happy thoughts

Good Bye

Posting what you are doing is better.

If you aren't doing anything then start.

If you don't know where to start then ask.

I drifted my whole life. I guess I was putting away savings to be ready for a fight at the end?

As life went by, I always was at unease, nobody who knows me for years would ever say I was happy with the way things were. I identified myself as an Iconoclast years ago, I know that is who I am and what I do.

As it spins down here, its turned around for me in a philosophical sense. Whereas I used to be resigned to the inevitable of the Rich getting Richer and the Poor getting Poorer, now I see the opportunity to FIGHT this finally. I am ENERGIZED. That is why I write so prolifically now.

I am NOT ready to drift here into the Great Beyond. Now, more than EVER is the time for all GOOD men to rise up and FIGHT for what is RIGHT. What do you have to LOSE anymore? NOTHING. So at least stop feeling sorry for yourself and make a battle of it. Here on Peak Oil, out in the Streets, wherever. Don't go out like Sheeple to the Slaughter.

Reverse Engineer

Reverse Engineer,

You have energy now for creative writing due to being well rested. So burn-out is the opposite requiring a vacation. Balance being party hard and work hard or being always a bout the same. Everybody has a different work/play balance depending on their personality make up.

This forum interaction can get monotonous if we stay at the same board discussing the same topics. First of all the topics get repaeated and then the people are th same resulting in stresses. On the other hand the physical monotony of the keyboard and eyes on the screen is another point. So if you waste lots of time online in one place burn out is guaranteed.

On the other hand general burn out when the forum reality starts penetrating into the outer reality can be a danger. We have seen this in the last year or so. All we have talked about is coming true. We cannot just turn off the doomer threads and get away from it. For that we have to stop watching or hearing news or reading the press entirely and avoid all human contact in the woods for months. Real Collapse seems imminent. What a bitch. This is no more hobby for depressives.

I am not feeling sorry for myself, although I can see how you might get that impression.

Instead, I am detaching from myself. That creates a state very different from feeling sorry for oneself.

I have already fought the battle and have seen that it cannot be won. The more you struggle, the more deeply you will become enmeshed in the web.

The battle is life. Life is the battle.

After a certain variable point, life becomes a rerun of that battle set against a backdrop of continuously diminishing physical, and then mental, abilities.

I feel that detachment is the logical response to this dire scenario. You have to stop caring so damned much about yourself. Then the pain and sense of loss ease.

This about sums it up for me.

Heineken, you are not alone. I think a lot of us here have been expecting this great unraveling, albeit perhaps in a different form. Your posts indicate you are an emote person with caring and compassion for others. It is difficult to fathom the suffering that looks to be coming around the corner both for one’s self and for the great mass of humanity that makes us human. Compassion is going to hurt like never before. An emotional numbing may be required for survival.

I’ve been around these boards longer than many but post less than most. I’ve seen the transformation in many of the most objective and knowledgeable posters here from soft transition to “oh shit, hang on to your pants, kids.” Dylan was right and wrong: The times they are a changin’ but there aint no answers blowin’ in the wind. We are experiencing the beginning of the unraveling of our culture. Is it any wonder you have become disassociated from yourself? We’ve been programmed since birth to believe and participate in this American culture. And now it is failing? I don’t care how mentally prepared for this we may have thought we were. This is a transition that will require more sole searching than we’ve ever had cause to do before.

Be at peace, Heineken.

Thank you, ritter.

I like the double entendre of "sole searching," whether intended or not. The deeper soul searching must be conducted alone.

Sadly, it does seem that the "doom" position is the correct one. Goes to my second signature. I've been hoping I was wrong all these years. But things keep getting worse, and the foundation for things getting better keeps melting.

I went through something similar a few months ago--sort of like a wild animal before a thunderstorm, except I live in a house rather than the woods.

It lasted for several months, and then lifted, even as external events continued to deteriorate.

The world is always trying to trick us all, sometimes in very subtle and clever ways.

Be cautious about the manner in which you define reality. The world you conceive will be the world you inhabit. I've lived in happy ones and sad ones. The ones I liked least were the ones in which I was certain about what would happen in the future.

galacticsurfer wrote:


Wow, very poignent, and very true. It may not seem, given the number of my posts, but I have been trying to disconnect a bit fromm the doomstorm lately.

My new hobby, something completely out of left field for me, is baking from scratch. I find it's really helped me, to be doing something old fashioned but new to me, something with my hands. Seeing it through, start to finish. Enjoying the quality results.

Off topic, am I the only person shocked at the cost of honey? $4 for a little bear bottle!

So yeah, the baking has helped. For a few hours, the state of the world doesn't mean squat, I'm just tending my pastry flock.

On the topic of this thread, "strange times," I've been having those for the past two years. It very much reminds me of how I felt for about a month after 911. That was a big event for me, a real shake-up for my worldview, a shocking realization that sometimes stuff that happens only in movies does happen for real.

After 911, nothing crazy happened for a while and I got back into the groove of ordinary outlooks on life. I think my sense of awareness began to shift again a couple years ago, when I noticed though casual reading that the dollar was getting so weak against the euro.

It intrigued me, given that the euro started out as equal to the dollar. So, I thought, well this can't be good. Something must be wrong somewhere. Looking into that led me to the issue of peak oil. Then we had the spike in oil prices. Now the financial crash.

