Why a Blog?

Why Pro-primitive?

The simplest answer to that question is that I had a kid.  I'm well into my 40's, which is a good thing for her, but I am also aware that when she is hitting her physical peak, I will be an old man.  I already struggle with the aches and pains of someone who lived pretty hard, and I dread the thought that when she is old enough to truly appreciate the things that I love most about the world, I may not be able to join her in her discovery.  So if I will not be able to walk beside her, maybe I can leave some stories, thoughts, and experiences to help her when she heads out into the world.

I adore the world as God made it.  Everything we need to know about how we are supposed to live can be discovered in nature if we are open minded, pay attention, and think for ourselves.  The world our earliest ancestors were born into was probably the cleanest slate to learn these essential lessons from.  The things that helped us to survive, thrive, and find joy were "good."  Those things that did not were, obviously, something else. 

If history were a book, and not a slate, with every new student we could turn back to the beginning each time we wanted to learn about the world, and our progression through the lessons of history would be sequential.  Easier to make sense out of.  Easier to understand.

But history is not a book.  Information and interpretations were added to that slate to the point that, like a chalkboard covered in the scribblings of a rambling and unfocused professor, the end result is a mess that causes the eyes to glaze over and the mind to go numb.  The natural response of most students in such a situation is to try to find the simple answers.  Get the Cliff Notes.  Look it up on Wikipedia.  Copy from the "smart" kid's paper. 

Not surprisingly, there are plenty of "smart" kids ready to fill the student in.  Some of them will even charge you for it, as though the expense gives them credibility and makes the information more valuable. 

The end result is that the "learning" is superficial, the foundations of each lesson's logic are shaky and poorly understood, and humanity is doomed to make the same mistakes over and over.

Pro-primitive is an effort to start at the beginning again.  To look at the early lessons and clean the slate enough, so that when my daughter is of an age to read and learn for herself she won't have to cherry-pick "good" and "bad" without the benefit of history.  Or worse, find an existence based on some shuckster's ready-made, 12 step program to "the good life".  (Only 3 payments of 19.99 each).

So, this blog is for Harper.  And my nephews and nieces.  If you have read this far, maybe it's for you. 

You are welcome here and I hope you find value in what follows.