Sir Gawain, I wish you wouldn't go. With so many things that you say, I find agreement. You have a beautiful and important voice that supports the Earth. I've even become fond of your no-caps. Love, Marsha
On Mar 14, 2010, at 7:38 PM, gav wrote: > well good morning/evening folks, > tis a fine autumn morn as i look out over the rolling hills of northern new > south wales - the byron bay region, which some of you may have heard of. > > includes the famous 'nimbin' which hosted the aquarius festival in the early > 70s and lotsa folk never left. marijuana capital of the state - police don't > like that much though - they have to keep up appearances and make you go down > an alley to buy it....can't be seen to endorse the second biggest industry in > the region but then again it is the second biggest industry in the region. > > byron is a backpacker mecca now (biggest industry) and it is obvious why - > beautiful beaches, great surf, forests,... beautiful people from all over the > world, a lot of whom have ended up here permanently - legally or otherwise. > the local government here is green - the only one in the country - has been > for a while. u won't find any mcdonalds, kfc etc in byron or surrounds. > > new age is big here. the local radio 99.9fm (motto - nearly perfect) is > community owned and commercial free. you get used to there being interesting > people on the radio after a while: folks talking about jungian psychotherapy, > entheogenic practices and shamanism, art therapy, writers, musicians, > filmmakers, as well as a great variety of music. > > new age rubs me the wrong way sometimes - it becomes a bit like a beauty spa > for the soul - people like to look good here: they think it is a reflection > of their spirituality too. hey sometimes it is, but in other cultures, > african for instance, the most spiritual elders usually look and smell > terrible - they have lost interest in keeping up appearances and are more in > the spirit world than this one. > > but to be somewhere like this - where u feel fine no matter what you wear, > where there is a great respect for the environment, where there is a great > range of quality healthy food, where the indigenous are treated with > (comparative) respect....is good. > > i don't live here - i am housesitting. i spend a lot of time here at my > ex-partner's house - bel. she and her husband michael have twin baby boys - > river and banyan - and i am a very affectionate uncle to them. > > i spend the rest of my time in and around brisbane. west end is where i used > to live and i still spend a lot of time there. west end has a little bit of > byron going on too, but it is expensive to live there now...i can't afford > it. i sleep at friends or sleep in the back of a van that bel lends me. > > other times i stay with my folks or my sister on the sunshine coast north of > brisbane....this pattern has been the norm now for 5 years. i have travelled > the east coast a bit too, and lived in west end for 18 months. but for the > most part i have been drifting around. i am not young anymore: 37 this year. > > i have tried to make a go of it in society: i have been involved with > permaculture for many years now but it is slow going. brisbane city council > is enormous - nearly 2 million people under one council - crazy size - more > like a small country. needless to say it is a bureaucratic behemoth. > > i have taught workshops, ran my own business, subcontracted to another > lansdcaping company. now i sell some hemp products and do some gardening work > here and there. it isn't enough to live on. > > but i am happy most of the time. i feel good around bel and michael - they > are the closest to me. i feel natural around them and they appreciate my help. > > but i have become more and more an outsider, which is a dangerous thing. when > i first tried the gypsy life i fucked out - i broke down. if it hadn't been > for bel i would have been hospitalised or medicated at least. > > this time round i am more aware of the dangers. i can't spend too much time > in the city and i have to be careful who i am with. i have to be careful with > what i put in my body. > > the key is bel and michael, and a few others (john for instance - > thankyou!). a society of one is insanity; but a handful that understand, that > can be enough, if you are careful. > > and there is nature still - although it is cordoned off more and more. still > it always there and will eventually overrun any boundaries. nature is sanity. > > i don't know what my function is yet...or if i have one. i am a good > gardener, a good writer and speaker (i think so anyway); i am good > footballer...(well, getting a bit creaky now). > > yep i don't belong. the old brujo story. perhaps me and those like me are the > new culture bearers - i hope so - gives me a reason to keep plugging on...... > > u know when i was at uni studying philosophy i found the religion department > more open minded - more philosophical - than the philosophy department. > > me and michael, bel's husband, went to a philosophy debate at UQ years ago. > there was a big debate about dawkins 'god delusion'. over a hundred student > turned up to hear the argument. but there really wasn't one. both guys agreed > with dawkins - although one had some qualifications. generally they both > agreed that religion was stupid, just like dave. > > michael and i spoke up afterwards during discussion. michael eloquently > explained that religion cannot be interpreted like science, that we must > approach it mythopoetically; i pointed out that a lot of religions don't even > have a 'god' and that the neo-darwinist model that dawkins espouses as a > replacement to religion is mathematically incapable of accounting for the > world around us. > > we were both shouted down....which was surprising to us both. we were due to > take over running the student philosophy association, which had organised > this debate. we both left UQ for good soon after.... > > know how we get pumped full of hitler and the holocaust...ad nauseam? well > maybe there is a warning there. i mean hitler really thought that the > problems of the world could be put down to jews, and he must have persuaded a > few others of this too - so simple solution: let's off the jews. guess the > catholic church thought the same about witches. > > and now look at israel and judaism. it is like, as a reaction to this > constant paranoia about its past, it has become what it most feared and hated > - it has become the destroyer, the hater - and it is the arab and islam that > is now the problem - eradicate islam and hey presto - no worries! > > and the same can be said for a lot of us that dig on nature, on paganism. we > look at catholicism and perhaps all religion by extension as evil - look what > they did!!!!! look what they do!!! and we become the persecutor in turn > because of this morbid fixation. forgetting that mysticism is the thread that > ties all religions together. forgetting that *it is power that does these > things*, not religion; it is the giant playing his trump card. > > more division and blame and hatred is (obviously?) not the answer. but well i > guess that ain't so obvious... > > so for the time being it is adieu and adios and fare thee well. > i have become disenamoured of the list of late....i don't like the tenor - > the intolerance, the arrogance, the cult of reason. i can't seem to do > anything about it by writing so maybe my resignation will have a more > salutary effect. > > john made me think twice - but then i realised that, as he is always agreeing > with me, there is no need for two of us!! > > been a pleasure for the most part > all the very best to all of you > take care > gavin > ps [email protected] for anyone who wants to keep in touch > > > > > > Moq_Discuss mailing list > Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > Archives: > http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > http://moq.org/md/archives.html ___ Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org/md/archives.html
