OUR INABILITY TO DESTROY — excerpts!           (popular essay)           Chris MYRSKI, 2011       — — —        Abstract:      This is an essay about our contemporary consumer society, that creates all kinds of artificial things but then throws them without making necessary efforts to destroy them properly. It begins with some philosophical reflections about the world in which we live (but philosophical ideas and conclusions pervade also the left part of the material), and then observes certain concrete cases of inability to dissolve objects or ideas which have fulfilled their part (such like the: revolutions and wars, outdated moral norms in the society, obsolescence of the things, garbage of various kind, and other matters), and proposes during the review also some directions in which we should work. Because this is a later work of the author many things are only mentioned without proper justification, so that if some readers find the material very informative they have two ways of action: either to refuse to read it further, or to look for some other of my works for explanations. As to the specific topic, then from the time of technical revolution, a moment which is initiated roughly with the Manifesto of Karl Marks, we are moving pretty strong away from the nature, without having prepared in some way our organisms for this, what leads to many cataclysms, but also to unsolved tendencies for pollution with garbage in whatever areas, just because of breaking the natural cycles, what ultimately leads again to cataclysms. At the end is placed traditional poetical appendix in English.         — — —           0. Preliminary remarks      In the old Buddhists books is stated that our world is something thrice "not", namely: in it nothing is perfect (what in many cases is the same as not finished — in Slavonic languages, say in Russian, there is sovershenniy-perfect, and svershit-to-finish, but there Latin "perfect" means both, faultless and finished), nothing is permanent, and nothing is isolated (or independent of the other things), what surely is much more serious approach to the matters than by Christian Creation (but then that is why earlier has existed theosophy, i.e. from one side the God-Theos, but from another side also philosophy and view to the world). From Ancient Greece, in turn, to us have come two main slogans or life rules: this to search the moderation in everything (even in the moderation, I should add), with the variety "Hurry up slowly", known largely through the Latin language), as well as the slogan that "Everything flows, everything changes" (what coincides with the inconstancy in the Buddhism). Besides, the thesis about the dialectical link of the things — I would have rather said about the "dialactic" (from the lactans or lactones, milk filaments), or "diaelastique" (as a ball hanged on some, at least two, elastic cords — this is something on what is based the imperfection and incessant dynamics, and the connection, as also Ancient Greek's view about the moderation, i.e. the looking for a middle point. Well, naturally, for to have dynamics and movement must be added also cycle or circle (which, with adding of one more dimension, turns to spiral or solenoid), i.e. there has to be always performed some returning to certain old state (with eventual modifications or small differences). And these are, roughly speaking, the main ancient wisdoms, but we, the people from the entire globe, stubbornly refuse to add them to our basic rules for behavior and worldview, we are ready to believe in whatever religious or not fabrications and fables, but not in the common links between the things and in the "great" cycle, or in the "great" middle point (these medi /metha things, that are nice, I would have added, like ... honey, because this root is very ancient, it is related with the mead, which beverage was fabricated during millenniums in various parts of the world).      And because we don't want to search for moderation, and do not think at all to close the cycle — for we want just to reach the top, and after us, I don't know, maybe deluge or whatever? —, then it happens so that ... ha, ha, well, it turns out that we, still, do what must be done, close the cycle, moderate ourselves as much as we can, only in the time! And how this happens, ah? Well, very easy: ...           1. The revolutions and wars      The revolution, or the overturning, revolting of the things, is an obvious example for tough or cruel closing of the cycle. If it was closed in milder way then many victims could have been avoided, what is well known to the governing people, and they, really, very often close the cycle smoothly. So for example, in many countries the slavery, or the serfdom, or the dependence of some colonies, has happened with decrees of monarchs, i.e. from above, not from below. But this has never happened before arising of some disorders and rebellions, and before it has become clear that, if there will not be allowed to the masses this, what they want, then, as we said above, this must be again allowed them, but after new disorders, fights and bloodshed. ...           2. The moral norms      My simple definition of the moral is the following: this is set of rules intended to unite the people in the space and the time. Wherein the accent is rather on the time, i.e. between the past, through the present, and to the future, between old and young, between the generations, for in the space we somehow can deal using the right of the stronger (as by the animals). (In the Latin the word for moral is mores, and also in plural, and in my view in it is hidden the ... murmuring of the sea, or of that who teaches, but maybe the mare-sea is simply symbol of the multitude — compare with your "more" — and this means many things, norms, that must be respected.) I personally have the feeling that the young people, those between 20 and 30, and even to 40, have the feeling (this time they), that the moral is just empty babble of the "over-matured", but this is not so and without a moral we can't do (because if we could do, then it would have not existed, right?). I can't deny that they have some reasons for such feeling, because nowadays are breaking too many moral norms, but they are breaking in order to give rise to something new, not to reject the moral at all, let us make this small difference! They are breaking also because by the humans, well, there is something wrong, in our genes, because when people have good moral and stick to it, they stick so rigorously to it that begin to kill one another in the name of it, what expressed in such extent shows, definitely, that they don't have the needed moral. ...           