Couple of things, today, have reminded me of the Big Picture behind Okal Rel as a concept which is to limit competition among humans to means, such as dueling, that are compatible with sustainability for life in the universe. The first stimulus was the Smile or Die video that captures the mania that's got us into the mess we're in, economically, and the second is the gulf oil spill. It's been over twenty years, now, that I've been exploring the tension created by limiting life-and-death struggles for power to duels or arbiter law when more potent means are available - even though using them risks destroying the universe's most precious resources: green worlds. Sexual politics and pressures, including the tension between lust and romance, and the dramatization of the various roles of sex in social life, has been a second preoccupation of the Okal Rel saga and one that has got more play in the drafts of Part 7 and 8 than in previous books as Amel navigated the rocky road to power. But as I head into the home stretch with Parts 9 and 10, it's time to bring up the volume on the sustainability theme, again. Although, of course, the question of limits to the means to an end and the passions that drive us are forever intertwined, as well.

Labels: okal rel, philosophy

posted by Lynda at 09:14   comment? e-mail lynda@okalrel.org 0 comments