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Windswept

CRESCENDO

Stillness descends on Bowker Creek. Dusk, and grayness of sky advances to become with the forest a singular immensity. Shadows appear, cast in the lights from the apartment building nearby. Tarpaulins strung along a fence bordering the small organic plot next to the creek flap against a post while a few mournful “aroos” issue plaintively from a hound somewhere off in the distance. Birds become mute. Four legged animals become invisible. Rain’s arrival, an olfactory perception at first accompanied by a silky texture in the air, begins as a sprinkle. Flourishing in waves and ripples, drops become pellets tapping tattoos on puddles and on the creek’s surface. Wind begins as a murmur, stirs, develops in gusts to become waves (mimicking ocean waves), then intensifies to toss in rhythmic grace the slender branches of the willow. The movement in the upper canopy (made up of shore pine, western white pine, Douglas fir, Western hemlock, spruce and the exotic Deo Dar and Blue Atlas) is power. Lateral branches reach out in an embrace of the wind to absorb its aggressive force, as the resonant harmonics created rise to crescendo, fade to sotto voce in a melodious accompaniment to the graceful tree ballet. What began as a sprinkle of drops now becomes a soaking torrent. Drops become spears and arrows driven in wind-tossed sheets. The force of the rain creates chaos in leaf patterns. Maples, the glorious red alder, a birch and the chestnuts are most vulnerable. As leaves succumb they drop in random anarchic design on the forest floor and in pools under the willow. The tide of rain water corrals leaves into drifts along the banks. The rain soaks already soggy piles of leaves. A peaty odour of leaf mould ascends and as if an apparition mimicking a ribbon, sweeps over the creek bed, strays throughout the orchard, past the verges of the forest on into the field, and beyond into the community. Unseen to the human eye transformative effects penetrate the stream bank, the forest floor and the field. Worms gentle the soil to a texture welcoming and accepting of increased mineral nutrients. Microbes, especially the bacteria, cycle the elements of life: carbon, nitrogen, sulphur, hydrogen, phosphorous and oxygen, regulating the availability of plant nutrients. The amount of underground water increases to percolate to greater depths where trees in the field and along the creek collect and distribute this moisture to reduce soil temperature and offer it as blessing to the miraculous work of xylem and phloem. On the surface and sub surface, in a time-lapse moment, fungi in various forms appear. The path along the creek accepts flutter, a mat of shiny needles. And out on the Richmond Road a vortex gathers. A whirlwind of leaves are projectiles to plaster panels, windshields and bonnets of the ghostly passing forms, the streaming flow of phantoms.

Life is less like a clock, or a cake that can be assembled from its components .... than it is like a waterfall, a dynamic ever changing system that forms as it proceeds.

William Day

ADORABLE

Adorable "I"

