A Shift Towards Hopefulness

[Preface written Jan. 23, 1996] ... Here is some material that I wrote years ago on odd scraps of paper and until now) never got around to copying into notebooks. The first part of the material is undated, but must have been written before May 6, 1985. Here it is:

In some of the things I've written before I've expressed an attitude of hopelessness about the future - that is, I've assumed that it was almost certain that technology would march on to total victory, and attain if in the relatively near future - say in a hundred years or so or possibly sooner. However, in the last few years my attitude has changed somewhat - I now do see some grounds for hope; to wit:

In the first place, there seems to be a widespread disenchantment with the technological society, and a yearning for a life more close to nature - much more so than there was, say, 10 years ago. Things like basket-weaving and organic gardening and other things ...

... I might add that, partly owing to my added hopefulness, my opposition to the technological society now is less a matter of a bitter and sullen personal revenge than formerly. I now have more of a sense of mission a concern with issues wider than personal resentment of the technological society. Nevertheless, it should be made clear that the motivating energy behind my actions comes from my personal grievance and personal resentment of the technological system. I certainly wouldn't take such risks from a pure desire to benefit my fellow man ...

... (added May 6, 1985) I should make it clear that the beginning of this passage is hopeful with regard to the future of society. With regard to my personal fate the situation is quite different-here I now feel largely hopeless. This is largely explained by what I recorded in the Sept. 12, 1984 entry of my notes ...

... there are other factors involved here. For one thing, I'm now in my early forties and am troubled often by muscle pain in the lower back and at the nape the neck, and sometimes by other more physical problems-none very serious, but enough so that I am no longer so confident about my physical capacity to go into a wilderness and set up a way of life for myself there ...

Still a further cause for hopelessness: A year ago or more I read about some government report which predicts that, beginning in the mid 1990's, the earth's climate is going to warm up due to CO2 in the atmosphere from internal combustion engines, power plants, etc., etc. Rainfall patterns are expected to change, and so forth. The point is not whether these changes are harmful or beneficial, but the fact that the earth's climate, henceforth, will be at least partly the creation of the Technological Society. Hence there will be no possibility of escaping completely from that society anywhere. You can't escape from the effects of climate.

I might add that, in the last year or two, besides that Trout Creek thing, I've had repeated bitter experiences with finding that my favorite places in the woods have been logged off or otherwise disturbed ...

Over the last year and a half I've been so busy (for an account of what I've been busy with see my 2 large grey loose-leaf notebooks) that I'm behind with everything else. Cabin is in a godawful mess, root cellar not finished, clothes unmended, most of the garden not yet planted, etc. But now I'm ready to act..

... [Note: Now, January 1996, I feel excellent physically, no lower back pain, not much other problems. Also no longer feel hopeless about personal fate, though hopefulness is on different basis than it was earlier.] ...