tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5549306427964459740.post1483332112533718885..comments2023-12-23T05:14:34.273-05:00Comments on Wit's End: The Waste LandGail Zawackihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01800944469843206253noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5549306427964459740.post-5860015178341354452016-10-05T12:09:10.081-04:002016-10-05T12:09:10.081-04:00A better explication, from one who's work has ...A better explication, from one who's work has been seminal to my thinking:<br /><br />∞ “A theory is an idea. Any idea is no more than a tiny, and extremely blurry glimpse at the nature of reality, which is infinitely diverse, and endlessly profound.<br /><br />We have crude theory-ideas about processes and situations. These must »never be promoted to a declaration of ‘reality’ or nature. Specifically, I speak of the ideas we have surrounding ‘evolution of species’ and ‘divinity’.<br /><br />These ideas, compared to the realities they may provide either a window into or blindness in the face of, are absolutely lethal to human intelligence when promoted to ‘facts that declare what nature or being, reality or organisms ‘are’ or ‘are for’ or ‘do’’. Theories are toys compared to reality. The cannot declare its nature or purpose, function or even activity. They are a tiny glimpse, poorly interpreted, by a species that is still in its infancy in terms of understanding.<br /><br />Just as you would not let a tyrannical infant who discovered that the remote control operates the television declare that he now understood the meaning of reality and relation, we should never evacuate reality and nature for the sake of some crudely held or scientific grasp on a single aspect of some process. There are no single aspects because there are no single processes! And one does not promote a crude model over discovery, the unknown, nature, organisms, the universe or reality.<br /><br />A finer goal is true relation and learning. This demands the depromotion of models that inflate their authority; to reject their universal application and call them out as mere representations and interpretations. This does not mean we should dismiss their reliable intelligence, but rather that we should dismiss their claim to universal arbitration of reality, identity or relation.<br /><br />Evolution, as an example, is a fact in terms of a process. But the process is poorly understood, in part because we have misframed the genome as entirely local to individuals (we evacuated the environment and disregarded commensality in bacterial symbionts). So our theories may be relatively accurate, but their scope is absurdly narrow. Further, we cannot trust our interpretations for many reasons, not the least of which is that the contexts that generate them are depersonated, analytical, and pseudo-mechanical.<br /><br />So we must be careful with theories of any kind whatsoever; but especially those that, like religions or political regimes, appear to ‘declare’ to us the nature of organisms, reality, relation or even matter. As if from ‘above’ all other authorities or influences—as if ‘from above’ nature and reality. Indeed, these should be carefully and intelligently examined, and we must train ourselves to limit their authority, if any, to their proper contexts and originary situations. The lab is not the universe; individual animals, like ‘parts’ in a single body, are not as ‘individual’ as our theories and models pretend.<br /><br />Let us not promote ideas and models to the status of gods; at the same time, we should be willing to be persuaded by well-formed models and arguments that illuminate a process we have studied. But interpretation should be held in question, and we should carry with us a profound respect for the incredibly modest grasp that our sciences and theories give us on the phenomena they examine.<br />In nearly all matters our capacity to see at all is barely present, and half-retarded by language and common habit of thought; what we then derive is but a infinitesimal fraction of whatever situation is observed. The results then, are like stepping stones to better, more informed and intelligent positions. They are not pure facts, and interpreting them requires far more than the ability to echo the interpretations of the mob, science, the church, or any other apparently authoritative ‘source’.”<br /><br />— an anonymous informant<br /><br />(slightly edited, to fit. More here: https://www.facebook.com/darinstevenson/posts/10209693638271876)Bonnienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5549306427964459740.post-38040396073412344252016-10-04T23:55:39.288-04:002016-10-04T23:55:39.288-04:00Thank you for the depth of your compassion for the...Thank you for the depth of your compassion for the trees, Gail, and the living world. It's a dose of sanity, too, for me to come here from time to time, to know that others ache and grieve.