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I'm really enchanted by the idea that the solutions to our modern, novel and unprecedented times are already ideas we've had. There's something calming and convincing about contextualizing all human knowledge this way. That our futuristic, catastrophic times are a) not inevitable, and b) don't require entirely new ideas and technology. I don't mean to trivialize the enormity of the challenges we face, but I do find it kind of humorous to acknowledge that we can solve these problems, we already know how to. That's not to say these solutions are obvious, or easy, but that they have been tried before, that they're scattered throughout history and we simply need to find them.
It's a powerful Myth. I think it serves us well to adopt it.
In reading Braiding Sweetgrass, I found the same idea. I'm of the belief that this is even where this myth originates. In it, Professor Robin Wall Kimmerer speaks about the Anishinaabe (I wish I had a better source for this, if you know one, let me know!) Prophesy of the Seven Fires, and that we are the people of the Seventh Fire. Our duty is to retrace our steps, and learn from our Elders. To find what was left along the way to Now.
I'm not indigenous to Turtle Island, but these teachings really resonate with me. Whether you call it prophecy or myth, I think it doesn't matter, I think it's wisdom rings true.
Our culture is so caught up in the New, Innovative and Modern that we have an implicit distaste for things that happened in the past, despite all the nostalgia baiting that goes on. I think it's worth re-examining that newer is always better, and that we will ingenuity our way out of the Meta-Crisis