permaculture

[Mitra Ardron <mitra_lists@earth.path.net>]

This is an interesting discussion ...

The overlap between Earth-based spiritualities and permaculture 
doesn't surprise me.  Though like others on the list I hope that we 
can all take care not to let Permaculture and its gatherings be 
exclusive.

I think if you  start from an interest in permaculture, and you are 
seeking spirituality in some form (i.e. not just blindly following 
whatever path you were brought up in) then as you are looking at 
nature closely, and looking for ways to work with it, rather than 
against it, then  I think there is often going to be an inclination 
to look for a spirituality that is also honoring nature, and works 
with it, rather than treating the land as something we have dominion 
over.

I think the reverse is also true, if you are already interested in an 
Earth-based/Pagan or Native American spirituality then there will be 
a tendency to look favorably on Permaculture as the dominant 
monoculture agriculture hardly honors the spirit of the land.

My own spirituality is meditation based, rather than earth based, so 
why are many people who share my spirituality, interested in 
permaculture. I think the issue is about open-mindedness, the "New 
Age" is anything but a mono-culture, there are wide ranges of belief 
systems, and generally people are pretty open to each other's beliefs.

On the other hand - many (though luckily not all) people from 
monotheist religions, especially in countries where they are dominant 
(e.g. Christianity in the west, Islam in N.Africa or Middle East, 
though in my experience less so Hinduism or Buddhism) are often 
closed minded about other people's beliefs.

Although some permaculturists can get pretty dogmatic, permaculture 
is not really the dominant agricultural system anywhere, you have to 
be thinking "out of the box" to be attracted to it, I think therefore 
it also attracts open-minded rather than closed-minded people.

So I think that explains the attraction, at least in my mind, but it 
need not  be an exclusivity , except sometimes in the mind of the 
person feeling excluded ..

What I means is that in my experience of permaculture gatherings (in 
the west) people of any  spirituality who are open-minded are 
welcome, but someone who turns up expecting to convert anyone to 
their own belief system, or who is uncomfortable with expressions of 
spirituality other than their own is likely to find themselves 
feeling unwelcome, however welcoming their hosts are.

Obviously someone trying to teach or communicate permaculture  to a 
particular community in a particular culture is going to have to be 
sensitive to the spirituality of that community. But I don't find it 
strange that gatherings of permaculturists in the west would have a 
predominance of people who are also open-minded about their 
spirituality.

- Mitra

--
Mitra Ardron:  Natural Innovation  & Zelfo Australia
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Life is a Mystery to be Lived, not a Problem to be Solved