RE: language, meaning and nature

[<permed@nor.com.au>]

> when I turn to the next log to cut I find the saw already in
>my hand exactly at the place where the cut is to be made
>This is not magic.  It is the way we act in the world, our
>'being-in-the-world'
Maybe this is when the saw becomes part of you or extension of self (or 
is that you have become part of the saw) - the conscious separation 
between person and saw/tool has blurred. This 'being' involves a very 
different 'knowing' to purely intellectual knowledge arising from 
scientific impartiality which may describe the kind of saw, the metals 
and processes in creating the blade, the size and angle of the teeth etc. 
The state of 'being' with the saw arises from the familarity of 'doing', 
becoming a willing participant. When we stop thinking I-am-me and 
that-is-saw that the work flows naturally/effortlessly and is no longer 
'working the saw' but simply 'being' - at this point are saw, person and 
log together in a state of simply being?

This ability to blur the boundaries that separate us and 
'become-one-with' activates and opens our perceptions/realisation of the 
intuitive, of all the senses, of the emptiness and of the whole. I do 
lots of exercises in my courses to help people switch off the 'monkey 
chatterbox' of the right brain detached analytical observer with its 
incessant running commentary which drowns out all the 'other' information 
we are receiving but not perceiving.
How can we truly embrace holistic design and the essence of nature itself 
if we never allow ourselves to become wholly part of it, if we just get 
stuck on description and analysis, quantification and justification. 

>"we work with what is substantial
>but the emptiness is what we use"
>
>The focus is really about relationships rather than elements/objects. Isn't 
this what
>the Mystics throughout time have taught?

Can we embrace the whole if we cannot accept the hole?
The sacredness of the Celtic cauldron lies in the emptiness - the 
potential of the emptiness is limitless.
It is in the design of the invisible towards which the art of 
permaculture strives. 

Robyn 
(I'm enjoying this thread & out of control - just wish my workload wasn't 
so massive so I could participate more)


Djanbung Gardens Permaculture Education Centre
home to: 
Permaculture Education
ERDA Institute Trust
Nimbin Eco-Village Project Office
Robyn Francis - permaculture designer & educator
PO Box 379, Nimbin NSW 2480 Australia
Ph 02-6689 1755 Fax 02-6689 1225
permed@nor.com.au  www.earthwise.org.au