On 1/11/06 2:39 PM, "[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> life in the hear and now substantially different in that it where it used to
> be fixed, disciplined  and very structured (and consequently full of life long
> repetition) has changed to being self-disciplinary, increasingly unstructured
> and  lacking definition.   This may be existentially terrifying but  it's
> certainly not boring....
    May I stretch this viewpoint a little, after agreeing that modern life
is not boring in the least?
    The Council of Strong Opinions is now in session:
    Life was never boring.
    When people lived on the same farm their whole life, their minds were
full and stimulated with as much as they could possibly take in and think
about.  What will the weather be like?  If it's bad, is that the fault of
the Evil Eye or did someone whistle at the wrong time?  Why is the milk
curdling?  How heavy is the woolybear's fur this year?  The oldest woman in
the village says that the water will rise this high but not higher and that
many will sicken but few will die, but she could be losing it.  If the King
calls for levees, can I get out of it long enough to get married and get the
crop in?  Can I use Queen Anne's lace instead of wild carrots?
    All these things are HUGE DEALS and people put as much thought into them
as you put into socio/aesthetic analyses.  They're not bored.  They're
worried, satisfied, horny, optimistic, after their humors.  But they're not
bored.
    The myth of the simple life in the past is just that, a myth.  It's born
of not looking closely enough and it's fed by self-congratulation about how
far we've come.
    The human mind is made to fill itself up.
    You don't have any more on your mind than any serf who's never been
twenty miles from home or any hunter/gatherer.
    . . . I guess.  Got any evidence for the Simple Past theory?

    So, to quote Paula Abdul, whaddaya think?

Cordially conversational,
Dv

Doug vanderHoof
Producer/Owner
Modern Media
Bucktown, Chicago
(773)394-0029

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