Pat and I are surprised by how content we are under current circumstances. We do not miss going out as much as we had expected. I do not miss being with other people as much as I had expected. We appreciate the nice house we have to live in and our beautiful view of Lake Chapala which we enjoy everyday. We enjoy coffee together in the late morning, part of our new routine. We are grateful that we do not need to worry about lost jobs. With death on the news daily, I feel very much alive and wanting to live life as fully as I can for as long as I can. It seems my challenges with mood swings has lessened since the coronavirus crisis hit. I am finding it easier to live in the eternal now because with such great uncertainty thinking about the future seems pointless.
My friend Peter Lawrence sent me a couple of videos which I enjoyed watching. How will we live? urban prepping & rural resilience’s momentum featured how people are living during a pandemic, including Peter in Ajijic. Non-possession: seeking intense simplicity and the good life featured Pater as the happy minimalist.
I worked on the Worldview section of my website:
My Worldview Resources - General
My Worldview Resources - Metamodernism
On April 19th I became aware of the mass murder in Nova Scotia, the province where I grew up and where most of my family lives. I followed the story on CBC TV which I am watching more often to learn about the coronavirus crisis in Canada. A few days after the shootings I had an interesting conversation with a neighbour. It so happened that she had a friend in Ontario who had a friend who lived on the same street as the shooter in Portapique. It seems that the shooting started as murderous vengence against neighbours and escalated into senseless violence against strangers. I wondered if the murderer had some kind of pyschotic break.
I celebrated 2020 - Earth Day - Wednesday, April 22 which included a Zoom meeting with several members of the Lakeside Pathfinders. Later I shared a recent, thought provoking article written by my good friend David Bryen. I had lightly edited his article and saved it as a pdf file.
Greetings Everyone,
Like many of us, my good friend David Bryen is doing his best to make sense of the time in which we live. He has put his thoughts in writing which he has shared with friends and acquaintances. After reading his long, thought provoking article twice, I would now like to share it with this group.
Lost in the Grip of the Hero’s Journey
It seems to me that this article could be the basis for a Lakeside Pathfinders meeting. Please let me know if you are interested. Although David Bryen is not active in our group, he has been on the mailing list since our launch and is aware of our activities. We would, of course, invite him to join our meeting. His article has a link to his Open Circle talk in January which is also well worth watching.
And a few years ago, David wrote a book which I reviewed as part of my Ajijic Book Club activities.
Regards,
John
One morning there was no wifi service from Telmex, something we find annoying because it happens too often. Unable to surf or email or be on facebook, I wondered what I would do with my time. I decided to read a book that had caught my interest: Santander: Rambling on Borrowed Time by David Ellison. He had found his way to the Lakeside Pathfinders. I also realized that I had heard him speak at Open Circle last year - 2019.07.28. David Ellison. Why Education Reform Is Killing America’s Schools.
I finished reading Slime: How Algae Created Us, Plague Us, and Just Might Save Us, an Ajijic Book Club selection. As usual, I wrote and published my book report on the ABC website. I also organized a Zoom meeting to discuss the book. A group of six ABC members participated and I enjoyed seeing familiar faces. However, we have not yet selected our next book.
When Nikki visited us in February, she had with her letters written by Mom decades ago. I photocopied two letters written in Dutch by Mom in 1939. I remembered someone I had met at the Lakeside Freethinkers who was a professional Dutch/English translater. I soon found him on LinkedIn and made contact. We agreed to terms for his services but the task was understandably delayed by the coronavirus pandemic. Finally, I recieved the translated letters which I will add to this website in the near future.
I phoned my mother which I do not do often enough. She is no longer easy to talk with, mainly because she is less generally engaged with life, but she is very much at peace. I told her about her 1939 letters and she filled me in on the circumstances.
Mom had a friend who had a penpal in England. This was common practise at the time as the Dutch youth were seeking opportunities to practice their English language skills. Mom's friend connected her to a friend of her English penpal. The four young women wrote letters to each other and friendships grew. In 1939 the two Dutch ladies decided to go to Oxford, England to visit their penpals. I then had two letters translated which were written by Mom on that trip in July, 1939. At that time dark clouds were gathering over Europe and Mom remembered how nervous her father was. Mom remembered receiving letters from England during WWII that had been opened, redacted and marked censored. She expressed regret for not having saved any of those letters.
During the period of time covered by this post, difficult Condominio matters continued to unfold. They are becoming a significant chapter in the story of my life. This is not the time to tell that story.
Finally, I want to capture some meaningful quotes from my recent readings:
Traversing the Underworld: What Myth Can Teach us During the Pandemic by Alexander Beiner, Co-Founder of Rebel Wisdom
This is a voyage that will change us, perhaps beyond recognition. And it is also, as Peter Limberg has pointed out, a place where the next great war may be fought for the soul of our culture. He refers to it as ‘the liminal war’. Right now, I see two memetic tribes forming around this war. Those who want to go back to business as usual, and those who want to use this as an opportunity to birth something new. I will call the former Ghosts, and the latter Voyagers.
Transmission T-019: David Wolpert on statistical tools for making pandemic predictions by the Santa Fe Intitute
Human society has a lot of very, very hard decisions to make in the days ahead. These will require us to make a host of predictions: How will the epidemic spread if we do this versus that? How will the economy be affected if we follow that course of action rather than this one?
Human encroachment into animal habitats, including clearing land for farm use and urbanization, is recognized as a contributing factor in the emergence of new infectious diseases. The populations of Asia and Africa are urbanizing and growing faster than those of any other region, according to the 15 UN. Emerging diseases against which humans have no preexisting immunity or effective therapies pose significant risks of becoming pandemics.
That no one saw the corona crisis coming is a big lie. But there is little good discussion on the risk of infectious diseases in the context of all risks homo sapiens face and the reality of finite resources available. It is those who deeply undestand complexity who impress me but they remain at the fringes of society.
As I look back over the past two weeks I am pleased with my productivity. I am no longer in the grip of trying to understand the impact of the current panademic although I remain deeply interested. All the news about so much death makes me want to live as fully as possible for as long as possible.