3. Re: Permaculture Events andReligious/"Spiritual"Events: Re:
Permaculture/Lughnasadh Eve Social (Lawrence F. London, Jr.)
This is all very interesting considering the lineage and all that.
Bill eschewed all religion and politics as counter productive in regard to
teaching permaculture. His feeling, I'm sure, was that it muddied the
waters, especially within a context of cultural differences. I agree with
that sentiment whenever we are talking about an organized religion with a
written dogma, something about codifying ones spiritual path that creates a
contentious atmosphere toward the other, or non-believer. I welcome
anyone and any belief system to the courses I teach but do not allow any
proselytizing during class. I also spend time speaking to the issue of the
unspeakable horrors that Christian missionaries have visited on indigenous
people around the world and they continue to do so. A reading of "Thy Will
Be Done The Conquest of the Amazon: Nelson Rockefeller and Evangelism in
the Age of Oil" by Gerard Colby and Charlotte Dennett is enough to set
ones hair on fire.
On the other hand Bill once stated that the greatest book ever written was
"The Golden Bough" by James Frazer, which is a codification of religious
practices around the world. I think that there is a big difference between
codified religion and Animism which, in short, is a belief that all of
nature including us is imbued with spirit, I don't have a big argument with
that and I don't believe that Bill would as long as the "spirit" part was
self defined. I think that in PC courses it is easy enough to access this
ineffable spirit in the talent show, in fact I think that that is the
purpose of the talent show, a testament to Bill's pedagogical genius.
There is something, also, that is very magic in the unspoken, that is the
primary beauty of good poetry. Bill's poetic descriptions of natural
processes were very often near to evoking out of body experiences or a kind
of wonder. I think that is the ultimate goal of the deep ecology movement,
to create an atmosphere of awe and wonder of nature and our
connectedness. As close to church as I want to be.
Scott
Permaculture Institute
PO Box 3702
Pojoaque, NM 87501
505 455 0514 Phone
505 455 2003 FAX
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