too much

The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon,
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers,
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not.--Great God! I'd rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.

~William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• poetry
• william
• wordsworth
• the
• world
• is
• like
• way
• too
• much
• with
• us
• industrial
• civilization
• destroys
• souls

[auroraglacialis]

I like that old style of speaking. But hearing that people in the 19th or 18th century formulate many of the thoughts we follow nowadays in almost the same images and words always makes me a bit sad as whatever they said seems to be true, but its been going on for 200 years and it incites fear in me that it will go on for another 200 years.

[pennilesscripple]

i know what you mean, aurora, but we can take solace in knowing that: it can't go on for another 200 years, because "too much" is, by definition, unsustainable. also, the fact that you are aware of it and i am aware of it and wordsworth was aware of it tells us that the lie that this is "progress" isn't being swallowed

[auroraglacialis]

@pennilesscripple - you say that we can take solace by clinging to the notion that it cannot go on for another 200 years. So what I read in that is, that you as many others believe/hope/predict that this industrialized culture will come to an end in any case. I partly share that feeling, infinite growth is impossible, but Humans are darn clever in finding new ways to prolong the existence of what they believe in, even if it costs the world dearly. Can we really hope for it to end on its own?

[pennilesscripple]

well aurora we can look to history and see how empires ended--usually a combination of forces from without and within. i wouldn't call it a belief. you know that if you run a train full speed off of a cliff that it will crash--you don't believe it, you know it--it's the natural way of the juggernaut

yes humans are clever, so let's start being clever about taking care of each other and the land we are part of and stop being clever about trying to make an unworkable system work

thanks

[auroraglacialis]

I know this worked in history, but this civilization is global, it has a set of dangerous memes and it wields enourmous power. There is some evidence that it will crash, but also looking at history, that was said many times before and civ managed to pull its head out from under the knife. My fear is that civ will find a way to live through the destruction it brings. Techs relying only on (solar) energy already are close to providing life support and indoor farming. What if they are the future?

[pennilesscripple]

if they are the future, it will be for fifteen minutes

as for it happening again, we will know better

at some point, the knowing that is at the center of wordsworth's poem will be in everyone's hearts and minds. everyone will be so thoroughly sick of the leviathan that they would never dream of "going back"

what will it take to get to that point? will civilized humans have to learn the hard way, or can we extricate ourselves from the tentacles of this beast and have a softer transition?

[auroraglacialis]

@pennilesscripple

Oh and about wiggeling through this with technology. A friend of mine believes civilization may develop fusion or solar energy and carbon based materials and all such and by that means keep itself alive. I have to admit, it may actually work and this I fear more than a collapse. I imagine a human race that wields enough energy to extract metals from soil and that takes the energy to feed billions and billions more by indoor farming. Its a horrorvision, but maybe not unlikely?

[auroraglacialis]

@pennilesscripple

To be honest, I think it may take a hard lesson to make that happen. But I still am not convinced that it will last. The fall of past civilizations always led to a time of less civilized living, but eventually people forget. The memories turn to myths and at some point people will try again. Maybe they will not have oil and coal then, but they have trees to burn and our cultures piles of trash as a resource. I know it does not change what has to happen now, though

[pennilesscripple]

wow cool kat thanks for telling me that

it's a great poem--says it all

[themajikat]

I actually learnt this off by heart for a poetry recitation for english poetry class because you put this up. That's where I heard e.e.cummings' "since feeling is first" for the first time, and now i know that one!