Emphatically I say YES - this is a book that will greatly benefit the world. There are so many on the cusp of these understandings, and you have a gift for synthesizing the entire spectrum of the ‘both-and’
Ahhh Markael I have a fantastic winter reading project with all of your essays.
When I read your writings, I am reminded of what I have loved about Stephen Harrod Buhner’s work, especially in the blend of scientific knowledge and direct experience with the non-linear/non-rational world - allowing the two to merge and lead to new thoughts that are beneficial for our evolution as a species. I wonder if one of his publishers - such as Bear & Company out of Rochester, VT could be a good fit.
I am really interested in what arises/occurs for the wilderness-civilization couplet and the individuation-wholeness.
Re: the former - the perspective that always opens me the most is to consider that civilization is nature as much as wildness is. A very expanding experience for me was to stand in the middle of a grocery store in Madison, WI and allow my perspective to trace all the elements around me back to their wild origin. I think that finding the both-and word will offer a deep teaching, and in that a gift to those who are ready to embrace that wider understanding.
A thought I had about the latter, was that perhaps wholeness is the synthesis, and there is another word for the feminine - something designating more specifically a sense of collective interbeing. Granted, I can also feel that as wholeness, but the wholeness I see as the synthesis is broader, encompassing the totality - where the focus of identity/individual/component parts is held and equal to the focus of collective/interbeing.
I hope this stimulates thought in a helpful direction!
I think I need to read more Stephen Harrod Buhner, and thanks for recommending his publishers.
"A very expanding experience for me was to stand in the middle of a grocery store in Madison, WI and allow my perspective to trace all the elements around me back to their wild origin."
We are very much on the same wavelength - this idea is going to be a part of my November writing :-). Perhaps the yes-and word is something as simple as "creation" - as in, that which is wild and that which we have brought into existence with our will and creativity are all aspects of the universe weaving itself into form. That means that will-discernment-conscious creation might need to change - maybe to will-discernment-consciousness?
"perhaps wholeness is the synthesis"
Yes! That feels resonant to me. You might have noticed that a few of the other words from the feminine column, like reciprocity and harmony, ended up as synthesis words.
Individuation-interbeing-wholeness is resonant but a bit linguistically clunky, and most people will probably not have an immediate understanding of the "I" words. Part of the challenge, I am realizing, is that there are two concepts being combined here: how we perceive ourselves (which could be "I-we-community" or "self-kin-community" - thanks to Robin Wall Kimmerer for those ideas) and how we understand and relate to the broader world, where on the masculine side we have splitting-distinction-uniqueness-diagnosis-taxonomy-classification-reductionism-individuals and on the feminine side we have combining-commonality-similarity-relatedness-interconnection-oneness-ecology-Gaia. This is perhaps the one that synthesizes to wholeness. Maybe it is uniqueness-interconnection-wholeness...
I also want to say how excited I am to be able to have this conversation - to not just understand each other but to begin to weave together. Thank you!
I had head to knees chills when I read “uniqueness-interconnection-wholeness” - definitely resonance there with my deeper self.
When I considered will-discernment together just now, with the suggestion of consciousness as the synthesis, my mind moved towards the focusing aspect of consciousness. When I first encountered the word cocreation, it was through the work of Machelle Small Wright, and she meant that specifically between human oriented consciousness and nature. Your phrase “conscious-creation” feels similar to me. I like seeing the evolution of these phrases! I think it is a really important process, with results that have wide reaching benefit.
I really enjoy contemplation like this, and I appreciate the weaving as well! You have written so much along my lines of thought, expanding in ways that I don’t have the background for.
My favorite books of Buhner’s are “The Secret Teachings of Plants” and “Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm”. Years ago when we lived outside of Kalispel, MT for the winter, his book “The Lost Language of Plants” jumped off the shelf at me. It was very good and literal guidance!
Will-discernment-consciousness? Maybe... In the philosophical sense that Schopenhauer claims the will to be the fundamental unit of consciousness, this would be a completion, with discernment being the receptive and collaborative or feminine aspect of choice or decision or inspiration, and will and discernment together making up our conscious engagement, or our conscious-ness. But philosophy feels mind-muddy and I want it to feel resonant. I will have to sit with that one.
