The Wakeful Wanderer's Guide to Disillusionment

Kneadful

Our history is like a series of miracles set against the chaos of repeated structural and cultural collapses. Those miracles were created by groups of individuals who refused to give in to despair and who created, despite the dreadful reality they faced, an optimistic framework on which our society was reborn.

Never in human history has there been such a complex and genuinely caring economy. Gifting economies are not new, but the technology behind ours is. The tallying and calculation of Merit is always in motion, always updating. The speed and scope of Merit is beyond human understanding. Thanks to this framework and the Interconnected nature of our communities, we have clawed our way back from the brink of starvation and despair. Innovation has flourished among the tribes and withered among the Traditionalist factions. We continue to combat viruses, cancers, and other diseases with technologies dreamed of collectively by our best and brightest. The speed of communication and modeling is such that we can stay ahead of the brutality of the natural world without becoming brutes ourselves. In our haphazard way, we have overcome a thousand obstacles in ways our ancestors could never have dreamed possible.

And yet, (you knew there would be an 'and yet'), it's the humble opinion of this lowly journalist or travel writer or whatever I am to you, that we are in danger of becoming too dogmatic in our thinking. I say this because I can see it in myself. In my time away from you all, I've examined the parts of my thinking that have hardened and become inflexible. Rather than strengthening me, they show me where my thinking has become brittle. These strands of ossified thought chafe and irritate. They do not bend and adapt with the changing nature of reality. I want to list them here and see if you find them familiar.

First and foremost, I find myself opposed to and suspicious of all hierarchy and top-down organizational structures. I shun the ways of the past that brought about so much destruction and so I view organizational structures that resemble those as corrupted and dangerous. Like a child who learns not to touch an open flame, I shrink from the very idea of societal models that have leaders and followers.

But leaders and followers make up the society we've created. Through our genius of avoiding such hierarchical systems, we have created exactly what we have been steering away from. Our society would be nothing without those who have arrived at extreme Merit through their innovation and generosity. They are naturally who we want to emulate and follow, but we never call them leaders because we think of ourselves as leaderless. This cognitive dissonance has made us confused and has opened our society to attack from the Neo-Feudalists who want to dominate and enslave us.

I use those extreme sounding terms with care, for that was the apparent goal of the Traditionalists who invaded my home town of Reverside less than a year ago. They were turned away, but there is no reason to think that they will not return in force to try again. What they want is all that we have achieved. They want sustainable food, health, and security. They think they can drive into our communities and take those things from us. They were wrong in Reverside. I hope they will continue to fail as they try, and try again, but hope is not a plan. I think we need a plan.

– The Wakeful Wanderer's Guide, Vol. 7, lines 52 - 57

Nora was forming pasta by rolling little balls of dough into cup shapes with her thumb. She had left the nursery after six weeks when she was offered a place to cook at the Kneadful Kitchen. Her culinary work had grown in popularity, and she found her Merit rose more swiftly when she was creating something that people enjoyed by eating it.

Her former xombie trainer had certainly become quite the star of late. Marto, the dopey young man who greeted her, brought her food and drink, and taught her the essentials about how to send and receive messages with her mind, along with the ins and outs of navigating the modalities of the Interconnected life, was enjoying a massive boost in popularity and Merit. Nora found his writings preachy and boring, but after he disappeared and then returned, his work had taken on mystery and purpose. He had something new and important to say, and people were curious. Something had changed him out there in the wilderness. She felt a kinship with him in this. She was lost in a new world herself, finding her way. Nora drew down his chapters into her head as she worked the pasta on the countertop.