Plants and Healerstag:,2008:/32008-07-22T19:04:31ZMovable Type Personal 4.1Schedule for Summer 2008tag:www.plantsandhealers.com,2008://3.3932008-07-22T19:00:17Z2008-07-22T19:04:31ZJuly 24th -25th Wild Foods and Fermentation with Sandor Katz at the Ashevillage Institute, NCDetails at www.kleiwerks.org July 25th-27th Plants and Mushrooms with Ken Crouse Hot Springs, NCSome day spaces still available. Contact Elmer for details: 828-622-7206. July 28th Transition...
July 24th -25th Wild Foods and Fermentation with Sandor Katz at the Ashevillage Institute, NCDetails at www.kleiwerks.org
July 25th-27th Plants and Mushrooms with Ken Crouse Hot Springs, NCSome day spaces still available. Contact Elmer for details: 828-622-7206.
July 28th Transition Culture Discussion circle in Hot Springs, NC 8:00 pm.Contact Elmer for details: 828-622-7206. If you would like to join us for dinner at 7:00 please let Elmer know. He has copies of the "Transition Handbook" by Rob Hopkins available. Come share and listen to views on local resilience and re-skilling ourselves. Now is the time to build community.
August 1st-3rd 15th Summer Permaculture Gathering at Celo, NChttp://www.se-permaculture.tripod.com
August 8th Embracing Your Plant Allies with Mary 10-3 outside AshevilleExact Location TBA. email marymorgaine@yahoo.com for details.
August 8th Getting to know the Conifers 6:00-8:00 at the ASHH West Asheville. 2 Westwood Place; tel: 828-350-1221 www.HerbsHeal.com
Bring a snack to share. Also, any cones, needles or branches of conifers around you. They are called the plants of a thousand uses. Conifers have many stories to tell. Come Listen and Share.
Donations are always appreciated. Many Thanks for those who support me on the Green Path...]]>
The Dilemma of Global Starvation as Intellectual Abstractiontag:www.plantsandhealers.com,2008://3.3312008-04-20T20:53:55Z2008-04-20T20:55:08Z The Dilemma of Global Starvation As Intellectual Abstraction The title of this essay may lead you to believe that I am discounting the knowledge of how many people starve to death each year. (nearly 3 million this year and...
The Dilemma of Global Starvation
As Intellectual Abstraction
The title of this essay may lead you to believe that I am discounting the knowledge of how many people starve to death each year. (nearly 3 million this year and counting. Check into some of our collective human vital statistics: www.lovearth.net/worldcounters.htm). I have been aware of this atrocity for many years. Stop for a moment and feel this. Someone starves to death every three seconds. There are so many paradoxes we live in this modern world including more than a quarter of the food reproduced in the US is wasted (96 billion pounds land-filled of the 356 billion pounds reproduced). Over a third of the UK’s food is thrown out! It is realizations like these that gradually shifted me from being the star of my own movie to “tuning in, turning on, and dropping out” as Timothy Leary advised. This I did fully in 1992 and for the next eight years searched to understand the appropriate path through life to walk. The feelings of human suffering still guide me as I live this life in service to Gaia.
This essay is about the failings of trying to approach this condition of suffering through institutions and experts along with suggestions of other ways we might live more in harmony in the planet.
The Failings of International Development
Our first teacher, Gustavo Esteva, writer, activist and “de-professionalized intellectual” told us how countries came to be thought of as developed/developing in 1949 when then US president Harry Truman declared Mexico “underdeveloped.” Gustavo described how demoralizing that felt in the face of the good life presented by American culture.
When I was a kid in the 1970’s I remember watching on TV fundraisers to help the starving masses during the famines in Ethiopia. From my chair watching the box, in my limited imagination, I saw endless, open desert plains with everyone as skeleton bodies or bloated bellied babies. It was many years later that I learned more about political and war realities. I have read about Ethiopia and have learned that in actuality it is a very fertile nation. But I have not been to Ethiopia. I have no real experiences there. I do not know.
I have been to India. I remember my first time going in 1997. I had read a number of books on India. I remember reading about how impoverished the people were with tens of millions living on less than a $1 a day. I could not imagine that, honestly. It was not until I got out in the villages that I realized these people had their homes, their gardens and animals. They had community. None of this involved money. They did not need money to live.
Subsistence living is depicted as undesirable in modern views. Placed within the context of land-based, community living this phrase can be seen in a new light. Community living is a separate paradigm from modern society’s approach to life. It was not something I could fathom without experiencing it. And that is important to emphasize. Modern, educated people believe we can know something accurately through media. But something is lost in crossing the divide between stories and living. Stories have a very important place in human culture, but they are no substitute for living.
Deschooling
“Medical treatment is mistaken for health care, social work for the improvement of community life, police protection for safety, military poise for national security, the rat race for productive work…Everywhere the hidden curriculum of schooling initiates the citizen to the myth that bureaucracies guided by scientific knowledge are efficient and benevolent…instills in the pupil the myth that increased production will provide a better life.”
-Ivan Illich from “Deschooling Society”
And so I ask you, where are these big thinkers who attend conferences and think tanks coming from? Are they our experienced elders? Often not. They are from the elite class and live in the non-land of “Richistan” (read Robert Frank). As Gustavo pointed out, they are people who’ve accumulated a lot of “ass-hours,” rising up through the universities developing their logical, left brains and academic communication skills with abstract thinking.
Gustavo pointed out, “school is not for learning…. There is a bias in education that learning about the world (in a bubble) is more important than learning in the world.” I am not saying these people do not care about what they are doing. I am saying they are not equipped to do the job.
Even more so, the job is not equipped to address the issues at hand. Top-down decision-making at its very center is flawed as an approach. But even more so, this approach of expert solutions has failed extensively in its manifestations such as creating corporations, the green revolution, foreign aid, every major example does not serve its true purpose for being. Governments do not serve the people, institutions institutionalize, corporations dominate and seek profits at all costs. As Gandhi said, when asked about what he thought of western civilization, “It’s a good idea”.
Ideas are not reality. Ideas come from the mind and reality is so much more. When I asked a local, respected elder about the shortcomings of modern living, she expressed, “Not enough hands are in the soil. We are out of touch with the land. There is no long-term commitment to place.” She asked, “Where are the good role models? The leaders are not competent. We are surrounded by systems of slavery.”
Corporate Welfare defiling the Commons
Corporation: n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility.
—Ambrose Bierce, 1842-1914.
We have failed as a human culture to see the huge impact that the concept of corporations has on the future of our world. Governments have been huge in the shaping of history but their powers resided within nations. Now over half of the largest entities in the world are corporations. As the financial assets continue concentrate in the corporations the agenda of education, research, human rights and much more are being shifted to the corporate agenda. It is important to recognize corporations as an artificial species as Jerry Mander does so well in The Case Against a Global Economy. In this book he tells us that at their core, corporations run counter to the evolution of humanity. “The main factors that determine corporate behavior have far less to do with people who work inside a corporation structure than they do with the corporate structure itself…. Profit comes first; growth a close second; amorality…comes third” (pg 81) “In dominating other cultures, in digging up the Earth, corporations blindly follow the codes that have been built into them. It is as if such codes were part of their genetic programming.” (pg 91)
With the rise of the multi-national corporations and their rapid consolidation of wealth and power, we are seeing cultures denuded and humanity being shifted toward the limited definitions of worker and consumer. Economics has been shifted to the center of humans’ lives. In a few decades it has become common place for modern cultures to have strawberries available year round, flowers in winter, and a never ending supply of cheap goods from the third world factories. And 99% of the items made are thrown away within six months of purchase. But this has come at a huge price and at every level the bill is coming due as expressed in catastrophic environmental changes, malnutrition and chronic diseases, pollution, depression (In the US, 1 in 10 women takes antidepressants. The use of antidepressants by adults has nearly tripled in the last decade according to the Washington Post (Dec 3, 2004)) and according to the WHO people 15-44, suicide is the fourth leading form of death globally).
If we review the history of corporations (for details on this watch or read The Corporation) we see that they were created for very different reasons than how they exist now. This needs to be brought to our collective attention. But as the old saying goes, it is hard to wake someone who is pretending to be asleep. Those many millions of people benefiting by careers and investments in corporations need to somehow see beyond their personal perspectives. Pulling the plug on multi-national corporations is central to survival on the earth.
Greed Devolution
“The vision was based not on cooperation with nature, but on its conquest. It was based not on the intensification of nature’s processes, but on the intensification of credit and purchased inputs like chemical fertilizers and pesticides. It was based not on self-reliance but on dependence. It was based not on diversity but uniformity. Advisors and experts came from America to shift India’s agricultural research…from an indigenous and ecological model to an exogenous and high input one…”
-Vandana Shiva The Violence of the Green Revolution
A horrifying example of the failings of top-down decisions was the post-WWII approach to feeding the world through the ”green revolution”. This involved undermining traditional farming practices, stripping away diversity, poisoning the land and people which has led to the spread of modern culture and its dis-eases worldwide. But is it is not as though we have learned from these devastating lessons that are still plaguing us. As Vandana brought to our awareness, the world is being subjected to a second “Green Revolution” now as corporations impose genetically modified seeds, receive subsidies from governments and privatize the commons (land, air, water) for exploitation. If we do not change this direction of death, the future of humanity is in peril.
Foreign Aid as Farce
Gustavo declared that 90% of foreign aid money is spent within the country giving it. We heard many stories from Gustavo and Vandana about the fallacies around aid. Gustavo spoke of how it felt to receive boxes of “aid” full of people’s old clothes and junk. In one memorable story, he spoke of how one of the Zapatista commanders carried around a single red high heel that had been received in a care package to remember how out of touch the offers of aid can be, how aid is often given out of pity and guilt rather than a sense of understanding and friendship without connection.
Gustavo gave us a speech given by Ivan Illich to new volunteers coming to Mexico to “help underdeveloped” villagers. In this speech he said, “I am here to suggest that you voluntarily renounce exercising the power which being an American gives you. I am here to entreat you to freely, consciously and humbly give up the legal right you have to impose your benevolence on Mexico. I am here to challenge you to recognize your inability, your powerlessness and your incapacity to do the ‘good’ which you intended to do.”
We had the head of England’s second largest NGO come to share his perspectives with us, Daleep Mukarji. He came from his heart but his actions were deeply tainted by his paradigm. His beliefs included: western medicine is the best approach to health, Christianity is the true religion and economics is at the center of living. Some of his beliefs he expressed explicitly, others came across in the stories he shared. He is but an example of the general approach to international aid. These beliefs determine the form of aid given. Daleep claimed that vaccines are universally accepted as beneficial, ignorant of the worldwide challenge to this both in western culture and other cultures. I have seen countless examples of the dominating society imposing its values on the repressed culture.
One example that stands out is from my last visit to the San in Namibia in 2005. A group of us had a day with them in what they called their traditional village with huts made of branches and thatch, their wearing of handmade animal skin clothes. They showed us many plants and their hunting techniques.
The next day they invited us to their new village funded by international aid. Though the village was only a mile away, the reality was a world away. I went from seeing an indigenous people to an impoverished people. They wore western t-shirt and jean hand-me-downs, lived in shacks, drank from a well and ate corn subsidies.
These givers of aid may not see these “improvements” in the San’s life as cultural genocide, and I wonder how many have actually spent time with them. I was in shock for several days after that. Somehow we in the west have this idea that our institutions are not only the best available now, but the best that ever have been. There are a number of books that expound on this illusion including Tom Wessels’ The Myth of Progress.
A UK national politician, Clare Short, came to speak to us with the message of the apocalypse coming soon. Though I agreed with many o f her comments, respected her knowledge and experience and enjoyed her warrior personality, we largely differed in our approach to being in the world. She could see some benefits to localization but her emphasis was on the need for more big thinkers and international organizations. These big thinkers, as I have already said, are from the elite class. How many are healthy, balanced, open-minded individuals? How many have been among the diverse peoples of the world? How many are experienced, wise elders? What is their relationship to the natural world? How many could forage for food, build a fire or shelter? How many could get lost, find water and their way back again? With few exceptions our leaders and experts are disconnected from the greater world and are not skilled in basic living needs. They are out of touch.
