[MD] Case's Answer to Marsha: Part 2

[David M]

Hi Case

Sounds good to me, as John Dupre (The Disorder of Things) says,
we live in a world of general disorder with just enough order
to get by.

David M


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Case" <Case at iSpots.com>
To: <moq_discuss at moqtalk.org>
Sent: Saturday, November 04, 2006 6:49 PM
Subject: [MD] Case's Answer to Marsha: Part 2


> Part Two
> or
> Shit happens. How do we deal with it?
>
> My brother is an earthy kind of guy. But intellectual pretentiousness 
> seems
> to run in our family. He used to work on a loading dock and he would be
> spouting off to his co-workers about politics and this and that and
> generally making himself annoying. Finally one day one of his business
> associates interrupted one of his tirades and said, "Look man, don't take
> this wrong but if it ain't got to do with fishin' or fuckin' I really 
> don't
> give a damn."
>
> Imagine you are a hunter gatherer 15,000 years ago. About all your social
> group can offer you is knowledge about fishin' and fuckin'. Nothing else
> really matters.
>
> Eat this.
> Don't eat that.
> Make yourself useful.
> If you need to do something smelly, go outside the camp.
> Pretty basic stuff.
>
> The game migrates and you either follow it or wait depending on where you
> live. The seasons change. Flowers blooms, nuts fall from the trees, the
> berries sprout from the thorn bushes. It is said that the oldest 
> profession
> in the free market economy is prostitution as in "I trade you some of this
> for some of those purple berries." But I tend to think that the second and
> third and fourth professions were Pharmacy, Engineering and Astronomy.
>
> Modern pharmacy grows from the herbalist traditions that run as far back 
> as
> anyone can remember. Herbal lore accumulates over time and generations. It
> is essential and must be passed on from generation to generation because
> there is just too much to for one person to figure out on their own in a
> life time. These leaves can stop that itching. If you suck this root your
> head will stop hurting. If you eat this mushroom the world will melt 
> around
> you.
>
> Engineering begins with banging rocks together and lo and behold they 
> crack
> and the shape changes. Hey, I'll bet we could use a shape like that to dig 
> a
> deeper hole. You got another one? Wow, that's sharp! What if we tie it to 
> a
> stick? Can you show me how you made that?
>
> But Astronomy? Today most of us ignore or can't see the lights in the sky
> but for most of our ancestors they were an ongoing mystery, bright and
> unmistakable in the heavens. Almost all prehistoric peoples that we have 
> met
> in historic times, that is the native and aboriginal peoples, can mark the
> change of seasons by the passage of heavenly bodies. This is essential the
> farther from the equator you live. This perception of regular cycles is
> critical to knowing when the game is going to pack up and leave or when it
> is time to start breaking out the blankets.
>
> While the oldest profession can be learned and mastered in a single life
> time these other three require transmission across time. They require the
> recognitions of patterns in nature and the ability to see connections
> between things that are disconnected.
>
> The position and phase of the moon as it relates to room temperature.
>
> The shape and height of a berry bush and color of its fruit in relation to
> whether it tastes good or will make you sick.
>
> The textures and shape of a stone in relationship what kind of arrowhead 
> you
> can make from it.
>
> What separated our ancestors from the rest of nature was their ability to
> see patterns in nature. They were able to perceive coincidence and to 
> derive
> meaning from it. This idea of meaningful coincidence is the beginning of
> wisdom. Jung dubbed it Synchronicity. He saw it as meaning derived from
> causally unrelated events. For example, you have a dream about an old 
> friend
> and the next day to drop in for a visit.
>
> But I think Jung was wrong. Synchronicity is not about deriving meaning 
> from
> acausality. Causality is derived from synchronicity. In other words a 
> cause
> and effect relationship is one from which meaning can be derived every 
> time.
>
> Individually and collectively what sets us apart from the rest of the
> natural word is our ability to perceive patterns and give them meaning. 
> Most
> patterns do not have meaning. They are asynchronous. They are just shit
> happening. But when we can see a pattern of meaning; when we can see a
> persistent relationship, ah ha, now that is some Good Shit. Even if the
> pattern tells us that something bad is going to happen, it is good to 
> know.
>
> Good Shit Happens, too: That is Static Quality.
>
> End of Part Two
>
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