3. The obsolescence of the things      From the time of the mentioned technical revolution we have begun to throw many things in the garbage, not wearing them enough. It is clear that in this way new working places are opened, but the work of these people is entirely unnecessary, it satisfies whims, if we admit it frankly. Because if a given commodity, that can be used 10 years without major repairs, and with such about 15, and even 20 years, is used only 2-3 years, then this means that, by an average duration of the human life of 70 years, just when the children come in their teens and we have to send them ... to gas chambers, or something in that spirit! Well, the goods are not humans, but they also have their "soul", as the old people say, one becomes used to them, they are not entirely soulless things for him (or at least it was so earlier), and it is also wicked to throw away good things, so that our consumer society is simply a society of the throwing away, what, however one looks at it, isn't a good thing. And I'll tell you also the following: as one treats his things, so he treats the nature around, and the people, too, if he is a "good owner" to the one thing, he is good also to the other! ...           4. The garbage      Surely I will not "discover America" stating that nowadays our garbage grows with significantly faster steps than the galloping world population, because if the people double on the average for 35 years (what, by the way, means for one century exactly 8 times), then the garbage, a priori, doubles in the best case for 20 years (but I an afraid that this happens on the average for 15 years). And grows especially, let us call it so, the "garbage of the prosperity", this what forces to us the "modern" way of life, not the actual household food wastes, as it was earlier, and which today, by my rough estimation, are merely about 20% (in weight) from all that we throw away. More precisely speaking I find that the garbage is divided more or less so: 20% these are old metallic and other durable wares (cars, washing machines, electric stoves, TV sets, etc.), which one rarely throws on the garbage but they are big and obtrusive, state long time, and require many efforts for their destruction; 20% these are wastes from construction or reconstruction (plaster, wallpaper, bathroom tiles, parquet, toilet bowls, if you want — and even if you don't want —, etc.), which can be used for nothing; 10% is broken glass (bottles, jars, broken window panes), which supposedly are collected separately, but not much seriously, and incompletely, at least by us; 10% are plastics (mostly bottles), which as volume, however, may make up to the half of all garbage, because they are full with air, which we later bury in the earth; 10% is wood (woodwork of windows, old furniture, some crates for vegetables, etc.), which may be burned, but nobody does this; 10% are other industrial wares like fabrics (i.e. clothes, mattresses , and similar things), plastic appliances and others, which seemingly can't be used for whatever; and 20% this is the real household garbage.      Now, this question, surely, is not new, and something is done about it, but this is not at all enough. ...           5. The people      But wait, what wants to tell us this author, will it now come out that the people must also be destroyed, and that we do this, too, not properly? Well, in certain sense, yes, we don't know how to do this, too. But the point isn't in this, that it is better the people, after they leave this world, to be burned instead of buried in the earth. The point isn't only in this, but this question, too, is not solved for all and depends on some religious traditions, where according to me the only reason for which one might have preferred to be buried is that if sometime may become possible some resurrection (not by God, surely, he, being a god, must succeed somehow to cope with this task), then, theoretically, this might happen from some bone cell, and when one is dissolved in atoms then there simply is no way for this. Well, but if this is so, then let everybody save by a hair, clipping of a nail, or, if wants it so, to ... spit in a piece of foam plastic, and leave this in some bank save, and in this way the question will be solved (for the moment). But I don't think that many people will express a wish to be resurrected after a big amount of time, because when one grows old even in the current time it becomes difficult for him /her to live with the young, and what to think about after 5-10 centuries, for example, or at least I do not wish to be resurrected after passing away. But in any case the cemeteries in many cities are already overfilled, occupy perhaps about 10% of the city area, spread on the ground, instead of to be at least in 3-4 storeys, and this having in mind that one will rarely encounter a grave older than a century, and what will be the situation after a pair of centuries, if we continue in this spirit?      But, as I said, the question isn't only in this, it is that we don't know when and in what way to get rid of some people! ...           6. The information      The last thing, that I will rather just touch, is what to do with the informational avalanche, where we are again outside of some cycle, because we only add, but don't delete, where the natural decision (of the nature) is the things somehow to get lost and to remain only little, but what is worth to retain. In this relation I recall one existed between the programmers aphorism, that the church only for that reason succeeded to stay so long, because it knows how to collect, forbid, and spread the information. And we nowadays don't know this, I mean as storied on an electronic medium, because the books they grow old, and if they are not issued anew they will disappear after some time. Especially alarming is the problem with the Internet, where the only solacing fact is that it is still very new, so that till now we have not had to think about (but when will be forced to do this, will we be in position to do it?). ...           Conclusion      If we sum up the major moments of this essay may be said that we, the humans, have never been able to destroy properly this, what is necessary to be destroyed, but try to destroy that, what we can, because the passion for destruction is deeply hidden in our genes. Till before a century and a bit more we have coped more or less (using not at all always legal ways, is righteous to be added, when we live in legal state) with these problems, regardless the cruelties or murders, because on the background of this, what the nature has served us (like epidemics and other cataclysms) we alone have not harmed ourselves especially strong. With the significant increasing of the power of mankind, however, and the distancing of the destruction from our personal presence at the very place, it turns out that now we have not more the right to destroy so spontaneously; as also that with the introduction of artificial materials, which are not part of natural cycles, becomes necessary to close compulsory these cycles, wasting additional energy and time for unnecessary (at the first sight) destruction, because we apply also unnecessary (from the point of view of the nature) creation. Long ago was time to start returning to the nature, to learn how to fit in it, and change not the nature, but ourselves, when have begun to make changes on our own initiative.      August 2011       — — —           APPENDIX           Crashing's Not Easy   Why the children want to crash, And throw things, and break, and smash? Well, they want just to create, And for them destruction's great. Why men like to fight in wars, To combat and scatter blows? Well, for them to ruin is Often their masterpiece. ... 07. 2011              — — — — —