Whatever It Means To You, Man

One of the most interesting and inspiring people I ever met was an artist in Tarzana, California, in April or May, 1968. He was the housemate of Vince, the director of an improv group in nearby Northridge, where I was sort of hanging out. A high school friend was part of the group, and we met-up when I drove out to LA with another high school friend on a last fling before going into the Army. The future Freddy Krueger, Bob Englund, was a member of this group. He likely would remember the guy.

The artist was legendary among the people in the improv group. The story about him was that he had been dishonorably discharged from the Navy for sitting cross-legged on the deck of a destroyer or battleship during a nuclear attack drill. Supposedly the ship's captain, executive officer or some-such, chief petty officer, came storming out, yelling "You're supposed to man your battle station for a nuclear attack!" The artist-to-be responded with "Man, in a nuclear attack this IS my battle station!"

The high school friend and I went over to to Vince's house in Tarzana one day. If I remember right Vince wasn't there, but his housemate was. He was a true hippie, of which there were many in those days, along with many more pretenders. The house was more of a garage, but long and narrow instead of the usual squared-off design. The artist guy had a painting that ran the length of the house, and was abstract, like nothing I had seen before or since. The scenes from the James Webb Space Telescope, though, are a pretty good approximation. 

I asked the hippie artist what the painting meant, totally mystified. His response is burned into my memory. He said "Whatever it means to you, man." This was so priceless and humble, so innocent and pure, I was in awe. I am often reminded of this simple and profound adage, and have learned over the years to trust my own experience, and not let others determine what is real and what is not. It matters what others think and believe, but they are not God, and what they say and believe do not rule what I think and believe.

What I have been thinking about in recent days, though, is the story about the artist sitting cross-legged on the deck of his ship during a nuclear attack drill. It can surely be looked as a brave act of protest, but I like to think of it as the sensible thing to do. In a nuclear attack everyone is cooked - more than cooked - pulverized, disintegrated, turned to ash. There is no battle stance that would have any meaning. A meditation posture would be most appropriate.

The entire planet is now in that predicament. The president of the reputed country "Russia" is threatening the use of nuclear weapons. He has attacked and occupied the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. He's just one guy, but he can cause the end of all life on this planet.

Vladimir Putin is just the fiend of the moment. If his threat to use nuclear weapons this time is a bluff, or if he is stopped, he may try again at another time. Or someone else will try. Eventually someone will succeed. No weapon in human history has been held from use for very long. They are made to be used. In fact, they have been used, by the government of the United States of America. The exceptional county. If we, the exceptional people, can use nuclear weapons, anyone can, and will.

A good analogy to the use of nuclear weapons is the destruction of the rainforests around the planet, most egregiously in Brazil. We, homo sapiens, need the rainforests in order to survive, but are incapable of resisting the temporary wealth that destroying them provides. We are incapable of saving ourselves. Even when it is too late for the survival of mankind, we will not stop cutting down the rainforests. 

With this level of incompetence and unwillingness to be competent, what chance do we have to stop nuclear warfare? None. In 1962 we avoided thermonuclear warfare with the Soviet Union only by luck, as well as numerous other times.

It is hard to say what the best way to approach the predicament we are in. I look at the worst-case-scenario as the most likely, but not certain outcome of our drive toward extinction. We don't need battle stations, but sitting cross-legged in a chosen spot a little each day might help us face the denouement.
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Here's a song. Here's another. Hedgehoppers Anonymous. Skeeter Davis. R.E.M. The Doors. The Rolling Stones. The Navy is as good a place as any to be in a nuclear war. The Grateful Dead. The Waterboys.  John Lennon. Neil Young. The Kinks. Greg Brown. Some of us might wind up here after a nuclear war. This song might be a good one to sing when it all starts.

The movie On the Beach gave us a parable about what life might be like after a nuclear war - a long time ago, 1959.  Along with Life of Brian it is my favorite movie. A theme to follow. The theme song from On the Beach, Tom Waits version. In Australia the band often played Waltzing Matilda.

Of course, we could follow the wisdom of that great sage, inventor, entrepreneur and narcissist Elon Musk

Here's Jordan Klepper's latest, about the midterms.

R.I.P. Herman Daly, the economist who pioneered Steady State Economics. Conventional wisdom economists find his approach threatening, their careers dependent on conformity to infinite growth orthodoxy.