<br /><br />Like you, I have been studying for years, seeking understanding and some kind of leverage, any kind of leverage, where my tiny existence might be able to help make an outsized shift in the way things are. So far, no luck on the leverage. I know I'm going to have to find a small group of like minded people here locally, and create something purposeful--but that's not what I want to write here. I want to say that my studies and wanderings have brought me to a very different understanding, one that's not easily spoken of, that doesn't fit any of our currently standard models of what this place is and how it works. <br /><br />In the broadest terms, I invite you to consider that this is a place of greater mystery than we can yet conceive, and that despite the dire crises we see in every direction, there is great cause for hope. What we understand of this place through either science or religion is so broken and limited--and our minds are trapped in these broken limitations. Scientific ways of knowing have value and purpose; religious ways of knowing point us in beneficial directions--but our literal understandings of both these ways of knowing, and the endless useless divisions that arise, are tearing our minds up exactly as we are tearing up the physical world. <br /><br />Your deep relationship with the living world, I imagine, has brought you many moments of what might be called 'a holy awe.' The flow of these feelings, unhampered by words and concepts, can and will serve as a sort of 'transport' (words are very clumsy here--if you're hanging with me in this, all I can recommend is to try to understand them in their most general sense) -- and that 'transport' 'connects you with a forgotten, but intimately familiar 'part' of yourself'--a 'new' and 'ancient' way of knowing. As you re-member and re-mind yourself in living connection to Life, you begin to re-cognize possibilities and potentials that we humans have blinded ourselves to.<br /><br />Life on our planet is a living intelligence billions and billions of years in the making. It has solved so many problems--including the problem of evolution--and we've watched how quickly Life recovers, rebalances, replenishes when given half a chance. What's required is that enough of us re-member this living intelligence connection we exist as and with(in), and then live in active, joyful cooperation with it.<br /><br />It's not humans that are the invasive species--it's a lethally peculiar 'way of knowing' that 'invades our minds' - and begins to value concepts and fictions over the living world and true relationship with it, and with one another. We can still heal this, I know with all my little heart. I don't know how. I know it starts with forming small, purposeful groups, and learning new ancient ways, together. <br /><br />I dearly hope you find something useful in these words. And I wish you every good thing.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14665557354222071523noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5549306427964459740.post-28842173370728232082016-10-02T07:35:45.897-04:002016-10-02T07:35:45.897-04:00Hi Gail ..I found you again on Desdemona Despair.....Hi Gail ..I found you again on Desdemona Despair...One of my pine trees finally lost her last needle..She was harmed w 2 years of ice storms in Oklahoma...and drought...bent over for a long time.I am going to have a funeral and plant a new pine..Thanks for your workAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06392795224255898417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5549306427964459740.post-10144164938014274622016-09-29T09:25:51.059-04:002016-09-29T09:25:51.059-04:00love it tree gir-r-r-l
Read the 'The Earth-Sp...love it tree gir-r-r-l<br /><br />Read the 'The Earth-Space Battery That Gives Life On Earth' section in this post:<br /><br />https://lokisrevengeblog.wordpress.com/2016/05/25/how-fast-can-i-go-stupid/Robert Callaghanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11211882347789815165noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5549306427964459740.post-83889060991216933292016-09-29T03:00:42.097-04:002016-09-29T03:00:42.097-04:00Doom without despair. I learn much from you Gail...Doom without despair. I learn much from you Gail... thanks. rpaulihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00016149709193595632noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5549306427964459740.post-52596459883357761542016-09-29T02:58:38.132-04:002016-09-29T02:58:38.132-04:00Doom without despair. I learn much from you Gail...Doom without despair. I learn much from you Gail... thanks. rpaulihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00016149709193595632noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5549306427964459740.post-17340224486313872352016-09-28T07:23:50.324-04:002016-09-28T07:23:50.324-04:00Ah Gail, thanks for being here and reacting as you...Ah Gail, thanks for being here and reacting as you do to what humanity, in its infancy, has done to its nest. We're clearly on the way out now and daily updates of the enormous marine die-offs (like those of the birds), human carelessness for not only the environment, but for each other too, and the fact that we've now crossed the 400 ppm CO2 level PERMANENTLY (for humanity) only underscores the rapidity with which our demise approaches. <br /><br />All the best, Gail - i'll be linking this essay around the web.