Neil Oliver (2022) Wisdom of the Ancients: Life Lessons From Our Distant Past.

I don’t blame Neil Oliver for cashing in on short-lived fame. He’s the one with long hair and a mellifluous speaking voice that can drone on for hours about our Coast, the invasion of the Vikings, the ancient stones of Callandish and all the things you’ll never see or thought of but he’s such a nice guy, you’ve got to believe him, he’s brought them right into your living room. He used to go to the University of Glasgow, which is a bit of an architectural gem itself and is just up the road. At University he tells us they used to read medieval text. He doesn’t mind getting dirty and sifting through mud. That’s the nature of the beast in a Eurocentric world with us at the centre.

‘I wrote this book in search of answers—and if not answers [a couple of quid] then in the hope I would find reassurance and reasons for optimism.’

12 Life Lessons From Our Ancient Past. Timeline AD 2026: Trump and the US invade Greenland. 12 000 years ago: End of Last Ice Age in Europe. 16 000 years ago: Homo sapiens in the Americas, making America great again. 2 million years ago: non-Trump supporting Homo erectus in Africa. 3.7 million years ago: Australopithecus afarensis in Africa.   

I’m no numerologist. But I suspect the number 12 has significance, mimicking Canadian psychologist and best-selling author of inflammatory right-wing propaganda, much beloved by Trump supporters, Jordan Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos.  

While Oliver offers stories and blather, Peterson offers black or white rules. Do or don’t. But don’t blame anybody else.

But you know Oliver can never support the invasion of Greenland. Progess aye. But the patron Saint of Wisdom of the Ancients for Oliver—and I like to think the rest of us—is Scottish naturalist John Muir. Founder of America’s Natural Parks.

‘Matthew’s gospel has it that though the price of sparrows is a single copper coin, not one falls without God knowing it and why.’

John Muir’s life was filled with a sense of wonder and whys. His gospel about the rightful place of mankind was part of the miracle of nature—not the whole of. His cathedral was Yosemite and always. He wandered coatless in the wildness in freezing temperatures in ecstasy.  His writing was poetic. An invitation to go outside and be part of something beyond words. His spirit overflowed.

Petersen looked inward, rather than outward. Life is filled with conflict. Modern life adds to that mix. But with the right kind of right-wing thinking you can become someone that owns a nice house and believe you deserve it. You’ve not allowed chaos to invade your home life.

For Oliver nature is the winner. Empires come and go. Our land remains and remembers. Viking settlements flourished and vanished like Roman walls. Greenland isn’t really green. America’s claim to own Greenland fails on every level. When dealing with millennia America barely registers. The around 60 000 islanders of Greenland might have the larger claim of owning America. At the end of the last Ice Age that was about the population of our world.

• A land grab for Petersen lacks moral purpose. Clean your own house. ‘Set your house in perfect order before you criticize (or conquer) the world.’
• Chaos adds to chaos. The risk of chaos must be proportionate to the moral justification for a course of action.

Both the Wisdom of the Ancients and the not so ancient suggest the same thing. Don’t invade Greenland. Read on.  

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CVBVVGD6