The Underworld

by Skald

It's always been that way, and it will always be that way. There are two societies, two symbiotic cultures uneasily sharing this planet, two intertwined human structures, mirror-imaged like root and branch. The overground and the underground. The drop-outs and the cop-outs.

--Tim Leary

What I love about this quote is that it points to the universality of this dynamic. Its nothing new. Today, its anarchists and corporate servants. In the 60s it was hippies and the establishment..... in the 50s, the Beats and the squares.

This is the dance of evolution. The novelty seeking fast mutators (us) push the envelope.... the stability seeking slow mutators seek to impose order and control. Leary encouraged us not to bemoan this state... for it mirrors many natural processes.

What this says is that it has always been difficult to be a fast-mutating evolver. The overground.. the mainstream... the cops and employees and priests and politicians ALWAYS resist. No use whining about it. Accept it. (In fact, Id argue that we now live in a time period that is particularly friendly to fast mutators).

Psychedelic drugs are illegal. The anti-work philosophy is considered dangerous and disrespectable. Wandering travelers are viewed as unstable. The government is thoroughly corrupt. Most people in the mainstream are corporate servants and mindless consumers.

So what.

None of that absolves us of responsibility for our own lives. Our lives, our happiness, our evolution as human beings... are still our responsibility and no one else's. There is no choice but to accept the entire catastrophe and keep going.

Forget protest... evolve.

"Accept that you are a criminal and be prepared to act like one" --Hakim Bey


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