Father illuminates further: “Directly put: the civilized and industrialized are made to judge the less civilized as being frivolous, childish, and living ‘wasted lives.’ Instead of working to get ahead and buy stuff, incur and shoulder their fair share of debtdom, they do just enough to feed themselves, then lay around all day ‘shuckin’ and jivin.’ They spend the nights dancin’ and screwin’ and like that. Every day, just like that, living a totally wasted life! Never facing up to the serious responsibilities of being a human; living as though – Gasp! – life has no meaning or purpose.
This greatly and unavoidably disturbs the civilized, but you know that what goes on in other people is not our interest. Ours is in how such affairs are always also playing out inside of your own consciousness. By the way, you do realize boy, that if we were an ordinary family I would be civilization, and you, the nonchalant slackers. But, thank god – blah, blah, etc, etc).
In the physical world, some men are born programmed for civilization and complicated lives of seriousness and purpose, and some are not. So ‘tis always been and so still is, and as always, each ordinary man carries in him, a bit of both, but generally, one of them can clearly be seen to be dominant. As in other genetic subdivisions, those inclined to serious lives are drawn together, as are those with little such inclination. You find the civilized grouped in cities, and the less serious on the fringes. The latter can tolerate the former, as long as they do not insist on giving them employment. But the former can scarcely be in the presence of the latter without expressing dismay over their lack of, seriousness-about-life.
So, too, is it in your world of thoughts. There are groups of them which are civilized and serious and who are innately inclined to look for a meaning to life; and you have other thoughts which comparably are childish and happy-go-lucky, looking only to the pleasures of the moment. Both collections pass continually through your consciousness, and in most men, live a peaceful coexistence, in line with how the two are balanced in the majority of those in their time and place. Thus, be ordinary men a little bit civilized, a little bit savage; but as days go by, more and more civilized and serious, and fewer carefree and frivolous. Maybe you can fight city hall, but you cannot battle life.”
J.