permaculture

[Scott Pittman <pci@permaculture-inst.org>]

At 12:00 PM 11/3/02 -0500, you wrote:
> My own attitude is not to get hot under the collar about esoteric content 
> in permaculture even though my frame of reference comes from the Western 
> scientific side of things. I think that, if people care for their land 
> whether in the country, suburban backyards or urban community gardens, 
> then the way they go about that can be left to their own frame of 
> reference. Whether they construct stone towers, invoke spirals in water to 
> prepare Biodynamic compounds or follow good soil science is immaterial to me.
In the case of Bill Mollison's insistence that there is no place in 
permaculture for "woo woo", "methinks thou doth protest too much".

It is quite obvious to me that once one is deeply involved in living 
systems that the call of the pagan, the goddess consciousness comes 
bubbling out of the subconscious and may or may not take root in the waking 
conscious.  One of the things that so captured me in Bill's courses was how 
he could evoke these feelings without ever making them explicite, in fact 
vehemently denying their existence.

After traveling and teaching with Bill for over 5 years I realized that 
Bill's desire to become accepted by academia and the mainstream also drove 
his selection of subject matter and his rejection of subject matter.  This 
was a bit weird since Bill seemed to delight in insulting both academics 
and mainstream bureaucrats, especially if they were hosting him at an event.

I followed Bill's curriculum and his pedagogy until the contradictions 
became too much.  For instance: No matter how much I put down bio dynamics, 
for not having sufficient data to support their claims, the more I was 
confronted    with the fact that biodynamic gardens and farms were 
incredible healthy,  productive, and perfect examples of how a permaculture 
agriculture should work.  The data on production, and soil fertility exist 
but how does one quantify vortexian energetics effect on manure stored in a 
cow's horn?   I think oft times these various techniques, borrowed from 
antiquity, are now and have been way ahead of science's ability to 
understand them.  A little like the dilemma faced by Galileo.

The long and the short of it is that there is spirit, whether you like it 
or not or whether you can measure or weigh it or not.  The problem is that 
when you name it you have to defend your name or justify your name, so it 
is often better to demonstrate spirit rather than giving it a name.

Scott