These abstract thinkers live within the cathedral of their minds. They are paid high salaries and supply the rationale behind the actions of the governments and corporations. Their research, full of statistics and charts, discusses “the masses”, “the third world” and “underdeveloped countries” as if they exist as some clearly defined entity that can be manipulated through social engineering. These abstractions are examples of what Henri Bortoft calls counterfeit wholes that lead us down the path of inappropriate action.
Starting with You
As a tree grows, so it becomes. If our belief system is shaped by limited thinking, false notions, outdated myths, then how can our thoughts about solving global problems transcend our limitations reliably? If the experts have not learned basic survival skills how can they even begin to relate to the world of most people? Those of us born after the 1940’s are all “damaged goods” toxic, manipulated, mentally unbalanced, shaped by the experiments of the hundred-year lie. (for details on this, read Fitzgerald). We need to accept that the focus now needs to be on improving our health and connectivity.
Gustavo feels our biggest challenge ahead has to do with “dialoging between the cultures.” With the programs of education, media/advertising, religion and cultural normalizing, we westerners have become full of ourselves. Our perspectives are limited. Even our abstractions are limited and ungrounded in experience. We live in a modern culture bubble largely ignorant of how most of the world lives. As individuals we are simple, limited beings. Some argue western society is the least skilled in human history.
I would agree that “many minds are more powerful than one” following the adage that “many hands make light work” but let us keep that view in scale. A community of people benefits from the collective stories of its members. A community garden benefits from many hands. But these global issues we are speaking of: poverty, starvation, pollution that involve billions of humans and millions of other species are beyond the mental capacity of any group of us to “solve”. Graphic designer and teacher, Terry Irwin describes these as “wicked problems” unable to be solved with linear approaches. Instead we need to approach them with principles outlined in holistic science involving an understanding of chaos and complexity theories. And there comes a point (rather quickly) when we need to see the inadequacy of thought and open to intuition, spirit and feelings.
Eating from the Wild
When I am asked about the crisis of starvation, I immediately see my inability to imagine solutions at the world level. I believe Nature is abundant and speak of people eating from the wild. When abstract, big thinkers hear this they claim it to be preposterous and paint images of the masses consuming everything in sight creating those dry, dusty plains of my childhood imagination.
But let us slow down a bit. Come into our bodies. Start with our little humble selves. We need to learn the basics of living and health. Do you know them? Once you do, share them with others around you. Stay open to learning throughout your life. Many traditional belief systems emphasize that our main role here in Gaia is to be caretakers, to carry the seeds, to tend to the needs of the land, to bring forth gardens, beauty, art, inspiration….
If we can re-align our energies towards these ways, the 20% of us using 80% of the resources, would greatly shift the reality of humanity’s presence on the planet.
Within our lives we need to emphasize sustainable practices and permaculture principles. New technology is not where we need to focus our efforts to find answers. What we have achieved already exceeds the needs and capacities of our collective harmony. More is not better. We need to find our personal gifts and open them for the world through creativity and imagination.
As I mentioned earlier, community living is a separate paradigm from modern society’s approach to life. This can be our way through the coming hard times. Sustainable community is expressed through cooperative co-habitation. We are not islands unto ourselves. To achieve sustainability requires fundamental shifts on our mindset. Some clues for what this means were given to us by Gustavo in his comparison of indigenous and modern mindsets.
Area Modern Society Indigenous Society
Time time is real and rules. The people No such thing as time
are future oriented. The present People live in cycles
is ephemeral. Time is controlled. The present is wide.
The future is brilliant and
diffused like a rainbow.
Space Shapeless space. People are loyal Place is the first notion of
to institutions not places. community and is rooted.
Self Autonomous being not an individual. The
persona is a mask-a knot in the web of relations:
Every “I” is a “We”
Purpose Job-Economics is the center of People are multi-skilled
society in useful activities
Jerry Mander notes many other differences in In the Absence of the Sacred including:
Area Technological Peoples Native Peoples
Land private property as basic value no private owning land
Means of Exchange currency system-abstract value barter system-concrete
value
Average work day 8-12 hours 3-5 hours
Economics growth required steady state
Nature viewed as a resource a living being
Reverence for the young the old
Focus on saving and acquiring sharing and giving
Human and Earth superior and dead alive and in the web of
life
In addition, I would add that in modern society decisions are made top-down from institutions, governments, and corporations. In Indigenous societies the decisions are made at the human scale. Also, people in modern societies rely on experts to direct their decisions while at an indigenous level people gain guidance from each other and nature. There are many more comparisons that can be made but one last one is that production and consumption are usually widely removed from each other in modern society and are one in the hands of indigenous society. We need to see how life is cyclical not linear and shift our minds into balance and seeing the many kinds of knowing.
Life is a dynamic unfolding. We need to explore and re-invent our whole way of being. As Gustavo warns, “Changing or fixing the world is very hard if not impossible. Instead we need a new world.” In Thomas Berry’s classic, The Great Work, we see ourselves at the end of the Cenozoic Era and have a choice between pursuing technological/scientific solutions and ecological ones. He points out that all our institutions are collapsing from their limited visions.
We need to realize that any solution that is attempted from the top-down with one culture presupposing it has the answers for another culture, is doomed to failure. Together, first starting from within and then working out from there with grassroots lessons, we can build a new world for the generations to come.
References
Article
Illich, Ivan “To Hell with Good Intentions” 1968 speech to the volunteers at the Conference on InterAmerican Student Projects
Books
Bakan, Joel The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power (2004) Simon and Schuster
Berry, Thomas The Great Work: Our Way into the Future (2000) Crown Publishing
Bortoft, Henri The Wholeness of Nature (1996) D. Reidal Publishing
Fitzgerald, Randall The Hundred Year Lie : How Food and Medicine are Destroying Your Health (2006) Penguin Books
Frank, Robert Richistan (2007) Crown Publishers
Goldsmith, E. and Mander, J. editors The Case Against the Global Economy and For a Turn Towards Localization (2001) Earthscan Publications
Illich, Ivan Deschooling Society (1970) Marion Boyars Publication
Mander, Jerry In the Absence of the Sacred: The Failure of Technology and Survival of the Indian Nations (1991) Sierra Club Books
Shiva, Vandana The Violence of the Green Revolution (1991) Third World Network
Wessels, Tom The Myth of Progress: Toward a Sustainable Future (2005) University of Vermont Press
Sustainable Design Short Coursetag:www.plantsandhealers.com,2008://3.3282008-04-08T15:07:20Z2008-04-08T15:11:01ZSustainable Design Short Course Essay for MSc March 5, 2008 Permaculture as Sustainable Design Language plays many roles in this walk through life. You are now here in it, in this sentence, as you read through these symbols lifting meaning...
Sustainable Design Short Course
Essay for MSc
March 5, 2008
Permaculture as Sustainable Design
Language plays many roles in this walk through life. You are now here in it, in this sentence, as you read through these symbols lifting meaning from the presence of the whole. (Bortoft) For language to flow we need to be at some level of agreement as to the meanings of the words. In the six months since beginning this MSc the call for a lexicon has been raised a number of times as we try to bring words into realms not often articulated in modern times.
As humanity enters the post-modern era, we are working hard to test out new meanings to old words and occasionally whole new words. What resonates will last and change and grow along with the budding culture of Gaian awareness. “We can choose whether to remain in the narrow, objectivist mode of consciousness that has contributed to the crisis, or to act from a deeper, wider mode of consciousness in which we experience our unity with the whole of Gaia…” (Harding, pg 225)
Let us simply look at the language for the title of this essay. During the three weeks of the Sustainable Design course these words have certainly been batted around, both propped up and taken down. Though our course was largely devoid of permaculture(PC) teachings (with the exception of Ana Cardona and my presentation on the topic one afternoon), a review of design literature does indicate that its philosophy is becoming known. In The Sustainable Revolution and Design for Sustainability time is taken to describe it history and some of its major tenants. Edwards further describes permaculture as an example of a “…biocentric approach to sustainability. Nature is at the center and humans depend on it…” (pg 122)
In the three weeks we had seven teachers each giving their views on sustainable design as well as the 25 of us, students, putting forth thoughts and experiences around this topic. I grew a lot in my understanding of the culture of designers and the complexities of changing how we go about creating…
Design
“Design is the underlying matrix of life” Victor Papanek
“Design is the keyword of this book: design in landscape, social, and conceptual systems; and design in space and time….”
- Bill Mollison
The professional designer came into prominence as the humanizer of engineered products at the beginning of the 20th century to serve the needs of industry. Generally, I felt from my teachers who had been/are professional designers that through their careers they did not have much of an awareness of the impact of design on the environment. Design was more seen as an aspect of creativity as well as serving their client’s needs. With the increasing environmental awareness each of them became tuned in and began to shift. They all felt that there is an awakening within the design world as to the ethics of design. And in this awakening new principles have been developed to represent novel approaches to design. Though one of our teachers, Ezio Manzini pointed out, “Now designers are grasping the problem but visions are limited.”
One of the gifts from this class is this notion of conscious design and a recognition that we are all designers, indeed, that we are all designs. I have come up with the slogan “You Design You” to remind myself of that. Design is us and passes through us into larger designs. If there is a grand, intergalactic design, I am sure it is not a static, linear design but a dynamic, whole design. From this MSc program I am more aware in a very real way of the presence of the design of Gaia within whom we live. This is an animate, adaptable, responsive being who encourages by example.
Our teacher, Alastair Fuad-Luke, (in Chapman) diagramed many of the ways these new approaches to design have been described with their different titles: Ecological Design (Eco-design), Co-design, participatory design, slow design, green design…and, of course, the title of this course,
Sustainable Design
Sustainable—to be able to sustain. This word came into vogue in the 1990’s. The word sustain comes from Latin sustenere ‘to hold up’. In one online dictionary there were nine active definitions containing words such as: keep in existence, encourage, maintain, supply with necessities, support the spirits, vitality, or resolution of. David Holmgren points out in his book Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability, ”The lack of any reasonable definition of sustainability has left it open to inevitable appropriation by the corporate spin doctors. But even the most genuine and useful sustainability concepts including permaculture contain ambiguity about sustainability as a state or process.”
Michael Braungart, co-author of Cradle to Cradle, spoke about how “being sustainable is boring” and emphasized, “Sustainability is just the minimum”. He asked, “Do you want to just sustain your relationship with your spouse?” He challenged a lot of buzzwords like efficiency and carbon footprint reminding us to aspire for beauty and “to celebrate human life”.
We need, also, to pursue the definitions of other, perhaps more appropriate terms, like ecological design, which John and Nancy Todd defined in 1984 as “design for human settlements that incorporates principles inherent in the natural world in order to sustain human populations over a long span of time. This design adapts the wisdom and strategies of the natural world to human problems.” In the book, Ecological Design (1996) they define it as “any form of design that minimizes environmentally destructive impacts by integrating itself with living processes”. Though these definitions are far more inclusive than mainstream standards of design, they do not explicitly include the participation of the stakeholders in the design central to Alastair’s co-design concepts nor the socially innovative design concepts that encourage human evolution as shared by Ezio. Neither does it state the inter-dependant, co-evolving aspects of Nature (and our being a part of Nature). Why not participatory design? Or, as Alastair would like us to consider, co-design or slow design? Each term has its strengths and limitations but as David Orr writes we need a paradigm shift, “Our institutions and organizations still reflect their origins in a different time…. If we are to build a better world…we must transcend the disorder and fragmentation of the industrial age…. By whatever name, that philosophy must connect us to life, to each other and to generations to come.” (pg 4)
So, yes, we are left with that challenge of uncertainty and ambiguity. As we often hear in the MSc program, we live at the edge of chaos. Focusing on this has led me to a strong conviction that now is the time to act. Personally we need to acquire earthskills and develop ourselves enough to know our part in the unfolding wonders of creation. Collectively we need to begin preparing an energy descent plan (Hopkins) to address Holmgren’s challenge: “The real issue of our age is how we make a graceful and ethical descent”. If we acknowledge what Manzini calls, “the ongoing big change.” then it is time to act and do and network!
