I Am B
About two weeks ago, Erik gave me a book to read. He presented it to me as "a mind fuck greater than The Matrix". Bold words. This book was The Story of B. It would be difficult to describe the plot of the book accurately, but basically the point of the book is to deconstruct your preconceived ideas about the world in which we live, and the ultimate goal of that world. What you are left with upon finishing the book is a much clearer view of our culture. Not American culture, not Italian or Mexican or Asian culture, but a culture known as the Taker culture.
The core idea is that a culture practicing totalitarian agriculture essentially engulfed the world and that that culture is the culture to which we belong. And this culture's way of life is threatening to finally give way and the whole system is going to collapse. It is quite possible to read the book and think that it's simply a book written by an environmentalist, but it presents the reader with so much more, and it's that more that I really came away with. The Matrix discusses enlightenment largely in terms of the mind, but The Story of B gives a new vision of balance and "enlightenment" which is so simple and natural that it will amaze you how the answer has been right before your eyes.
Without bringing too many details into this, what I want to explore is this: What is humanity? This really is the core question of the book in many regards. We say we are human, but what does that mean? Or, more directly, what is the difference between humanity and its various cultures? In order to get at the heart of humanity, you must strip away the layers that culture has stacked upon us. Take away writing and speech and agriculture and civilization and look at what lies at the core. We are a part of the world, not conquerors that were put here to plunder the Earth and make it our own. We are as much a part of the "natural cycle" as a deer or a fox or a mouse or a lion. but when our culture was born, we gave ourselves a destiny and eventually forgot how to live as part of the world. And this has brought us to our present day, fast approaching a dead-end in an evolution many would rather close their eyes to.
Another core idea in The Story of B is the connection between vision and programs and how they relate to a changed mind. The moral of the story, if you will, is essentially "the world will not be saved by unchanged minds with new programs, but by changed minds with no programs at all." A mind has a vision, a world view, a way of doing things. A vision determines one's course, like a river. Programs are like sticks in the mud, trying to retard the flow of the river, push it in another direction, but with very little results. In order to alter the course of the river, the flow, or vision, must take it in a new direction. This is a changed mind. Programs are not needed if the vision is right. This is what must happen to alter the crash course our culture is on.
There is more in this book than I can talk about in one sitting, but I'd like to end with why I feel this relates to The Divine Comedy. The Story of B discusses the effects of this crash course we are on, and how we in this culture experience these effects. How we know something is wrong and how we whole-heartedly believe that our programs are the best way to find relief from this suffering that ails us. But our minds are not awakened, are unchanged, and so we struggle to find a way to climb out of the pit, when all we have to do is turn around and walk out the door right behind us. This kind of struggle is the very heart of The Divine Comedy.
The core idea is that a culture practicing totalitarian agriculture essentially engulfed the world and that that culture is the culture to which we belong. And this culture's way of life is threatening to finally give way and the whole system is going to collapse. It is quite possible to read the book and think that it's simply a book written by an environmentalist, but it presents the reader with so much more, and it's that more that I really came away with. The Matrix discusses enlightenment largely in terms of the mind, but The Story of B gives a new vision of balance and "enlightenment" which is so simple and natural that it will amaze you how the answer has been right before your eyes.
Without bringing too many details into this, what I want to explore is this: What is humanity? This really is the core question of the book in many regards. We say we are human, but what does that mean? Or, more directly, what is the difference between humanity and its various cultures? In order to get at the heart of humanity, you must strip away the layers that culture has stacked upon us. Take away writing and speech and agriculture and civilization and look at what lies at the core. We are a part of the world, not conquerors that were put here to plunder the Earth and make it our own. We are as much a part of the "natural cycle" as a deer or a fox or a mouse or a lion. but when our culture was born, we gave ourselves a destiny and eventually forgot how to live as part of the world. And this has brought us to our present day, fast approaching a dead-end in an evolution many would rather close their eyes to.
Another core idea in The Story of B is the connection between vision and programs and how they relate to a changed mind. The moral of the story, if you will, is essentially "the world will not be saved by unchanged minds with new programs, but by changed minds with no programs at all." A mind has a vision, a world view, a way of doing things. A vision determines one's course, like a river. Programs are like sticks in the mud, trying to retard the flow of the river, push it in another direction, but with very little results. In order to alter the course of the river, the flow, or vision, must take it in a new direction. This is a changed mind. Programs are not needed if the vision is right. This is what must happen to alter the crash course our culture is on.
There is more in this book than I can talk about in one sitting, but I'd like to end with why I feel this relates to The Divine Comedy. The Story of B discusses the effects of this crash course we are on, and how we in this culture experience these effects. How we know something is wrong and how we whole-heartedly believe that our programs are the best way to find relief from this suffering that ails us. But our minds are not awakened, are unchanged, and so we struggle to find a way to climb out of the pit, when all we have to do is turn around and walk out the door right behind us. This kind of struggle is the very heart of The Divine Comedy.
posted by Lunchbox at 12:40 AM
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