> What lies behind us and what lies before us are
> tiny matters compared to what lies within us.
> -- Oliver Wendell Holmes
Eric wrote:
>I don't see a direct relationship between this and sustainability. It
>does, however, seem to have a lot of spiritual and psychological meaning.
It is interesting that we often see different messages in
quotes. I guess we can only see what our past experience
tells us is real. Anyway, i doubt any viewpoint is
completely right or any viewpoint is completely wrong.
Janet Luhrs in the Simple Living Guide used this quote as
part of an introduction to inner peace and meditation. She
also went into mindfulness. This is seems to match your
statement about spiritual meaning.
What i see is a component of sustainable culture. A person
who is content with the present and can look inside will not
be stealing from a neighbor. In a sense this list is based
on the same philosophy. Rather than concentrate on new laws
or trying to tell others how to live, this philosophy says
first we need to put our own house in order. In other words,
live in harmony with ones beliefs (inner and outer quest).
You must be the change you wish to see in the world.
-- Mahatma Gandhi
This also ties into our previous discussion of wisdom and
education. Does wisdom come from face-to-face meetings with
a teacher or is it something inside us? The answer to this
question has a large impact on how we build culture and how
we educate. Does a teacher pass on wisdom or mostly facts.
My view is that the teacher leads the student with questions and facts, but
the wisdom has to come from within the student.
In Permaculture this would be observation and recognition of
patterns. The facts and rules come from many sources, but
the wisdom for creating a design is local and has to come
from within.
In ZEN the idea is to look beyond words and assumptions to
see the true nature of the world. This quest is also inward
using tools like meditation and koans.
For example: in ZEN a student might be given the following
koan: What is the sound of one hand clapping? If the teacher
provided the answer to this question the student would
memorize it and move on. No wisdom would be gained. Instead
it is expected that the student find the answers and the
teacher only provides hints and questions. This assumes the
student finds wisdom inside.
Most of todays industrialized society and religious thought
favors the idea that teaching and teachers provide wisdom.
Schools would look for better teaching methods or ways to
reach students. The idea that a student is in control of
learning and wisdom can not be taught is almost a foreign
concept.
There is some proof that wisdom can not be taught. If it
could be taught then we would expect the educated to make
wise decisions in all areas of life. I have found that
this isn't true. Once i worked in a large engineering
bay with a few hundred scientists and we all discussed the
world and views about life. Looking back i see it was mostly
naive nonsense. History is full of the same the same
conclusions about lack of wisdom.
I think the position i'm moving towards is that we need less
teaching and more focus on building a society that seeks
wisdom. The idea that learning is a liberating and a
interesting lifelong process died about 50 years ago. My
parents had this attitude as children and a few people still
have it today. For the majority it is an idea that sounds
interesting and they might try it someday between commercials,
or maybe in retirement.
jeff