I have Buhner's "Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers", being a brewer and meadmaker, and "Herbal Antivirals" was given to me during covid but I have yet to read it. "The Secret Teachings of Plants" has been looking at me for years from my shelf so I just pulled it and I see it starts with the same Einstein quote that I used to begin The End of Separation. I'll take that as I sign I ought to read it :-). I have not felt specifically called to herbalism, and I think I have assumed that Buhner's books were mostly herbal references.
My father really admired Machaelle Small Wright and her work at Perelandra. He aspired to such communion and collaboration with nature but ended up with a rather rigid and incredibly labor-intensive gardening methodology that did not feel especially co-creative to me. But that was his nature, and his life-long seeking to use his mind to open heart and connection.
I look forward to hearing what comes of the will - discernment couplet. I fully trust in its resonant completion.
That's a fun synchrony with Buhner's book and the Einstein quote. It has been a number of years since I have read that book of his. I usually peruse "Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm" at least once a year, if not the whole thing in part. I think that a lot of what you write about takes concepts and understandings that he was onto, into a deeper realm of connectivity. As much as I truly admire and cherish his writings, the more I go back and re-read, the more I feel a strong pushing-against trend (understandable of course), to which your "The End of Separation" is an excellent antidote.
Wow. Amazing about your father. I know very very few people who are aware of Wright's work and Perelandra. From my own experience trying to mirror her process, I understand what you might mean about your father's methodology becoming "rather rigid and incredibly labor-intensive." It took me a number of gardening nightmares to realize that I could not, and did not need to, follow in her exact footsteps. Eventually I gleaned the aspects from her example that resonated the most with me, and found my own way forward - specifically in communication with nature, essences, and kinesiology. Thank you so much for sharing!
Mark, I do love what you are doing here turning binaries into ternaries, which are also unities. :)
In relation to "individuation" and "wholeness" - which have some similarity to the "solve" and "coagula" pairing - you might consider the ternary to be "alchemy"... or maybe "transformation."
My favourite, from your list, is the "control" and "surrender" resolving as "participation". That goes deep into your project, and also into mine.
Emphatically I say YES - this is a book that will greatly benefit the world. There are so many on the cusp of these understandings, and you have a gift for synthesizing the entire spectrum of the ‘both-and’
Ahhh Markael I have a fantastic winter reading project with all of your essays.
When I read your writings, I am reminded of what I have loved about Stephen Harrod Buhner’s work, especially in the blend of scientific knowledge and direct experience with the non-linear/non-rational world - allowing the two to merge and lead to new thoughts that are beneficial for our evolution as a species. I wonder if one of his publishers - such as Bear & Company out of Rochester, VT could be a good fit.
I am really interested in what arises/occurs for the wilderness-civilization couplet and the individuation-wholeness.
Re: the former - the perspective that always opens me the most is to consider that civilization is nature as much as wildness is. A very expanding experience for me was to stand in the middle of a grocery store in Madison, WI and allow my perspective to trace all the elements around me back to their wild origin. I think that finding the both-and word will offer a deep teaching, and in that a gift to those who are ready to embrace that wider understanding.
A thought I had about the latter, was that perhaps wholeness is the synthesis, and there is another word for the feminine - something designating more specifically a sense of collective interbeing. Granted, I can also feel that as wholeness, but the wholeness I see as the synthesis is broader, encompassing the totality - where the focus of identity/individual/component parts is held and equal to the focus of collective/interbeing.
I hope this stimulates thought in a helpful direction!
Thank you Emma!
I think I need to read more Stephen Harrod Buhner, and thanks for recommending his publishers.
"A very expanding experience for me was to stand in the middle of a grocery store in Madison, WI and allow my perspective to trace all the elements around me back to their wild origin."
We are very much on the same wavelength - this idea is going to be a part of my November writing :-). Perhaps the yes-and word is something as simple as "creation" - as in, that which is wild and that which we have brought into existence with our will and creativity are all aspects of the universe weaving itself into form. That means that will-discernment-conscious creation might need to change - maybe to will-discernment-consciousness?
"perhaps wholeness is the synthesis"
Yes! That feels resonant to me. You might have noticed that a few of the other words from the feminine column, like reciprocity and harmony, ended up as synthesis words.
