[A new chapter has been added to "Hurricane River," listed in the website, entitled "The Sweater." It is after the new chapter posted last week and still on, "Three Amigos." Another will be added next week and so on as a serial, with the former chapters deleted with each new chapter placed.]
Two questions were raised after the last few blogs: One: what are the prospects of Gaia, really, in protecting our earth? And two - what's wrong with meaningless recreation?
On the first - Gaia, as said, is not an earth goddess but the ecological collective of all species. Humans alone, as far as we know, are (or might be) the only one to have free choice. Yet we are part of the overall species continuum. Gregory Bateson, an anthropologist and biologist, argued that, as we are part of the continuum, we only have to reconnect with our deeper natural selves to live ecologically sound lives. But he was restricted by the profane nature of his profession, while I am not. It seems to me that morality was given to us as a counter to our natural tendencies of over-exploitation - an ability that is not held in check by the very same reason that we have morality- because we are abstract thinkers and introspective beings. That is, our thinking abilities made us rise above natural limitations, while also giving us the ability to have cultural and personal morality systems which would limit over-exploitation. Gaia, then, has been given a self-reference through us, and also a way to upset its balance. It is, to my way of thinking, a spiritual gamble on the part of the Absolute that gives us a tremendous insight into the meaning of ourselves and our place in the universe. On the other hand, we are but one of millions of planets. The gamble, for God, is not a make or break one. Of course not. But it is for us and could go either way. I believe the Cosmos is literally pulling for us, but we must slay our dragons first - those dragons being the parts of us that allow gross exploitation (and anihilistic warfare) in the first place. We are helped by our reference moralities and our sense of beauty and balance, but we have to subdue our 'animal side' because of our enhanced cognitive abilities. It is, to me, a morality play in the flesh on a cosmic scale.
As for recreation, yes, we have a tendency towards self-righteous workaholism. I just read Thomas Merton's "The Sayings of the Desert Fathers" and was confronted again and again with the importance of hard work for the servants of the lord. Recall the saying, "an idle mind is the Devil's playground." Tell me about it, for how much guff I've gotten for being a writer. My retort is, "the only thing that defines what I do as work or as an idle waste is the money. The work is the same." To no avail, but that is a side issue. Overall, it has been understood by Northern Europeans that it is God's command to suffer to make a living - and to appreciate the suffering. For the desert fathers, I believe they were reacting to the idle rich of the era, the same demonized by Jesus. For the more modern Northern European model, we look to the Protestant Ethic, which affected northern Catholics too. We are to work but not appreciate the fruits of it, for as sinners we must sweat and toil but not indulge. This, as it is now understood, gave rise to Capitalism, for the hard-working Protestants had nothing more to do with their money than to reinvest (to capitalize).
Paradoxically, this produced the richest, most profane general culture since the time of the late Roman Empire. We might say, then, that while being idle by living off of someone else's sweat is not morally correct, neither is it to work beyond what is necessary. Rather, self-sufficiency and attention to the quality of the work and to its place in a greater plan is the better attitude.
So I'd say, enjoy. Maybe I can better, too, when my big break comes. Then again, there can never be too much humility. FK
Two questions were raised after the last few blogs: One: what are the prospects of Gaia, really, in protecting our earth? And two - what's wrong with meaningless recreation?
On the first - Gaia, as said, is not an earth goddess but the ecological collective of all species. Humans alone, as far as we know, are (or might be) the only one to have free choice. Yet we are part of the overall species continuum. Gregory Bateson, an anthropologist and biologist, argued that, as we are part of the continuum, we only have to reconnect with our deeper natural selves to live ecologically sound lives. But he was restricted by the profane nature of his profession, while I am not. It seems to me that morality was given to us as a counter to our natural tendencies of over-exploitation - an ability that is not held in check by the very same reason that we have morality- because we are abstract thinkers and introspective beings. That is, our thinking abilities made us rise above natural limitations, while also giving us the ability to have cultural and personal morality systems which would limit over-exploitation. Gaia, then, has been given a self-reference through us, and also a way to upset its balance. It is, to my way of thinking, a spiritual gamble on the part of the Absolute that gives us a tremendous insight into the meaning of ourselves and our place in the universe. On the other hand, we are but one of millions of planets. The gamble, for God, is not a make or break one. Of course not. But it is for us and could go either way. I believe the Cosmos is literally pulling for us, but we must slay our dragons first - those dragons being the parts of us that allow gross exploitation (and anihilistic warfare) in the first place. We are helped by our reference moralities and our sense of beauty and balance, but we have to subdue our 'animal side' because of our enhanced cognitive abilities. It is, to me, a morality play in the flesh on a cosmic scale.
As for recreation, yes, we have a tendency towards self-righteous workaholism. I just read Thomas Merton's "The Sayings of the Desert Fathers" and was confronted again and again with the importance of hard work for the servants of the lord. Recall the saying, "an idle mind is the Devil's playground." Tell me about it, for how much guff I've gotten for being a writer. My retort is, "the only thing that defines what I do as work or as an idle waste is the money. The work is the same." To no avail, but that is a side issue. Overall, it has been understood by Northern Europeans that it is God's command to suffer to make a living - and to appreciate the suffering. For the desert fathers, I believe they were reacting to the idle rich of the era, the same demonized by Jesus. For the more modern Northern European model, we look to the Protestant Ethic, which affected northern Catholics too. We are to work but not appreciate the fruits of it, for as sinners we must sweat and toil but not indulge. This, as it is now understood, gave rise to Capitalism, for the hard-working Protestants had nothing more to do with their money than to reinvest (to capitalize).
Paradoxically, this produced the richest, most profane general culture since the time of the late Roman Empire. We might say, then, that while being idle by living off of someone else's sweat is not morally correct, neither is it to work beyond what is necessary. Rather, self-sufficiency and attention to the quality of the work and to its place in a greater plan is the better attitude.
So I'd say, enjoy. Maybe I can better, too, when my big break comes. Then again, there can never be too much humility. FK
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