The Story of B

Since last year I have the goal of reading at least four books a month. I have not been able to keep up the pace to four, but as minimum I have read three every month, which makes me happy, proud and lately fills out with joy my trip to work and back home every day.

Right now I am reading a book that is bringing some perspectives that I haven’t considered before. The book is by Daniel Quinn and it is called ‘The Story of B’.

I have been advised several times to read Ishmael from the same author, but never got the chance to, now after reading him on ‘The Story of B’ it is sure I will get to read it.

These are excerpts from ‘The Story of B’.

“Vision in our culture supports isolation, for example. It supports a separate home for every family. It supports locks on the doors. It powerfully supports staying isolated behind your locked doors and viewing the world electronically. Since this is the case, no programs are needed to encourage people to stay at home and watch television. On the other hand, if you want to get people to turn off their televisions sets and leave their homes, that’s when you need a program”.

“Isolation is supported by vision, so it takes care of itself, but community building isn’t, so it has to be supported by programs. Programs invariably run counter to vision, and so have to be thrust on people – have to be ‘sold’ to people. For example, if you want people to live simply, reduce consumption, reuse, and recycle, you must create programs that encourage such behaviors. But if you want them to consume a lot and waste a lot, you don’t need to create programs of encouragement, because these behaviors are supported by our cultural vision”.

“Vision is like the flowing river. Programs are sticks set in the riverbed to impede the flow. What I’m saying is that the world will not be saved by people with programs. If the world is saved, it will be saved because people living in it have a new vision”.

This book is from 1997, but is more than ever a good reading when thinking about global warming and everything else happening around.
Highly recommended!

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