[Sundae]

Isn't the point that the monkey mind has always been there? Society has always been about keeping up with the neighbours. And I doubt if 200 years ago those who "had" had much of an idea of how much work others put in to make sure they had it.

Many wonders of the Industrial Age were created by men who had servants, a wife to rule them all and children who were confined to the nursery or boarding school. America's Founding Fathers probably couldn't have cooked their own meals.

Unless your ideal is basic subsistance, there isn't a golden age you can go back to and even then it wouldn't be one that created anything outside itself.

Honestly - I would love the chance to go back to a more basic way of living. Hard hard work, long hours, responding to nature and the pull of my own body. Might stop me thinking so much, living in my own emotions, sabotaging all my own best efforts and destroying my own dreams. But with a choice not to, it's not a valid option. I'm stuck with this life and the most honest thing is to live it or die trying. Or join a cult I suppose.