Serfdom indeed. Lee could have walked out after the first week, or expressed his concerns, but maybe the egos running it were not approachable - obviously self-absorbed. It’s an attention problem too, which I investigate in my latest post here: https://charlescallis.substack.com/p/growing-yourself-on-substack
Dear Caroline, thank you for this piece. The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas has been such an important piece of writing for me; I have sent it to several people over the years, and it is one of the touchstones for my husband and me in our burgeoning discussions about life, how to live, and what we are seeing around us. Thank you also for the link to Sam Kriss’s wonderful writing. I am interested in finding out more about release from the mechanisms of power and control for my dreams and my imagination- I remember you referring in a previous essay to ‘Dreaming Caro’, I must look back to reread. All good wishes to you.
Much food for thought here, thank you. I come from a long line of Northern peasants and am still pissed off about the Norman invasion. I wonder if the people on the course where Lee worked were mostly well-off middle class people; I've attended such courses where the 'guys who chop the wood' were hardly acknowledged because we were all there to improve our souls in the usual selfish manner. But there's a third option to the Omelas story, which is to join the suffering child in the cellar, to offer it comfort and company. Which of us is saintly enough to do that? And how would it change things?
I just wanted to say thank you for this piece and for listening to this young person. I’ve had several encounters like this and I never really know what to do with them. I’m grateful to see that people have responded to this.
An author with 10s of thousands of followers took a book I recommended from multiple comments on their essays and wrote a short but popular essay on this very platform. I made the comments about the book to help spread the word, so on one hand I succeeded in getting it in front of a megaphone.
On the other hand I had to be a paid subscriber to this individual to comment at all. I could have written the same essay, or possibly a better one but more likely it would have been read by a handful of people at best. The author that used my recommendation was born with a pedigree, a nepo baby of an influential literary movement. This essay makes me want to rename this tendency to be in the position of receiving valuable resources by paid serfs “the cultural 1%.”
I’m more than aware of my own tendencies to “over give/help” and then feel regret* and am working on that and take responsible for my own actions but is it so hard to say “a reader of my substack recommended this book and I just want to give a shout out to them?”
*See Enneagram type 4 (The Individualists) path of disintegration for a clear picture of that as an archetypal pattern. As I’ve heard you refer to yourself as Tigger it may map for you as well.
It’s amazing how often people act like this and it’s often by progressive or left leaning people who are into the “right things.” It could be Occultism, Buddhism, Board Gaming, Gardening, Permaculture, etc it doesn’t matter.
To end, I recent heard a story about a progressive woman who worked directly in left leaning politics repeatedly say “they’re going to give me whatever I want, I donated to them. I worked in X politics I know how this works.” The “them” was a spiritual center and the “I am going to get whatever I want” was an event that hadn’t opened to the public yet and had not risk of selling out, yet still there was this clear entitlement.
This is exactly how Trump and Musk behave. They just have vastly more resources and are sociopathic enough to not feel any guilt about it. Sadly, I’m pretty sure most of us are Trump in some facet of our lives.
To stay honest and quote Jim Dethmer of Coaches Rising (which I learned about from my partner) “if you are feeling the injustice of what is going on in Israel/Palestine you should try to find and heal the Netanyahu in yourself.”
so much hidden in the footnotes too 😊
Serfdom indeed. Lee could have walked out after the first week, or expressed his concerns, but maybe the egos running it were not approachable - obviously self-absorbed. It’s an attention problem too, which I investigate in my latest post here: https://charlescallis.substack.com/p/growing-yourself-on-substack
Dear Caroline, thank you for this piece. The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas has been such an important piece of writing for me; I have sent it to several people over the years, and it is one of the touchstones for my husband and me in our burgeoning discussions about life, how to live, and what we are seeing around us. Thank you also for the link to Sam Kriss’s wonderful writing. I am interested in finding out more about release from the mechanisms of power and control for my dreams and my imagination- I remember you referring in a previous essay to ‘Dreaming Caro’, I must look back to reread. All good wishes to you.
You are welcome. Sam Kriss is indeed excellent.
So many marvelous and true and helpful thoughts. Thank you!
“release from the mechanisms of power and control for my dreams and my imagination”. Thank you for those words. A goal and a practice indeed…
I am staying with Charlotte right now. Still the heart of our conversations & intent is liberation. Greetings from Suffolk.
Much food for thought here, thank you. I come from a long line of Northern peasants and am still pissed off about the Norman invasion. I wonder if the people on the course where Lee worked were mostly well-off middle class people; I've attended such courses where the 'guys who chop the wood' were hardly acknowledged because we were all there to improve our souls in the usual selfish manner. But there's a third option to the Omelas story, which is to join the suffering child in the cellar, to offer it comfort and company. Which of us is saintly enough to do that? And how would it change things?
I just wanted to say thank you for this piece and for listening to this young person. I’ve had several encounters like this and I never really know what to do with them. I’m grateful to see that people have responded to this.
An author with 10s of thousands of followers took a book I recommended from multiple comments on their essays and wrote a short but popular essay on this very platform. I made the comments about the book to help spread the word, so on one hand I succeeded in getting it in front of a megaphone.
On the other hand I had to be a paid subscriber to this individual to comment at all. I could have written the same essay, or possibly a better one but more likely it would have been read by a handful of people at best. The author that used my recommendation was born with a pedigree, a nepo baby of an influential literary movement. This essay makes me want to rename this tendency to be in the position of receiving valuable resources by paid serfs “the cultural 1%.”
I’m more than aware of my own tendencies to “over give/help” and then feel regret* and am working on that and take responsible for my own actions but is it so hard to say “a reader of my substack recommended this book and I just want to give a shout out to them?”
*See Enneagram type 4 (The Individualists) path of disintegration for a clear picture of that as an archetypal pattern. As I’ve heard you refer to yourself as Tigger it may map for you as well.
It’s amazing how often people act like this and it’s often by progressive or left leaning people who are into the “right things.” It could be Occultism, Buddhism, Board Gaming, Gardening, Permaculture, etc it doesn’t matter.
To end, I recent heard a story about a progressive woman who worked directly in left leaning politics repeatedly say “they’re going to give me whatever I want, I donated to them. I worked in X politics I know how this works.” The “them” was a spiritual center and the “I am going to get whatever I want” was an event that hadn’t opened to the public yet and had not risk of selling out, yet still there was this clear entitlement.
This is exactly how Trump and Musk behave. They just have vastly more resources and are sociopathic enough to not feel any guilt about it. Sadly, I’m pretty sure most of us are Trump in some facet of our lives.
To stay honest and quote Jim Dethmer of Coaches Rising (which I learned about from my partner) “if you are feeling the injustice of what is going on in Israel/Palestine you should try to find and heal the Netanyahu in yourself.”
Thank you for this and your willingness to hear.