Heineken, good man, I think perhaps "strange times" may be a bit of one's loss of innocence about the world. You may be just a bit more aware of things than most folks, and that is the source of your burden.

For myself, I can say that my own reaction to 911 has informed my ability to cope with big changes now. I know that no matter how nutty events get, life does go on. I have the ability to adapt, and persevere. I am not the sum total of what what I happen to think I am, I am also the possibility for change.

Its world wide problem, caused mostly by bee mite infestation. Thats why we've invested in our own hives. Many gov'ts now offer large grants to beekeepers.



nice post Ritter.

I think most people are underestimating the pervasive effects of our current pradicament. There seems to be hardly a thought left to think, or a quiet place to rest our eyes, without being reminded of some horror developing in the world.

I do understand the problem the long term members here have. So many of these topics have been discussed ad infinitum in abstract, now that so many of the predictions made are coming TRUE you definitely would have a sense of resignation to the inevitable. Not being here that long, I haven't discussed this with others for so many years, but in my own mind its been there. So despite the fact I occassionally will look at something hopeful, an alternative monetary structure or an alternative energy source, mostly I do not believe any of these things will resolve the problems we face in the short term. So I am resigned also to the spin down of the society in one form or another.

So you see it now, you accept it as demonstrably REAL, you have the CHOICE to make about what you will do about that. I agree with Pops that it is important to DO SOMETHING, and each of us still participating here IS doing something. Heineken CLEARLY is doing something, and has done something to prepare himself. But is it OVER? Is it time to hole up in your Bunker and resign yourself to TEOTWAWKI? Join Rocc and Cash and say goodbye to your friends on Peak Oil?

One philosophy I have always held to is that the minute you stop GROWING as a person is the minute you put one foot in the grave. Yes, its depressing to realize that so much of what you discussed int he past is coming true, but it does NOT mean its all over. It just means that NOW is the time everything you thought about will be put to the test. Now is the time you find out if your Preps really SUCCEEDED, in the sense that you really will have to make them WORK for you. Why did you spend allt hat time preparing if the real outcome here makes you passively resigned to the inevitable?

You can be at Peace with yourself and still FIGHT this thing, in your own way, in your own neighborhood. You can still enlighten others here on the Peak Oil board to means and methods of preparing physically, as Pops does. You can still discuss the underlying social pressures driving it all, as I like to do. Until such time as the Internet goes dark and we all lose touch with each other, this board and the people on it who have SEEN in their minds what is to come are of great value, and Heineken is one of them.

Be at Peace Heineken, you have fought the Good Fight. But do not give up yet. The Bunker is always there in your mind to go to, but it is NOT Bunker Time yet. There is still some Fight left in us all here, and its not time to give up the ghost until the Fat Lady Sings.

Reverse Engineer

ReverseEngineer wrote:


I've drawn my "bunker time" line in the sand at shortages for consumer goods, especially grocery items. And general Argentina style goings-on. When the day comes where I have to go to three stores just to find some milk or eggs, then I'll know it's "bunker time."

What that would mean for me would be serious prepping, and taking a hard look at moving to a more rural, sustainable area.

RE, I am going to print out this post from this thread, and keep it in a safe spot, for when the time is different from now, and society has descended somewhat to madness, I shall have this post, and take it out and read it.

It is full of hope, and compassion, and in turn, I send it back to you, mixed with my care and kind regards. It is the best we can..and should do as human beings with one another.

Heineken, my friend, I know you've been going through a rough year, from posts read over this year. Lots of transitions that slowly wear you down, and change your perspective on things. I hope your father is holding his own, and your mother as well.
(unless I may have missed a thread on some news?)

At any rate, you know the regard I hold our friendship. I have always sent you the best. If care and kindness, was sent, in those times you needed it most, and was felt by you; I hope you know that it was nothing less than a withdrawal from the "Bank of Friendship" you may have with those of us on this forum that may care for one another.

It is hopefully, one "Bank" that the Fed may never get their dirty mitts on and sully.

George Dickel, hmmnnn? My late mother's favorite!

Be well until we speak again. Kind regards to your gentle giant.

Blu

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Being_and_Nothingness



Or from Monty Python:

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life

Some things in life are bad,
They can really make you mad,
Other things just make you swear and curse,
When you're chewing life's gristle,
Don't grumble,
Give a whistle
And this'll help things turn out for the best.
And...

Always look on the bright side of life.
[whistle]
Always look on the light side of life.
[whistle]

If life seems jolly rotten,
There's something you've forgotten,
And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing.
When you're feeling in the dumps,
Don't be silly chumps.
Just purse your lips and whistle.
That's the thing.
And...

Always look on the bright side of life.
[whistle]
Always look on the right side of life,
[whistle]

For life is quite absurd
And death's the final word.
You must always face the curtain with a bow.
Forget about your sin.
Give the audience a grin.
Enjoy it. It's your last chance, anyhow.
So,...

Always look on the bright side of death,
[whistle]
Just before you draw your terminal breath.
[whistle]

Life's a piece of shit,
When you look at it.
Life's a laugh and death's a joke it's true.
You'll see it's all a show.
Keep 'em laughing as you go.
Just remember that the last laugh is on you.
And...