Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

permaculture - [permaculture] Styles ( was spirituality ad infinitum)

permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: permaculture

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Marsha Hanzi <mhanzi@yahoo.com>
  • To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [permaculture] Styles ( was spirituality ad infinitum)
  • Date: Tue, 6 Feb 2007 08:14:59 -0800 (PST)

On the way back down the hot dusty road to the farm it suddenly dawned on me
that this discussion is NOT about permaculture. The content of the course I
did with Bill and Scott or Lea and Max was iherently the same as I did with
Starhawk and Penny. They all refer to the same body of knowledge about
sustainable design and its principles, strategies and techinques.

We are talking about "teaching styes". (Or even "being styles".) Then I
remembered the first day in the PC teachers course that I did with Lea
Harrison in Hawaii in 1991 when she made the thirty of us get up and give a
five-minute class. It was marvellous! It was thirty totally unique ways of
teaching, Profoundly inspiring. The fear seems that there will be one style
which predominates. Maybe we should just have confidence in our own
biodiversity and know that for every style of teaching there will be people
who correspond.

My friend Gabriel says that "There is no neutral technology". Permaculture
is also not neutral. Each course will bring the flavor of the truth of that
particular person who is up there teaching it , his/her interpretation, style
of living, posture, experience, and life projects ( which are universally
inspiring!)

So maybe we should just celebrate our biodiversity, and also the fact that
David is coming onto the public scene, since he also contributes his own
style of organizing the material and teaching it, totally different from
our flamboyant Bill. (Actually looking forward to meeting him soon.)

I can see this effect in my own work, which should be a good example. For
the last thirty years I have been experimenting with and interested in energy
techniques for increasing vitality both in our bodies and on the land (
similar to what Alanna Moore does in Australia).
I once actually got SLAMMED on this list some six years ago for mentioning
this ( from someone I had considered - until that moment- to be a mentor and
friend)

I now offer a "PDC-plus" the "plus" being the energy techniqes. Those who
come to the course are interested in this focus. What is interesting is that
more than half of the participants who come have already done another PDC.
Some are even Permaculture professionals. They are curious to get to know
this style of approching sustainable design.
It gives wonderful cross-fecundation.

So the big question in the movment is not about spirituality. It is about
"to what point will we tolerate different styles of teaching"? From the
interesting and quite balanced discussion that took place here I think that
we can honestly answer "Today we are getting good at honoring the different
styles of being and teaching which we, of the Permaculture movement, have to
offer".

Marsha Hanzi
Marizá Epicenter for Culture and Agroecology
also
Bahian Permaculture Institute
www.marsha.com.br
www.permacultura-bahia.org.br



---------------------------------
The fish are biting.
Get more visitors on your site using Yahoo! Search Marketing.



  • [permaculture] Styles ( was spirituality ad infinitum), Marsha Hanzi, 02/06/2007

Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page