MAJOR DOCUMENT
>i liked your response (to fight,cry & bow) the most of anything you
>have posted to date. It showed me something i wasn't sure was there
>up to this point -- emotion, someone who gives a damn, someone willing
>to act in the real world vs intellectualize about it. BUT, it still
>doesn't convince me that a mach., or as some have put it "a screw
>driver" has an evolutionary "life" unto itself. Respect tech., yes,
>but that seems to me to be quite dif. than much of the connotation i
>have destilled from your paper and other posts.
>
>Maybe this will further clear things up for me -- at least it will
>help clarify where you stand re acting in the world. What do you feel
>are the implications of holding a stance such the one you propose in
>your paper -- be down to earth here please, i'm not looking for a well
>versed rhetoric or diatribe here just straight talk. Talk to me as if
>i'm an eight grader and you are telling me what you think we need to
>do now, here, in this world. What do you think we should do? How do
>you see this effecting the way real people live their real live?
>Green Dreams, r.c. (Rich Coon)
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Rich-- This is the best question. The real question.
It is, I hope, where our discussion will soon lead us. Before replying, let
me thank you for your clear and direct letters, straight to the point and
into the heart, like this question.
This afternoon I felt adled and anxious. I worried what to say to all these
fine people who have gathered around this cyberplace like a cloud of
spirits. All sincere, wanting to understand the world we live in, wanting
to live in it well.
What can I say to these good souls, now that I have caught their attention
with my provcative and unsettling article? How can I resettle this energy,
bring it to rest, soothe and resolve it? I had some hardware problems too
(at a time like this!), so altogether I felt bothered. Went for a long
walk.
I walked up around the back of Twin Sisters. The sun set on the Continental
Divide in a clear sky at exactly 16:24 h. I continued on around to the east
in the gloaming, then moonlight, until I came onto a ridge at about 18h
from which I had a clear view of Denver out on the eastern plains.
Metroplis, spread out as far as the eye could see like a blanket of jewels,
glowing, throbbing with electric energy. A few small planes flew about like
moths in the orange smog above the city. Around me in the mountains all was
moonlight and peace.
So here am I, standing deep in the heart of the ancient planet's peace,
gazing out like a time traveler on the futuristic landscape of the actual
present age. How do we walk this path?
To investigate Deep ecology as we are doing is to attempt to understand
this evolutionary past and present-future, to make sense of it, to
integrate this new world we live in with our old Paleolithic genes and
biophilic instincts. To integrate things in a peronal way too--we're not
looking for a general theoretical system.
Deep Ecology is not a sociological or biological theory, it is not a
political program. That kind of thing is good enough, and very necessary,
and is called Environmentalism. Deep Ecology is different. It's
_personal_. It borders on religion, which should be acceptable in this
company I hope, but which I know is not everyone's cup of tea. Religion, as
we know, does not make good subject matter for intellectual discussions,
much less political or social programs. Religion is persoanl stuff, and
must be experienced in a personal way.
Maybe we can't get far with this in the cerebral atmosphere of the Net, but
maybe we can. I'm hopeful, based on who is here.
So, it is good for us to investigate Deep Ecology the way we have been
doing, but we shouldn't linger here too long. Endless research and
cognitive refinements become self-indulgence and procrastination so
quickly. This inquiry is not to become a profession or an endless hobby.
An important question like this,
What is this world, and how do we live in it? should lead to an answer.
The kind of answer that many will find is a curious sort of, indescribable
authentic personal experience, some taste of indeniable reality that cuts
doubt. Anyone of us can do this for themself. In fact that's the only way
it happens.
There's no mystery here. Many such experiences and situations have been
reported already during this discussion, and have even been described as a
taste, or at least a recognition of the Absolute, or Nondual. Cheryl
Foltos, Betsy Barnum, the Alaska Sutras, and many others right here in our Inbox.
That.
Will anyone please confirm that this is solid ground, recognizable territory=
?
As soon then as some first _personal_ understanding has been reached, a
solid taste, rest is brought to the doubts and worries, hopes and fears of
the inquiring mind. A little rest anyway, a bitof rest. So jump on it.
That's what you're looking for.
IMMEDIATELY then, we are ready to answer your perfect question:
How are we to live?
*******************
In a sacred way.
*******************
It is too late tonight to take this further. I'll attempt it tomorrow
morning, in a fresh young day. I don't think it matters that much what I
say either, because each person's understanding of this can only come from
hisr direct experience of sacred world. Taste it, know it for yourself, and
behave accordingly.
Please help me answer your own question from this point on.
Anyone reading this, help us out here.
I hope the discussion is leading in this direction, as we only have a few
days left together. But I don't want to go too far this way unless some
people are coming along with me. Probably I should leave things here for
others to develop further.
Probably I shouldn't even post this message. Definitely in fact I probably
shouldn't.
Thanks, and Good Night John McClellan