Holmgren goes on “Once we accept the reality and magnitude of energy descent, we begin to ask what ‘sustainability’, ‘sustainable systems’ or ‘sustainable system design’ might mean. Even the idea of permanence at the heart of permaculture is problematic to say the least.”
As James Lovelock calls out from his “cave in the mountains”,
Adapt or Perish!
During my time at this temple of the mind, I have come to see that really there is nothing new under the sun. It has all been written. The answers lie within the dusty tombs we call books. Is there anyone left who can read? We must open the gates of the ivory towers and leave the shopping malls to unlock the wisdom of our elders. If we can do that, we will see that there is an articulated philosophy is perfect for the context of our new world rising and it is called….
Permaculture
“The permaculture movement is part of this global cultural reality, which some call post-modernism, where all meaning is relative and contingent.” Holmgren
The permaculture movement has spread remarkably in 35 years. It has from two people, Bill Mollison and David Holmgren in Australia in the 1970’s to over 100,000 trained PC designers in most countries of the world. I have walked in PC gardens at the edge of the Kalahari in Africa, the southern island of NZ, the Andes of Peru...to name a few…and certainly here at Schumacher College the explosion of permaculture under the stewardship of Justin West is in full swing. Justin has learned much from our neighbor, the world-renowned Martin Crawford of Agro-forestry fame, growing edible forests. These lands have certainly benefited from their attention. But we are just beginning…
Along with this growth of permaculture has come a splintering of ideas of what permaculture really is. There is an international permaculture conference held roughly every couple of years which has done its best to keep endorsing a true strength of permaculture in its ability to embrace any land wisdom principles that contribute to a greater effectiveness. “Traditions are the building blocks of the new.” (Manzini lecture) And at the same time, if some edges are not established then permaculture’s meaning becomes diluted in an ocean of amorphous possibility. As David Holmgren points out, “…there are dangers in attempts to develop ‘a theory of everything’…. Nevertheless, I see the progressive evolution of permaculture as a strength in influencing the patchy and pulsing nature of social change.”
These many meanings are not necessarily wrong and many can simultaneously exist. The concern though is that one aspect of permaculture, such as market gardens, should not dominate broader meanings or that the term permaculture not be used in green washing. There is an ongoing effort to ensure that those who teach PC or call themselves PC designers have a common foundation from which they operate.
It was quickly realized that permaculture reached beyond its initial meaning of permanent agriculture—to become permanent culture. For as Holmgren writes, “People, their buildings and the ways they organize themselves are central to permaculture.”
Permaculture design is not trying to be everything. It has grown from the emphasis on food to include design of physical and social structures for sustainable living. I have come across little evidence that people are trying to encompass PC into specific products like a PC fork or PC frying pan.
When permaculture design becomes the underlying approach to creating a sustainable community, its basic tenants will implicitly affect individual product design; they will rise up out of the fertile forest (literally and figuratively) that this approach will provide.
”Permaculture as a design system contains nothing new. It arranges what was always there in a different way so that it works to conserve energy or to generate more energy than it consumes. What is novel, and often overlooked, is that any system of total commonsense design for human communities is revolutionary!” (Mollison, pg 9)
“What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet” -Shakespeare
So what is permaculture?
Mollison writes “Permaculture design is a system of assembling conceptual, material and strategic components in a pattern which functions to benefit life in all its forms.” (pg. ix)
“The Prime Directive of Permaculture: The only ethical decision is to take responsibility for our own existence and that of our children. Make it now.” (pg 1)
“The ethical basis of Permaculture: 1) Care of the Earth 2) Care of People 3) Setting limits to population and consumption.” (pg 2)
Holmgren writes “Permaculture emphasizes bottom-up ‘redesign’ processes, starting with the individual and household as the drivers for change at the market, community and cultural level. Permaculture sees pre-industrial sustainable societies as providing models that reflect the more general system design principles observable in nature, and relevant to post-industrial systems.” (pg xvii)
I have a philosopher/farmer/Goethean Scientist friend of mine named Turtle who has come up with his,
Philosophy of Duh
Permaculture is a 30 year old word for a 10,000 year old idea…there isn't specifically anything new about what the principles of PC are, it's just that today we talk about them as an idea or a specific system. I think what I am doing with my little jive talk is trying to get people to see that we all practice PC in some ways, and we always have. I want to make more people more comfortable with the idea, more at ease with a concept that is accompanied with an intimidating 3-inch-thick designers handbook.
Permaculture is the Science of Duh. I need water to nourish the crops and wash my face. Water falls from the sky and then off of my roof through downspouts. I think I'll put a bucket under the spout. Duh!!!
The best ideas in PC are the most basic concepts of working with nature...I think that that is what makes it so attractive, so beautiful. So the practice of, the art of or the science of duh, whatever you want to call it, is the practice of doing that which you would be an idiot if you didn't. It is common sense…
Unfortunately, as Justin points out to people who frequently ask about the transition Schumacher College is going through, “common sense isn’t so common anymore.” Indeed, what are we teaching our children? I have heard it claimed that modern humans are the least skilled in what was once thought of as basic human abilities such as making fire, gathering food and medicine, finding potable water, constructing shelter and clothing, even knowing the cardinal directions. How did this come to be? As a strange irony that comes with this label of being a modern human, we think of ourselves as the most evolved beings riding this wave of progress. As another of our teachers, Terry Irwin, pointed out, “We cannot perceive what we cannot conceive. We are blinded by our conditioning…. We need to improve the power of our thinking.”
PC as SD
Sustainable design, with all its ambiguity, lies at the heart of permaculture. Sustainability, yes, but not stopping at self-sustainability, onward to co-sustainability. From the self we grow to appreciate our inter-dependability and see our work as leaves on the tree of life. We play our small parts and can feel how they interlink with all of life in each unique moment.
One of the beauties of permaculture is that it can encourage a cerebral expansion of the mind with big picture, on-top-of-the-mountain thinking. As you follow each thought, it takes you back down to the earth into intricate details of its manifestation. For example, you can think about the zones around a homestead (PC describes five of them). The closest is the home. In the home is a bathroom and in the bathroom a toilet. PC people all over the world have experimented with toilet designs. You can read about them and take your pick based on your needs. And these designs take into consideration all the other aspects of the house and the zones out from there.
How does this ripple through the world network that is PC? There are magazines and websites and chat groups. There are associations and gatherings. But most importantly, there are thousands of “seeds of innovation” [Manzini lecture] who are each carrying out an experiment of sustainable living. Manzini adds, “Seeds are real, not utopian fantasies.” Their designs are shaped by the new stories that rain down, carried by the descendents of Kokopelli along with the seeds and music.
As Brian Goodwin often says “We are here to serve each other and to serve the earth.” As one of my PC teachers said, “Your first client is always the earth.” Mollison reminds us, “…the end result of the adoption of permaculture strategies in any country or region will be to dramatically reduce the area of the agricultural environment needed by the households and the settlements of people, and to release much of the landscape for the sole use of wildlife and for the re-occupation by endemic flora. Respect for all life forms is a basic, and in fact essential, ethic for all people.”
As David Holmgren pointed out, looking into the definitions of words soon becomes problematic as we try to have them explain the complexities of life. What this has taught me is to hold words more lightly. As Satish Kumar discussed in our fireside chat, “Don’t have fixed opinions. Don’t be dogmatic. Be free in your thinking.” When encountering words I ask what are the intentions, contexts, and meanings behind them? What is being communicated?
In the sustainable design course, though permaculture was alluded to a couple of times, it was clear that PC has not been embraced by designers as a model of sustainability. This is based, I feel, on ignorance and classism. And, as Mollison discusses, the resistance by academia to embrace multi-disciplinary approaches. From my perspective, critiques of PC not being academically rigorous enough is more a sign of academic rigor mortus. For as we have seen in this essay, PC is clearly SD. Through this dynamic philosophy we can finally unify the heart, mind, and hand. Orr writes, “When we get it right, that larger, ecologically informed enlightenment will upset comfortable philosophies that underlie the modern world in the same way that the Enlightenment of the eighteenth century upset medieval hierarchies of church and monarchy.” (pg 4) And that is what Permaculture is doing.
References
Articles
Bortoft, Henri “Counterfeit and Authentic Wholes: Finding a
means for dwelling in Nature.” Marinus Nighoff Publishers 1985
Books
Birkeland, Janis (2002) Design for Sustainability Earthscan
Chapman, Jonathan and Grant, Nick (2007) Designers, Visionaries and Other Stories Earthscan
Edwards, Andres (2005) The Sustainability Revolution New Society Publishers
Harding, Stephan(2006) Animate Earth Chelsea Green
Holmgren, David (2003) Permaculture: Principles and Pathways beyond Sustainability Holmgren Design Services
Hopkins, Rob (2008) The Transition Handbook Green Books
McDonough, William and Braungart, Michael (2002) Cradle to Cradle North Point Press
Mollison, Bill (1996) Permaculture: A Practical Guide for a Sustainable Future Tagari Publications
Orr, David (2002) The Nature of Design Oxford Press
Todd, Nancy and Todd, John (1984) Bioshelters, Ocean Arks, City Farming: Ecology as the basis of Design Sierra Club Books
Van Der Ryn, Sim and Cowan, Stuart (1996) Ecological Design Island Press
Websites
Permaculture Activist Magazine:
www.permacultureactivist.net
Permaculture Magazine:
www.permaculture.org.uk
Schedule for Gatherings April and May 2008 East Coasttag:www.plantsandhealers.com,2008://3.3272008-04-07T02:12:06Z2008-05-14T22:33:03ZI am really lucky to have Jessika Towle (jessikaht@msn.com) assisting this spring teaching time. If you have questions about the schedule below please don’t hesitate to contact her or me. New opportunities and changes will be posted on my website—check...
I am really lucky to have Jessika Towle (jessikaht@msn.com) assisting this spring teaching time. If you have questions about the schedule below please don’t hesitate to contact her or me. New opportunities and changes will be posted on my website—check in occasionally: www.plantsandhealers.com. Generally speaking, I seek right-livelihood through donation so please give what you can and receive what you need. Hope to see you helping make one or more of these circles meaningful. Look forward to reconnecting with family and friends this spring!
Frank
for
more info.
May 8— Permaculture, Goethe and Hot Cross Buns: the mystery of science in everyday life Pearson Gardens Asheville 2:00-6:00 Community Potluck at 6:30
Turtle and I hope that you will join us as we travel through the mental landscape of pondering our existence here in Gaia. We will explore the permaculture designs and flora of Pearson Gardens, make bread and share in a phenomenological study of nature in the spirit of Goethe’s approach. Come be a part of it the synergy!
Donations appreciated. Call Turtle at 828-273-8151 to let us know your coming.
May 9-11 Lake Eden Arts Festival Black Mountain
I have been going to this land for festivals and commemoration of the Black Mountain College over the last 18 years. This year I will facilitate a plant spirit medicine circle on Saturday night and give a talk on Plant Allies Sunday morning. Contact www.theleaf.com for more information.
May 13 Living the Green Path around Asheville Information TBA
May 16 Plant walks in Charlotte
City Walk- Meet at the Smelly Cat Coffee Shop, 514 East 36th St. Charlotte, NC 28205 9am - 11am
Woods Walk-Meet at Reedy Creek Nature Preserve, 2900 Rocky River Rd. Charlotte, NC 282131pm - 3pm
Suggested Donation: 25$ ($35 for both)
contact – Adam at makalotieno@yahoo.com
May 17 Weed Walk and Transition Talk at Pickard’s Mountain Chapel Hill
10:00-12:00 Weed Walk followed by a Potluck
6:00 Talk on Transition Culture-Life after Peak Oil
Contact Megan at pickardsmountain@gmail.com for more details.
