I am basking in the aftermath of reading another brilliant missive from you, Tad, thank you...and there is a part 2 yet to read, wow.
I've been studying and experimenting with something that gets called Memetic Engineering, memes being to intellectual bodies what genes are to physical bodies. As genes get together to create body parts, functions, biological reality, so do memes get together to become thoughtforms such as stories, spells, beliefs, opinions, etc.
I appreciate so much your discerning, your questions, your possibilities, and the openness and integrity with which you offer them.
i love this distinction. i'm not sure how exactly, but it seems to relate to a question that struck me yesterday.
only one of my apricot trees fruited this year, and i've picked some of the fruit. enough to dry, and some to eat fresh. but other folk: cockatoos, wattlebirds, lorikeets, are also interested, and yesterday i woke to the excitement of a bunch of cockies on the tall aerial on my roof. others where wheeling about screeching. i couldn't see an immediate reason for the fuss, so went inside. then it seemed to escalate, and i walked out the front, wondering if it was the tree that was the focus. as i wandered towards it, a wattlebird flew towards me, and i could see a branch bobbing. then a flash of white. yes. they were in the apricot tree.
and inside me, the "trained" response arose: "they're stealing my fruit".
and yet, i already had enough.
the next question arose: "is this what treaty is? finding an agreement around what is fair sharing?"
and that question opened up a strange possibility for a relationship with the wildlife that at once feels natural, and at the same time goes completely against the grain for every farmer and gardener i know. i'm still dwelling there, but this distinction seems to shed some light.
given that our state is in the beginning stages of treaty with first nations peoples of this land, it could be a useful way of looking at things...
It feels like even the term ‘treaty’ suggests prior ownership and a proprietary ‘giving over’ to an other. Another perspective falls closer to the idea of collaboration. Two permaculture folks I know intentionally plant for garden critters (including the faery folk) and then communicate with them to ask them to please leave a certain amount alone for the humans’ consumption. It works nicely most of the time.
yes, i like that Sasha, and yet we are not "the humans"... there are the first nations people here, and those who have carved up the land into ¼ acre blocks and invented mortgages. so "which humans?" is part of the complex. for me, the question of treaty has to acknowledge the state of things prior to the newcomers. it's a current discussion where i live in Australia, as treaty has never been made between the first nations and the colonists, and i'm looking at what the "natural" sharing arrangement might have been when humans as nature come upon a food source that other wildife have also been watching (and tending and pollinating). i've been told that the San Bushmen in the Kalahari have a treaty with the lions. that the humans go to the waterhole during the day, but at night it belongs to the lions. so that's where my meandering thinking is taking me...
Understood. These are all complex interrelationships to be sure. I might suggest that simply as sentient beings on this planet (no matter our size shape or colour), we are all equally responsible for honouring the sacredness of the life force within each world on Grandmother Earth. There are times when this sharing is a simple task and other times when it requires more careful consideration, collaboration and negotiation. I’m ever hopeful that our evolving maturity is bringing us closer to success in these various ‘treaties’ even as we navigate this next great extinction together. 🙏🏽
This is an interesting distinction and use of the words. Yet I still find myself resisting the way ‘spell casting’ is being limited to its most negative or unhelpful meaning as I did when I first encountered Stephen’s take on it. Being much oriented toward the witchy world, and a dedicated ceremonialist, it’s challenging to let go of the innate beauty of enchantment in order to fully embrace what seems like disillusionment — in the sense of being freed from illusion. From a purely pragmatic standpoint I can see the value in it, yet it remains heartbreaking.
I am basking in the aftermath of reading another brilliant missive from you, Tad, thank you...and there is a part 2 yet to read, wow.
I've been studying and experimenting with something that gets called Memetic Engineering, memes being to intellectual bodies what genes are to physical bodies. As genes get together to create body parts, functions, biological reality, so do memes get together to become thoughtforms such as stories, spells, beliefs, opinions, etc.
I appreciate so much your discerning, your questions, your possibilities, and the openness and integrity with which you offer them.
Love Nicole
Bless your kind words and encouragement to keep going <3
i love this distinction. i'm not sure how exactly, but it seems to relate to a question that struck me yesterday.
only one of my apricot trees fruited this year, and i've picked some of the fruit. enough to dry, and some to eat fresh. but other folk: cockatoos, wattlebirds, lorikeets, are also interested, and yesterday i woke to the excitement of a bunch of cockies on the tall aerial on my roof. others where wheeling about screeching. i couldn't see an immediate reason for the fuss, so went inside. then it seemed to escalate, and i walked out the front, wondering if it was the tree that was the focus. as i wandered towards it, a wattlebird flew towards me, and i could see a branch bobbing. then a flash of white. yes. they were in the apricot tree.
and inside me, the "trained" response arose: "they're stealing my fruit".
and yet, i already had enough.
the next question arose: "is this what treaty is? finding an agreement around what is fair sharing?"
and that question opened up a strange possibility for a relationship with the wildlife that at once feels natural, and at the same time goes completely against the grain for every farmer and gardener i know. i'm still dwelling there, but this distinction seems to shed some light.
given that our state is in the beginning stages of treaty with first nations peoples of this land, it could be a useful way of looking at things...
It feels like even the term ‘treaty’ suggests prior ownership and a proprietary ‘giving over’ to an other. Another perspective falls closer to the idea of collaboration. Two permaculture folks I know intentionally plant for garden critters (including the faery folk) and then communicate with them to ask them to please leave a certain amount alone for the humans’ consumption. It works nicely most of the time.
yes, i like that Sasha, and yet we are not "the humans"... there are the first nations people here, and those who have carved up the land into ¼ acre blocks and invented mortgages. so "which humans?" is part of the complex. for me, the question of treaty has to acknowledge the state of things prior to the newcomers. it's a current discussion where i live in Australia, as treaty has never been made between the first nations and the colonists, and i'm looking at what the "natural" sharing arrangement might have been when humans as nature come upon a food source that other wildife have also been watching (and tending and pollinating). i've been told that the San Bushmen in the Kalahari have a treaty with the lions. that the humans go to the waterhole during the day, but at night it belongs to the lions. so that's where my meandering thinking is taking me...
Understood. These are all complex interrelationships to be sure. I might suggest that simply as sentient beings on this planet (no matter our size shape or colour), we are all equally responsible for honouring the sacredness of the life force within each world on Grandmother Earth. There are times when this sharing is a simple task and other times when it requires more careful consideration, collaboration and negotiation. I’m ever hopeful that our evolving maturity is bringing us closer to success in these various ‘treaties’ even as we navigate this next great extinction together. 🙏🏽
This is an interesting distinction and use of the words. Yet I still find myself resisting the way ‘spell casting’ is being limited to its most negative or unhelpful meaning as I did when I first encountered Stephen’s take on it. Being much oriented toward the witchy world, and a dedicated ceremonialist, it’s challenging to let go of the innate beauty of enchantment in order to fully embrace what seems like disillusionment — in the sense of being freed from illusion. From a purely pragmatic standpoint I can see the value in it, yet it remains heartbreaking.
Hey, Ted. Have you read any of Robert Bly's related work? I'm thinking of More than True: The Wisdom of Fairy Tales and Iron John.