(Thoughts generated during & from a weekend of philosophy & ecology in Houston, attendance of a service at an evangelical/charismatic church, breakfast & lunch with dear family, and books and articles around me—
http://news.rice.edu/2019/01/28/a-full-night-of-philosophy-and-ideas-fills-the-moody-center/ https://www.houstonchronicle.com/entertainment/arts-theater/article/Laurie-Anderson-and-Timothy-Morton-headline-A-13551393.php
http://frenchculture.org/events/9266-nocturnal-intellectual-marathons-across-us
https://bayoucityfellowship.com/ )
Philosophy—The study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, especially when considered as an academic discipline. https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/philosophy
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o I am in essence a (perhaps wannabe) campesino/hunter-gatherer1. (But maybe we all are.) I have discomfort with too much order, luxury, artificial; too much built-environment, industrialization and electrification … and the resultant chaos in larger wholes which results from these ordered states in their sub-wholes (i.e., the business of the Second Law of Thermodynamics/energy quality, energy flux, entropy).
o The Meaning of Human Existence, E.O.Wilson. “… The unfolding of history is obedient only to the general laws of the Universe. Each event is random yet alters the probability of later events. …”
“… We are not predestined to reach any goal, nor are we answerable to any power but our own. Only wisdom based on self-understanding, not piety, will save us. There will be no redemption or second chance vouchsafed to us from above. We have only this one planet to inhabit and this one meaning to unfold. …”
“…[We] have saturated a large part of the Earth [Eaarth], and altered to varying degree the remainder. We have become the mind of the planet and perhaps our entire corner of the galaxy as well. We can do with Earth what we please. We chatter constantly about destroying it—by nuclear war, climate change, and apocalyptic Second Coming foretold by Holy Scripture.
Human beings are not wicked by nature. We have enough intelligence, goodwill, generosity, and enterprise to turn Earth into a paradise both for ourselves and for the biosphere that gave us birth. We can plausibly accomplish that goal, at least be well on the way, by the end of the present century. The problem holding everything up thus far is that Homo sapiens is an innately dysfunctional species. We are hampered by the Paleolithic Curse: genetic adaptations that worked very well for millions of years of hunter-gatherer existence but are increasingly a hindrance in a globally urban and technoscientific society.”
“ … We are addicted to tribal conflict, which is harmless and entertaining if sublimated into team sports, but deadly when expressed as real-world ethnic, religious, and ideological struggles. There are other hereditary biases. Too paralyzed with self-absorption to protect the rest of life, we continue to tear down the natural environment, our species irreplaceable and most precious heritage. And it is still taboo to bring up population policies aiming for an optimum people density, geographic distribution, and age distribution. The idea sounds “fascist,” and in any case can be deferred for another generation or two—we hope.”
“Our leaders, religious, political, and business, mostly accept supernatural explanations of the human existence. Even if privately skeptical, they have little interest in opposing religious leaders and unnecessarily stirring up the populace, from whom they draw power and privilege. Scientists who might contribute to a more realistic worldview are especially disappointing. Largely yeomen, they are intellectual dwarves content to stay within the narrow specialties for which they were trained and are paid.”
o Humankind: Solidarity with Nonhuman People, Timothy Morton. “Ecological awareness is knowing that here are a bewildering variety of scales, temporal and spatial, and that the human ones are only a narrow region of a much larger and necessarily inconsistent and varied scalar possibility space, and that the human scale is not the top scale. …”
“Thinking about action this way is superior to actor-networks or the higher volume version, mechanical pushing around, which is the scientistic version of Neoplatonic Christianity, the thing that even Descartes (who says he isn’t) is retweeting, and the thing that Kant (who says he isn’t making the same mistake as Descartes) is also retweeting. This bug has affected many thought domains. Industrial capitalism is theorized by Marx as an emergent property of industrial machines—when you have enough of them, pop! But this means capitalism is like God, always greater than the sum of its parts.”
“Philosophy requires a new theory of action, a queer one that is neither active nor passive nor a compromised amalgam of both, to help us slip out from underneath physically massive beings such as global warming or neoliberalism, to find some wiggle room down there so we can wriggle or rock our way out of the hyperobjects. …”
“Love is not straight, because reality is not straight. Everywhere, there are curves and bends, Things veer. Per-ver-sion. En-vir-onment. These come from the verb ‘to veer.’ To veer, to swerve toward: am I choosing to do so or am I being pulled? Free will is overrated. I do not make decisions outside the Universe and then plunge in, like an Olympic diver. I am already in. …”
“It’s not just that you can have solidarity with nonhumans. It’s that solidarity implies nonhumans. Solidarity requires nonhumans.
