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permaculture - Re: [permaculture] Hierarchies and certification..

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  • From: "Kirby Fry" <peace@totalaccess.net>
  • To: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Hierarchies and certification..
  • Date: Tue, 8 Jul 2003 08:33:22 -0500

Toby,
 
I'm a big fan of Ken Wilbur, especially his book, "The Theory of Everything," and have mentioned in the past that our solutions need to be genuinely holistic and include: internal first person - I, internal second person - we, external first person - the human body or single organisms, and external second person - societies and ecosystems. 
 
It seems to me that Bill has avoided the internal aspects of permaculture as part of a holistic solution (the woo woo aspect of things) so there are at least two areas that need rounding out and now the permaculture community is coming to grips with the need for, and fear of, developing and enhancing the external second person aspect of the permaculture equation.
 
Folks in progressive movements are shy of (also read as, "loathe") hierarchies because they have been so abused by leaders and beauracracy, but no matter how we squirm or shy away hierarchies exist and are a part of the natural order, so just like in the ecological landscape where we pride ourselves on mirroring natural systems so too in our social dealings do we need to mirror natural arrangements.
 
It's only natural that the Pc community develop a heirachy for reaching out and authenticating ourselves to the U.S. and world at large.  The trick is to avoid creating artificial or unnatural authority for those functioning at the top of such a hierarchy.  Their roll should be to help organize and unify and make the larger picture available to those of us on the ground having a great time in our "cool backyard gardens."
 
While I am for developing more resources, and a clearer structure and options for people who want to teach permaculture I feel that it should be done on a voluntary basis.  Those who want to increase their teaching skills and confidence, and make better syllabus and curricula available for the teaching community should have the options and resources to do so.  What I'm not for is people taking a teacher's course and then declaring that anyone else who wants to teach should also have to take a similar course.
 
It's much like the way the human brain works.  Our original neural pathways become obsolete as the brain develops and creates more efficient pathways for communicating information to the body.  However, the brain doesn't do away with the old pathways, it still uses them unlike say a city street where a trolley car system becomes outdated and gets ripped up and completely replaced with a bullet train or freeway.
 
I believe that there is room for both old pathways and new.
 
 
Kirby Fry
 
For the real scoop on environmental and social justice issues check out Democracy Now!  http://www.democracynow.org/



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