permaculture

[Lee Flier <leeflier@comcast.net>]

Toby Hemenway wrote:
> And in reply to an earlier question, dance and song are excellent ways 
> of learning, having been used to teach for millennia. But I'd be 
> circumspect about what is being sung or danced. As we've seen here, 
> spirituality in PDCs is a hot button. To me, a song about the mother 
> goddess is no more appropriate for a PDC than is a song about our all 
> being lambs of Jesus or children of Legba. Earth-centered spirituality 
> is so much the water permies swim in that we can be blind to its 
> presence.

EXACTLY, thank you.


>  I've had evangelical Christians, Muslims, and hasidic Jews in 
> my classes point out how excluding some of our language is.
Yes, not to mention atheists/agnostics who happen to be purely 
science-oriented.

I will say personally that even though I don't subscribe to any 
organized religion nor am I atheist or agnostic (I'm basically a deist), 
and even though my brand of spirituality is decidedly earth based, I am 
*still* frequently turned off by much of the stuff that goes on around 
permaculture gatherings.  That's one reason why I haven't gone to very 
many of them.  So I figure, if even I feel alienated, I can only imagine 
how a Christian or an atheist feels... :D