Individuation-interbeing-wholeness is resonant but a bit linguistically clunky, and most people will probably not have an immediate understanding of the "I" words. Part of the challenge, I am realizing, is that there are two concepts being combined here: how we perceive ourselves (which could be "I-we-community" or "self-kin-community" - thanks to Robin Wall Kimmerer for those ideas) and how we understand and relate to the broader world, where on the masculine side we have splitting-distinction-uniqueness-diagnosis-taxonomy-classification-reductionism-individuals and on the feminine side we have combining-commonality-similarity-relatedness-interconnection-oneness-ecology-Gaia. This is perhaps the one that synthesizes to wholeness. Maybe it is uniqueness-interconnection-wholeness...
I also want to say how excited I am to be able to have this conversation - to not just understand each other but to begin to weave together. Thank you!
I had head to knees chills when I read “uniqueness-interconnection-wholeness” - definitely resonance there with my deeper self.
When I considered will-discernment together just now, with the suggestion of consciousness as the synthesis, my mind moved towards the focusing aspect of consciousness. When I first encountered the word cocreation, it was through the work of Machelle Small Wright, and she meant that specifically between human oriented consciousness and nature. Your phrase “conscious-creation” feels similar to me. I like seeing the evolution of these phrases! I think it is a really important process, with results that have wide reaching benefit.
I really enjoy contemplation like this, and I appreciate the weaving as well! You have written so much along my lines of thought, expanding in ways that I don’t have the background for.
My favorite books of Buhner’s are “The Secret Teachings of Plants” and “Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm”. Years ago when we lived outside of Kalispel, MT for the winter, his book “The Lost Language of Plants” jumped off the shelf at me. It was very good and literal guidance!
Civilization-wildness-cocreation. That works!
Will-discernment-consciousness? Maybe... In the philosophical sense that Schopenhauer claims the will to be the fundamental unit of consciousness, this would be a completion, with discernment being the receptive and collaborative or feminine aspect of choice or decision or inspiration, and will and discernment together making up our conscious engagement, or our conscious-ness. But philosophy feels mind-muddy and I want it to feel resonant. I will have to sit with that one.
I have Buhner's "Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers", being a brewer and meadmaker, and "Herbal Antivirals" was given to me during covid but I have yet to read it. "The Secret Teachings of Plants" has been looking at me for years from my shelf so I just pulled it and I see it starts with the same Einstein quote that I used to begin The End of Separation. I'll take that as I sign I ought to read it :-). I have not felt specifically called to herbalism, and I think I have assumed that Buhner's books were mostly herbal references.
My father really admired Machaelle Small Wright and her work at Perelandra. He aspired to such communion and collaboration with nature but ended up with a rather rigid and incredibly labor-intensive gardening methodology that did not feel especially co-creative to me. But that was his nature, and his life-long seeking to use his mind to open heart and connection.
I look forward to hearing what comes of the will - discernment couplet. I fully trust in its resonant completion.
That's a fun synchrony with Buhner's book and the Einstein quote. It has been a number of years since I have read that book of his. I usually peruse "Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm" at least once a year, if not the whole thing in part. I think that a lot of what you write about takes concepts and understandings that he was onto, into a deeper realm of connectivity. As much as I truly admire and cherish his writings, the more I go back and re-read, the more I feel a strong pushing-against trend (understandable of course), to which your "The End of Separation" is an excellent antidote.
Wow. Amazing about your father. I know very very few people who are aware of Wright's work and Perelandra. From my own experience trying to mirror her process, I understand what you might mean about your father's methodology becoming "rather rigid and incredibly labor-intensive." It took me a number of gardening nightmares to realize that I could not, and did not need to, follow in her exact footsteps. Eventually I gleaned the aspects from her example that resonated the most with me, and found my own way forward - specifically in communication with nature, essences, and kinesiology. Thank you so much for sharing!
Mark, I do love what you are doing here turning binaries into ternaries, which are also unities. :)
In relation to "individuation" and "wholeness" - which have some similarity to the "solve" and "coagula" pairing - you might consider the ternary to be "alchemy"... or maybe "transformation."
My favourite, from your list, is the "control" and "surrender" resolving as "participation". That goes deep into your project, and also into mine.
Be well, stay free!