Who may want to read this blog?

I seem to want it to have a special local value here in Dayton, but my political thoughts now aren't focused much on things local.

In spite of this, I just finished my page about the relationship of Dayton and me up until now: For locals: my past Dayton involvements

I see the present as a collapse of everything collective about humanity, at least in the US. Once it's complete, individuals will need to re-build from the rubble.

Nothing could be more local than that, so, eventually this blog will probably be all about the local.

So I may try soon to let some local contacts know I started this blog.

I'm not sure yet.

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The blog will be for people that love what I love rather than for argument.

But it will not attempt to analyze the present assaults on the things I love (community, nature, beauty, truth, caring, etc.)

When behaving collectively, Americans and most of the rest of the world in 2010 are completely insane, and that's all that needs to be said.

There is nothing constructive about trying to analyze insanity.

That sounds like an oversimplification but it is not.

One thing that may be constructive instead is discussion of bad turns that got us here.

That's why I think a lot about anthropolgy and earth history and human history right now, and expect to learn more about them, and maybe discuss them here.

As far as talking about the insanity around us, defense from it is relevant. For example, if you are going to want to read this blog, you are a person horrified by last month's Citizens United decision, and you know it will directly impact your life.

The way that impact will unfold is relevant for this blog.

If you are a potential reader of this blog you already keep well informed about peak oil and climate change.

I will not dwell on the current clash between peak oil and industrial civilization.

It is relevant, but many others are already blogging about this.

And, industrial civilization is part of the insanity I have been referring to, so the clash is too, thus not very constructive to analyze.

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This leaves psychological coping as fair game.

You are NOT a solitary creature but a social one.

And yet your society and culture are insane, and always have been to a lesser extent.

The severe sense of loneliness this causes can be lessened if it is discussed openly I believe.

And, I have been feeling this intensely since I was sixteen, probably longer, so I have at least forty years of experience with it.

So younger people with less chance to heal may get real value from what I might write.

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And, I have been practicing something called "mindfulness" for almost two years.

This is just a bare-bones simplified kind of meditation.

I am too hyper to sit still and meditate, but I have learned to do it while walking and during other activities.

It is supposed to help me have more moments of calm hapiness and less moments of fear and dread, and it is also supposed to help me think more clearly, and to not over-conceptualize.

It works.

I now think of my daily life as a kind of open monasticism.

I love to explore far and wide outdoors, which is the opposite of being in a monastery.

But monks love simplicity like I do.

Some of my simplicity is just because I love it, and some of it results from disinterest in the "stuff" around me, because it is part of an insane culture.

Perhaps this mindfulness and open monasticism will produce thoughts about coping that are really important.

Or they might paint a really exciting picture that I can share about a completely different future.

These seem like great goals for a blog.