[MD] An Old Reactionary Speaks

[gav]

i like this a lot:
"To look at or scrutinize rice does not mean to view rice as the object, to
observe or think about rice.  One should essentially "put oneself " in the
place of the rice.  In so doing, the self looking upon the rice plant
vanishes.  This is what it means to "see and not examine and in
*not*examining to know."

thanks john

--- On Tue, 23/6/09, John Carl <ridgecoyote at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: John Carl <ridgecoyote at gmail.com>
> Subject: [MD] An Old Reactionary Speaks
> To: moq_discuss at moqtalk.org
> Received: Tuesday, 23 June, 2009, 3:42 AM
> Reading Gav's posting about old
> artists,  a true reactionary came to mind -
> a man who influenced my life a great deal and died last
> year at the
> too-young age of 95.
> 
> 
> I'd read Masanobu Fukuoka's Natural Way of Farming years
> ago, and the
> incredible quality of his thinking caused me to change the
> way I thought
> about farming and relate to my little acre and half. 
> But I hadn't read his
> book in years and so I thought I'd pick it up and start
> reading it again.
> 
> 
> Here's a blurb from the back, just to give you an intro to
> the man:
> 
> 
> "Even rarer in this age of fragmented specialization is his
> grasp on the
> interrelatedness of all aspects of human society and
> nature.  Acclaimed as
> "modern day Lao Tzu"  by fellow Japanese for his
> paradoxical wisdom, he
> reaches back to the source of agrarian traditions to emerge
> at the vanguard
> of post-industrial civilization.  He stands on the
> direct realization that
> culture is agriculture, and overturns preconceptions and
> rational reductions
> of the world to show us the roots of a healthy and whole
> way of life -- and
> the proof is in his farming!"
> 
> 
> Health and whole way of life!  Sounds good, doesn't
> it.  But what really
> suprised me was how much of his thought was directly
> harmonious with the
> MoQ.  By this, I mean the way he attacks reductionism,
> science and SOM are
> profound and comprehensive.
> 
> 
> How does a farmer make the philosophical connection Pirsig
> made?
> 
> 
> Observe his thinking:
> 
> 
> To look at or scrutinize rice does not mean to view rice as
> the object, to
> observe or think about rice.  One should essentially
> "put oneself " in the
> place of the rice.  In so doing, the self looking upon
> the rice plant
> vanishes.  This is what it means to "see and not
> examine and in
> *not*examining to know."
> 
> 
> Although what I am saying here may seem as intangible and
> difficult to
> undersand as the words of a Zen priest, I am not borrowing
> philosophical and
> Buddhist terms to spout empty theories and
> principles.  I am speaking from
> raw personal experience of things grounded in reality.
> 
> 
> 
> Now that last sentence really grabbed me,being profoundly
> empirical.  Here
> are some more passages I cherry-picked for you all.
> 
> 
> The state of Quality apprehension in infants:
> 
> 
> "An infant sees things intuitively.  When observed
> without intellectual
> discrimination, nature is entire and complete -- a
> unity.  In this
> non-discriminating view of creation, there is no cause for
> the slightest
> doubt or discontent.  A baby is satisfied and enjoys
> peace of mind without
> having to do anything."
> 
> 
> Scientific reductionism and SOM:
> 
> 
> "When man observes and judges, there is only the thing
> called "man" and the
> thing being observed.  It is this thing called man
> that verifies and
> believes in the reality of an object, and it is man who
> verifies and
> believes in the existence of this thing called "man" 
> Everything in this
> world derives from man and he draws all the
> conclusions.  In which case, he
> need not worry about being God's puppet.  But he does
> run the risk of acting
> out a drunken role on the stage supported by the crazed
> subjectivity of his
> own despotic existence.
> 
> 
> But who is it that is dreaming?  Who is it that is
> seeing illusions? And the
> answer to this, can we enjoy true peace of mind? No matter
> how dep his
> understanding of the universe, it is man's subjectivity
> that holds up the
> stage upon which his knowledge  performs.  But
> just what if his subjective
> view were all wrong?
> 
> 
> Before laughing at blind faith in God, man should take note
> of his blind
> faith in himself."
> 
> 
> And here where he answers the critics who proclaim the
> scientific method as
> the ultimate saviour of mankind:
> 
> 
> "Yes", persists the scientist, "man observes and makes
> judgements, so one
> cannot deny that subjectivity may be at work here. 
> Yet his ability to
> reason enables man to divest himself of subjectivity and
> see things
> objectively as well.  Through repeated inductive
> experimentation and
> reasoning, man has resolved all things into patterns of
> association and
> interaction. The proof that this was no mistake lies about
> us, in the
> airplane, automobile, and all the other trappings of modern
> civilization.
> 
> 
> But if, on taking a better look at this modern civilization
> of ours, we find
> it to be insane, we must conclude that the human intellect
> which engendered
> it is also insane.  It is the perversity of human
> subjectivity that gave
> rise to our ailing modern age."
> 
> 
> 
> Masanobu Fukuoka <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masanobu_Fukuoka>, my
> guru.
> 
> 
> Here from the introduction to Natural Way of Farming:
> 
> 
> 
> "My greatest fear today is that of nature being made the
> plaything of human
> intellect.  There is also the danger that man will
> attempt to protect nature
> through the medium of human knowledge, without noticing
> that nature can be
> restored only by abandoning our preoccupation with
> knowledge and action that
> has driven it to the wall.
> 
> 
> All begins by relinquishing human knowledge.
> 
> 
> Although perhaps just the empty dream of a farmer who has
> sought in vain to
> return to nature and the side of God, I wish to become the
> sower of seed.
> Nothing would give me more joy than to meet others of the
> same mind."
> 
> 
> Thanks Gav, for triggering so much discovery.  Thank
> Henry Valentino Miller,
> for pointing out the beauty in old men.
> 
> -- 
> ------------
> Doing Good IS Being
> ------------
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