Virginia
May 21 Plant Walk at Morning Light Sanctuary 2:00-5:00 outside Roanoke Contact Robert at footes@prodigy.net
May 22 Green Local Food and Permaculture near Roanoke
3:00 –5:00 pm Plant Walk
6:00- 7:00 pm Local and Foraged Food Meal
7:30- 9:00 pm Discussion Circle andPC Resource Sharing
Call Pamela at 540-345-3405 for more information
May 23 Plant Walk in Afton, (Nelson County) 10:00-2:00
Come join us out in the woods for a memorable time with the plants. Contact Kevin at 434–906-8375
Pennsylvania
May 25- Plant Walk 11-2 in Philadelphia
Contact David Siller at dsiller@yahoo.com for info.
New Jersey
May 26-Genesis Farm Wild Foods and Medicines Walk 10 am-2 pm Contact them at 908-362-6735, or through their website for more details: www.genesisfarm.org/wildfood08.htm
May 29- Transition Culture Talk 7:00 Hosted by Ridge and Valley Sustainable Living Network Contact Paul Klemm: paul_klemm@yahoo.com. Come to this talk on life after peak oil. For more information on transition culture visit transitionculture.org
Maryland
May 30 Healthy Living in the 21st Century: Herbs,Fermentation and Gaia 6:30-8:30 at the Green Earth Goods Clarksburg MD
Come and hear a talk on the benefits of healthy living with herbs and fermentation. There will be a demo on how to make Kim Chi and Kombucha. Donations are appreciated. Let us know you are coming contact Niki at info@greenearthgoods.net or 301-916-2035
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A Phenomenological Inquiry into Ferns and Seaweedstag:www.plantsandhealers.com,2008://3.3262008-04-07T02:06:15Z2008-04-07T02:10:28ZFrank Cook Chrysalis 2 Essay December 20, 2007 This paper is in two sections linked by my love for Gaia. I hope you enjoy it. As Brian, voice of the ferns, often reminds us, “We are here to serve each...
Frank Cook
Chrysalis 2 Essay
December 20, 2007
This paper is in two sections linked by my love for Gaia. I hope you enjoy it. As Brian, voice of the ferns, often reminds us, “We are here to serve each other and to serve Gaia.”
“If you are a poet, you will see clearly that there is a cloud floating in this sheet of paper. Without a cloud, there will be no rain; without rain, the trees cannot grow; and without trees we cannot make paper. The cloud is essential for the paper to exist. If the cloud is not here, the sheet of paper cannot be here either.”
-Thich Nhat Hanh in Satish Kumar’s You Are Therefore I Am
Section 1 - A Phenomenological Inquiry into Ferns and Seaweeds
In the first module Henri Bortoft and Craig Holdrege established the efficacy of using Goethe’s approach of phenomenological study. But it was in the second module that Brian Goodwin and Stephan Harding placed it in context for us. Brian describes phenomenology as a form of “exploratory orientation in which we are fully embedded in the experience”. Stephan took us on several phenomenological explorations, two of which were in the redwood forest. He described the Goethean approach as “seeing the whole in the parts.” We brushed aside the detritus and looked at life on the forest floor. Stephan referred to the other creatures we saw as our “brothers and sisters” as we kneeled there amazed at the abundance of life forms beneath our feet...
A key aspect to phenomenological research is contained in the word re-search; Insights are gleaned through repeated exposure to the phenomenon both externally and internally. Brian encouraged us to go back and forth between the holistic encountering of Nature and reflecting with logic and reason. Phillip, former MSc student, spoke to us during the second module saying, “Goethean science creates the vessel that sets the scene for transformation…Transformation cannot be articulated but knowledge builds the platform for that to happen in the ‘Aha’ of meaning.” Henri expounds on this when he writes about Goethe’s approach of dwelling in the phenomenon (Henri, pg 293).
For the past season I have felt called to bring forth my discoveries of this land around Schumacher into this second essay. One of the wonders of Gaia is that s/he/it is both complex, immense and incomprehensible AND, at the same time, obvious, immediate and deeply intimate. How better to illustrate this than relating the experiences of the land as they dance in my psyche?
We were introduced to a number of theories, including: Complexity, Relativity, Quantum Physics, as well as, the Gaia theory, as the foundations for Holistic Science. Each of these, in their own way, frees us from the reductionist, object-oriented approach of Western Science. Brian points out that, “every story is true in limited ways…Science is just another story that appeals to some subcultures”. When we are sharing our stories Brian often encourages us to “ask yourself who is the audience?” Though there have been many breakthroughs in Physics, Brian notes that “Biology lags and is still very mechanistic”. Rupert Sheldrake came to speak to us and he noted that “western science has gotten in to a dogmatic, tight space.” Brian encouraged us to ask, “what is the intention of the scientist?”
Balancing this Stephan points out that “computer modeling can give you insights into relationships.” He listed a number of observations from Lovelock’s computer program Daisyworld. This program re-instated Lovelock’s reputation within Western Science. It linked observations from Physics such as light absorption on the earth with biological observations such as the bell-shaped curve of plant growth. Stephan claims that well-done models can be a form of “intelligent reductionism”.
Brian told us, when we are engaging real, complex life, “we cannot reason through and predict outcomes. We need to go beyond and cultivate intuition, sensitivity and health”. This second module reminded me that I am content with a certain amount of mystery in the world. I am content to have faith and trust in something greater and wiser than me of which I am a part. In this paper I will show the interplay of inner understanding as it dances with the stimuli of the outer world.
When discussing this idea with Brian, he asked me how sharing about the land would fit into the requirements of the essay. Without thinking about it, I responded that an inquiry into the land as a phenomenological study would illustrate the relevance and living way of Holistic Science. I both said/heard this. I sat with this insight for several days.
As Brian told us, “By encountering Nature, we are reading the book of Life….Unity is real….Go back to the whole. Really there are no plans, no building blocks, no concepts, no separation”. For this work I embrace the phenomenon developing my “holistic, sensing, and intuitive” skills.
Dreaming
In a dream last month, I found myself in a field near the ocean with a large crowd of people around me. I was espousing the virtues of seaweeds. People went about gathering them and placing them in large, black plastic bags. And there, in the dream, I was struck by the similarities of seaweeds and ferns. I mentioned this to the crowd and some of the people expressed doubts. I quoted Henri saying that distinction creates relationship. In the dream these insights fermented showing me similarities of texture, look and growth patterns connecting them upstream of their obvious differences such as where they grow.
The fact that seaweeds are in the ocean and ferns, generally, grow on the land may seem a huge distinction but from the perspective of humanity looking back in time this is not so significant—for all life originates in the oceans. Both forms of life have been stable and resilient for tens of millions of years. They have created a huge morphic resonance due to their adaptability. Their fractal nature is apparent in their self-similar branching patterns.
Connections
Last month we walked through deep time with the guidance of Stephan and Sergio. In our walk each meter was the equivalent of a million years. Humans finally appeared in the last meter of the 4.6 km walk. From this place, looking back over hill and dale, we could see where the ferns appeared and further back we had walked through the appearance of the seaweeds.
Ferns
Ferns are in the Division Pteridophyta of which there are 20,000 species. Most ferns are land-bound though some float in water such as Azolla. The fossil record indicates they first appeared in the Early Carboniferous era around 360 million years back. The modern genera evolved 250 million years back (Triassic) and spread worldwide 145 million years ago. Ferns are the first vascular plants but do not have roots only rhizomes. Ferns grew all along the deep-time hike. Though ferns are not considered acutely poisonous, some evidence exists that some species can be carcinogenic over time if consumed regularly.
The other day when Justin, Mary and I were doing an inventory of the plants on the land here at Schumacher, we encountered a dozen or so ferns. We knew maybe half the names and left the others to another day to identify. Why is this? I have noticed in my journey with the plants these past thirteen years that even among the plant experts, few have a grasp of the ferns. I believe this is because ferns evolved without the presence of or need for the humans. They do not rely on us, do not reach out into our psyche and spark us. Our brains are sparked by showy flowers and fruits. There is this sense that ferns generally look the same. Upon really looking at its features, each genus is quite unique though subtle in their distinctions. As Goethe says, “Can I look at things with clear, fresh eyes?…Can the grooves of old mental habits be effaced? This is what I am trying to discover.” (Goethe, Italian Journey from Craig’s handout).
This is contrasted with our flowering plant guardians who (as is illustrated in the Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan) may actually be cultivating us to perpetuate their species.
Seaweeds
Evidence suggests seaweeds (certain types of algae) appeared in the Proterozoic era about 550 million years back. Any ocean I encounter I usually know some of the seaweeds I see because I have been fascinated by them for the last eight years. Most seaweeds are generally grouped into three main phyla: Green (Chlorophyta) 1200 spp.; Brown (Ochrophyta) 1750 spp.; and the Red (Rhodophyta) 6000 spp. Seaweeds lack a vascular structure and have no roots. They hold to the ocean floor by a clasping thallus. Though they exist in all the oceans of the world they are much more diverse in colder waters. Stephan spent time describing how “warm oceans form a layer of higher temperature water (a thermocline) blocking nutrients from coming to the surface and thus starving the algae.” Cold water areas do not have thermoclines so algae can live and grow.
Green algae containing chlorophyll are thought to be the predecessors to the first land plants. Remarkably, no seaweeds are considered poisonous (though one should be careful of the cleanliness of the waters they are growing in) but one brown genus, Desmarestia, produces Sulfuric Acid which will burn the mouth if you try to eat it. On the deep-time walk mentioned earlier we spent time in the tidal zone. I picked a small bag full of bladderwrack (Fucus) and kombu (Laminaria), saw many others and tasted a couple of new ones.
Algae generally play important roles in Gaia’s self-regulation via bio-feedback loops. Normally, algae remove CO2 from the air by making their bodies out of carbon and calcium forming chalk. Stephan creatively shared this with us through animating the elemental personalities in the chemical processes. When these organisms die their bodies may sink to the bottom and enter the long term carbon cycle. Stephan described that algae resist osmosis by making a compound DMSP. When these organisms die the DMSP breaks down into volatile Di-methyl Sulfide (DMS) seeding clouds. Algae under stress can also make DMS. Clouds act to cool the planet by reflecting away sunlight. These processes inter-relate with other feedback loops including those that influence algae growth rates and absorption of nutrients from the water. When conditions are favorable algae can reproduce rapidly into blooms. Some companies have been formed to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere by introducing micronutrients into the ocean and encouraging blooms to happen.
With the mineral content of seaweeds paralleling those in the ocean and our own bodies, they provide an obvious link to our own health. With the ocean shores of the world covered with seaweeds, it is a wonder that our species even has the word malnutrition in its languages. It is our own lack of co-operation within our species that brings this about for Gaia abundantly provides everything our species needs. As Brian notes, “Good health comes from clear communication…. Disease is a lack of coherence.”
The similarities of ferns and seaweeds are extensive. Both reproduce via spores and an additional sexual cycle. They both need moist to wet environments to carry out their reproduction. Neither have roots or flowers or seeds. Morphologically they generally grow up as fronds from a clasping thallus (rhizome). They both have relatively rudimentary chemical compositions. They are autotrophic getting their energy directly from the sun via photosynthesis.
Creative Visualizations
“Within the Shamanic domain, imagination is guided by the phenomenon” -Brian Goodwin
Perhaps the best way to see that ferns are the land’s expression of the sea’s weeds is through the imagination. In permaculture it is often said that the action happens at the edges. In Holistic Science we speak of the robustness of life and activity happening at the edge of chaos. Let us look at the edge zones to recognize their similar gestures.
