Anti-Civ vs. Pro-Evolution of Culture
I'm reading "Fire and Ice: disturbing the comfortable & comfortin the disturbed while trackin our wildest dreams"
Okay, so I've just read the intro, and I believe that while it is incredibly comforting to know that others have been down this healing path before, I do not hold civilization responsible for the terrifying acts of clearcuts, genocides, and pushing us towards some kind of apocalypse.
There is no blame for these things. Cultures evolve and change and bring with them their different gifts. Wildly different flavorful foods are one of the greatest gifts that evolving, separate cultures have given to the world.
One culture that has had the most palpable effect on my life is the CULTURE of Western Civilization. Let me explain: not all forms of 'civilization' are the same. What do you call a traditional village of folks who were forest-gardeners, tending the wild? Forest-gardeners weren't necessarily nomadic and weren't quite hunter-gatherers either (at least in my strict understanding of the term). FG's certainly weren't agriculturalists - namely because "agri" means field - or rather solely agriculturalists, since I have read that villages of natives would set fires in meadows to burn off the woody plants and encourage the continuance of the meadows, as well. I suppose they were more like horticulturalists - but this word doesn't quite fit either ("horti" is garden) since theirs was a wild-garden/wild-gardener relationship, heh, not one of domestication and intense weeding and rows with uncultivated ground between them. And maybe not even a permaculture-styled garden, because they cultivated and used natives only (as far as I am aware...), and didn't have domesticated animals (as far as i know).
Okay, so actually I've never read about anything similar to a forest-gardening tribe... This can't be because it didn't exist. It must just be that this meme wasn't available to Western Civ Culture so they could not describe the life of natives in this way or that I just haven't done any research into it, hahaha.
Still, Western Civ Culture is only now rediscovering the forest-gardening meme-family and is figuring out how to assimilate it - which I am in favor of.
This is why I am a proponent of evolving Western Civ Culture (and all others) as opposed to abandoning them in favor of Primitivist Anarchy.
Western Civ Culture HAS provided us with tons of amazing gifts - certainly due to unimaginable amounts of suffering - but that does not take away those gifts. We shouldn't throw the baby out with the bath-water just because we got burned when we tested the waters.
I believe that i can be happy in a civilized place, especially if I am surrounded by a community of like-minded, like-lifestyled individuals: The Outside(r) Art Collective and my friends here are that developing community. Throwing Wilderness Community Gatherings provides the surface area, the meeting space, the casual face time for the expansion and sharing of cultural memes and practices that makes sense: ones that honor & savor the wild within and the wild about us. Still, there's no expectation that the emotional-spiritual side of planting trees be shared.... This is about FUN and being excited that our collective future will be filled with tons of free fruits & nuts & berries for food-security, peace, and to regenerate local resources.
A culture of urban and suburban people who celebrate life and PLAY while planting (perennial polycultures) trees, giving attention to kids and elders, learning and sharing about wildlife, gathering/preparing/eating and sharing wild & local foods, and dancing together with live music.
If you throw it, they will come, :1.
Okay, so I've just read the intro, and I believe that while it is incredibly comforting to know that others have been down this healing path before, I do not hold civilization responsible for the terrifying acts of clearcuts, genocides, and pushing us towards some kind of apocalypse.
There is no blame for these things. Cultures evolve and change and bring with them their different gifts. Wildly different flavorful foods are one of the greatest gifts that evolving, separate cultures have given to the world.
One culture that has had the most palpable effect on my life is the CULTURE of Western Civilization. Let me explain: not all forms of 'civilization' are the same. What do you call a traditional village of folks who were forest-gardeners, tending the wild? Forest-gardeners weren't necessarily nomadic and weren't quite hunter-gatherers either (at least in my strict understanding of the term). FG's certainly weren't agriculturalists - namely because "agri" means field - or rather solely agriculturalists, since I have read that villages of natives would set fires in meadows to burn off the woody plants and encourage the continuance of the meadows, as well. I suppose they were more like horticulturalists - but this word doesn't quite fit either ("horti" is garden) since theirs was a wild-garden/wild-gardener relationship, heh, not one of domestication and intense weeding and rows with uncultivated ground between them. And maybe not even a permaculture-styled garden, because they cultivated and used natives only (as far as I am aware...), and didn't have domesticated animals (as far as i know).
Okay, so actually I've never read about anything similar to a forest-gardening tribe... This can't be because it didn't exist. It must just be that this meme wasn't available to Western Civ Culture so they could not describe the life of natives in this way or that I just haven't done any research into it, hahaha.
Still, Western Civ Culture is only now rediscovering the forest-gardening meme-family and is figuring out how to assimilate it - which I am in favor of.
This is why I am a proponent of evolving Western Civ Culture (and all others) as opposed to abandoning them in favor of Primitivist Anarchy.
Western Civ Culture HAS provided us with tons of amazing gifts - certainly due to unimaginable amounts of suffering - but that does not take away those gifts. We shouldn't throw the baby out with the bath-water just because we got burned when we tested the waters.
I believe that i can be happy in a civilized place, especially if I am surrounded by a community of like-minded, like-lifestyled individuals: The Outside(r) Art Collective and my friends here are that developing community. Throwing Wilderness Community Gatherings provides the surface area, the meeting space, the casual face time for the expansion and sharing of cultural memes and practices that makes sense: ones that honor & savor the wild within and the wild about us. Still, there's no expectation that the emotional-spiritual side of planting trees be shared.... This is about FUN and being excited that our collective future will be filled with tons of free fruits & nuts & berries for food-security, peace, and to regenerate local resources.
A culture of urban and suburban people who celebrate life and PLAY while planting (perennial polycultures) trees, giving attention to kids and elders, learning and sharing about wildlife, gathering/preparing/eating and sharing wild & local foods, and dancing together with live music.
If you throw it, they will come, :1.