Having just lost a dear friend, I find this piece soothing, just for today. Thank you Rebekah for the precious gift and Dougald for sharing it. Reading it, I’m reminded that in Muhammad Asad’s ‘The Message of The Qur'an’, Islam is translated as “Surrender”
This is a remarkable piece, one I'm grateful to have found (thanks to Rhyd Wildermuth) and that resonates with much of my own thinking. Your phrase "engaged surrender" is one I shall carry with me. I only have one tiny quibble, which is that I'm fairly sure God uses a compost toilet. Though Jung did have a vision of Him shitting on Basel cathedral.
Thank you! So much of my perspective has been shaped by Dark Mountain and some of the writing that came out of it, so it means a lot to hear that from you. I agree about the compost toilet, although I suppose for God everything is compost, in the end.
Jung's Answer to Job was one of my favorites, back in my angry-at-religion days.
This reminds me of a book I never read, but whose title haunted me: "All in the End is Harvest". In the same spirit, then, "All in the End is Compost"!
I look forward to reading future pieces and I'd be particularly interested in anything you have to say about your journey with the climate stuff as someone walking away from the church of social justice. (On which theme, if you've not seen it, Rich Bartlett's essay will probably strike a chord – https://richdecibels.medium.com/on-leaving-the-church-of-social-justice-c84668df5acb )
And if you ever have anything you think might find a home with Dark Mountain, let me know. I handed on my responsibilities there a while back, but I still talk to the current editors regularly.
One of my first biology projects at University [circa 1981] was to investigate given theories on the evolution of eukaryotic cells. Obviously, the source that was pouring out ideas was Lynn Margulis [who become somewhat of a hero of mine, at the time]. One of her other proposals was that Achaebacteria [now "Archaea"] were a separate kingdom of organisms [cf bacteria and eukayotes]. Many more turned up in the years that followed [their habitats tended to be extremely hazardous] with some astounding things like spores that could hang about in molten lava and spring up on the other side of the world.
I very much like your view of Heaven as the abode of saints who have infused their love into world around them: remembered - just as an animal will remember you, if you show them kindness. This democratic version is further bolstered by the observation that some of the kindest, most cheerful people you may ever meet are often carrying great pain and sadness, inside. It helps me to come off my high horse about Saint Augustus - one of whose mighty tomes had come into my possession, somehow. Getting side-tracked in the preface, I was being enticed into Augustus's learned treatment of the difference between a saint's suffering and that of a sinner. I slammed it shut and would hear no more: we live in an age where bad behaviour has a rational explanation [even if the courts continue to exact society's revenge]. This "learned" examination was clearly a load of patriarchal propaganda. However, I appreciate, now, that having the grace to hold onto whatever love can be gathered from a harsh embodiment is kinda the whole point and is another thing we can be grateful for from others. When such things are not - or even never - forthcoming [and, instead, there seems to be a steady flow of hate, prejudice and violence], we are not obliged to accept or put up with it; but we would do well to remember that ANY ONE OF US could be made into a torturer by a draconian regime - just as poverty and loss of identity can seem to normalise the most brutal cruelty carried out in the name of your gang.
Interestingly, my microbiology professor in college was at the U of Chicago with Margulis when they were young. I remember her recounting how difficult it was to be woman in science in the 60's, how much opposition there was from some of the professors to women being in the PhD program. Margulis certainly did inspirational work, along with James Lovelock, to develop the Gaia theory. She also had some quite controversial views later on in life! I remember reading an interview with her where she came across as a bit combative and paranoid, and I wonder how her earlier experiences might have shaped the way she related to people in her profession. But she certainly captivated me when I first learned about her theories.
This is an interesting interview she did, the last one before she died, with esotericist Conner Habib. He knew her well and considered her to be a mentor, you might find it interesting. https://www.patreon.com/posts/31660219
A very interesting interview [and preamble from Conner Habib]. I bet Sophie Strand is aware of it, too [or at least the same topics that came up]: that's where I've seen the accusations against scientific "knowledge" before - and her suggestions about de-centring humans "from the narrative" follows logically from Margulis' rejection of cosmologists attempting to superimpose some human-like consciousness over the gaia theory.
It is interesting that there is actually NO proper evidence of speciation through random mutation. The Dawkins bully crew seem to want to prevent further investigation into symbiogenesis because it cedes the design wisdom of DNA to bacteria rather than biotech boardrooms [hence sterile seeds, UN-nutritious yeast - the nutritious variety available in "health" shops]...
