by Daniel Quinn
Gotcha that way!
Someone else will try this: “But aren't you in fact saying, Mr. Quinn, that having no one right way to live is the one right way to live?”
No, I'm not saying that, because that's just meaningless babble. Having no one right way to live is not a way to live, any more than having no one right way to cook an egg is a way to cook an egg.
Knowing that there's no one right way to live won't tell you how to live, any more than knowing that there's no one right time to go to bed will tell you when to go to bed.
The beginning is not the end
Beyond civilization isn't a geographical space up in the mountains or on some remote desert isle. It's a cultural space that opens up among people with new minds.
As you discuss the ideas found in this book with your friends, you'll be able to spot the old minds easily. They're the ones who are always “playing the devil's advocate,” always proposing and concentrating on difficulties, always nailing the progress of your dialogue down to problems. Focus instead on what you want to happen and how to make it happen, rather than on all the things that might keep it from happening.
Believe it or not, a real person once said to me, “Yes, but won't we still have to pay taxes?” Yes, and you'll still have to curb your dog and observe the speed limit and shovel your sidewalks when it snows. And it will still be a good idea to get to the airport a few minutes before your flight leaves.
What, no miracles?
Jack and Jill spent some days with their friend Simon on his small sailboat. One morning they woke up to find the boat was sinking.
“What in the world are we going to do?” Jill asked.
“Don't worry,” said Jack, “Simon's very ingenious.”
Simon called to them, “Come on, we've got to abandon ship.”
Jill was alarmed, but Jack reassured her that Simon wouldn't let them down.
“We're only a hundred yards from shore,” Simon said. “Let's go!”
“But how are we going to save ourselves?” the couple wanted to know.
“We're going to swim for it, of course!” Seeing Jack's look of disappointment, Simon asked him what was wrong.
Jack said, “l was hoping you could find a way of translating us directly ashore, without our having to get wet.”
An early reader expressed the same disappointment with me. He was hoping I'd be able to find a way of translating us directly to our new economic homeland without our having to “get wet” in the Taker economy that surrounds us. The ultimate New Tribal economy (which at best I can only dimly imagine) is the dry land ahead. To reach it while holding ourselves disdainfully aloof from the economy around us would make walking on water seem like a very minor miracle indeed.
140 words of advice
You don't have to have all the answers. Certainly I don't have them. It's always better to say “I don't know” than to fake it and get into hot water.
Make people formulate their own questions. Don't take on the responsibility of figuring out what their difficulty is.
Never try to answer a question you don't understand. Make the askers explain it; keep on insisting until it's clear, and nine times out of ten they'll supply the answer themselves.
People will listen when they're ready to listen and not before. Probably, once upon a time, you weren't ready to listen. Let people come to it in their own time. Nagging or bullying will only alienate them.
Don't waste time with people who want to argue. They'll keep you immobilized forever. Look for people who are already open to something new.
A dynamite ending
Like any author, I figured that, when the time came, I'd have a dynamite ending for this book—a great clash of cymbals, a ray of pure sunshine knifing through the clouds (you know), but nothing like that presented itself. I mentioned this to Rennie yesterday afternoon, just as a matter of interest. I wasn't expecting her to work on the problem, because it didn't occur to me it was a problem. All the same, at three in the morning, she woke me up to explain why no terrific ending had presented itself and why no terrific ending was going to present itself. While she was at it, she told me I should include Hap and C.J. in the dedication and that this was the first of my books she actually wanted to have dedicated to her (the other dedications she more or less just put up with).
There's no ending in this book at all, she told me, because it's all one hundred percent beginning, and of course she's right.
But this just means no dynamite ending is going to turn up here. The dynamite ending is on the other side of this page and on out past the cover, where the actual revolution is going to take place.
The dynamite ending is for you to write.
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Dial-a-tribe
The New Tribal Revolution is nothing if not a great educational experiment, and it can only succeed if we share our wisdom, experiences, and discoveries with regard to making a living tribally. Luckily, we have a terrific medium for doing exactly this by way of the internet. At www.newtribalventures.com you can be in touch with like–minded readers ready for involvement in this next great adventure.
Those who are not online can reach me at Beyond Civilization, P.O. Box 66627, Houston TX 77266–6627. Your letters are gratefully received and will always be read with interest, but please understand that I can't answer each one individually.
Copyright © 1999 by Daniel Quinn
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following: The Providence Journal Company for excerpts from “The Circus Atmosphere at Ninigret Park” (Providence Journal-Bulletin, July 12, 1994).
Published by Three Rivers Press, New York, New York.
Member of the Crown Publishing Group.
Random House, Inc. New York, Toronto, London, Sydney, Auckland
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THREE RIVERS PRESS is a registered trademark and the Three Rivers Press colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Quinn, Daniel.
Beyond civilization: humanity's next great adventure/Daniel Quinn.
1. Civilization—Philosophy. 2. Human ecology. 3. Social change.
4. Forecasting. I. Title.
CB19.Q56 1999
901—dc21 99-22636
eISBN: 978-0-307-55464-2
v3.0
