Dear Scott, (and others)
First of all, and for the record, I do NOT teach "permaculture" (nor
do I want to) and I do not practice "permaculture", and I never
claimed I did. I am here because I was invited to do so, and because
"permaculture" holds closest to the ideas I have discovered myself. I
studied Physical Geography / Landscape ecology, and spent much time
in different ecosystems in many places on the globe. Due to my own
observations I came to some insights very close to that of Fukuoka
(to the dismay of my university Professors). Only later when I read
the One Straw Revolution, did I realize that Nature communicates the
same thing, over and over, to those who are AWARE. Sure, Fukuoka saw
much much more than me, but that is not the issue. The issue is
reaching understanding on one's own, not through being 'taught'.
The problem is that the indoctrination you speak of runs deeper than
most people think. Even systems-thinking, and learning biological
processes, etc, can again lead to 'organizations' that are stuck in a
rut. I can already see it happening in Permaculture (even if
permaculture still just has marginal influence). Larger movements and
organizations always draw in a certain caliber of people, that will
send it slowly on the decline. This is so because most people lack
Self-knowledge,
and adore 'systems', 'protocols', 'methods' and the
like. Yet without adequate Self-knowledge, any endeavor to 'improve
our lot' is doomed to fail. Ideas form the basis of organizations,
organizations create systems, systems become solidified, dogmatic,
authoritarian, and we're back to square one.
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