I remember you discussing the German poop shelf toilets on your radio program back in the 2005 - 2010 era. It was a very interesting topic, as are all topics illustrating our loss of ancient wisdom.
As you say:
"In virtually every creation story, humans are not part of nature. We’re separate, apart, unique, different, and not bound by the rules of nature (although we very much have our own rules)."
I have felt this since I was very young, and had a prolonged and troubled adjustment to "society" as a result. I'm still having a hard time in my mid forties - it's hard to take seriously things which are painfully at odds with what our gut is telling us (there's a pun for the whole piece).
Our creation myths are the equivalent of imposing a virtual template over life itself, with a wholly manufactured set of quite unholy rules which do nothing more than excuse our worst intentions. This fictitious Earth-is-a-theme-park suicidal faith is based solely on such ignorant arrogance which divines that we humans are "more than" - we are gods.
Mr. Hartmann, a similar argument can be made for our sociocultural existence. Each and every society is an answer to the human problem of how and why we should live. Every time a human society is attacked by another [ historically it is usually Judeo-Christian] and its culture is forced by the attackers to disappear; the entire human species looses a solution to the Ontological and Epistemological questions of survival. This loss of knowledge and all it entails should be of grave concern to us all. Aside from the pure, and ghastly, immoral act of eliminating peoples and their cultures; humankind itself is put in danger of great harm.
I say this because, while it is undeniably true that we are biological organisms sharing this planet with other biological organisms; it is just as undeniably true that we live in a sociocultural environment, created by and composed of the arbitrary linguistic symbols we have created. No one of us has created these linguistic symbols. We have created them as members of human groups. It is our existence in an arbitrary world of linguistic symbols that makes us unique and powerful in the biological world of living creatures. No other animals have created an arbitrary, symbolic existence. We humans, therefore bare the weight of responsibility for our own continued existence or extinction. There is no Big Daddy up there in the sky who might destroy the world or save it. Only us.
Mr. Harmann, if I may make one more contribution here; it is this.
I recall about a decade ago, I read about a Biologist at one of our elite Universities who began a search for a cure to viruses. She was searching in the soil of her own backyard garden.
Her reasoning went something like this: There were amoebas and paramecia in the soil which were thousands of years old. They must have been attacked repeatedly by virulent viruses over that long period. But they survived. She intended to look for the mechanisms of their survival. Perhaps this knowledge could help us find cures for viruses which are, of course, currently not curable.
You can tell the difference in produce by buying farm to table food from a CSA or a local famers' market.
Usually the produce is not super washed and waxed as it would be in the grocery store. That bit of "dirt" is actually quite healthy. You should not just eat the dirt but washing it does not get rid of all the benefits of a bit of residual. And, most CSAs are organic so an added benefit.
Some of my happiest days were living close to the Earth. We hippies lived on a farm that we rented ~ transforming small sheds into living quarters ~ growing a huge organic vegetable garden together. My partner and I transformed a chicken coop into living quarters and built a fire-brick kiln nearby, where we had a potter’s studio set up under a lean-to roof. This was right beside a small stream. Sometimes I’d sleep outside on a trampoline by a lake in the cow pasture. Our local drive-in movie theater sold pieces of seasonal homemade pies rather than candy. Ah! the earth🌱
Good morning Thom!
I remember you discussing the German poop shelf toilets on your radio program back in the 2005 - 2010 era. It was a very interesting topic, as are all topics illustrating our loss of ancient wisdom.
As you say:
"In virtually every creation story, humans are not part of nature. We’re separate, apart, unique, different, and not bound by the rules of nature (although we very much have our own rules)."
I have felt this since I was very young, and had a prolonged and troubled adjustment to "society" as a result. I'm still having a hard time in my mid forties - it's hard to take seriously things which are painfully at odds with what our gut is telling us (there's a pun for the whole piece).
Our creation myths are the equivalent of imposing a virtual template over life itself, with a wholly manufactured set of quite unholy rules which do nothing more than excuse our worst intentions. This fictitious Earth-is-a-theme-park suicidal faith is based solely on such ignorant arrogance which divines that we humans are "more than" - we are gods.
Mr. Hartmann, a similar argument can be made for our sociocultural existence. Each and every society is an answer to the human problem of how and why we should live. Every time a human society is attacked by another [ historically it is usually Judeo-Christian] and its culture is forced by the attackers to disappear; the entire human species looses a solution to the Ontological and Epistemological questions of survival. This loss of knowledge and all it entails should be of grave concern to us all. Aside from the pure, and ghastly, immoral act of eliminating peoples and their cultures; humankind itself is put in danger of great harm.
I say this because, while it is undeniably true that we are biological organisms sharing this planet with other biological organisms; it is just as undeniably true that we live in a sociocultural environment, created by and composed of the arbitrary linguistic symbols we have created. No one of us has created these linguistic symbols. We have created them as members of human groups. It is our existence in an arbitrary world of linguistic symbols that makes us unique and powerful in the biological world of living creatures. No other animals have created an arbitrary, symbolic existence. We humans, therefore bare the weight of responsibility for our own continued existence or extinction. There is no Big Daddy up there in the sky who might destroy the world or save it. Only us.
Mr. Harmann, if I may make one more contribution here; it is this.
I recall about a decade ago, I read about a Biologist at one of our elite Universities who began a search for a cure to viruses. She was searching in the soil of her own backyard garden.
Her reasoning went something like this: There were amoebas and paramecia in the soil which were thousands of years old. They must have been attacked repeatedly by virulent viruses over that long period. But they survived. She intended to look for the mechanisms of their survival. Perhaps this knowledge could help us find cures for viruses which are, of course, currently not curable.
Great job Mr H. as usual.
You can tell the difference in produce by buying farm to table food from a CSA or a local famers' market.
Usually the produce is not super washed and waxed as it would be in the grocery store. That bit of "dirt" is actually quite healthy. You should not just eat the dirt but washing it does not get rid of all the benefits of a bit of residual. And, most CSAs are organic so an added benefit.
Some of my happiest days were living close to the Earth. We hippies lived on a farm that we rented ~ transforming small sheds into living quarters ~ growing a huge organic vegetable garden together. My partner and I transformed a chicken coop into living quarters and built a fire-brick kiln nearby, where we had a potter’s studio set up under a lean-to roof. This was right beside a small stream. Sometimes I’d sleep outside on a trampoline by a lake in the cow pasture. Our local drive-in movie theater sold pieces of seasonal homemade pies rather than candy. Ah! the earth🌱
Like Thom I had a white light experience. And came to know ALL IS ONE Nature.
Terence McKenna told me he learned the universe is alive by reading Alfred North Whitehead.
And Terrence Howard explains how every thing is Light 💡 at its core.
Howard has had about nine million views of his explanation in the last 2 weeks! 😉
https://youtu.be/g197xdRZsW0?si=aqKF-HrBdvSTLoI9