Thanks for sharing this interview, I will definitely pin it in Spotify
Oh this is so beautiful, very glad you reposted. Helpful, thank you (it’s also amazing)
Having just lost a dear friend, I find this piece soothing, just for today. Thank you Rebekah for the precious gift and Dougald for sharing it. Reading it, I’m reminded that in Muhammad Asad’s ‘The Message of The Qur'an’, Islam is translated as “Surrender”
This is a remarkable piece, one I'm grateful to have found (thanks to Rhyd Wildermuth) and that resonates with much of my own thinking. Your phrase "engaged surrender" is one I shall carry with me. I only have one tiny quibble, which is that I'm fairly sure God uses a compost toilet. Though Jung did have a vision of Him shitting on Basel cathedral.
Thank you! So much of my perspective has been shaped by Dark Mountain and some of the writing that came out of it, so it means a lot to hear that from you. I agree about the compost toilet, although I suppose for God everything is compost, in the end.
Jung's Answer to Job was one of my favorites, back in my angry-at-religion days.
This reminds me of a book I never read, but whose title haunted me: "All in the End is Harvest". In the same spirit, then, "All in the End is Compost"!
I look forward to reading future pieces and I'd be particularly interested in anything you have to say about your journey with the climate stuff as someone walking away from the church of social justice. (On which theme, if you've not seen it, Rich Bartlett's essay will probably strike a chord – https://richdecibels.medium.com/on-leaving-the-church-of-social-justice-c84668df5acb )
And if you ever have anything you think might find a home with Dark Mountain, let me know. I handed on my responsibilities there a while back, but I still talk to the current editors regularly.
One of my first biology projects at University [circa 1981] was to investigate given theories on the evolution of eukaryotic cells. Obviously, the source that was pouring out ideas was Lynn Margulis [who become somewhat of a hero of mine, at the time]. One of her other proposals was that Achaebacteria [now "Archaea"] were a separate kingdom of organisms [cf bacteria and eukayotes]. Many more turned up in the years that followed [their habitats tended to be extremely hazardous] with some astounding things like spores that could hang about in molten lava and spring up on the other side of the world.
I very much like your view of Heaven as the abode of saints who have infused their love into world around them: remembered - just as an animal will remember you, if you show them kindness. This democratic version is further bolstered by the observation that some of the kindest, most cheerful people you may ever meet are often carrying great pain and sadness, inside. It helps me to come off my high horse about Saint Augustus - one of whose mighty tomes had come into my possession, somehow. Getting side-tracked in the preface, I was being enticed into Augustus's learned treatment of the difference between a saint's suffering and that of a sinner. I slammed it shut and would hear no more: we live in an age where bad behaviour has a rational explanation [even if the courts continue to exact society's revenge]. This "learned" examination was clearly a load of patriarchal propaganda. However, I appreciate, now, that having the grace to hold onto whatever love can be gathered from a harsh embodiment is kinda the whole point and is another thing we can be grateful for from others. When such things are not - or even never - forthcoming [and, instead, there seems to be a steady flow of hate, prejudice and violence], we are not obliged to accept or put up with it; but we would do well to remember that ANY ONE OF US could be made into a torturer by a draconian regime - just as poverty and loss of identity can seem to normalise the most brutal cruelty carried out in the name of your gang.
Interestingly, my microbiology professor in college was at the U of Chicago with Margulis when they were young. I remember her recounting how difficult it was to be woman in science in the 60's, how much opposition there was from some of the professors to women being in the PhD program. Margulis certainly did inspirational work, along with James Lovelock, to develop the Gaia theory. She also had some quite controversial views later on in life! I remember reading an interview with her where she came across as a bit combative and paranoid, and I wonder how her earlier experiences might have shaped the way she related to people in her profession. But she certainly captivated me when I first learned about her theories.
This is an interesting interview she did, the last one before she died, with esotericist Conner Habib. He knew her well and considered her to be a mentor, you might find it interesting. https://www.patreon.com/posts/31660219
A very interesting interview [and preamble from Conner Habib]. I bet Sophie Strand is aware of it, too [or at least the same topics that came up]: that's where I've seen the accusations against scientific "knowledge" before - and her suggestions about de-centring humans "from the narrative" follows logically from Margulis' rejection of cosmologists attempting to superimpose some human-like consciousness over the gaia theory.
It is interesting that there is actually NO proper evidence of speciation through random mutation. The Dawkins bully crew seem to want to prevent further investigation into symbiogenesis because it cedes the design wisdom of DNA to bacteria rather than biotech boardrooms [hence sterile seeds, UN-nutritious yeast - the nutritious variety available in "health" shops]...
Thanks for sharing this interview, I will definitely pin it in Spotify