From: Ant McWatt (antmcwatt@hotmail.co.uk)
Date: Sun Oct 16 2005 - 22:56:25 BST
On 10/15/05, gav <gav_gc@yahoo.com.au> wrote:
>i have recently been very impressed by the quality
>contributions on this list, many of them from people
>who are new to me. this is very heartening.
Ant McWatt comments:
I have as well.
>but..... excuse me for being tactless but i find it
>intellectually offensive that we are even discussing
>party politics when it is obvious that the whole thing
>is a sham, designed to placate and exploit the masses.
Ant McWatt comments:
Yes, I agree that party politics is generally a sham especially in the
States and the UK where there’s no real choice and little democracy.
However, I think these systems just can’t be ignored and need to be
challenged wherever possible.
>if platt wants to stick his head up his arse i say
>just let him.
Ant McWatt comments:
I think Platt just needs to do more reading and painting though I guess if
he wants to waste his retirement by watching TV and then taking the role of
the “Fox’s parrot” on MOQ Discuss then of course that’s up to him. As far
as I am concerned, it’s always interesting to keep-up-to-date with the
propaganda of the Murdoch mass media and for free! I used to occasionally
watch Sky News or buy a Murdoch rag but now Platt saves me all the trouble.
>not meaning to be alarmist, well.....i am actually:
>don’t get sidetracked! disengaging from our socially
>conditioned reality (making the unconscious conscious)
>and re-engaging with the planet, gaia, the
>intelligence resident within and the source of the
>natural world...this is key.
>
>my girlfriend bel disagreed with john hume (irish
>polly who was awarded an honorary doctorate at ant’s
>grad ceremony in Liverpool) and to a lesser extent
>Robert Pirsig after ant’s graduation ceremony.
Ant McWatt comments:
Yes, it was very interesting watching the interaction between John Hume,
Robert Pirsig and the other guests. For a start, Hume and Pirsig though
giants in their respective fields didn’t recognise each other. I thought
Hume made hell of a lot sense regarding the people context in his acceptance
speech though Bel’s shifting of the “debate” to the wider context of the
whole world (or “Gaia”) was obviously one he wasn’t used to. If Bel hadn’t
been smoking (!) and hence polluting our shared environment, Hume wouldn’t
have got off the hook so easily from Bel’s contention that we have to
consider the wider environment.
>she said that more fundamental than conflicts or
>alienation between peoples is our general alienation
>from the natural world. john didn’t agree but i think
>Robert gave the idea more considered attention. i
>agree totally.
>
>the idea ain’t new: ever read Voltaire’s candide?
>(ends with an exhortation to simply tend one’s garden
>and not worry about politics, fame, fortune or fancy
>ladies, amongst other things).
Ant McWatt comments:
David E. Cooper (who wrote the “Measure of Things” - the critique of Rorty I
recommended to Matt K. and Marsha a while back) is due to publish “A
Philosophy of Gardens” in April 2006. The summary of the book at Durham
University pasted below lends support to Bel’s point of view:
“Now at last there is a philosophy of gardens. Not only is this a
fascinating subject in its own right, it also provides a reminder that the
subject-matter of aesthetics is broader than the fine arts; that ethics is
not just about moral issues but about ‘the good life’; and that
environmental philosophy should not focus only on ‘wilderness’ to the
exclusion of the humanly shaped environment.”
“David Cooper identifies garden appreciation as a special human phenomenon
distinct from both the appreciation of art and the appreciation of nature.
He explores the importance of various ‘garden practices’ and shows how not
only gardening itself, but activities to which the garden especially lends
itself, including social and meditative activities, contribute to the good
life. And he distinguishes the many kinds of meanings that gardens may have,
from representation of nature to emotional expression, from historical
significance to symbolization of a spiritual relationship to the world.
Building on the familiar observation that, among human beings’ creations,
the garden is peculiarly dependent on the cooperation of nature, Cooper
argues that the garden matters as an epiphany of an intimate co-dependence
between human creative activity in the world and the ‘mystery’ that allows
there to be a world for them at all.”
(http://www.dur.ac.uk/philosophy.department/About_Us/Recent_Departmental_Publications.html)
>the planet is a single integrated organism. we are
>part of it. we usually ‘think’ (and therefore act)
>like we are not. we are ignoring an intelligence
>greater than our own and this is at our peril.
>
>how do we get in touch with this intelligence? by
>spending time in nature, by growing our own food, by
>caring for animals and most efficient of all:
>psychedelics. psilocybin containing mushrooms probably
>catalysed the evolution of human consciousness (just
>finished ‘food of the gods’ by Terence McKenna:
>excellent). mushrooms are the fruiting bodies of
>fungal hyphae that form an underground network that
>connects and supports all plant life, directly, and,
>indirectly, much animal life. these mushrooms
>reconnect us to each other and the planet.
Ant McWatt comments:
The Beatles beautifully illustrated “Anthology” book (published in 2000)
also goes into the psychedelic experience in some detail. As George
Harrison notes, it basically makes you more sensitive towards other people
(especially falseness), cultural products (such as music) and the beauty in
nature. Of course, Harrison became a very keen gardener in later life. I
can understand why the stronger psychedelics (such as LSD and peyote)
require strict control (because they can be dangerous for the inexperienced)
but the banning of psilocybin mushrooms (which only have a mild effect on
perception) in many countries is undoubtedly done to hinder the emergence of
a free-thinking movement more interested in spiritual and artistic
development than the self-centred materialism promoted by capitalism.
Finally, I really feel that technology – at least since the beginning of the
Industrial Revolution - should have been introduced a lot more slowly and
developed a lot more sympathetically with the wider environment. In
general, the social and environmental consequences were never really thought
through properly and though there is an increasing awareness of the
environment and texts that call for a re-balancing of how we deal with
technology, it does make you wonder where the general Quality of life will
go. Anyway, what Gavin is involved in through permaculture and his
philosophical interests gives me optimism for the future and I wish him
every success.
Best wishes,
Anthony.
“Show me that I'm everywhere but get me home for tea.”
(Harrison, 1968)
.
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