koyaanisqatsi
I rewatched The Matrix this evening with N. The part where Agent Smith is trying to crack Morpheus always gets me. He says humanity is a virus, a cancer. We overpopulate an area, use up all the resources, then move onto another area to use up all the resources there.
That's not how it is with certain cultures and not how it used to be with the cultures that made up western civilization.
I remember reading, iirc, in either Spell of the Sensuous or one of Holger Kalweit's books on shamanism, that a part of shamanism is maintaining the balance between humanity and the surrounding physical landscape. If a member of the group falls ill, then something is out of balance with the way that group is interacting with their environment and balance must be restored or more people will fall ill. The clue to what is out of balance typically manifests in what type of illness the group member contracts.
If we, as a group, are continually stricken with viruses and cancer, I would imagine that it's a wake up call to look at how we're living as an overall group. We can look at carcinogens and anti-oxidants all we want, but if we're continually using up resources, never giving anything back or replenishing what we take, not living in a closed-loop system, then we're still going to be stricken with the same types of illnesses.
Or so this paradigm would have us believe. I like this paradigm. I like balance. I like working with Nature. I like being able to give back and make better and replenish. I like the idea of being able to get what I need without leaving things worse off.
Don't you?
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That's not how it is with certain cultures and not how it used to be with the cultures that made up western civilization.
I remember reading, iirc, in either Spell of the Sensuous or one of Holger Kalweit's books on shamanism, that a part of shamanism is maintaining the balance between humanity and the surrounding physical landscape. If a member of the group falls ill, then something is out of balance with the way that group is interacting with their environment and balance must be restored or more people will fall ill. The clue to what is out of balance typically manifests in what type of illness the group member contracts.
If we, as a group, are continually stricken with viruses and cancer, I would imagine that it's a wake up call to look at how we're living as an overall group. We can look at carcinogens and anti-oxidants all we want, but if we're continually using up resources, never giving anything back or replenishing what we take, not living in a closed-loop system, then we're still going to be stricken with the same types of illnesses.
Or so this paradigm would have us believe. I like this paradigm. I like balance. I like working with Nature. I like being able to give back and make better and replenish. I like the idea of being able to get what I need without leaving things worse off.
Don't you?
Original post on Dreamwidth with
comment(s). Please comment there using OpenID.