Foods for thought

I've been reading a book called "The Human Situation" by Aldous Huxley, one of my favorite authors. I picked up this treasure in the wonderful little bookstore in Kathmandu, Nepal, run by the little old man who has read every single book in his store. It's really more of his personal library than a bookstore, with so many first editions you just stand in awe and try not to drool as your eyes scan the dusty shelves. I picked out a few books, and then based on what I had picked, he discerned my preferences and scurried off into one of the dark corners of his library and then reappeared with another book...



Here are a few passages I read today that really got me thinking...

"Nationalism uses all the devices of education to create an artificial loyalty to areas with which the individual is quite unacquainted and to people that he has never seen."
. . .

"We must bear continuously in mind that everything that is happening now, such as the explosive increase in population and the advancing technicalization of every aspect of human life, is happening in the context of nationalism. Consequently, it all takes on a very dangerous quality, precisely because it is taking place in the context of what appears to be the strongest quasi-religious fervor of our period, and in a world order which by definition commits those who believe in its theology to war with one another and to continual preparation for war.

This war ethos has been reduced to a kind of absurdity, as innumerable people, including those who are now preparing for war, are never tired of pointing out. War has reached a point where there can be no victors and where the only purpose which can be achieved by entering upon it is the complete destruction of the combatants and probably the destruction of large areas of not only civilization but life itself. Everybody knows this, and yet all the people in decision-making positions in the world today -- and there are not very many of them -- are so completely the prisoners of the theological-nationalistic system that they find themselves under a compulsion to go on willy-nilly preparing for something which they know must be disastrous. One has this extraordinary and paradoxical spectacle of unprecedented skill and knowledge and devotion and work and money being poured out on projects which can lead not to life, liberty, and happiness, but only to misery, to servitude, and to death.

The rationalization of this is in all cases the old Roman adage, 'si vis pacem para vellum' (if you want peace prepare for war)."

. . . ~ . . . ~ . . . ~ . . . ~ . . . ~ . . . ~ . . . ~ . . . ~ . . . ~ . . . ~ . . .

Today I also stumbled upon a short story by Kurt Vonnegut called "2BR02B" which is worth a read. It's really short and quick and is a good one to let roll around in your mind a bit...



I downloaded it for free to my kindle app on my computer...

http://www.amazon.com/ebook/dp/B004TRFNIE/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1329302949&sr=1-1