On Ascetics and Pacifists

God bless ascetics and pacifists. They can see only through their ideals. If they could only face our problems instead of naively dismissing them as not their own, this world may yet survive. Technology is an inevitable consequence of thought, and those who seek to stall its progress are serving only decadence.

I too would love to live as a hermit. Let the world go about its business protecting property and erecting structures. I want no part in their war. Let expand their vast acreage of factories and refineries. I have no use for their systems at all. I have no use for their landfills or expressways. I don't want my name in the credits, or my words in the books. It is all a waste of time to me. Time that could be better spent seeking an honest man.

Let go their fossil fuels, and their sooty pillars. Let their devices of revenge and suffering be gone! I have no use for their protection. I have no use for man's meat or corn. I will eat from the forest floor, and the kelp from the sea. And when there is not enough to go around, let me starve. And when I am overrun by wolves, let the wolves take me.

I have no use for industry of any sort. I will wrap leaves around my waist and build a hut to stay dry. I'm done! Let go all my possessions! If I need something, God will provide it.

But hasn't God already provided what you now possess?

Bah! Let go my notions of success and morality. I have no need of formal education. I have no need of preconceptions.

But isn't it your mind which has invented those preconceptions after being trained by experience?

Bah! A man's mind plays tricks on him.

But your mind is what makes you a human being. If you can't trust your own experience, then you must believe mankind itself is an abomination.

Bah! It is.