All of life is an escapism from life

How's that for the ultimate in existentialism? Throwing in, if not a Nietschean eternal recurrence, then at least a hard feedback loop.

It's a theme that I will likely explore more in bits and pieces both here and at my philosophy and critical thinking blog.

Now, are all forms of escapism equally bad? No. Are all of them, when put in the scales, found wanting, to riff on Daniel, and ergo, at a minimum, more bad than good? Absolutely not.

What are we escaping from, anyway?

Boredom, in most cases.

Before the rise of print media, and especially before the rise of electronic media, boredom — or at least, the possibilities for boredom — were huge. Before the rise of radio, the farm belt, especially on the High Plains, had the highest suicide rate in the US. Boredom. Stuck on the land, in semi-arid, widely scattered farms and ranches, was a challenge.

But, boredom is not inevitable. And wasn't then. Mindfulness of the land could have helped on the High Plains, to call out the legend of the farmer loving nature.