Guy McPherson asks the intriguing question:
What will I call my vocation, in the years ahead?
He means, after the collapse of the oil-dependant, hierarchically entrenched civilization we've all been brought up in.
Well, after we've all stopped cheering, I guess we may need to do something to contribute to society.
Not like I do now - I'm contributing to the economy right now, but not so much to society.
Guy thinks his years of academia might suit him for a position as Teacher, and I say right on.
For myself, however, I wouldn't wish Terri as Teacher on the most depraved (err..deprived) of societies. I have very little patience. If you don't get it, I'm not wasting my time on you. That Maths teacher who was the horror of your high school years who made pets of the mathematical geeks and despised everyone else -that's me, today.
So, no - despite a university education, I won't be going for the slot as local science teacher.
I'm also a pretty damn good coder - of computer programs, that is. But...no more computers.
But I do have an alternative vocation.
Despite my difficulty in reaching and staying in trance when I'm awake, I am nevertheless a shaman. Or a druid,if you prefer, since I descend from european stock.
All right - apprentice shaman, then.
I'm learning from the botanical kingdom, from the birds and beasts, and most of all from the land Herself. Which plants will protect us, which heal us, and which leave us stoned out of our minds, when Big Pharma has crumbled to dust, as it should?
How can we communicate with our landbase in order to feed ourselves?
In dreams I'm starting to learn to be a student.
So, that's what I'll be doing After The Deluge, in between marking out ritual space and compounding incense - what about you?
I think there will still be a need for lawyers; we were around before fossil-fuel-based economies and will likely be around after them. ;)
ReplyDeleteHecate,
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, we don't seem able to manage our relationships without you lot.
Hopefully,the collapse will take the more venal members of your profesion with it. :)
Love,
Terri
*chuckle*
ReplyDeleteI'll resume my position as the village idiot ....
Lousy pay ... excellent hours and worthwhile rewards .....
peace and love ;-)
Loved this post...
ReplyDeleteInspired me to write my own.
http://beweaver.wordpress.com/2008/05/28/after-the-deluge/
Abraxas,
ReplyDeleteYes, we'll have a Village Idiot opening, as long as we get rid of all the politicians first.
Beweaver,
Off to read your post now!
Love,
Terri
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteI imagine I'll be missing my satellite TV and internet. That and working in the gardens more than I do now.
ReplyDeleteHmmmm ... what a cool post. Let me see. After the collapse, I think I will continue to follow what the Goddess charged me with in this life ... that is encouraging people I come in contact with to reach their true potential ... accountability, responsibility, trying their hardest. I find at work, when everyone is on board with this, things hum along swimmingly and difficulties just sort of dissipate. This will be a beneficial dynamic after the deluge, as well. Particularly if it means life or death.
ReplyDeleteD~
I try to be a teacher, but the students have thick skulls and many wants and needs.
ReplyDeleteAs for what I will be and do in the future, I don't know, which future? This one or the next one?
For the rest of this life I will continue to experience whatever I experience and do whatever I feel called upon to do. That is my path.
I'm hoping to get into more projects and inventing, maybe I'll come up with something cool. If I do it will be a free gift to the world, I don't care about the money.
And that is exactly why there are too few of you in this world, Billy.
ReplyDeleteDonna - I'm glad soomebody is trying to encourage this race (err..of monkeys!) to strive for their highest ideal.
Too many say it, too few actually put the work in.
Love,
Terri
Livia,
ReplyDeleteMiss the internet?
A little, I guess.
But we got along without it.
The satellite TV??
Ye gods, woman, I'll be very grateful when that spawn of power hungry demons is silent at last!
Love,
Terri
Hi Terri ... I find this isn't always easy, however. But when it works its because I've discovered the right incentive. Not unlike the Goddess does to me ... she finds the cosmic carrot and then dangles it in front of my face so that I follow like a love struck child through whatever conflagration she chooses ... burning away the bad habits, dellusions, attachments, and ignorance, squeezing me from coal to a diamond in Her way. At work, there are no conflagrations, only disciplinary measures when appropriate. But I find that out of each group a number emerge as people who truly want to do what's right instead of what's easy. That makes it all worth while.
ReplyDeleteD~
May I please be the bard?
ReplyDeleteI must try that Donna-putting myself out of my own way sometimes!
ReplyDeleteAnne, you are the Bard.
Love,
Terri
I like to think I'll still be burning the incense, but I think I'm more likely to be burnt by a howling starving mob, or, even worse, part of a howling starving mob burning other people.
ReplyDeleteThat's always an option, isn't it Steve?
ReplyDeleteHumans in howling mobs - I think Pratchett defined the IQ of a mob as "the IQ of its dimmest member divided by the number of mobees".
Love,
Terri