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5549306427964459740.post-24599862106850151382016-09-27T13:51:47.360-04:002016-09-27T13:51:47.360-04:00thank you for sharing this! "We now live in t...thank you for sharing this! "We now live in the unique moment where we have reached the end of global resources, and although a few of us can see where this will lead, most will remain in denial to the very end. It’s an unsolvable predicament." that about sums it up ThreeEshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06177960580312710982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5549306427964459740.post-36376307020656685022016-09-26T14:26:48.774-04:002016-09-26T14:26:48.774-04:00I would love to see more! Mail to witsendnj at ya...I would love to see more! Mail to witsendnj at yahoo, please.Gail Zawackihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01800944469843206253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5549306427964459740.post-57435503276440830032016-09-26T12:55:56.208-04:002016-09-26T12:55:56.208-04:00Dear Gail--Interesting that you located perhaps th...Dear Gail--Interesting that you located perhaps the only thing i've written re: music i've composed on a music blog. i attempt to keep a low profile on what i refer to as 'the inbrednet', one species only 'communicating' with itself--verbal incest. And, ironically, the song mentioned, 'Won't You Tell Me?', composed when i was a teenager, is the song in the opera that Leeagh, an extraordinary rock singer who's so impassioned by the stunning beauty of Life, being so fortunate to be be alive to experience its magnificence, is constantly asked to sing it with her band...and she deplores the song, knowing it's another mediocre offering from a society she must endure every moment of every second (except when she can touch a tree or gaze at the floating clouds). In fact, after singing it, in the opening act, she is so frustrated and upset by it that all she can do is scream out to the crowd: "Without passion, what's the fucking point?!" The crowd believes she's screaming about the passion she had given the song. Not!<br /><br />I've been reading, absorbing and truly inspired by your thoughts for years. They have generously added to the intensity and love i've had for this planet since a very young child, especially trees. Thank you. Music is the messenger i've chosen to convey this passion. <br /><br />So, if interested, i would gladly send you via snail mail, a few short excerpts in basic music transcriptions--keyboard and vocals--of some of the 'tree' moments in Sphere. If you're not a musician, perhaps you may know some who might play them for you. And maybe some day Sphere will be performed by a major orchestra and vocalists. Doesn't matter...it must be written...for the Earth we love, for which we must do our parts.<br /><br />i'll simply end here by saying, and i'm confident i'm not alone, that you're by no means alone with what you're feeling. Though i'm surrounded by beautiful trees and floating clouds, still i cannot stop crying whenever i think of them and all Life, i must 'touch' them in every way possible, in absolute awe and appreciation for having been born on Earth. In Sphere there are essential engagements with trees and clouds, with the overwhelming beauty of such a gift, with such an amazing planet. Whenever i've made the statement that "Earth is the most beautiful planet in the Universe", then, most of the time, i get the same response: "How do YOU know that?". My response is always: "Go ahead, prove me wrong...i dare you."<br /><br /><br /> robert schickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12678525266237355403noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5549306427964459740.post-50370937027707939252016-09-26T09:32:06.875-04:002016-09-26T09:32:06.875-04:00Heh heh, just wait for Tempus Fugit, the movie.Heh heh, just wait for Tempus Fugit, the movie.Gail Zawackihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01800944469843206253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5549306427964459740.post-2895551051714257822016-09-26T09:31:19.768-04:002016-09-26T09:31:19.768-04:00Glad you are still reading, Rob!Glad you are still reading, Rob!Gail Zawackihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01800944469843206253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5549306427964459740.post-48901271838252334952016-09-26T09:30:48.156-04:002016-09-26T09:30:48.156-04:00Thank