What's That Musk-y Odor?

Everything that Rises, Must Converge (in Stinkiness)

I look forward to going deeper into Rudolf Steiner’s work. Today, I want to offer some stream-of-consciousness thoughts on recent developments in current events, business, and tech. Feel free to skip these if you prefer my work on esoteric and mystical themes. 

(Before you go, however, I invite you to join me on Mastodon, an open-source alternative to Twitter: Here is the invite link. Please find and follow me there, say hi. I write more about Mastodon, further down.)

Megalomaniacal billionaire mash-up!

I don’t know about you, but I struggle with my ongoing existence in this system – not just financially but also spiritually, psychologically. I have felt for a long time – decades – that we need some kind of revolution. But a revolution, in any positive sense, seems highly unlikely. If we were to have a revolution at this point, it would probably be a Right Wing authoritarian insurgency that makes things much worse. After all, they possess the guns and the fury. 

The ever-growing extremes of wealth inequality and the failure of our society to handle the ecological emergency are two of the main reasons we need radical change. I am back in New York City after spending some time in Europe, and find this city in shocking disrepair compared to cities like Paris or Oslo. The average working people look so unhappy here, so downtrodden, compared to many places. I recall an Emerson quote from 150 years ago: “The mind of this country, taught to aim at low objects, eats upon itself." This remains so depressingly accurate. 

America, as a society, lost its mind long ago. Across much of the world, the pattern is the same. But the US is more egregious in some ways, due to the deeply entrenched corruption of our financial system. It is such a shame, considering what the US might have been, with its fabulous wealth and natural resources. I am sure the super-rich have constructed very nice mansions for themselves in their gated communities, but our airports and public transport systems — not to mention our health care — are extraordinarily pitiful.

As Robert Reich reminds us, in the 1960s, a CEO made about 20 times the pay of the average worker. Today, that number has increased to 350 times. Once moderate economic analysts, like Thomas Piketty, now argue, with good reason, for some form of socialism.