Think about where ferns and seaweeds like to grow. Ferns are often found on the edge of waterways on the air side; Seaweeds edge the land in the tidal zones on the ocean side. Note their positions mirroring each other.
Which is fern? Which is seaweed? Ferns as Seaweeds
Relax and open your mind to see the creek flowing through the land around Schumacher. Down along the creek are large, green fronds of ferns. Visualize the water level slowly rising up...higher and higher. Soon the rhizomes of the ferns are covered, but they hold fast the fern to the earth. Deeper and Deeper the water gets. After a short while the ferns are fully under the water waving gently in the current. They could not survive a long time like that but are equipped to be happy there for the duration of the gentle
flooding. How are they different than seaweeds in this state? Let the waters come gently back down releasing the ferns’ seaweed-ness and restoring them to their air life.
Seaweeds as Ferns
Relax and open your mind to see the early dawn high on the cliffs above the deep, blue ocean. Descend the rocks, noting that we have come during this special occasion that occurs several times a month when the tide is negative. Cross the beach sinking a little bit with each step. The ocean retreats laying bare her bed of life.
Step from the sand onto the slippery glistening rocks. In little pools urchins and anemones undulate aware their mother has left. And there on the rocks in bands by species are the seaweeds. They could not survive a long time like that but are equipped to be happy there for the duration of the moons pulling. How are they different than ferns in this state? Let the waters come gently back in releasing the seaweeds’ fern-ness and restoring them to their water life.
This study for me has helped to see beneath the surface manifestations. As Henri says, differences relate. Inquiring with a Gaian state of consciousness, I was able to see this unity of early life organizing itself around common themes as it adapts to different environments. I am thankful for this opportunity to look more deeply into the unity of life. As Terry Irwin said in her presentation, “Indeed we are all connected. We are all one.” A phenomenological approach gives us the means to articulate that.
Section 2
“Don’t try to define with language, instead point toward meaning…not the meaning but a possible meaning” -Brian Goodwin
A Council of Gaian Beings
Naiag entered the sacred circle having been lost for several hours. Though he had no idea where he was, he could still remember what had brought him there.
He had risen from his bender early that morning and made his way through the woods, crossing a small stream on a tree that had fallen three cycles back. With him he carried his bag, full but not heavy, providing his needs for the foreseeable future.
He had been sad and depressed for weeks feeling separate from his soul, uncertain of his path.
On the trail to the village appeared a white dove with what seemed to be a golden ring on its foot. It was not simply a band of ownership. The morning sun had come through the wood and glistened off it. At the same moment Naiag recognized its ring-ness, he caught the dove’s eye and felt a longing to have both the ring and the dove.
As he moved towards the dove, it flew from the trail a little ways into the woods. Naiag followed and each time he got close, the dove would fly again out of reach but still in sight. Outside of time and space, Naiag pursued the dove further and further from the path, into woods he had never ventured.
When he began finally to tire of this game, he realized he was lost. With this realization the trees around him seemed to grow bigger. He wandered lost hoping for clues to get his bearings. His feet carried him forward eventually into the sacred circle.
On a stump in the middle of the circle stood an older man dressed in black suit, dark-blue overcoat and a top hat. His eyes glistened. He spoke with authority to the woods. Naiag stood transfixed, listening.
“Today I’ve come to speak for the Earth! We are not separate from this place. S/he lives! This is as self-evident as you and I are self-evident. All the requirements of life are met by he/r. We are part of he/r.”
So peculiar were these thoughts to Naiag that his brain hurt a little bit and yet… Those thoughts flowed on as the old man spoke about theories and experiments. He told of goddesses, rainbows and self-consciousness. He put forth the challenge to “find the wildness in all molecules.” He told the stories of the living molecules…of passionate princes and stable priests. He shared for a long time making all sorts of gestures and analogies. “The Love of Gaia is holding us UP!” he shouted. Naiag’s mind buzzed.
“The wizard is telling you the earth is alive. Don’t you feel it?” said a disheveled, wizened artist drawing complex images on her canvas. Her hair was frizzled orange with a face prone to gaiety and laughter. “I try to paint these trees but each time they emerge differently.” Naiag felt a strange attraction towards her. Butterflies flittered in his stomach. “Each leaf is unique, yet there is an overall signature of recognition. All forms are similar, yet none are identical.”
Suddenly he saw a flash out of the corner of his eye and turned to see a man with hair standing straight up…electrified. His eyes bugged out and enlarged behind goggles. Naiag felt a shiver go up his spine.
“Shocking!” shouted the man. “Light travels in packets of quanta and are neither and both energy and matter!!!!” With that said he touched two wires together and another flash of light burst forth with ripples of colorful lightening radiating off in all directions. “Energy is Matter! Matter is Energy! As above so below. On the outside is also the inside. “ Naiag felt both intrigued and fearful. He was not sure what to say or how to be. Then he heard a whisper to his right.
“Come to my side, young man” came a whisper from the far side of the circle. From the chaos to his left, and the light show in front of him, Naiag was drawn to the quiet figure draped in earthen colors, stirring up brews that bubbled and steamed. “Think of your favorite smell,” said the alchemist, and handed Naiag a small flask of liquid. To his surprise it smelled of the flowers on the hedge that grew next to his mother’s house.
“Try a sip,” said the alchemist, “It has come time for your transformation. Your life is a wonderful story. Live into it!” Naiag held the cup hesitantly as the smells wafted up seductively, the liquid enticing and calling to him to drink. He looked back around the circle. The artist continued painting, colors flying about. Sparks flew off the electric-man. And the alchemist with infinite eyes stood looking into his soul. In the middle, on the big stump, the wizard had paused in his eulogy with his hands held high, eyes raised to the sky smiling like a crescent moon. Naiag’s ears buzzed with the call to drink. Breathing in deeply the sweet smell of the hedgerow flowers, he took a sip of the liquid. As soon as the brew touch his lips, he fell gently to Mother Earth amongst the soft mosses and ferns.
When he awoke from a dreamless sleep, all was quiet. The amazing characters were gone. Where the artist had been, a small whirling dervish of colored leaves rose and dispersed into the wood. Where the electric-man had stood, only a blackened mark of a lightening strike remained. On the stump that had been the alchemist’s table grew a colorful cluster of mushrooms.
The wizard’s stump now bore a live oak tree and in the tree cooed the dove. It flew down to Naiag and the ring slipped off its foot into his hand. He put it on and felt a subtle, profound shift in the core of his being. With each breath, Naiag felt the life force energy electrify him. His eyes saw the dancing of matter and energy. Where he touched the earth, he felt he/r touching him back.
In the distance he heard the coo of the dove and rose lightly following the call. The dove led him back through the woods to his village just before dark. His heart glowed, his soul glistened, his body tingled with electric life force. He felt inspired to share the aliveness of Gaia with his people. In Naiag’s search for meaning in his life, he found a life of meaning.
Oh Gaia! We ask thee to
come forth into our daily lives
and instill in us meaning .
Please Gaia, support our
re-awakened feelings and intuitions
about our place in the Web of Life
References
Articles
Bortoft, Henri “Counterfeit and Authentic Wholes: Finding a
means for dwelling in Nature.” Marinus Nighoff Publishers 1985
Holdrege, Craig “Doing Goethean Science” Janus Head 8(1) 2005
Books
Bortoft, Henri The Wholeness of Nature Reidal Publishing, 1996
Goethe, Wolfgang von “Goethe’s Botanical Writings” edited by Bertha Muellar Ox Bow Press, 1989
Goodwin, Brian “Nature’s Due” Floris Books, 2007
Harding, Stephan Animate Earth Chelsea Green, 2006
Kumar, Satish You are Therefore I Am Green Books 2006
Lovelock, James Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth Oxford Press 2000
Mollison, Bill Introduction to Permaculture Tagari Publishers 1991
Phillips, Roger Grasses, Ferns, Mosses and Lichens Cripplegate Printing Company 1980
Pollan, Michael Botany of Desire Random House 2002
Sheldrake, Rupert A New Science of Life Park Street Press 1995
Websites
www.Wikipedia.org general support
www.geocities.com seaweed information
www.seaweed.ie seaweed information
Dissertation Proposaltag:www.plantsandhealers.com,2008://3.3222008-03-19T11:32:04Z2008-03-19T12:41:21ZEmerging Trends in Holistic Herbalism toward Integration of Traditional Medicines Human cultures are melding worldwide. This dissertation will explore the potential for integrated health systems to thrive within the rising world culture. The foundation of this work will be based...Frank Cook
Emerging Trends in Holistic Herbalism toward Integration of Traditional Medicines
Human cultures are melding worldwide. This dissertation will explore the potential for integrated health systems to thrive within the rising world culture. The foundation of this work will be based on previous field research of traditional healing systems and a literature review.
Conditions seem favorable for the emergence of systems of integrated medicine despite the potential ideological clashes between different healing philosophies. This growth is evidenced in the alternative healing and health food movements, the budding of modern herbalism and the creation of integrated health clinics in the western world. This work will point to some of the possibilities ahead as the cultures of the world continue to interact more deeply via the media, the internet, travel and consumerism.
This project will start with a number of pilot interviews with eminent herbalist and plant researchers to identify the herbs most suitable for international recognition and the methods used to transform those herbs into medicine. From these interviews a questionnaire will be generated and this will form the basis of a survey of herbalists in Great Britain and the United States to gauge their awareness of these international herbs and the prevalence of them in their healing practices.
Through previous and current research, phenomenological studies, interviews with herbal healers and a study of herbal medicine efficacy, it will be possible to better understand the direction of holistic herbalism in the post-modern age.
Resources needed for this study include expenses for travel to different healers to conduct interviews as well as access to computer facilities and library materials.
Winter 2008 Mailingtag:www.plantsandhealers.com,2008://3.3162008-02-07T17:54:08Z2008-02-13T15:59:43ZJanuary 2008 Hola Mi Familia y Amigos! I began this new year during my third visit to the tropics of Costa Rica. I taught at an herbal symposium attended by 30 people from all over the world. (See the www.artofunion.com...Frank Cook
January 2008
Hola Mi Familia y Amigos!
I began this new year during my third visit to the tropics of Costa Rica. I taught at an herbal symposium attended by 30 people from all over the world. (See the www.artofunion.com for pictures and stories) During the four days of the symposium we went on daily plant walks learning the foods and medicines from forest and garden. One morning I awoke to find a freshly fallen giant sweet sop (Annonaceae) near the trail. It had broken open like humpty dumpty and we all enjoyed its custardy flavor. We ate salads full of wild greens including lots of hibiscus leaves. This is a land were dandelions are cultivated; where plantain is honored. We met a large number of Euphorbs eaten as food including: katuk, chaya, vining nut, yucca as well as medicines like sangre de drago. We ate lots of little cucumbers growing wild all over from the Sechium genus. Check the website in the near future for a complete plant listing.
We welcomed the new year in a morning sweatlodge and spent the day in reflective silence. It was wonderful to have Mary joining me on this journey as well as a core group from previous years. After the symposium a group of us went to the Seelye’s Retreat Center up to 9,000 feet on Cerrro del Muerte (Mountain of Death) for 4 days in this special ecosystem. We walked among Podocarpuses thousands of years old with the jungle floor littered with fallen orchids. I had my mind blown open again by the wonders of this mountain land and this kind family.
The last 10 days have included time at the beach and facilitating plant walks on permaculture lands in the region. We took a short trip to the Osa Pennisula to be with Toucans and Macaws in pristine forests. Talk has already begun of doing it again next year. Perhaps you will join us.
When I look back into 2007 I feel a full sense of wonder at this unfolding life. I was blessed to have spent time with many of you dancing with the green beings. I was forever changed from my two months downunder in NZ and Australia last winter. Then I enjoyed a incredible spring in the East with one of the highlights being an earth day plant walk with my mentor James Duke in my parent’s neighborhood. Preliminary plans are coming together for another trip through the northeast in May. Any suggestions?
