Poppa 🥹 I didn't know you were here. Folks, this is my grandfather who has seen almost a century of life on this planet. From witnessesing the arrival of the first car on his street, to the widespread usage of AI. What a time to be alive in. So much of my work is infused with his wisdom by osmosis. Always measured and always sage. Poppa, I'd love to talk to you more about this topic and maybe capture some of your story and perspective for as essay on here ❤️
Gabrielle Feather is a powerful and dynamic critical thinker! Oh… and a helluva good writer. You’re really missing out if you don’t follow along with her!
The middle way is beautifully drawn by you Gabrielle and it is a worthy enterprise.
To not give our attention, money or labour to those who want control, technocracy and tyranny is our civic duty now.
I question how much the ‘cruelists ‘ will leave us alone and how much we will have to relinquish /sacrifice to maintain our remaining freedoms.
We can walk away from Empire, but that would be to abandon those in the front line, like Gaza , Syria , the Yemen and Ukraine. They need our support now , more than ever. ❤️🩹and I know I do not do enough.
This is a tough time and you bring tenderness in your writing , which I thank you for.
Absolutely, Susan. Thank you for naming this ❤️ I actually had a paragraph on this in an earlier draft that didn’t make the final cut, but I’ve been sitting with it. Walking away from empire doesn’t mean abandoning those on the front lines. It can be an act of withdrawing our consent and complicity while still holding deep care and responsibility for those most affected.
This is also a kind of lament – for the many of us who can’t be like Greta in her boat off Gaza. Whether because we’re raising children, caring for elders, managing disability, or simply trying to stay upright in a fragile body or nervous system. Not everyone can be on the front lines. But we can still live in ways that refuse to feed the systems causing harm. Do you agree or have a different perspective? I'd love to hear from others on how to be in right relationship with these atrocities.
Yes, we should resist the tech moguls and bake bread and learn to grow, relearn what it means to be in the world and teach our kids this. But let's hold the 'us vs. them' very lightly. We're very much ineluctably in this together. In the obvious sense that the world of technology is in every fibre of our lives. In fact, many technologies, if their overlords aren't looking, won't mind we use them to gather knowledge for the time we will have to leave them behind. Perhaps they are more selfless than they seem.
And then, let's say collapse comes to pass, and Sillicon Valley and all the millions who were entranced by their magic awake from their hazy dream into the desert of the world. They sought "eternity" as delusional idea to avoid our bodies: slowly decaying bodies, vulnerable, so vulnerable. Commanding us: thou shalt eat. What if a horde of desperate city dwellers driven out of their unlivable husks ask for your bread? What if they want to take it by force. Then divergence becomes convergence. Circled through ideologies and systems back unto pure, raw life and death. We both want to live, can we? How far will I go to maintain me over you, when push really comes to shove. We all fear death, and this fear is so powerful that it broke open the face of the earth so we could encase itself safely in it, this fear cut down the quiet forests of the world so it would not freeze. It burned the liquefied bodies of the ancestors and turned them into so much useless crap, just for those fleeting moments of enjoyment, of movement, "I'm not dead yet." Now that fear has caused climate collapse. Fear of death begets death, but what can we do?
The future is uncertain, but certain to show us the depths of our beings that we were yet unaware of, or didn't want to see, be it of cruelty and despair and callousness or compassion and faith and powerful care.
INCREDIBLE. And how synchronous with your wonderful name "holding both." It is the only way but that doesn't make it easy, or even in terms of HOW to do it. You provide clarity and such beauty in your words, illustrating what that can look like. Grateful for your voice.
Stephanie I was just reminded that you also did a post on this recently! I must revisit and incorporate it in here too. Funny how we're all so connected in ideas across the ether! Love substack for this phenomenon 🥰
Congratulations, Gabrielle….. after 98 years on this planet I am finally reading something that gives me hope for my progeny
Poppa 🥹 I didn't know you were here. Folks, this is my grandfather who has seen almost a century of life on this planet. From witnessesing the arrival of the first car on his street, to the widespread usage of AI. What a time to be alive in. So much of my work is infused with his wisdom by osmosis. Always measured and always sage. Poppa, I'd love to talk to you more about this topic and maybe capture some of your story and perspective for as essay on here ❤️
Gabrielle Feather is a powerful and dynamic critical thinker! Oh… and a helluva good writer. You’re really missing out if you don’t follow along with her!
