E25 Farewell to Arthur
I previously explained my term for the human race, homo fatuus. Maybe you dislike it or disagree?
Arthur appeared the next day. ‘You heard what Merlin said, I shall be gone from you after this. It has been an interesting exchange and I thank you for your valued assistance. You would make a good Knight. Please do the same for Merlin when the time comes. Morgan might also wish to involve you in something.?I cannot say when our paths might cross again but I hope they do, all in the hands of what we call ceann-uidhe, our word for destiny. Destiny works over long time periods so who knows.’
I could see him this time. He had a bearing and manner that did not actually demand attention but seemed to earn it. You had to watch, listen and pay full attention. He continued, ‘I can tell you, the events of the next few months will be crucial to the future of humanity and the dramatic changes that are urgently needed. Good luck.’ He was gone. Short and sweet. I was left with an empty feeling, there was so much more that I would have sought to learn from him but perhaps our paths would cross, in another life I suspected.
That was it. I had no idea what was going to happen next. In my mind I went back to the start.
If, like me, you drift through life in a daze, constantly failing to grasp the point of it all, if, indeed, there is any. Take heed. One day, when I was not doing anything in particular, pondering* actually, totally disengaged from the quest, a feeling came to me from somewhere. A gentle probing of some part of my being. Easy to miss but I caught it. A faint voice in my head, ‘You know me.’ Three words.
* If you have never tried pondering, now is possibly the time to start. A splendid way to pass time.
It seemed a while ago now. I am still pondering. I had had a fleeting encounter with Arthur Pendragon. How good was that?
If you think you know what is going on, think again. One morning, a few weeks ago, we had a very small experience of it. The new COVID ‘lockdown’ had come into force at midnight. We were staying in the Thurleston Hotel, South Devon, on the coast, enjoying a brief break before the full onset of winter, being blessed with the nicest day for weeks, brilliant sunshine, no cloud, no wind, looking out over the Thurleston Rock and the bay. Then at 0800hrs we are suddenly told to be sure we had vacated the hotel by 1000hrs as the police had already visited the hotel and said they would be back at 1000hrs. Anybody remaining would be fined, as well as the hotel. So back to house arrest we went, meekly. An open ended arrangement that would almost finish off the national economy. For what?
I took to watching a version of the ABBA tune, Arrival, played by massed military bands at the Dutch Military Tattoo in 2010, with Diana Mols on the Piccolo, always lifting the spirits, ready for what comes next, which could be equally or more repellent. Nil carborundum desperandum. Here it is if you need uplifting:
It must have been cold, I like the way that Diana and the Oboe player have fingerless gloves.
Meantime the truth campaign, here in this parallel Universe, has a whole momentum of its own and is rolling on through the issues.
Addressing Merlin with the following thoughts. One truth of note, it seems to me, is overpopulation. Is there a truth there, that needs to be known? In your time, around 500AD, the total world population was around 200 million. It took until about 1800 to reach 1 billion and now we are approaching 8 billion with 11 billion projected by 2100. Obviously food sustainability is closely linked with this.
There are many threats to food sustainability but agriculture, and science have achieved much during this period (I have experience of farm work!). I was an active member of Greenpeace for a number of years. We hear about Earth Overshoot Day and suchlike, as well as threats from Climate Change and political upheaval such as we are currently seeing. What I do not see is any meaningful plan to control and, more importantly, reduce population, other than through traumatic means. I wondered where you see this fitting with food sustainability? Also what you might see as a sustainable human population for this planet, assuming a nominal standard of living equal to average European, across the planet. I waited quietly for a response, falling asleep in the process.
I was awoken by some strange manic elemental laughter in my head, cackling even. ‘Sustainability? You cannot be serious. You cannot talk about sustainability with almost 8 billion of what you call homo fatuus eating up and destroying the planet. Sustainability is a lost cause unless you do something about the population. As it is, without some determined intervention, it will not even stabilise this century, let alone come down. You talk of all those 8 billion having an average standard equal to that of present day Europe. If that were the case right now your comment about science and agriculture would be invalid. It is a dire situation made worse by a number of other activities driven by your homo fatuus plague, namely climate change, desertification, soil degradation, deforestation, ground water, pollution, ocean acidification, waste, over fishing, war and others. I remember when we landed at Tintagel in my father’s longboat what a beautiful unspoilt paradise it was. Now look at it, people everywhere, traffic, caravan sites, camping sites, houses, wind turbines. Awful.’
‘You do not like wind turbines?’
‘No.’
‘You were getting a head of steam up there.’ He took on a pretend scowl.
‘There is no ‘black and white’ answer to your question on overpopulation, too many variables. Did you know that many species do not breed if the conditions are not right, such as a shortage of food? Their desire to do so is suppressed somehow. Your friend, James Lovelock, would say this is Gaia at work. Humans may think this does not apply to them, but they are wrong. Different mechanisms will come into play but the result will be the same.
One distant day, when the population has stabilised at a genuinely sustainable level, in balance with the rest of the natural world, you will see a world without conflict or anger. With humanity living in peace and striving to understand its place, not as a dominant, arrogant predator, but as a privileged part with a key role to play.’