permaculture

[John Schinnerer <eco_living@yahoo.com>]

Aloha,

> Maybe this is when the saw becomes part of you or extension of self
> (or is that you have become part of the saw) 
> ...When we stop thinking I-am-me and 
> that-is-saw that the work flows naturally/effortlessly and is no
> longer 'working the saw' but simply 'being' - at this point are saw, 
> person and log together in a state of simply being?

Or doing, as the case may be... ;-)

But seriously...apply these ideas to being/doing with land.  Holistic
assessment requires (IMO and IMExperience) at least a portion of time
spent in "not thinking" assessment/observation.  This has come home to
me most strongly working with my own little bit of land.  I have spent
much time "wandering" and "poking about" and "exploring" and "just
sitting" and some of it also spent chastising myself for "wasting
time."  In truth I was not wasting time but using it wisely, letting
the place seep into me and I into the place, observing without
analyzing and quantifying consciously.  From this sort of assessment I
have realized some of my best design decisions.

A bit of awareness over time - the experiences of daily life and cycles
- is also vital assessment.  Three-plus months of camping out there, I
learned the wind/rain/sun patterns as a daily experience, though I
"knew" intellectually what they were/ought to be from the start.  And
they were as I expected and yet not merely that.  "The fish swimming
through the reef tastes much better than the one in the book in the
(University) library..."(paraphrasing Palikapu Dedman, Hawaiian
activist...)

After a few weeks, I could say what clock time it was usually within
five minutes without a watch and without "thinking" about it.  If I
"thought" about it I would most often be much farther off the mark.

> This ability to blur the boundaries that separate us...

I think of it as remembering that the "boundaries" are our own
creations...they exist in no absolute sense, we separate ourselves as
we have learned to do and we can unlearn doing so as well...



=====
John Schinnerer, MA
--------------------
- Eco-Living -
Cultural & Ecological Designing
Food - Shelter - Community
john@eco-living.net
http://eco-living.net

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