Each year I am feed deeply by my summer gatherings with our tribes. Thank you for showing up in CA, Arkansas, NC and the other dozen states I was able to get to this year. I was honored to continue teaching at two stellar Herbal Schools—Appalachia School of Holistic Herbalism (www.herbsheal.com) and The Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine (www. chestnutherbs.com). If you feel ready to walk more deeply along the greenpath consider these schools as well as my alma mater in NY: The Northeast School of Herbal Medicine (www.7Song.com). Each has its unique offerings.
In August I went through severe tests of fire as I prepared for returning to school for the first time in a dozen years. I passed the early tests (thanks to the help of many of you!) and spent the last four months of 2007 in Devonshire, England pursuing a Masters in Holistic Science at Schumacher College. That was the longest I stayed in one place in at least a dozen years! School met all my hopes and expectations with great teachers, a vibrant community, and adventure on many levels.
As I prepare to leave the land of tropical fruit and pura vida, I look ahead to two weeks in California (We will be having plant circles on the 18th, 19th, and 25th—contact me if you want to know more) for time with my west coast family then back to school in England. My second tuition payment is due very soon. Many have come forward to help so far but I am still not there yet. I reach out to this magical circle and ask you to help me over this hurdle. I feel surrounded by allies and know that faith will pull me through. Read below for details of how you can help. Also I would love pictures and cards from you to enliven my simple room at school. I was so fed by those I received last semester!
For 2008 I am excited to bring to you my new stories of Gaia, Holistic Science and Goethe’s ways of seeing. I very much look forward to our time of sharing. I will be hard at work on my MSc dissertation due at the end of August and also am steadily getting my revised editions of the plants and healers books ready for sharing.
Well, that seems like enough for now. Please check out my new, improved book list on my website where you can order books you like. www.plantsandhealers.com. Thank you, Barry!
My wish for you in this balancing year of 2008 is that the old ways not serving us continue to fall away so that we can embrace a new world rising. Goodbye Piscean Age. Hello Aquarian Age. Feel it! Don’t get stuck in the last era. Adapt and Evolve!
See you along the path!
Love and Light,
Frank
Address at School:
Frank Cook
c/o Schumacher College
The Old Postern
Dartington, Devonshire TQ9 6EA United Kingdom
Tuition Assistance Appreciated
Please help as best you can. If you have thought about helping out, now is the time. If money is something you feel is a scarcity for you, than offer what you feel abundant in. Offer prayers for this to come about. I need your help in whatever way you can give it. I am open to one person coming forward with the full amount needed and I am open to 1000 people giving $15 each. However it can come about. Please look inside and see what you can share.
There are several ways this energy can get to me:
1) You can send it directly to the school—ask me how.
2) You can pay it to my paypal account: green@plantsandhealers.com
or
3) You can send it to my parents who will deposit it in my account. Their address is:
Kaye and Frank Cook
6108 Welborn Drive
Bethesda MD 20816
Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please share so that I can continue to do my work for Gaia.
Love to you,
Frank
An Evening with Thomas Berrytag:www.plantsandhealers.com,2007://3.2672007-11-12T22:42:55Z2007-11-12T22:45:06Z Meeting Thomas Berry Though I have heard of Thomas Berry over the years, I realized some time back that I had often confused Thomas Berry and Wendell Berry when seeing quotes along the way. My good friend Jeanie Martin...Frank Cook
Meeting Thomas Berry
Though I have heard of Thomas Berry over the years, I realized some time back that I had often confused Thomas Berry and Wendell Berry when seeing quotes along the way. My good friend Jeanie Martin helped clarify their uniqueness when I asked her how she thought each author would summarize in one sentence his central purpose. She felt Wendell Berry would say “Stay at home, live a sustainable life and get out of the death culture.” Thomas Berry would say, “Discover your dream and life purpose and live fully into it.” In the last few years I have had the privilege of getting to know a number of people who are close to Thomas Berry and more and more it seemed important that I have some time with him as I feel I am embodying many of his messages in my life walk and teachings. Fortunately the opportunity came for me to spend an evening with him this last summer. Here is what I can recall from our time…
Tim and I arrived at the Green Tavern and were escorted through the busy restaurant to a booth in which sat Thomas Berry back in a corner in a suit that had grown a bit too big. I could see the dustbowl, fields of corn and his many decades of living woven into his presence. Across from him sat the dynamic Carolyn filling him with all sorts of loving energy. While Tim showed Thomas family pictures, Carolyn and I caught up, excited to be sharing this experience together. Thomas held the elder spot at 92 and that brought out the youth in all of us. I noticed immediately how his eyes sparkle when you catch them. His southern drawl warmed me but I had to tune into it, finding it soft and distant at first like a breeze stirring up leaves. But once my ear found his tune I heard his song loud and clear.
Carolyn set the vibe nicely sharing an account by the author of “Last Child in the Woods” on meeting with Thomas. Then Thomas asked me what I spend my time doing. As I began to answer the waitress made her presence known and took our orders. Tim shared with Thomas his perspective of who I am and my work. We talked of plants some and the theme of showing people how to truly “see” came up the first of several times that evening. I spoke of my time with the San (bushmen) in Namibia and Botswana and their being our oldest human relatives (They could be legally hunted until the late 1950’s!!). As I shared my stories Thomas asked repeatedly if I had written down my experiences. I let him know this is an important part of my work (as hard as it is to do!) Tim and Carolyn expressed how I needed to have someone with me recording my experiences for the world. (Any volunteers?) One of Thomas’ main points was that we had to stop living in the 20th century and open up to the 21st century. This involves fundamental shifts in all aspects of our human culture. We need to consider the Gaia macrocosm not just the human microcosm. This has been spurred on by the astronomical growth in human population and economics. He commented that there were 1 billion people in 1540, 2 Billion in 1920, 3 Billion in 1960 and now (2005) over 6.5 Billion. He said the economic system has grown at six times that rate! These huge pressures on the environment are bringing an end to the Cenozoic era. We pondered whether we would perish or awaken to a new Ecozoic era by reconnecting with nature? He seemed hopeful. This is all explained in his cornerstone book of the Ecozoic era, “The Great Work.”
Thomas mentioned how important it is to give names to things. He recalled how hard it was to remember his nature experiences as a young child when he did not know the names of the plants. He shared how, when he had become a boy scout and learned the name “oak” for the tree he had known his whole life, the world of the oaks in all their diversity and detail opened up so much more. He could then remember the details of the forest through their names and share his experiences with others. He recounted an article he had written long ago called “Goldenrod”. He seemed to have a great love for nature!
He asked me where I was going next and I shared with him that I would soon be returning to Africa to go deeper with the plants and peoples there. Our conversations were broken by the frequent appearance of waiters, but we held the focus well knowing the sacredness of our time together. We had a number of rounds of good, heartfelt laughter. And though the restaurant got louder as the dinnertime peaked, Thomas too seemed to become louder and more animated. He spoke of how thousands of years ago China was divided by fifteen warring factions. One soldier from one of the factions was late for his duty as a sentry. The consequence of this was to be put to death. Rather than meet that fate, he led a rebellion that ignited the support of the common people. He was so successful that all of China was united and has stayed so to this day. Unfortunately this man was not a good leader in times of peace and was soon overthrown. Thomas indicated that a good revolutionary does not necessarily make a good leader.
Somehow the hours flew by. Our meal disappeared and became dessert and then this too was finished and it was time for us to go our own ways. We all rose together from the booth and Thomas gave me a hug and placed his hand on my head in a sort of a blessing (after all he is a priest) and let me know beyond words that I was on the right path. I will always carry that time with me. And as much as I enjoy his writing and the enthusiasm people have for the torch he has lit, I will most remember the gleam in his eyes and the assuring smile on his face as a man who has seen into the future and knows everything is going to be alright.
FCC
Postscript:
Where to go from here? I read through “The Great Work” carefully while traveling through Africa recently and feel it does a wonderful job giving an overview of our current condition. So what to do with it? I think it is important to not abstract on it too much but to get the opportunity it presents out to as many people as possible and apply it to our lives. I propose that we inspire a group of people to read through the “The Great Work” together and every couple of weeks on the computer share our impressions of each chapter. I propose the focus be how we are bringing Thomas’s words into our lives and into the community around us. How many of you are willing to help focalize this with me and bring other people into the discussion over the year? Please let me know your thoughts on this. Love and Light, Frank
Autumn 2007 Letter from Englandtag:www.plantsandhealers.com,2007://3.2662007-10-31T18:05:45Z2007-10-31T18:06:57ZBlessing to you this Autumn my Family and Friends, My last letter to this circle was in late June and so much has happened since then—oh my! I am now in England and well into my pursuit of a Masters...Frank Cook
Blessing to you this Autumn my Family and Friends,
My last letter to this circle was in late June and so much has happened since then—oh my! I am now in England and well into my pursuit of a Masters in Holistic Science. For those of you interested in knowing more about Schumacher College check out (www.schumachercollege.org). There are a number of amazing classes planned for 2008 so far including one called “The Soul of Science” in June with an inspiring teacher, Rupert Sheldrake. On my website I have listed the reasons I came to Schumacher and soon I will list my first essay (www.plantsandhealers.com).
Wow, that was quite a full summer! I saw many of you along the way and it already seems a while back. The flow of life these days is swift and a lot is being asked of us. It is good to reflect but not dwell on our memories. Looking back I enjoyed my return to NM to intersect with Joseph and go on a plant walk with his fellow ayurvedic students. Then on to a wonderful rainbow gathering in the Ozarks where I was able to connect with some old family and feel a real sense of evolution happening. We had a Greenpath camp teaching all sorts of thrival skills. Amazing!
From there I zoomed back to the west and teamed up with Sandor and Orchid and taught in some wonderful places around Oregon. Then back to sacred Appalachia for some memorable workshops including teaching with Ken Crouse in Hot Springs, with Mary Morgaine in the forest, and attending the Permaculture Gathering. I am missing that family connection but have faith we will have opportunities to lift the energy together in 2008.
From mid-August on I was focused on the manifestation of this educational experience I am now engaged in. Through lots of councils, prayers and patience the doors opened and I was able to live into my visions of being here. I am feeling a lot of bliss.
Recently I finished my seventh year of facilitating a journey through “Botany in a Day.” If you or some one you knows wants to join in for the eighth year starting in May, 2008, just send an email to planttalk2008@yahoo.com.
At the core of our Holistic Science program is the premise that Western Science is not wrong but limited and needs to re-embrace the wide variety of stories of Nature. We have spent time reviewing some of the theories central to Holistic Science—Chaos Theory, Gaia Theory, Quantum Theory, and the various Complexity Theories. These concepts are balanced by the practical application of participating within Nature through Goethean Science. You can perhaps get a better perspective of this by reading my paper or visiting the school website.
One of the revelations that stays with me which I would like to share with you is the illusion that we are somehow not a part of Nature. As the caretaker of the gardens here, Justin, so succinctly points out with the analogy of a person sitting in his/her home drinking. Once inebriated, rising from the table declaring it was time to go home.
We are HOME! Now is the time for being responsible.
Though studies are an important part of why I am here, they are only a part of it. I have engaged the transformation of this community into a sustainable experience through various plant projects such as a plant inventory, harvesting and teaching about fermentation and plant allies. I am also working daily on editing my previous Plants and Healing Systems books to bring them into the present. The number of amazing people and opportunities around here can be overwhelming. I check in with myself daily to stay centered and focused.
I would love to receive letters and cards from you to decorate my room walls and to be reminded of my greater work. My address is below. Thank you for reading this.
I leave here in December and after a visit with my blood family I head off to my third trip to Costa Rica Dec 28-Jan 12. I would be delighted to share this experience with you. If you are interested in knowing more please visit the website of the organizers at www.artofunion.com. I cannot think of a better way to bring in the new year!