you Rita. If not for the friendship of you ...Thank you Rita. If not for the friendship of you and others who share my eternal dismay I would be too alone.Gail Zawackihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01800944469843206253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5549306427964459740.post-47929946339475393802016-09-26T09:29:12.814-04:002016-09-26T09:29:12.814-04:00Maestro Heart - What a beautiful passage. I am hu...Maestro Heart - What a beautiful passage. I am humbled to have received it as a comment, and honored, as it expresses so lyrically how I feel but not being a poet, don't even try to convey. Even the title, "Sphere", is intensely evocative. All I can find by googling is the comment Bob Schick left on this page, in July. If you have any links, I would love to learn more. http://www.garagehangover.com/Vestells/<br /><br />robert schick, aka, Bob Schick<br />JULY 1, 2016 AT 12:30 PM<br />update from ‘Bob’ Schick, composer of ‘Won’t You Tell Me?” For what it’s worth, i am now composing a full-scale radical opera called ‘Sphere’ (the most passionate love triangle never imagined…though only 2 are ‘humans’–no, it’s not about bestiality!!!), that deals seriously with the current plight of ‘the most beautiful planet in the Universe, and perhaps, a means never considered in how to stop the human disgrace from laying waste to it. Today, 7-1-2016, i believe it will be completed before year’s end and no doubt dismissed by the powers of delusion…nothing new there, eh?Gail Zawackihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01800944469843206253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5549306427964459740.post-22521874488463306332016-09-26T07:48:23.242-04:002016-09-26T07:48:23.242-04:00i Cannot Stop Crying (7/15/15)
The denialism is s...i Cannot Stop Crying (7/15/15)<br /><br />The denialism is so deeply ingrained they do not even see, let alone feel, the exiting of all the beautiful Lifeforms, for no longer do they sense any of the tragic loss, or dare to, their lives so estranged from the World that gives them their only breaths.<br /><br />As the denialism continues, unabated, without a hint of mercy whatsoever, the daily carnage and evisceration without even a hidden tear, meanwhile i cannot stop crying as another tree dies in silence before its time, a Monarch never again appears, another elephant becomes a trinket.<br /><br />Yet i still gaze in awe at the clouds floating by, more than ever before, until they too are no more, though i will have chosen not to witness their disappearance, for i will have chosen not to exist without them.<br /><br />i cannot stop crying. {from the opera 'Sphere' by robert schick} robert schickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12678525266237355403noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5549306427964459740.post-56141569935148816922016-09-26T01:05:48.860-04:002016-09-26T01:05:48.860-04:00Wow. I really appreciate this unnerving, comprehen...Wow. I really appreciate this unnerving, comprehensive, deep, and important summation on the state of the trees - they are so vital to life. I have followed the same trajectory as you emotionally - depression to acceptance in the same see-saw pattern, and yet, I do not want to not know. Death is like that. I want to be prepared for it. I think the most unnerving thing about it is that my existing is causing the death of everything I love. <br /><br />Gail - your photography is amazing. Thank you so much for sharing these photos and your work. I do think it makes a difference. Please carry on. I have learned a lot from you. Ritahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01197986355903029211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5549306427964459740.post-31108068566856945192016-09-25T16:48:12.567-04:002016-09-25T16:48:12.567-04:00Well done. Perhaps your best and my new favorite.Well done. Perhaps your best and my new favorite.RobMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00264138186584547148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5549306427964459740.post-59571714353342836782016-09-25T14:19:13.041-04:002016-09-25T14:19:13.041-04:00Great report! Appreciate your efforts to keep us i...Great report! Appreciate your efforts to keep us informed! Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17043255335971781219noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5549306427964459740.post-77390597154513688082016-09-25T12:26:33.404-04:002016-09-25T12:26:33.404-04:00Thank youThank youkathihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09359084239834865450noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5549306427964459740.post-2065674846289109962016-09-25T12:12:34.218-04:002016-09-25T12:12:34.218-04:00Brilliant!Brilliant!BenjaminTheDonkeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18304901070197940843noreply@blogger.com