Can we thrive in a volatile world?

Minnesota, in the several decades we've lived here, has done a for job of handling the transition from Winter to Summer. Springs are all to brief, tumultuous, abrupt, rather than a gradual awakening and warming. This year it looks as though Autumn may replicate most Springs.

High temperatures for the next several days are forecast to be in the low fifties. That's about 15℉ below average for this time of year. NOAA predicts a 33% chance of above normal temperatures for October through December. We're doubtful, even with the occurrence of Global Warming. The pattern we think we're seeing is greater variability in both temperatures and storm frequency and intensity. Even if averages don't change much, it can make a big difference if an average rainfall of 6" is comprised of equal numbers of storms of 2" and 10", or 5" and 7".

how volatile will our future be?

Photo by J. Harrington

As we've been watching much of the "Kavanaugh" hearing for much of the day, we see similar variability in the temperaments of the Judge and the Professor. Whatever a "judicial temperament" may be, from what we've seen, she (the Professor) has it and he (the Judge) doesn't. We see absolutely no way, if his nomination to the Supreme Court is confirmed, that he will add to the credibility of the institution. It's started us wondering if, to dampen what we see as emerging violent swings in our political governance, we need a constitutional amendment that decisions by SCOTUS must have at least 6 judges in favor. We've had too many 5 to 4 decisions. We're seeing too many rules and decisions by prior administrations getting undone. We've seen too much of political volatility instead of due process (Garland compared to Kavenaugh nominations). This democracy is unlikely to survive the kinds of "governance" we're experiencing.

There's an interesting and relevant piece in the Los Angeles Review of Books, by Guy Patrick Cunningham, on a similar theme about how we humans try to manage ourselves: Party of One: Democracy, Political Parties, and Simone Weil. Let's see if the penultimate paragraph tempts you to read the whole thing:

"Weil’s vision of democracy isn’t focused on plebiscites or elections — it’s about allowing people to make choices about how to live fulfilling lives. And while I might not agree with her answers, I think her questions are the right ones. To her, even the idea of a political party — as utilitarian invention as you can think of — is subject to an ethical investigation. And it should be. Because if political engagement is dependent on social identity, political struggle will ultimately become a struggle of competing values. After all, values define social identity."

If we fail in our struggle to define our common social identity, we'll find ourselves, in the midst of rising seas and howling storms, in

A Season in Hell

Arthur Rimbaud, 1854- 1891

A while back, if I remember right, my life was one long party where all hearts were open wide, where all wines kept flowing.

One night, I sat Beauty down on my lap.—And I found her galling.—And I roughed her up.

I armed myself against justice.

I ran away. O witches, O misery, O hatred, my treasure’s been turned over to you!
I managed to make every trace of human hope vanish from my mind. I pounced on every joy like a ferocious animal eager to strangle it.

I called for executioners so that, while dying, I could bite the butts of their rifles. I called for plagues to choke me with sand, with blood. Bad luck was my god. I stretched out in the muck. I dried myself in the air of crime. And I played tricks on insanity.

And Spring brought me the frightening laugh of the idiot.

So, just recently, when I found myself on the brink of the final squawk! it dawned on me to look again for the key to that ancient party where I might find my appetite once more.

Charity is that key.—This inspiration proves I was dreaming!

“You’ll always be a hyena etc. . . ," yells the devil, who’d crowned me with such pretty poppies. “Deserve death with all your appetites, your selfishness, and all the capital sins!”

Ah! I’ve been through too much:-But, sweet Satan, I beg of you, a less blazing eye! and while waiting for the new little cowardly gestures yet to come, since you like an absence of descriptive or didactic skills in a writer, let me rip out these few ghastly pages from my notebook of the damned. 

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