Solidarity just is solidarity with nonhumans.”
o “Self-Help, Ancient Greek Style: Aristole offers a way forward to a well-balanced and happy life.” By John Kaag. NYT Book Review, Jan 27, 2019 “Living a virtuous life, for Aristotle, comes down to: ‘Nothing in excess.’” https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/23/books/review/edith-hall-aristotles-way.html
o Institut français’ & Moody Center for the Arts’ … Night of Philosophy and [Ecological] Ideas, Jan 26.2 Laurie Anderson & Timothy Morton. It’s Not the End of the World. That Was a While Ago–Ecology or key questions for humanity. … If you think technology is going to solve problems then you don’t understand technology. Even more important is that you don’t understand the problems! …
Don’t panic:
“I’m in a Hurry (and I Don’t Know Why)” by Roger Murrah and Randy VanWarmer
I’m in a hurry to get things done
Oh I rush and rush until life’s no fun
All I really gotta do is live and die
But I’m in a hurry and don’t know why.
…
Don’t ignore the sad. You can’t live without hope. Something else will rise. … All is love/a desire to be free. Even suicide. … What happens to karma if all becomes gone? Well, there are/will be other universes:
“The Second Coming” by William Butler Yeats
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
Talk to … sad, panic, hopelessness:
“The Sounds of Silence” by Paul Simon
Hello darkness, my old friend
I’ve come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence
In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
‘Neath the halo of a streetlamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence
And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
No one dare
Disturb the sound of silence
“Fools” said I, “You do not know
Silence like a cancer grow
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you”
But my words like silent raindrops fell
And echoed in the wells of silence
And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said “The words of the prophets
Are written on subway walls
And tenement halls
And whispered in the sounds of silence”
I no longer believe in history:
“Strange Angels” by Laurie Anderson
They say that heaven is like TV
A perfect little world that doesn’t really need you
And everything there is made of light
And the days keep going by
Here they come
Here they come
Here they come.
Well it was one of those days larger than life
When your friends came to dinner and they stayed the night
And then they cleaned out the refrigerator
They ate everything in sight
And then they stayed up in the living room
And they cried all night
Strange angels singing just for me
Old stories they’re haunting me
This is nothing like I thought it would be.
Well I was out in my four door with the top down.
And I looked up and there they were,
Millions of tiny teardrops just sort of hanging there
And I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry
And I said to myself, What next big sky?
Strange angels singing just for me
Their spare change falls on top of me
Rain falling
Falling all over me
All over me
Strange angels singing just for me
Old Stories they’re haunting me
Big changes are coming
Here they come
Here they come.
“Living in the Future’s Past”–Well-made 2018-film about the Why? of PEACE/Positively Ethical Applied Community Ecology. https://www.livinginthefuturespastfilm.com/ Deals with Reality 101: https://www.amazon.com/Reality-101-Everything-about-Stupidity/dp/1483707121 A fantastic study guide is at: https://www.videoproject.com/assets/images/PDF/Living_in_the_Futures_Past.pdf
“Not OK”: A little movie about a small glacier at the end of the world—Also about the Why? of PEACE. Perhaps not as profound & comprehensive as other films presented, but a thought-provoking 2018-film! http://worldfilmpresentation.com/film/not-ok-little-movie-about-small-glacier-end-world https://www.notokmovie.com/
“Tomorrow”—A 2015-film about the What? And How? of PEACE. https://www.tomorrow-documentary.com/ https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/19/movies/tomorrow-review.html
Breakout sessions–Experiencing Nature: Arousal, Interest, and Aesthetics; To Cohabit with Wild Nature, Is It Impossible; The Wild and Wicked: Why You Don’t Have to Love Nature to Be Green; Awakening Concern: the Art and Science of Repairing, Mending and Making Things Right; Is There a Moral Obligation to Go to Mars?; Environmental Threats and What Justice Demands; The Philosophy Behind the Trump Administration’s Energy Agenda.
Exhibits—Natsha Bowden: Sideways to the Sun; Jae Rhim Lee: Infinity Burial Suit Project; Michel Blazy: We Were the Robots; Momoko Seto: Planet ? ; Justin Brice Guarigilla: We Are the Asteroid III.
o The Epoch Times. In my hotel in Katy, Texas I found a pile of The Epoch Times, a right of center newspaper which in January 10-16, 2019 edition was spreading fear of immigrants, Sharia law, leftists, Barack Obama, Sr., Democrats, & regulations; touting the great feats of white Afrikaans; and congratulating Trump. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Epoch_Time
o Bayou City Fellowship (Evangelical/Chrismatic) Sunday Service with a lovely & loving niece.2 I’ve experienced these types of services throughout my life in Pentecostal & southern black Baptist churches, at the botanical gardens in Rio, in rural Nicaragua and even to some extent in the Roman Catholic High Masses in Latin when I was a kid:
Tantum Ergo by Thomas Aquinas
Tantum ergo Sacramentum
Veneremur cernui:
Et antiquum documentum
Novo cedat ritui:
Praestet fides supplementum
Sensuum defectui.
