[PenultimateManStanding]

I hear all these plans to survive the crisis when it comes. We all know it's coming. But there are so many obvious examples right here on this website that people have such fractured worldviews that nothing collective can really work. Ecovillage isn't going to work. Not with peakists, no way.

[eastbay]

Every day since we found out (again) about PO we've taken a step or two closer to surviving this disaster. Some were big steps such as moving away from the desert, and some were small such as planting six fruit trees in our yard. We may not get to the point of complete self-sufficiency, but my family will do fine barring a complete sudden national economic meltdown.

Two years ago we wouldn't have made it a week.

Are you getting closer to surviving this disaster? After all you've learned here, by now you better be.

[PenultimateManStanding]

That's not what I'm talking about here. You think you are going to take care of your family by planting some shrubs and trees? You know well what I'm talking about.

[Pablo2079]

I agree. We're all dead and just haven't figured it out yet.

There'll probably be some small groups of humans left after the dust settles. There will be resource "wars" at all levels. The fact that your fruit and nut trees are on your property won't stop anyone that's starving. We'll rape the land and destroy it's ability to produce food in the process. The forests will be cut and the soil will wash away. The oceans will be barren and choked with pollution.

We're talking Easter Island on a larger scale. Those of you who are "preparing" are just trying to cope with it. You want to feel as though you have some control over your life. Wake up.... you'd have to have the resources of Cheney to build a compound that might be able to withstand the onslaught.... for a while. Even those chosen few will be smoked out one way or another.

Enjoy the sunset.

[eastbay]

.... you must mean a vegetable garden! Ours is coming along quite well, and every year we are getting more and more skilled at this critical need. Plus, we belong to a local vegetable cooperative and this year we'll be eating only local veggies!

A half a dozen assorted fruit trees can allow a family to never buy any fruit. Ours will be there in two years. I can't wait!

Shrubs? Completely useless. Our growing blueberries and the wonderful and plentiful blackberries covering the field behind our (paid for) house are another story, however. In fact, we're still eating blackberry and plum jam canned in last July and August!! Plus, we've traded quite a few jars of jam with our many friendly neighbors for other local veggies and fruit!

... every day we take a step closer to surviving this disaster...

[seldom_seen]

The first rule of this game is that it is not a game.
Everyone must play.
You must love us.
You must go on living.
Be yourself, but play a consistent and acceptable role.
Control yourself and be natural.
Try to be sincere.

Thus is the social double bind game as described by Alan Watts. He went on to say that a double-bind game is a game with self-contradictory rules, a game doomed to perpetual self-frustration like trying to invent a perpetual motion machine.

So there we have it, it's a game and we're under no compulsion to survive it. In fact we can't survive it, just as we can't invent a perpetual motion machine. Coming to grips with PO has much to with coming to grips with our own individual mortality. We all have our own personal die-offs to reckon with.

So as Teddy Roosevelt said "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." Most people will drop their petty internet chat forum BS when the times dictate (me included). Everything will be re-arranged.

In the meantime:

Do not bum yourselves out. Be as I am--a reluctant enthusiast, a
part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of
yourselves for pleasure and adventure.

So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends,
ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the
peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit
quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, that lovely,
mysterious and awesome space.

Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly
attached to your body, the body active and alive, and I promise you one
sweet victory over our enemies, over those deskbound men with their
hearts in a safe deposit box and their eyes hypnotized by desk
calculators. I promise you this: you will outlast the bastards. You will
live to piss on their graves.

~ed abbey

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('eastbay', '
')... every day we take a step closer to surviving this disaster...

[eastbay]

[TWilliam]

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"No one gets out of here alive..." ~ Jim Morrison

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[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('eastbay', ':'))

[eastbay]

25 years ago last March 15 I had my last drink. The only reason I remember the date is it's the day Julius Caesar got stabbed.

When I drank I did really mean and stupid things. At that time as part of my journey into sobriety I pledged to try to be truthful, honest, and kind to others. I've been mostly successful at this.

I quit swearing a year and a half ago. 100% no more swearing. Cold turkey, man. No joke, that was about as tough as quitting drinking.

Jews? I have a Jew friend I helped get elected to the local city council a few months ago. He won by four votes. I like his character. I try to judge people by the quality of their character. As a former LEO that wasn't always easy. It's still tough sometimes to not have unkind first impressions.

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('eastbay', ' ')
Jews? I have a Jew friend I helped get elected to the local city council a few months ago. He won by four votes. I like his character. I try to judge people by the quality of their character.

[eastbay]

What 'kook fringe stuff' are you talking about?

You have a problem with Yahill? He's the most respected Holocast writer ever! Maybe you could learn something by reading his epic work. You have a problem with Wikipedia? Well, we all do from time to time, I suppose. Ok, if not, then the 'kooky stuff' you're talking about must be from the Simon WC, which has quite a reputation as an established authority on the Holocast. If you don't want me using them as sources let me know, I'm flexible and hey, I'll honor that small request... there're other sources.

Or maybe are you talking about 'kook fridge stuff', aka: booze, which is always there cooling away in my fridge in case a drinking friend drops by?

[Ayame]

Don't give in to nihilism!

Oh who am I to preach I already have.

[I_Like_Plants]

I think things probably ARE futile.

Still, we need to walk the walk. Get out of the SUV, say No to the big screen TV purchase, plant a garden if possible and if not, buy our vegs from those who grow them locally, buy used preferentially over new, learn how to fix a bike, bandage a wound, make a soup, stick to a budget, etc.

I guess for me this has some meaning, the persevering in the face of futility, since my back taxes and debt situation may well be futile. I don't know yet. So far, I'm still just hanging in there and doing the best I can to pay stuff down, and so far, to my own astonishment, it's working.

It may work fine for say, 2 years and then I'll get sick or injured, or the IRS will decide to just stomp me like a bug for the fun of it, or some damn thing will happen, and all my work will be for naught. I don't know.

But for now, it comes down to walking the walk.

[PolestaR]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', 'I') hear all these plans to survive the crisis when it comes. We all know it's coming. But there are so many obvious examples right here on this website that people have such fractured worldviews that nothing collective can really work. Ecovillage isn't going to work. Not with peakists, no way.

[Newsseeker]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TWilliam', '.')

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"No one gets out of here alive..." ~ Jim Morrison

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[Newsseeker]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PolestaR', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', 'I') hear all these plans to survive the crisis when it comes. We all know it's coming. But there are so many obvious examples right here on this website that people have such fractured worldviews that nothing collective can really work. Ecovillage isn't going to work. Not with peakists, no way.

[AirlinePilot]

"There are levels of survival we are prepared to accept"

[WildRose]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', 'Y')ou know well what I'm talking about.