Discuss: Finding Time

I have never met Rebecca Solnit, but have followed with interest her journey.  She and David, her brother, have collaborated with our Franciscans in our anti-nuclear (Neveada Desert Experience), non-violent social change (Pace e Bene) and homeless efforts over the last couple of decades.

As a Franciscan, Rebecca’s reflections mirror my own.  St. Francis of Assisi calls us to slow down, to pray seeking a deeper intimate relationship with God; to “see” the beauty in the world around us (Creation, it is good!) and to live more simply, with less things.

When I have lived in poor friaries inserted into poor neighborhoods, I have found the simple life easier than when I have lived in more institutional friaries.

In the poor friaries, there is less things, but more time for each other and those with whom our lives intertwine.  In the more institutional friaries, life is more hurried and there is less time for each other and those who “interrupt” our lives.

Transportation is also a factor--when we walk, bike or take public tranportation it is a more humbling way to travel, than surrounded by the hundreds of pounds of a car.

St. Francis made a big thing about not accepting money.  Few people know, he also asked the friars to not ride horses (the cars of his day).  He wanted them to walk.

For U. S. friars in the 21st century it would be extraordinary to not drive or fly.  But maybe we can walk or bike more, take the car less.  Maybe we can take the Greyhound more and fly less.

We still have the tradition of sending out missionaries to foreign lands (or to Native American cultures) where it is expected to make those life-style changes that simplify and slow down our lives.

But living in the U. S., it takes a daily conscious choice to take time to pray, to slow down, to live with less things.

This friar resonates with Rebecca’s act of resistance to slow down.

Another idea.  How about inviting all the American’s and the world for that matter, to just slow down and drive the speed limit.  A baby step but one which our group in Minnesota has been advocating for over 18 month’s.  Here’s how it work’s

We borrowed the orange slow moving vehicle symbol, found on the back of tractor’s and buggies, and greened it.  Our local printer did a graphically perfect symbol for our action.  The shape is essentially a triangle, so on each edge the “educator” encourages driver’s to “DRIVE EASY...CONSERVE”

We started printing magnets, sticker’s and micro “dashboard reminders” and spread them around to friend’s and group’s throughout Mn. and Wi.  The action is simple, free, and effective.  It get’s everybody involved and open to action.  As soon as they put the key in the ignition, the micro dashboard reminder...cost .02 cents encourages them to slow down and conserve time and fossil fuels.  Well why not?  Agreed it is a baby step but it get’s people thinking and involved.  To date we have sent out over 20,000 “educator’s”.  We sent a large order to Ireland and a rotary club in central Mexico put the symbol in spanish and placed a mountain in the center replacing our Pine Tree.  Their first printing was 3,000 in the state of Queretaro.

Well imagine if you can slow the world down just 5 mph.  I think John would dig the idea. Anyway, you can check us out at http://www.greenslowmovingvehicle.com.  Get in touch and share some comments or criticism.  Let’s here it for the grassroot’s

Fulton Hanson
rural Pine County, Minnesota

Fulton Hanson and Rebecca Solnit certainly have important things to say about the need for us to slow down, go slower, smell the flowers, appreciate the world.  I am for everything they are advocating and doing.  At least to me, they are exemplars.

Having said this, I am also deeply concerned because, as a community, human beings appear to be moving much too slowly to adjust to the practical requirements of biophysical reality by choosing necessary behavior changes.  This means we have to find alternatives to the huge scale and rapid growth rate of certain distinctly human activities now overspreading the surface of the celestial orb upon which God blesses us to live so well.

Somehow, soon, human beings have to become more successful in communicating about some things which are currently taboo, socially unpopular, politically incorrect and economically inexpedient.  For example, there is a need now for us to share widely the awareness that there can be no such thing as a successful global economy without the resources and ecosystem services provided by an adequately functioning Earth.