I am so thankful to all of you who sent energy my way these past few months. I was able to make the first payment to the school. The course I am teaching here will help some to pay the final payment due in January and accompanying expenses. This amount is around $14,000. Please share as you are able. Contributions can be sent to my parents (Frank Cook c/o Kaye and Frank Cook 6108 Welborn Drive Bethesda MD 20816) who will deposit it in my account or through paypal (my account is green@plantsandhealers.com). Every little bit helps. I appreciate your prayers in helping me to manifest this vision. Many Blessing to you!
I will write again before winter comes. What new plants have you met? How much wild food are you eating? Tonight we ate pizza of nettle-acorn pesto topped with honey mushrooms, et al. A salad with many garden friends. Wonderful to feel their energy becoming my energy. Praise to them and to you.
Love and Light,
Frank
Mailing Address:
Frank Cook
c/o Schumacher College
The Old Postern
Dartington, Devonshire TQ9 6EA United Kingdom
Holistic Science of Qualities Essay 1tag:www.plantsandhealers.com,2007://3.2652007-10-24T18:56:15Z2007-11-12T22:42:10ZFrank Cook Holistic Science Chrysalis One Essay October 9, 2007 Intuitive Building inner images to the point they come alive in my imagination is essential to my work and links me to the unfolding Collective (un)Conscious (Akashic Records). Within me...Frank Cook
Frank Cook
Holistic Science
Chrysalis One Essay
October 9, 2007
Intuitive
Building inner images to the point they come alive in my imagination is essential to my work and links me to the unfolding Collective (un)Conscious (Akashic Records). Within me mysteries and realizations dance about that have not been received through the tangible senses. Through practicing Goethean Techniques I am opening to the living expressions of a
Leaf
At one level it is wholeness unto itself,
at another it is part of a
greater whole
There are the crude (and at the same moment wonder-filled) aspects of the leaf blowing in the breeze, each unique, yet, staying within the parameters of all the leaves that make up the character of the plant. Leaves are
Transformers
of light
into sugars.
Before me
I
T S
C O
M P
O U
N D
L E
A F
…is made up of leaflets, each coming off a central stem
Ladder
a
climbing
Botanists have made a whole new language to describe the leaf—its shape
its texture
its means of attachment.
These terms are the bane of most students having to memorize them.
They are also beautiful eulogies,
poetic attempts
to tell us who we are meeting.
My
leaf is
Pinnately
compound
w/ eleven
glabrous,
lanceolate,
serrated
leaf-
let
s.
Organ-izing seems a lot like Goethe’s view that we need to build
an organ of perception.
A leaf is a finger.
We are young trees.
Anthropomorphism or Anthropodenial?
They (we) are intimately connected through a
fat, bud-studded
Stem
to the whole plant. Leaves grew from the stems.
There is a bone-like quality to this branch I have found on the ground. I thought I would need to look up to see a branch and now I see I only need to look down. That seems to be at the core of what I am being taught here. We can make plans but they must be adaptable to the process that unfolds as the journey is undertaken. I am being taught the dance of thinking/experiencing. Thinking is balanced by other modes of perception. For instance, acknowledging the scientific validity of feeling the bone-like qualities of this branch.
I take time to observe (simply that). I see knobby leaf scars opposite each other at the leaf node. The branch terminates with a meristematic bud filled with potential to express itself as petiole, leaflet, branch, pedicel, or flower depending on the needs of the moment. I notice there are different lengths of stem between nodes. “Why?” I wonder. Each length tells a story about the year it lived. I know the age of this fallen branch if I know it only puts out one set of leaves a year. Does it? I leave the answer to another day. Perhaps this, too, will be revealed to me with enough reflection.
The stems channel together into bigger branched energetic streams to be
Tree
The first plants of my inner garden were trees. They are so clearly our elders. With this tree I sit in a good spot for observation and reflection. My brain downloads what it knows about this genus from previous experiences, stories and book knowledge. The knowledge that was so intensely pursued categorizing the world is now available almost instantaneously via computer. Now what? What does that accumulation of observation and categorization mean to us? What were the visions of those who came before us? Perhaps the tree can tell me if I slowdown enough to listen. And along with these thoughts I notice beautiful reflections of the late day sunlight filtering through.
These words, formed with care and love for the tree being, do not fully capture its wholeness, nor its place in the larger whole of Gaia. For this we need symbol and allusion, prompting the mind to release its grip on stable thought and to jump off the cliff into
Poetry…
Ode to Ode to Ash Trees Ode to
Waving in wind
or still beneath sky
Firmly rooted in myco-earth
Yes, firm yet, feminine
Keeping my faith
in dappled lichen dress,
sensuous reaching limbs
The forest loves you so much
Animals come and
play with you.
Matronly pigeon landing, not gracefully,
on you.
Fly boldly through your
outer compounds.
Scurrying squirrels
Running between you
and masculine oak neighbors
Who are you, Fraxinus,
cousin to the olive tree?
Who are you through/to us?
Your oneness clearly unfolding
We come for insights
sitting below
Wondering/Knowing
Content with these words.
Above all, feeling
Awe
AHMEN
Reflective
Stephan Harding formed our chrysalis by defining holistic science with Jung’s four ways humans relate to the world: Thinking/Feeling and Sensing/Intuiting. He defined these and compared practitioners of western science with those of holistic science in terms of those four ways. He encouraged us to pursue a balance to these areas and that the zone within the whole of them was “real grace” and a “revelation”.
Brian Goodwin introduced a number of concepts to us. He described Chaos Theory as a form of magic, wonderfully illustrated in the example of weather patterns. He encouraged us to maintain a respect for western science and to learn its lexicon. Their tools give us a limited meaning and are part of a greater whole. There is a dance of the ethos and logos going on best represented in storytelling. We reviewed the hermeneutic approach to understanding. Brian shared how Hermes is the god of interpretation. Through hermeneutics we can learn the languages of Nature.
Our second chrysalis will focus on the wisdom and knowledge of the Living Earth thr0ugh the stories of Brian and Stephan.
Henri Bortoft, historian, physicist and philosopher was our teacher the rest of the week. His main focus was to massage our brains and present another perspective on some of the foundation figures in western science. The first area of focus was on part/whole relations. We have been lulled into relying on our physical senses to identify “reality” for us. This form of habitual thinking is actually downstream of the dynamic living beingness of life. He illustrated this well with a story of sitting along a river and seeing the water flow by. With his inner eye he could imagine the source of the river flowing out and along its course eventually getting to him and then flowing on. Applying this to living organisms we see there is a dynamic state of unfolding that precedes our awareness of it.
People have been taught to believe that the whole comes from assembling the parts. This normal way (the counterfeit whole) of thinking cheats us from truly feeling the presence of an authentic whole. The authentic whole has a presence. I am reminded of a passage out of Robert Pirsig’s classic “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” in which he describes the dismantling of a motorcycle into its separate parts and then reassembling it again. He explores how a running motorcycle is more than the sum of its parts; there is a synergy from these combined parts that allows the motorcycle to run and maneuver about. This is even more apparent in living beings.
Henri described how Goethe provided a way through gentle empiricism to participate in the wisdom of Nature. This is achieved by developing a receptive mode of observation that is “non-verbal, holistic, non-linear, and intuitive.” (pg 291) Henri writes that this approach “emphasizes the sensory and perceptual instead of the rational…it is based on taking in rather than manipulating, the environment.” (pg 291) Within life the part carries with it the whole. The more parts present, the more the presence of the whole can be felt
Through Henri’s telling of history, I developed a deeper understanding as to why Goethe was so discouraged to read Newton’s description of color. Newton’s approach was to convert the unique qualities of each color into uniform mathematical “equivalents” and then to leave color behind and go on to manipulate these quantities into his theory. As Henri writes, “something that can be measured replaced the phenomenon of color, and in this way color as color was eliminated from the scientific account of the world.” (pg 293 )
The introduction of logic to scientific inquiry in the 1700’s created a distinction between qualities that can be quantified and those that cannot. This led to the exclusion of these latter qualities and a deadening of dynamic being into lifeless objects described by abstract concepts.
Henri helped us to see that the scientific history we have been told is very skewed and limited. He recommended whenever possible returning to the primary texts of the scientists and trying to get a sense of the work in its historical context. He credited Goethe as being the first historian of western science.
Henri noted that understanding cannot be reduced to logic. Meaning cannot be grasped like an object. Marshall McLuhan also came to these realizations in his studies of communication introducing phrases such as “I seem to be a Verb” and “The meaning is the message.” After further inquiry, he came to see “The meaning is the massage.”
When something comes into manifestation its form is just one out of many possibilities. If we can train ourselves to look into that realm of potentiality, we can gain insights beyond what can be ascertained from only considering the manifested aspects. Goethe encourages us to dwell in the phenomenon. The distinctions between the different forms manifested point back to the unity from which they came. When Henri spoke of shifting our focus from outcomes to the act of distinguishing I felt a volcano erupting in my psyche!
It seems to me that one of the big stumbling blocks to embracing this way of being is our attempts to live in the construct of linear time which creates a past and future as distinct from the now. This is an illusion through limited perception and though useful can be unhealthy if taken as absolute.
An example came to me in a lecture by Jon Rae the other evening where he spoke about greenhouse gases (a complex array of different kinds of gases that come from many natural processes in Gaia and trap heat from the sun inside her body, giving her a fever). The percentages of these gases are reduced to a common denominator of CO2 which is then calculated and used as a measuring stick over time. By doing this we have been cut off from the unique qualities of these gases and there is a narrowing of focus as to how to reduce CO2 emissions. This creates a tendency to try and solve the “problem” by looking at sources of CO2 emissions rather than a deeper approach of seeing the many facets of the atmosphere and our connection to it. Thus we see people embracing carbon neutrality as a way to solve our environmental problems. Satish Kumar wrote recently, “Focusing only on carbon emissions without protecting ecosystems is simply treating the symptoms rather than the causes of global warming.”
We were encouraged to think how a plant lives. Goethe’s approach was to observe the subtle details of a plant (the organizing ideas), then to go upstream from those physical senses into the imagination and meld with the plant. By repeating this over and over he was able to gain insights not immediately apparent. My work with this has me confronting the laziness of my brain/mind in noting detail. Henri encouraged us to not be onlookers but to place ourselves into the distinguishing mode of the plant. He worded beautifully the sense of wholeness at the family level of plants by imploring us to note the family resemblance of plants that permeates through the distinctions.
Our language needs a re-awakened lexicon from both the past (such as: ether, aura, empathy, dis-ease, and co-incidence) as well as emerging terms from our unique era (such as grok, vibe, I and I and google).
When we first delve into the phenomenon we bring with us prejudices and limited observation. Henri implored us to not be discouraged by this. It is expected and not a problem. It is a beginning, but we should not stop there. With each round of observation we are able to dispel or at least suspend more of our biases and limited habitual thinking. Eventually we step through our limitations into holism, into the dynamic-ness of the being presencing itself.
In our last couple of days Henri introduced Hermeneutics explaining that this came out of the monks’ reflections on the meanings of the bible as words from God. Henri encouraged us to “let the book you are reading teach you how to read it.” We could see how reading is a dynamic unfolding of meaning/understanding like a plant growing in its environment. As in a paragraph, the more sentences one reads the more the presence of the paragraph can be felt. When something you read affects you that is writing living through you.
The author writing the work creates the urtext which expresses the multiplicities out of its unity each time it is read. This is not something one needs to rush through or become quick to label or understand. A book expresses itself from the text as it is read; hence, the con-text. How do you feel when something is expressed out of context? Henri implored us to “read between the lines” for full understanding. I was reminded of a good lesson I learned at a conference many years ago. Our teacher asked us to look at the intention behind the words and tone when a person speaks to us, to go upstream and understand from where a person was speaking.
A warning from Henri stays with me in which he spoke about how scientists have intuitive flashes (epiphanies) that spark them towards great contributions to science. But after these great insights the attempts to convey them to others make them vulnerable to co-optation and in some cases flip them to their opposite meaning. This is memorably expressed in Orwell’s “1984”. In this way I am confronted with the fading memories of Henri’s inspired lectures and have only my notes to recount the aha’s of our time together.
