Replying to LO30013 --
Dear LO'ers,
I am glad for Andrew's courteousness to dedicate his contribution to Terra
and not to me, otherwise I was very embarrassed. And now I have also the
excuse not to comprehend all the complexity of that contribution.
I will react and write about things that are closely related to the
subject title and to the word 'Terra', which means earth. I have the
feeling that what I have in mind is closely related of what Andrew has
written. The subject title could also be "feeling with the earth".
For those who have visited England, my thoughts are probably recognisable.
I have never visited Ireland, probably there the feeling with the earth is
even stronger.
The part of England where Andrew lives is the country where Tolkien was
born, the author of the 'Lord of the rings'. I have not seen the movie,
but some thirty years ago I have read his books. Apart from that story
with all its events, there is an atmosphere of being one with the legends,
mysteries and sagas of the earth. You feel the earth breathening, you
could smell it, feel it, taste it.
But not only in that book. When I was with Andrew in his surroundings, I
had the same sensations. The old church tower, the farm houses and
cottages, the landscape, the trees, the winding paths and meandering
brooks, the vibrations of quienscence and peacefulness. And also these two
hills at some distance where it was clearly visible that these strategic
elevations were prehistoric sites. I did also some small walks on my own,
to breath this atmosphere even deeper and at these moments I became aware
of the importance of having 'feeling with the earth'. It creates respect,
peace and harmony in the deepest parts of the inhabitants in these
surroundings.
I think that much of the turmoil of these days is for a part due to the
lack of 'feeling with the earth'. The restlessness of many persons, the
increasing rates of criminal behaviour, the fidget of many people - they
seem partly caused by the lack of respect and the lack of being one with
the surroundings. I have used the expression 'feeling with the earth' for
a reason. I think that is not necessary to have a concious notion and
perception of the surroundings; it is more the aspiration of the
environment. The fact that one hasn't noticed the fossils in a limestone
floor is not important.
> We were walking through a mall (Yuk! Consumer's paradise .. my idea of
> hell;-) and among the throng of happy consumers (consumptives;-) Leo says
> "Halt! Look!" as he points at the tiled marble floor .. was it marble Leo?
> He shows me how the sections (cross sections ;-) of primeval animals are
> embedded into the modernist cityscape...right under my feet, I am walking
> on the backbones of pre-historic ancestors, as others perch upon the
> shoulders of giants;-).
Andrew, these belemnites are some 100 million years old and are embedded
in the lithified limy slime of calc-algae which lived in a shallow warm
sea; so you walked not only over your ancestors, but also on what once was
water. And what is a paradise forr one, it might be a hell for the other.
Both cannot exist without eachother. Luck and happyness could only exist
with the presence of badluck and sadness; the coin has always two sides.
And therefor an isolated paradise is a boring world how paradoxical this
sounds.
Edward de Bono was already years busy in his invantion of a new language,
based on numbers. His motivation, as Andrew pointed, was that language is
a severe barrier for further human development. I am not convinced. I
think that the barrier lies more in the love for definitions. People seem
incapable to dialogue, before setting the definitions of the words used.
This is an insult to language and the history behind words. It is like
walking on the earth, without the feeling with the earth. At and I had
long ago a private dialogue on the etymology of the Dutch/Afrikaans word
'geld' (money). It was one of the meandering side paths we had with
reference to the LO-dialogue on medieval guilds (where you probably
recognise a common root with that Dutch word). The etymological tree of
that stupid object which seems to rule the world now, was impressive. One
of the branches went to the earth :-) (again that earth), think of yield
which refers to defecit of money and the profits of the earth!
De Bono is wrong with his code book. It is not surprising that At de Lange
so often enlightens for us the etymology of words, because it opens a rich
world not limited by a single definition. The modern word, the becoming of
an old being.
> Leo, it is easier for you because you have stepped into the same stream
> twice ;-) What did that crazy old geeky Greek say, Panta .... something or
> other?
Ha, Andrew, do you like that old Greek Heracleitos. Yes, he is my hero.
Not only that he formulated in different words the proposition of Bollo
(evolution never repeats itself), but he had also a very deep sense of
wholism. And his Panta Rhei is another way to express the second law of
thermodynamics. The world exists thanks to opposites and antipoles (like
paradise and hell). So, did I realy stepped twice in the same river??
Back to England. Andrew, Anona and I had a fantastic dinner at a place
called the "White Horse". It is a place which is directly connected with
the atmosphere of Tolkien. An old isolated farm built in the stile of
frame work with white painted walls and thatched roof. Inside one steps in
a medieval world with modern cuisine. Nearby that place is a white
horse..... A giant pre-historic piece of land-art, the picture of a horse
on the slopes of a hill, a picture prepared by the naked chalk rock
underneath the grass land. Is there not a better picture to describe what
I mean with 'feeling with the earth'.
Leo Minnigh
--leo minnigh <minnigh@dds.nl>
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