Failing that, humankind might choose to deny the reality of the bounded, finite world we inhabit and to pursue a primrose path marked by trying to grow our way out of the distinctly human-driven predicament in which we find ourselves in these early years of Century XXI. By that I mean we choose a patently unsustainable path to the future which calls for the unbridled increase of human population numbers, of per capita consumption of resources, and of the world economy in our small, noticeably frangible planetary home. The pursuit of this endless growth strategy, one which adamantly advocates more of the same, outworn, environmentally degrading business-as-usual activities we see so predominantly in our culture today, could produce a colossal wreckage, even greater and more catastrophic than the one seen by Ozymandias, king of kings.

One advantage of taking things more slowly is when you see something that needs doing, you can stop and do it. If you’re moving too fast you don’t even see what needs to be done so the problem gets bigger and bigger until you have no choice but to stop and deal with it ‘cause it’s screaming at you. I think this is one reason we’re moving so slowly in dealing with climate change - everybody is just so busy and everything we have to do is deemed so very important. I wonder if this isn’t contributing to the disconnect we experience in our daily lives between the reality and frightening impacts of climate change and our ongoing daily lives that continue on and on and on as if everything is just fine. It’s crazy-making and, in my opinion, is extremely disempowering. slowing down and simplifying would be a real gift to the Earth in many ways.

Struggling daily with urges to slow down and simplify, it’s wonderful to find an article like this to bolster my resolve.  I know it’s the right way to go, but often feel more isolated in this chosen path when much of the world seems to view progress as the exact opposite.

I’m about three-quarters of the way through WANDERLUST, Rebecca Solnit’s exceptional and to me essential investigation of walking, originally published in 2000. 

Alone among the many books on walking, Solnit’s proceeds from the understanding that in addition to being a mode of transportation and a form of exercise, walking is an activity that compels us FOR ITS OWN SAKE, for reasons that are a little less mysterious because of Solnit’s work.

In this short ORION piece, Solnit doesn’t romanticize slowness as a charming remnant of an earlier time. She characterizes it instead as an act of resistance to the coercions of consumer culture.

I think such resistance contains within it a cultural critique that many people find deeply disturbing. That critique suggests that a corporate/consumerist reality is not the only one. It asserts that those who give up consumer gadgets and toys and the push for ever greater security, efficiency and convenience seem to spend a lot more time doing things they enjoy--rather than working more to be able to buy more stuff.

I really appreciate the opportunity to read Solnit’s work in ORION and I intend to make those words more convincing by subscribing.

Dear Dan Icolari,

Very interesting perspective.  One that is new to me. 

Within the context of “resistance” that you describe so neatly, I would like to ask how you would understand “civil disobedience”? In particular, how might a person meaningfully strengthen ones resistance activities toward the point of civil disobedience but still break no laws?

What would strengthened resistance look like?

Sincerely,

Steve

Thanks, Steve Salmony, for responding to my comment about Rebecca Solnit’s piece on slowness.

I turn into an out-of-control ranter when I reflect on the business-as-usual attitude of most Americans toward the accelerating crisis that now seems unavoidable.

Most seem convinced a technological fix will save them from experiencing the slightest discomfort or inconvenience--or from having to alter their behavior even a little. Either that, or they’ve decided to disengage completely and go shopping.

Unless I’m misreading Solnit, I think she is arguing for alertness, awareness, and a conscious refusal to buy into the program global capitalism promotes relentlessly, which is meant to transform every aspect of our public and private lives into a platform for brand, product and service promotion.

To me, resistance doesn’t mean civil disobedience--at least not now, not yet. Rather, it means:

•refusing to be the passive receiver of any sort of marketing communication--print, cable, direct mail, broadcast or telemarketing;

•living happily, more simply and less distractedly without the latest must-have technologies

•spending time reading, writing, gardening, walking, volunteering and being involved with friends, family and one’s community, rather than accepting the default options of consuming, shopping, watching TV, and interacting not with people but with gadgets;

•buying less and buying for cash, except when credit-card use is unavoidable;

•and, more generally, taking charge of the shape, content and direction of one’s own life rather than have it dictated by corporate growth and profit strategies.

My idea of resistance is not civil disobedience--at least, not yet. Rather, resistance to me means constructing a low-maintenance life of independence and real personal choice rather than the bogus consumer choices they tell us are the only ones that really matter.

I hope this is a satisfactory response to your comment.