From that week with Henri most of us were quite shifted, it seemed, in the world we were viewing. Thus it was perfect for Craig Holdrege to appear with his bag of exercises and deepen our awareness of Nature. He grounded our shifted awareness in practical experience as we learned the techniques of Goethean Science. We were asked to think like a plant grows.
Though seemingly straightforward I found the experiences of visualizing a leaf, then a branch to be very helpful in understanding Goethe’s delicate empiricism. In the afternoon exercises, I felt myself actually able to swim upstream some, letting the images in my mind come alive. Further, Craig’s writings have proven to be very accessible and revealing. His description of encountering skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus) was helpful for me to see how he went about going deeper.
In the commentary that followed his narrative I gained another important understanding of why Goethe encourages us to go back and forth between encounter with the plant and then integration time. Stephen Buhner also shares this view, “Your relationship with plants deepens through the years… taking a walk, as you pass the plant in a field, a deeper knowledge of the plant and its purposes, its uses in medicine, will flash into your mind.” (pg 166)
Craig puts it well, “When you go back to characteristics you have studied before, they may suddenly express the unity you have discovered through another part. You have an ‘aha’ experience in which you recognize connections between what previously appeared to be separate facts.” (pg 45)
From Craig I relearned a lesson I know from cooking and medicine making that simple is not easy. He recounted the lessons from his teacher, Jochen Bockemehl’s, after their long walks together in which Bockemehl would spend hours drawing out the details from his memory. I found this humbling for it showed the importance of showing up to do the work of, as Goethe says, building the organ of perception. I am grateful for Craig taking the time to cross the ocean and coming to share these approaches of melding with the wisdom of Nature.
After these two very focused weeks with individual teachers, our third week represented a big change in that we had three different teachers during the week. We also flipped from all male teachers to all female teachers.
Francoise Wemelsfelder, animal behaviorist, came to teach for two days. I was impressed with her as a human being but felt concerned about the sacrifices she’s made to make changes within the system. Her focus as a scientist is on animal welfare taking a unique approach of trying to understand the animal’s point of view. Current animal behavior research is dominated by the systems approach reducing animals to biochemical reactions firing off synapses.
She has done a wonderful job shifting consciousness from animals viewed as objects to the more compassionate level of acknowledging their being-ness. Her emphasis on not “fragmenting animals” allows us to engage them and accept the mystery. She quoted the philosopher Martin Buber about the importance of seeing beings in a subjective “I and thou” approach rather than “I and it”.
As a scientist within the dominant paradigm, Francoise has to be very careful with her use of words. I had a discussion with her about this and cautioned about allowing powerful terms that describe the reality to be co-opted or made extinct, terms that western science has discredited such as: ether, spirit, astrology, feelings, placebo, anecdotal evidence, intuition, doctrine of signatures and subjectivity among many others.
She spoke of how she redirected critiques that her form of science is wrought with anthropomorphism. Her answers have been that what has been called anthropomorphism are just mistakes in recognition due to a lack of skill in communicating with animals. She felt this can be overcome by better training. She emphasized that “fallibility in the skills doesn’t justify the status quo of invisibility” around the issue of animals having feelings. I pointed out that my research had turned up the term anthropodenial: the tendency of humans to deny common traits with other species. Another point she made is that if all that was going on in observing animals was anthropomorphism then the studies would turn up with random results, which they do not.
Francoise has modified a statistical package called Free Choice Profiling, a scientifically validated approach, in which groups of observers can watch the body language of animals and write their reactions to them. Through extensive studies she has shown high statistical correlation around the reactions to the animals observed. We spent time practicing this method by observing animals she has filmed.
We discussed research she is doing in collaboration with Stephan about the quality of landscapes. I mentioned that this may be a good approach to finally having scientific support for the efficacies of organic food and herbal medicine.
In the middle of the week we had the day with astrologer Carmen Maraschin. She calculated each of our birth charts and took us through an informative slide show relating astrology to post-Newtonian physics and opened us up its symbolism and archetypes.
Prior to 1700, astrology was valued along side astronomy. On a recent trip to Chelsea Physic Gardens in London one sign noted that the “fanciful theory” the Doctrine of Signatures had been “denounced in 1650”. This view that the form of plants can indicate it influences in the human body aligns well with Goethe’s views. Efforts need to be made to reinstate the Doctrine of Signatures as a valid means of assessing potential food and medicine.
Carmen described the basics of how the charts work and set up times with each of us to discuss our personal charts. My current impression of astrology is that I feel a lot of mystery and questions around it. I look forward to exploring this path more deeply.
In the last part of the week, mythologist Jules Cashford came to share images and interpretations of ancient artifacts. Her presence was magical and her teachings came from a place of deep knowing. She shared with us stories of Gaia, “the last goddess of the west.”
We learned that we are collectively between myths and Jules posed the question, “The old gods are dead or dying, who will be the new?” She encouraged us to “make room for imagination to grow within us.” She warned us not to “take myth only literally, for then we lose its symbol and it can become dangerous.” Through her eloquent speaking I could see that dualism is life in time. I felt more courage to develop my imagination and open to Goethe’s delicate empiricism to where “empirical observation finally ceases, inner beholdings of what develops begins” (Craig pg 50).
Jules extolled that “imagination will bring us back into life.” Her teachings were transmitted to us at many levels and I am thankful for the work she does.
Integrative
All these teachers shared alternative ways of looking at the world that reach beyond the limitations of western science. This holistic science of qualities rests on the many facets of Goethe’s delicate empiricism. Learning to recognize Henri’s authentic wholes within living processes, we can avoid the pitfalls of objectifying the world. Craig gave us tools and practice in immersing ourselves in Nature. Francoise showed us ways to make bridges with western science. Jules and Carmen encouraged us to embrace archetypal symbols and open up to the intuitive and imaginative aspects of ourselves.
A general theme I am beginning to understand is the tension that comes from trying to prove to be right. We can open to a more holistic vision by lifting from a linear spectrum to a 3-dimensional space where there is room to explore everyone’s stories and perspectives. In this way we can encounter mystery with wonder and awe, and avoid the clashing of ideologies and political agendas.
Upon reflection of the holistic methodology I have learned so far, I realize in one of those aha’s that this approach has been hinted to me all along. I recall in the stories of some of the great western scientists such as Albert Einstein’s and Linus Pauling’s inner experiments; Washington Carver’s listening to Nature; Luther Burbank’s talking with plants…and more. May the rebirthing of holistic science into human culture flow well.
References
Articles
Bortoft, Henri “Counterfeit and Authentic Wholes: Finding a
means for dwelling in Nature.” Marinus Nighoff Publishers 1985
Holdrege, Craig “Doing Goethean Science” Janus Head 8(1) 2005
Kumar, Satish “Cutting Carbon is a rich fool’s Errand” The Guardian August 29, 2007
Books
These are the authors mentioned in the text with their primary work noted.
Bortoft, Henri The Wholeness of Nature D. Reidal Publishing,1996
Buber, Martin I and Thou Wiley Publishing, 1971
Buhner, Stephen The Secret Teachings of Plants: The intelligence of the heart in the direct perception of Nature Bear and Company, 2004
Cashford, Jules The Homeric Hymns Penguin Books, 1992
Goethe, Wolfgang von “Goethe’s Botanical Writings” edited by Bertha Muellar Ox Bow Press, 1989
Goodwin, Brian “Nature’s Due” Floris Books, 2007
Harding, Stephan Animate Earth Chelsea Green, 2006
Heinlein, Robert Stranger in a Strange Land Avon, 1961
Jung, Carl The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious Pantheon Books, 1959
McLuhan, Marshall The Medium is the Massage Bantam 1967
Pirsig, Robert Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: an inquiry into values William Morrow and Company, 1974
Why go to Schumacher College? Sept 1, 2007tag:www.plantsandhealers.com,2007://3.2192007-09-01T20:22:05Z2007-09-13T12:20:20ZWhy go to Schumacher College? I have been exploring for years alternative places of higher learning in consideration of furthering my formal knowledge. In the 90’s I looked at various naturopathic colleges, in 2000 I checked out the California Institute...Frank Cook
Why go to Schumacher College?
I have been exploring for years alternative places of higher learning in consideration of furthering my formal knowledge. In the 90’s I looked at various naturopathic colleges, in 2000 I checked out the California Institute of Integral Studies. For various reasons these never came to fruition. In the nineties, a good friend David Minkow lent me a book by Satish Kumar called “Path Without Destination.” In that book Satish described an alternative college in England called Schumacher College started by the famous economist E.F. Schumacher (“Small is Beautiful”) where Satish is the Program Director.
I looked further into the school and last year I took a short course there called “Food, Health and Society”. I was impressed by many aspects of the college and after careful deliberation, for I knew the sacrifices I would make to come here, I chose to enter their one year Masters of Holistic Science program. I am here now. Let me describe below (in no particular order) the exact reasons for my being here:
A) I am excited to participate in the communal aspects of the college. Everyone here, staff and students, share in the maintenance of the college. I really appreciate the high living vibe they keep while maintaining an academic atmosphere.
B) This is an exciting time for Schumacher in that they are taking steps to align their principles with the reality of their life here. I have been calling it permacher schumaculture or the Permaculturizing of Schumacher. I feel I have some roles to play in this. Over the next few months I will also be offering a course on herbalism available to the larger Devon community.
C) Of course, the academic opportunities play a big part of why I am here. As you can ascertain from the title of my program the emphasis is on Holistic Science—alternative ways of viewing the world beyond linear, reductionist western science. There is a nice blend of Goethean Science and Gaian Science with some great core and guest teachers. I see this as an opportunity for learning holistic principles to help in my own research and life path.
D) As many of you reading this know, I have been working for 12 years on a project of investigating the Plants and Healers of the World. With the busy-ness of teaching and community life I have found it challenging these last years to consolidate and integrate the work of getting these world experiences into book form. I have very clear goals of these next four months to bring the three books I am revising and finishing to completion in this academic setting so I can be in a good place to continue with the project.
E) In addition to the formal program here there are a number of amazing individuals who live in Devon. The most famous is Martin Crawford (check out his website www.agroforestry.co.uk) who maintains a world renowned edible forest garden located next to Schumacher. I have made arrangements to spend time with him each week gleaning what I can from his extensive knowledge. Mary Bartlett also lives here and has an extensive knowledge of plants and bookbinding. She to me is a living embodiment of Goethean principles. I intend to spend time with her weekly.
These are the reasons I can put into words. I hope this clarifies why I have made this decision. I feel the plants want me to be here. I am greatly indebted to those who have helped to finance this expensive journey (the dollar is unfortunately worth half as much as the pound!). I am still seeking assistance for my second payment due in February. If you feel you can help (every little bit is appreciated) you can give some support through the donation button on this website or by contacting me.
I will be on site here at Schumacher most of the next four months (the longest I have been steadily in one place since I went on the road 15 years ago!) other than some short trips around England to take in the history and power spots.
To find out more about Schumacher College check out their website: www.schumachercollege.org.uk. I would love to get a letter from you and these can be posted to: Frank Cook c/o Schumacher College The Old Postern Dartington, Devonshire TQ9 6EA United Kingdom.
Being here to me is both a wonderful opportunity and a sacrifice. I already miss my life in America and have faith it will still be there when I return. Until then say hi to the plants for me and remember to eat something wild every day!
Love and Light to each of you,
Frank
tag:www.plantsandhealers.com,2007://3.2122007-08-18T18:34:00Z2007-08-18T18:38:25ZDownload file...Frank Cook
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Site Evaluation for Permaculture Certificationtag:www.plantsandhealers.com,2007://3.2112007-08-18T18:28:10Z2007-09-13T12:19:17ZSite Evaluation of a piece of land in Asheville, NC for the practicum of the Permaculture Designer’s Certification with Chuck Marsh. August, 2007 Introduction I