Now, about that "flower"...

[pilarkristine]

We're celebrating Earth Day here in southern MD.  The kid & I are home from "town" (which is 30 minutes away), resting back at the homestead after helping Dad out with the Healing Center's booth at the local festival.  Seems like a good moment to review the first section of The Secret Teachings of Plants, in which Stephen Buhner breaks down the

Comments

[pilarkristine]

Well, yes, that attitude is *unfortunate* to put it mildly. That's too bad. On the one hand, I can understand why he would feel "frustrated", given his obvious love of the living planet, and the desire that comes from that love to gain as much knowledge and wisdom as he can to spread around, and invoke change. (That part being much needed.) However, that kind of insult is a shame. Totally unnecessary. It's not up to him, and he went far off the deep end.

It's so funny -- as in odd, not ha-ha-- to find a person who is otherwise SO right-on about, essentially, the world not being black-and-white to then have a behavior that is SO black-and-white. But that's our human error, I guess. I'm glad to know of his; it balances my view of him. So thanks.

As for "speshul", I think the trick comes from being brought up in an environment that over-mystifies those senses, and so "owning" them becomes something of an anomaly, where it's the person, not the sense, that is "speshul". So first it's a matter of getting over ourselves, and then developing the senses that are otherwise normal... Because those attitudes and views are so deeply ingrained. I think I takes a lot of work to get over "speshul".

For me, having a bit of "science" to roll around in my mind puts my ego firmly in check. And it gives me a language to share with folks who might otherwise feel such things are utterly impossible. It's less flaky than other ways of talking about it might seem.

(Potawatomi... I'm misplacing it... north-eastern?)

[caoimhghin]

Yes, I can understand his frustration too. I grew up in the mainstream culture and came to my roots later in life. I had to find my own way (and of course we all do, even with cultural guidance) for many years.

The irony is, he seems as capable as anyone of finding his way. He has been given considerable insight. Which makes the racist remarks all the more unfortunate. I realize we all have blind spots, but that one seems to be particularly well-entrenched with alot of people. He can't see his own colonialism. Desiring a people's ways and hating those people at the same time is really sad.

Being perceptive, insightful and gifted (which he definately is in regard to plants) certainly doesn't mean being right about everything, it would seem. But that's to be expected, as frustrating as that particular position is to me.

"As for "speshul", I think the trick comes from being brought up in an environment that over-mystifies those senses, and so "owning" them becomes something of an anomaly, where it's the person, not the sense, that is "speshul". So first it's a matter of getting over ourselves, and then developing the senses that are otherwise normal... Because those attitudes and views are so deeply ingrained. I think I takes a lot of work to get over "speshul"."

Very true, and well-put.

"(Potawatomi... I'm misplacing it... north-eastern?)"

Hehe, that's okay, alot of people haven't heard of us. We're from the Great Lakes. Along with the Ojibwe and Odawa we make up the Anishinaabe (or as we say in Potawatomi, Neshnabé). We have a shared culture, and our languages are dialects of each other.