"If" is for Children Building Daydreams

If's an illusion.

“If only time would trickle slow
Like rain that melts the falling snow
If only Lord, if only.” (1)

I have been reading the brilliant thinking of Daniel Quinn and have been struck many times how his ideas synchronize with my own. Most Biologists probably agree with his central premise that our civilization is headed over a cliff of unthinkable height to a fall of unthinkable depth. In the end he posits a way to avoid the ultimate disaster by invoking the If-Then solution. You know this solution to problems very well: “IF I could only get a better job THEN I could pay off all my bills.” The problem is with the IF. In the vast majority of cases, the IF doesn’t happen, and if it does, the THEN morphs and itself becomes illusionary. To whit: you get the better job with more salary, BUT the bills just keep coming in and may even get bigger.

In Quinn’s instance, although the premise of reverting or going forward to a tribal civilization is a compelling scenario, it looks like the world just isn’t going to do that. There seems to be no appetite for change or even capacity to recognize that we are in real trouble and need real global solutions now.
The IF in Quinn’s plan is compelling. The THEN is a good outcome. But as Roger Whittaker sings, “If’s an illusion . . . If is for children building daydreams.”

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbfR2l0LzfI&feature=related
Image: http://merchnow.com/store/graphics/00000006/MSI0IFEX00-CD001.jpg