The Transition to Conscious Living is Likely to Require a Lot of Energy
In my personal life I’ve had an interesting experience which makes for an interesting metaphor. It’s easy to see metaphors and be philosophical about it now – at the time though, my feelings ranged from bitter frustration, to helplessness, to virtual panic.
Some time last week I parked my car in the depths of the parking dungeon. There are about 3 floors filled with cars. I remind myself, when I pull out of the building into gridlock, that all these cars on the road come from similar subterranean sources, and spew onto freeways during the horrible period known as Peak Traffic.
Because it is quite dark in the arcade, I drove through with my lights on. It is even darker when the power fails – then it becomes a useful lair for unseeable criminals who can run amuck with impunity.
So I left my car’s lights on and returned after a long day at work to find the car wouldn’t so much as unlock when I pressed the ‘Unlock’ button. It took a while to realize that the vehicle had absolutely no power. It took a few moments to come up with the first idea. I went to the entrance of the parkade and asked a random stranger for help. Together we pushed the car down a small slope – fortunately there was one nearby. Nothing.
Finally another man assisted me with jumper cables attached to his own battery.
Lesson number 1. When one system collapses, it requires another system to be running and working in order to repair the first system. If there is a systemic collapse however, everything collapses. The Financial Crisis, may be such a systemic collapse.
The upshot of losing total power was that my radio didn’t work; it required a code [almost like a password to a computer] to activate. I presumed this code would be scribbled down in a log book, but after a thorough search of the vehicle, couldn’t find it. Later, I did a comprehensive search of my bookshelf and boxes – nothing.
What followed was an interesting period of driving with no music, no radio. I highly recommend it. You have an opportunity, driving home, or to work, to quietly listen to your own thoughts, and to observe traffic around you. Most importantly, without the deafening hum, you’re able to hear the vehicle. Each time you accelerate the engine strains a little as it sips fuel. Driving in silence puts the gritty reality of fuel consumption and efficiency into perspective. Driving to a happy soundtrack probably inspires speed and happy-go-lucky carelessness (which ultimately leads to carlessness).
After a week of going without sound, I drove to the Chrysler dealership (since I was in the vicinity) and found it was gone. A Mercedes Dealership had replaced it. They suggested I go to the relocated branch at FourWays, Witkoppen road. I drove for 45 minutes both up and down Witkoppen Road. I saw plenty of other dealerships, including a vacated BMW dealership. I ntocied that all of these delaerships were glitzy, glassy and ‘emporium’ type places. But given the current economic distress, it seemed to me, the more impressive these car palaces, the more ridiculous and pricey they were likely to be.
Defeated, I drove to work, unsure how to solve my problem. It occurred to me that the problem was so simple I might have appealed to the folks at Mercedes. As far as I know, the code is behind the radio, so a technician, any technician, could probably assist.
It may be thanks to playing Tomb Raider Legend over the last few days (you have to figure out various puzzles in the game), but I realized that it was very unlikely that the Chrysler Driver’s manual had been thrown away. So, last night I did a thorough, but strategic search. It took less than a minute to find the manual and the code. If one compares the time invested and energy in that simple effort to the time and energy spent driving around look for a phantom dealership it really becomes clear what a price we can pay for ‘lazy thinking’.
Lesson Number 2: Think to solve simple problems. Try to solve it yourself.
Suburbia is a project of living that has no future. Many experts, and I tend to agree, feel that we will see suburbia decay and become a slum since there is not enough money or energy to retro-fit suburbia into a sustainable, livable, workable, low energy operation. That doesn’t mean we can’t do SOME retro-fitting, and get several tens of thousands of suburban homes ‘off the grid’ and growing vegetables. It does mean that walkable communities and an alternative to suburbia won’t surface to save us. We have to solve this ourselves, and it will be an ongoing project. It also means that suburbia will become a sprawling gangland in the future, where people will form gangs and fight each other for food and water. This won’t be such a great place to live any more.
This morning I inputted the code and the radio erupted to life. I’ve resolved to not always turn it on in order to occasionally Listen to the Silence of Reality. How many people out there are driving in bubbles of sleep that they will never awaken from?
No comments:
Post a Comment