Author Archives: paulpeaceparables

Normativity (and Humankind & Solidarity??)

I don’t adhere to norms, i.e., I’m not normal, … but that does not equal being bad or wrong: • I strongly believe in living in solidarity through low-input lifestyles because there are natural resource- and free available energy-limits … and that the whole is the sum of its parts; therefore, dynamic homeostatic symbioses is […]

¿Es Cuba?* ¿¿O …, Es el Mundo??

(Pavel Martinka’s draft of an essay written after his 2006 visit to Cuba: Stories for his children and theirs—and for others who might significantly help to change the world in which they live) Major Impressions A Model for Realizing Sustainable Community?? Cubans are living a very low input life-style that is peaceful and relatively crime […]

Night and Day of Philosophy & [Ecological] Ideas, Houston, Texas (The Weekend of Jan 26th, 2019)

(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 […]

Connecting Assets of Commonwealth (as Presented by Ogallala Commons https://ogallalacommons.org/about/commonwealth/)

The overall goal in life is healthy individuals / demes / populations / community / ecosystems /ecosphere, involving sense of place and community … and appropriate spirituality. The process should be developed cautiously on a foundation of (ecological) education* including being informed by (ecological) history*. Actions in leisure & recreation and arts & culture, including […]

THE PROCESS OF PEACE

I appreciate young Benjamin Austin’s contribution to the Wall Street Journal from Friday, March 3, 2017 … about a need for an education in economics, in the more conventional sense, in high schools ( https://www.wsj.com/articles/economics-shouldnt-be-an-elective-1488498856 ). However, the gigantic hole in human societies which is threatening much of life on Eaarth in the anthropocene, including […]

Defining Sustainable Livelihoods: Does Eaarth Need More Happen-Stance, Opportunistic, & Invisible-Hand Jobs and Entrepreneurships? Or More Living-Poorly, Ecologically-Healthy, Goal-Driven Sustainable Livelihoods? 1 paul bain martin, Ogallala Commons Board Member

THE ESSENCE. Per Merriam-Webster (MW), a job is “a regular remunerative [financially rewarding] position”. It is an integral component of a machine-like transformation and exploitation of the natural which involves arrogance and narcissism at various levels, and is fruition of the artificial and often unjust, inhumane, and ecological insane art of deal-making. It is involved […]

Laws Which Guide Us Individually and Collectively Toward Quality Life for All*

Rule of Law. “It’s the Law!” Natural Law. The Law. The Constitution. Neighborhood Association Laws and Regulations. Housing Codes. Motor Vehicle Law. City ordinances. Food and Drug Laws. Pesticide Law. Seed Law. Conservation District Regulations. Animal Welfare Law. Affirmative Action. Reparations. U.N. Declaration of Human Rights. The U.N. Agenda 21 Plan. (Sometimes my head spins […]

Beauty, Energetics, and Limits on Quality and Quantity of Beauty

“’Beauty is truth, truth beauty,’—that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.” Keats But what kind of beauty? And how much of it? Moreover, what is the energy/emergy involved, and what effect does it have on symbioses/“nature”/creation? The clear-cutting of forest can result in beautiful open meadows. The contours of […]