and sustains us."

David Abram

11 comments:

Tara said...

We're an arrogant species, indeed. Too bad it is always the least of us who suffer the follies of the most powerful. Not sure we'll learn any lessons from this, but wouldn't it be grand if we did?

ellen abbott said...

I've often thought that the human race has gone insane from lack of contact with and dependence on the natural world, the world we evolved in and from. I've also often thought that our descent began with the industrial revolution and mass production. and then there is the religious part where their god tells them that he made and gave the earth to them to use. we're too smart for our own good. read something today that now they are thinking that the virus didn't start at a 'wet market' in China but escaped from a lab that was either medical research or developing germ warfare.

Linda said...

Beautiful and full of a truth that our bodies and souls know even when our brains try to tell us something different.

Roderick Robinson said...

I am tempted to draw your attention to a misspelling as you would have done - in my own best interests, of course - had the roles been reversed. But there's enough chagrin in the world.

Sabine said...

Read that too but the Covid-19 DNA sequence, its molecular structure shows that it's definitely not of lab origin. I am not a scientist but had one explain it to me, how this kind of structure cannot be man made. It would nicely fit some people's narrative though.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/03/200317175442.htm

Anonymous said...

Yes, we two-legged upright beings have really made a mess of things. Not sure it can be undone though. We have been on this trajectory for such a long, long time. Hard to figure out how to truly undo it and then do it differently. Listening to the song and reading this brought tears to my eyes. Both good and sad.

Sabine said...

Ah go on.

Steve Reed said...

The video clip is from the Martin Scorsese movie "The Last Waltz," I think, and I remember watching it and looking for that cocaine. I don't think I ever did see it.

Colette said...

"All my changes were there." Surely not. But what a beautiful thought. In truth, this song is magical for me, speaking to me directly about my youthful ways and days. Those days when we mistook drug highs for mysticism. And damn if just hearing this music doesn't take me right back.

37paddington said...

yes, we are all each other has.

My life so far said...

That's one of my favorite songs. We are a strange species, intent on shitting in our own nests.