Genitori, Genitoque
Laus et jubilatio,
Salus, honor, virtus quoque
Sit et benedictio:
Procedenti ab utroque
Compar sit laudatio. Amen.
Down in adoration falling,
Lo! the sacred Host we hail,
Lo! o’er ancient forms departing
Newer rites of grace prevail;
Faith for all defects supplying,
Where the feeble senses fail.
To the everlasting Father,
And the Son Who reigns on high
With the Holy Spirit proceeding
Forth from each eternally,
Be salvation, honor blessing,
Might and endless majesty. Amen.
With so many desperately searching for the meaning of human existence, these evangelical/charismatic services seem to be very popular around the world. (By the way, my journey and searching has brought me to perhaps being an agnostic-ignostic continuing-learner, and my god may be “dynamic-homeostatic-symbioses”, if there is such a thing.)
All is connected, and there is a connection in what was taking place at the Moody Center from 7:00 pm January 26, 2019 until 1:00 am January 27, 2019 (or the Night of Philosophy & [Ecological] Ideas) … and what was occurring at Bayou City Fellowship from 9:00 until 10:30 am January 27, 2019.
Asks the preacher, …”What is Christian/christian faith?” (The young fellow didn’t answer his question. … I hope it is seeking good quality life for all, including other species, for as long as possible. I trust that it is doing right for all in the ecosphere. … If this is what it is, then we need to understand the science: of limits to the natural resource base, of exceeding the carrying capacity of the Earth, of disparity, and of a really need for empathy & an ethic of reciprocity (a profound, comprehensive, and holistic golden rule), and of abiding by the precautionary principle. And I hope he recognizes that life/”nature”/symbioses is a zero sum game. Finally, I trust that he recognizes a desperate need for ecological literacy!)
The pastor mentioned that the congregation would learn over time about how to interpret Scripture, and mentioned difficulties with Leviticus, but didn’t go into this. Perhaps his explanation might be something like this: “Some people say, ‘You Christians pick and choose which verses of the Bible you want to obey. The book of Leviticus also [in addition to homosexuality] prohibits what you can eat and prescribes animal sacrifices. Why do you disregard those rules but adhere to these rules?’ There is a simple answer. The only rules of the Old Testament that apply to us today are the rules that are repeated in the New Testament. We don’t live under the old law. We live under the new law of God. The New Testament says nothing about dietary restrictions or animal sacrifices, but it does repeat the commands about adultery, premarital sex, and homosexuality.” http://www.firstdallas.org/icampus-blog/what-god-says-about-homosexuality/ Or he might have made up desired-excuses and -dogma in some other way?
As the pastor read or referred to scripture and mentioned the Book of Genesis, I thought about anthropologist Hugh Brody’s book, The Other Side of Eden:
“Normally, hunter-gatherers are seen as nomads and farmers as settlers. Brody thinks the reverse is true. Farming culture is accompanied by ‘a longing to be settled, a defensive holding of ground and a continuing endemic nomadism’ caused by the continuous growth of population among such communities. Genesis, says Brody is the ultimate agriculturalist myth, embodying their continuing quest to reshape nature as a lost Eden. Hunter-gatherers, by contrast, do not seek to reshape and dominate their landscape. Their conviction is that their land is ‘already Eden and exile must be avoided’. “
“As well as being an argument for the political rights of hunter-gatherer societies, The Other Side of Eden is also a passionate argument in support of recognising and nurturing the hunter-gatherer world-view. At a time when nature is so under threat from humanity, there are invaluable environmental lessons to be learnt from cultures which seek to survive from the land but also leave it as they find it.” https://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/jan/28/society
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1 Sometime in the Paleolithic Period may have been the best of times for Homo sapiens, and agriculture/agrilogistics may have been the worst mistake of humankind. http://discovermagazine.com/1987/may/02-the-worst-mistake-in-the-history-of-the-human-race
2 Hypocrisy (“A feigning to be what one is not or to believe what one does not : behavior that contradicts what one claims to believe or feel.” Merriam-Webster) was discussed at both the Moody Center- and Bayou City-Fellowship gatherings. I believe that there is plenty of hypocrisy to go around amongst humanity—so-called ecologists and so-called christians, etc.
7Ss / VV->^^
pbm
