[MD] From each... to each

[Arlo Bensinger]

Hi Marsha,

[Marsha]
Do you think society can be held together by a council of wise men and wise 
women with a consideration for the seventh generation, rather than wealth?

[Arlo]
This raises another good point. In addition to the value-worth of the 
"individual" being measured by economics, as in the dominant mercantilian 
discourse, and in addition to its adoption by the "New Aristocracy" as a 
means of embracing the Victorian value of "social superiority", the 
underlying metaphysics of our culture focuses dominantly on "the immediate 
here and now".

This is why any mention of "conservation", even though noted conservative 
economist Robert Samuelson has now admitted that "conservation" is a 
critical part of our economic needs, brings on the usual cries of Marxism 
and gulags and tyranny. This is why, if I understand correctly, Dr. Robert 
Harris' business model (as Ant discusses) based on the MOQ has not 
succeeded on a large scale. Namely, it depends (among other changes) on a 
long-term approach to "profit". So the current paradigm, which focuses on 
immediate profit, is more desirable under the mercantilist language. 
"Sustainability", by the way, is another word that sets the Capistocracy off.

Perhaps, this gets to some degree back to Khaled's observation that the 
neocons, being devout believers in the coming armaggedon, have no interest 
in the "seventh generation", not only because they are concerned with their 
profit here and now, but they don't believe there will even BE a seventh 
generation. Pirsig goes back to ancient Greece to find the shism that 
formed our underlying SOMist culture. One can examine the roots of the 
Occidental religion to seek a similiar schism that occured when man was 
given "dominion over the earth". Some, the gnositics for example, 
interpretted dominion as a "gardener like role". Others, the 
fundamentalist, neocon-tied religious insurgency in this country, 
interprets dominion as a "miner" like role. One focuses on sustaining and 
nurturing, the other focuses on resources and exploitation.

The temporal duration of our concern, whether it be "this quater" or 
"seventh generations from now", is a function of the undergirding 
metaphysical language of culture. Will someday our gaze elongate and see 
future generations? I hope so. But given the entrenched SOM-mercantile 
tongue, I don't think you or I will live to see it. (More cynicism, sorry). 
"Can" a society be held together as you suggest? Sure. The Indians proved that.

Arlo