The middle way is beautifully drawn by you Gabrielle and it is a worthy enterprise.
To not give our attention, money or labour to those who want control, technocracy and tyranny is our civic duty now.
I question how much the ‘cruelists ‘ will leave us alone and how much we will have to relinquish /sacrifice to maintain our remaining freedoms.
We can walk away from Empire, but that would be to abandon those in the front line, like Gaza , Syria , the Yemen and Ukraine. They need our support now , more than ever. ❤️🩹and I know I do not do enough.
This is a tough time and you bring tenderness in your writing , which I thank you for.
Absolutely, Susan. Thank you for naming this ❤️ I actually had a paragraph on this in an earlier draft that didn’t make the final cut, but I’ve been sitting with it. Walking away from empire doesn’t mean abandoning those on the front lines. It can be an act of withdrawing our consent and complicity while still holding deep care and responsibility for those most affected.
This is also a kind of lament – for the many of us who can’t be like Greta in her boat off Gaza. Whether because we’re raising children, caring for elders, managing disability, or simply trying to stay upright in a fragile body or nervous system. Not everyone can be on the front lines. But we can still live in ways that refuse to feed the systems causing harm. Do you agree or have a different perspective? I'd love to hear from others on how to be in right relationship with these atrocities.
Thank you! This resonates deeply!
Exactly, good call, well done!
absolutely love this piece .... thank you!
You got my mirror neurons in a frenzy
Yes, we should resist the tech moguls and bake bread and learn to grow, relearn what it means to be in the world and teach our kids this. But let's hold the 'us vs. them' very lightly. We're very much ineluctably in this together. In the obvious sense that the world of technology is in every fibre of our lives. In fact, many technologies, if their overlords aren't looking, won't mind we use them to gather knowledge for the time we will have to leave them behind. Perhaps they are more selfless than they seem.
And then, let's say collapse comes to pass, and Sillicon Valley and all the millions who were entranced by their magic awake from their hazy dream into the desert of the world. They sought "eternity" as delusional idea to avoid our bodies: slowly decaying bodies, vulnerable, so vulnerable. Commanding us: thou shalt eat. What if a horde of desperate city dwellers driven out of their unlivable husks ask for your bread? What if they want to take it by force. Then divergence becomes convergence. Circled through ideologies and systems back unto pure, raw life and death. We both want to live, can we? How far will I go to maintain me over you, when push really comes to shove. We all fear death, and this fear is so powerful that it broke open the face of the earth so we could encase itself safely in it, this fear cut down the quiet forests of the world so it would not freeze. It burned the liquefied bodies of the ancestors and turned them into so much useless crap, just for those fleeting moments of enjoyment, of movement, "I'm not dead yet." Now that fear has caused climate collapse. Fear of death begets death, but what can we do?
The future is uncertain, but certain to show us the depths of our beings that we were yet unaware of, or didn't want to see, be it of cruelty and despair and callousness or compassion and faith and powerful care.
About seven women I follow...
https://johnstokdijk538.substack.com/p/last-week-in-the-space-part-1-dac
INCREDIBLE. And how synchronous with your wonderful name "holding both." It is the only way but that doesn't make it easy, or even in terms of HOW to do it. You provide clarity and such beauty in your words, illustrating what that can look like. Grateful for your voice.
Stephanie I was just reminded that you also did a post on this recently! I must revisit and incorporate it in here too. Funny how we're all so connected in ideas across the ether! Love substack for this phenomenon 🥰
Yes, it's kind of mystical isn't it? I love it too. ❤
I mean to say even obvious in terms of how to do it!