We’ve Lost Something Vital

The massive shift of people from the farm to the factory, from the countryside to the city, generated a lot of wealth. It created the middle class, and put an end to serfs. But it did something else, something evil, by impoverishing many, even those made rich! Ninety percent of humanity, at least in the industrialized world, are now divorced from the environment, from the splendors of nature. We are cursed with a poverty of our souls!

A person living in an urban environment see’s little of creation, of the natural order. Stuck in caves of concrete and steel, in prisons built of dead trees and glass, is it any wonder we are collectively miserable and void, lacking the least bit of wonder and understanding of God and the greater universe? There are millions of children who have no idea what the stars look like in a black night sky, have never seen a cow!

Worse, we’ve lost touch with our neighbors, living weeks, months and years with only an occasional nod or small awkward wave. For a race that eveolved from small tribal clans, that’s not a step up! We are lost without having our own small group, our own people to relate to and care for. Technology is a false god, creating the illusion of sharing, of intimacy, but your heart knows this is false. You might as well be emailing people on Jupiter, as someone a block over.

The biggest tragedy is comming hard upon us; robotics and automation are eliminating the need for manual labor. You see it constantly in our decaying cities. As the wealth concentrates into the hands of fewer people, a new class of hopeless surfs is reappearing. Eighty percent of humanity has no further purpose; what will they do? Die quietly? History suggests that’s unlikely.

But consider this: why are we trying to keep people living in huge, un-supportable cities? We have the technology now to let anyone work from the remotest locations. Maybe it’s time to go back to the country, the village? God knows, the cities are too big, too evil to justify any number over half a million living in them. The mindless quest for bigger, isn’t working anymore. How about we opt for quality? Small, sustainable, places where you can know people and have a decent life? And see the stars? We’ve lost our dreams, as well as our senses. The technology can free us, or finish us off.  What side do you choose to be one? Perhaps it’s time to think about that?

Jack