What is a Luddite?

Luddite.  It’s an old term, one dating all the way back to 1811.  According to wikipedia:

“The Luddites were 19th-century English textile artisans who violently protested against the machinery introduced during the Industrial Revolution that made it possible to replace them with less-skilled, low-wage labourers, leaving them without work. Historian Eric Hobsbawm has called their machine wrecking “collective bargaining by riot”, which had been a tactic used in Britain since the Restoration, as the scattering of manufactories throughout the country made large-scale strikes impractical.
Although the origin of the name Luddite is uncertain, a popular theory is that the movement was named after Ned Ludd, allegedly a youth who had smashed two stocking frames 30 years earlier, and whose name had become emblematic of machine destroyers.  The name evolved into the imaginary General Ludd or King Ludd, a figure who, like Robin Hood, was reputed to live in Sherwood Forest.

The movement emerged during the harsh economic climate of the Napoleonic Wars, which saw a rise in difficult working conditions in the new textile factories. The principal objection of the Luddites was the introduction of new wide-framed automated looms that could be operated by cheaper, relatively low-to-unskilled labour, resulting in unemployment among the skilled textile workers. The movement began in Nottingham in 1811 and spread rapidly throughout England over the following two years. Handloom weavers burned mills and pieces of factory machinery, and for a short time the Luddites were so strong that they clashed in battles with the British Army. Many wool and cotton mills were destroyed before the British government suppressed the movement.

In modern usage, “Luddite” is a term describing those opposed to industrialisation, automation, computerisation or new technologies in general.”

I remember the first time someone called me a “Luddite”, and at the time I had no idea what it meant, I had to look it up and do a bit of research, but they were exactly right and they paid me a very high honor by referring to me as such…although I’m pretty sure they meant it as an insult 😉

After “Luddite” comes the word “Hypocrite” because here I am using a computer 🙄

Hypocrisy, however, is the default setting of humanity…we ALL hold ideals that we can never live up to in full…but a hypocrite is one who takes his own standards and ideals, that he cannot live up to, and places them upon another, excepting them to do what he cannot or will not do himself.

I do not do that, I do not care what others do as I am not responsible for the consequences of their decisions…so, why should I care?

No, I may be a Luddite, but I am not a hypocrite.  I am another term altogether, one lost and forgotten, I am an “idealist”.

I think about what I do before I do it, I entertain the possible consequences and ramifications of every decision that I may or may not make and then I determine the best course of action to take (my ideal) and then I proceed to live as close to that ideal as I possibly can, always failing of course, because, after all, that is what we humans do…

“Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.

But they said, We will not walk therein.” ~Jeremiah 6:16 

An ideal is a principle and it has to do with one’s foundational belief system.  I, for one, do not believe that so-called “progress” is necessarily such (and the opposite is called “congress” 😉 )  that most of the technological inventions since the advent of the industrial revolution have actually caused more HARM than good.

I do not believe that work is evil and something to be avoided at all costs.  I do not believe that just because something can be done “faster” that it is necessarily always the better way.  Because I already know the ending, I am more concerned with the process of life than with the so-called “results”.

Life on earth is all about processes, everything is constantly changing, even those things that on the surface still appear the same, everything is in a constant state of degrading and dying…everything on this planet from the moment it is formed begins to decay…it is through these natural cycles of birth and death, of grasping and letting go, that we learn the true spiritual lessons of reality.

“Technology” and machines thwart this natural way of things and that is precisely why mankind, as a whole, loves it so!  But the “natural way of things” (The Old Path, The Good Way) is there for our benefit and for our learning.  The average person in our day and age has the mentality of a toddler though fully grown, just listening to the popular songs on the radio I come across lyrics such as “all eyes on us, all eyes on us” – “I want it, I want it, I want it all” and “I wanna scream and shout and let it all out” and I get the feeling that I’m listening to songs written by toddlers, which is so very telling when looking at the mentality of the population as a whole.

Having been born into a mushy, comfortable, bland existence where they’ve sat on their asses and watched TV for the majority of their lives, being always well fed and well clothed, not having to actually work for anything or even witness the process of work that went on to keep their bellies filled and their backs clothed, having everything they ever wanted and more at the touch of a button or the flick of a switch.

Not even allowed to be able to come to a proper understanding of the most basic process and spiritual principle, that of sowing and reaping, which is in real time learned through the process of planting and growing food, food which is the most basic and intrinsic human need that we all share…it really shouldn’t surprise me that the lyrics of the most popular songs sound like they have been written by toddlers, because the people writing them have never been allowed to develop past the mentality of toddlerhood.

And why?

Because it is through hardship and difficulty that people learn to not be selfish toddlers, and because of technology life has become too easy, so people are never allowed to encounter the necessary struggles and dilemmas that cause a person to grow beyond themselves.  Growth is never achieved willingly, we are too much creatures of comfort for that 🙄

When I was a kid, I had all kinds of questions all of the time, and I was not trying to be rude or annoying with those questions.  On the contrary, what I was trying to do, in the most basic and efficient way possible, was learn of the processes of life that make up this planet.  I remember as a kid, feeling like I got jipped somehow, that I was put on this planet under false pretenses.  I always remember thinking to myself, “this is not the experience that I was promised” of course I never said a word of that to anyone because no one would understand.

When I became an adult, and was finally fully in control of my own life, I decided within myself that I wanted the full “earth experience” ..blood, and guts, and sweat, and tears, and pain, and sorrow, but in the midst of it all the amazing love and beauty and joy and peace and satisfaction that can be found…that is the paradox of Earth.  God said “ask for the old paths, the good ways” and if that is what HE suggested then, in my mind, that was the best way to go!  Up till that point, my earth experience had SUCKED, there was nothing to do but sit on your ass and watch TV.

I wanted to be an active participant, not an interested spectator.  I wanted to get my hands dirty in the dirt and plant things and watch in amazement and delight as these little inconspicuous seeds became a plant, and each one different, and each one unique on it’s own producing fruit that could be used a myriad of ways to delight my tastebuds and nourish my body.  Living in concert with the animal life, getting my eggs from real chickens, my milk from a goat, with the animal benefiting from my care to the point of even creating my own breed of goat or chicken someday.

I wanted to chop wood and fashion and build from it.  I wanted to take stones from the land and create a firepit or a stone wall.  I wanted to hunt an animal and eat it’s meat and use it’s skins to create leather from which I could make clothing or shoes or tools.  I wanted to create my own pottery and decorations, make my own art, work with my own hands.

I wanted to experience what it was like for me, as a woman, to love one man, truly love and know him for one lifetime.  I wanted to know how it felt to have another human grow inside me, live inside me for 9 months and then experience the fruition of this most amazing process by naturally birthing forth this human and all the sensations and feelings that come with it…for this is the very definition of what it means to be human!

If I can’t feel, I’m not mine, I’m not REAL.

Here’s to the TRUE Earth Experience! 😀