“I’m nobody ! Who are you? Are you – Nobody – too? Then there’s a pair of us! Don’t tell! – they’d advertise you know! How dreary - to be – somebody! How public – like Frog – To tell one’s name – the livelong June – To an admiring Bog!” (Emily Dickinson) 8:37 AM - Corner of Feltham and Shelbourne, Victoria BC A diverse cohort pours down the hill, brakes as the light turns red, eases to a stop. Each driver with eyes peeled for an advantage, jockeys for position. A green flash and they’re off. Nissan cautiously takes the rail. Pulling even ready to challenge is black, High-Boy Ram 4X4. Blue Beamer one length back bides time, keeps pace. Burly Tradesman in the Chevy van, also in tier two, is followed by coy White Lexus SUV. High Boy Ram feeling boxed shakes his fist at petite Nissan urging her to “move it”. Burly-Tradesman lowers his window and shouts a challenge to High Boy Ram and roars off. Out of nowhere Porsche 911Targa crosses the double line and tromps it leaving the field behind. 1020 AM - Willows Beach A crow soars, drops a clam on the road. Waits patiently until a car comes along and drives over the clam. Swoops down and feeds. 10:50 AM - UVic bus #14. Mother wrestles stroller onto the bus. Plunks her two year old daughter onto her lap, stuffs I-phone into her pocket. Facing her daughter, looking lovingly and attentively at her, she begins pointing and naming, laughing and hugging. 11:20 AM - Bus stop, Victoria City Hall. Hunched over, a first nations man stuffs tissue fragments into his bleeding nose. Beside him is his 10 speed bike, on his head a bike helmet. A person approaches, crouches and hands him tissues and speaks quietly to him about how he might stop the bleeding. 2:57 PM - Drop in Clinic at Fort and Richmond, Victoria BC While he ministers to a patient a GP talks about his former residence in Prince Rupert and sailing the treacherous waters of Hecate Strait, part of the route of the supertankers which would carry Alberta tar sands bitumen to China. "I'm in favour of the the pipeline. Shipping oil to China makes economic sense. Damage to sea life could be limited and contained if a "world class" (Premier Christy Clark's term) spill response is in place." Interview - Chris Hedges interviews Noam Chomsky of MIT: Chomsky: "It's urgent. If we're going to be able to deal with the effects of global warming we need to gain the consciousness of indigenous people. Urgently needed is that all humans develop the consciousness of the indigenous first nations of the world; to understand that all species are part of one interdependent organism." News Bulletin - Chilliwack BC - June, 2014 Eight employees of Chilliwack Cattle Sales are caught on video abusing cattle. They are seen kicking, punching and striking with objects. Interview - TRNN interviews Chief Na'Moks of the Wet'Suwet'en First Nation of British Columbia: "The Pipeline route would go through the area where our salmon spawning beds are. This area is critical to our fish habitat, our water, our animal habitat and to our plant life. It impacts our rivers. This project would devastate our rivers." Quote - from Colleen Patrick Goudreau (2013 My hope is that we can navigate through this world with the grace and integrity of those who need our protection. May we have the sense of humour and liveliness of the goats; may we have the maternal instincts and protective nature of the hens and the sassiness of the roosters. May we have the gentleness and the strength of the cattle, and the wisdom, humility and serenity of the donkeys. May we appreciate the need for community as do the sheep. May we have faithfulness and commitment to family, adaptability and affability like the ducks... My hope is that we learn from the animals what we need to become better people." Quote: Your self ... is other people, all the people you’re tied to. And it’s only a thread. (Thomas Wolfe in “Bonfire of the Vanities” Urgently needed is an identity which enables us: to see each other, to turn to each other, to work for one another, advocate for one another, share resources and wealth with one another, even in a sense, as weird as it may sound, to be one another. “I feel terribly naked and isolated as a human being, feeling my species is going to die out through its own efforts. But if you can somehow learn to feel that you’re not isolated, that we’re part of a whole stream of life, then it’s not so frightening. It ceases to be important whether we disappear as a species.” (Farley Mowat – Writer)

#consciousness #identity #boundaries #perceptions

"Far more people today participate in collective action as individuals to advocate for a common cause. Many of these groups do not have strong community or historical bonds of faith, trust or solidarity, having consequences for the change capacity of activist movements."

Dauvergne and Lebaron in "Protest Inc"

Inheritance

Seeking Truth

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon wanted people to minimize the role of authority. He thought that in the real world all actual political arrangements and agreements are a result of compromise and balance and a pattern of life based on the “commune” (in his terms, the municipality). He is considered to be the first anarchist but essentially, to him, anarchy simply meant an attempt to limit authority to the maximum. He did not see anarchy as a state of pure, absolute freedom. Neither did he disagree with the ownership of property but he became notorious for his remark “Private property is theft!” What he believed in was the notion that the rights of people must be equal. He recognized that a person’s qualification to come to possess property is an inheritance, part of an inherited tradition. We receive skills, knowledge, capabilities, techniques, information and technology, which have been embodied in society for generations. It is this inheritance which makes it possible for each individual existing in the here and now, to develop his or her capacities and to participate fully in the society. Developing capacities and acquiring the right to participate fully in society doesn’t come about as a result of the actions of “self made” individuals. The genesis of these most basic of Proudhon’s ideas began early through his experience living close to nature. He was a “herd-boy” who spent long hours in close contact with animals and with the rural people who made up his community. It was during this period that he began to formulate a theory of the earth as the source of morality and truth. He recognized a morality, a sociability, and a mutuality existing inherently in the natural world. In this life as herd-boy he practiced the virtues of an austere poverty and learned to extol the value of hard work. Some believe that it was the development of his “spirit” (Brogan) during this time that made him and his work enduringly important. The essence of his political ideas also likely originated in these times. He came to believe that to have a political capacity a person must have a consciousness of oneself as a member of a collectivity, must affirm the idea that results from this consciousness and must pursue its realization. The idea emerging from this consciousness was a concept he shared with Kropotkin – the importance of mutuality. Over the many years of the evolution of his thought and of his “truth seeking” Proudhon, as a person, changed. Of course his views and preferences and habits also changed. At one point later in his life he said: “I distrust an author who pretends to be consistent with himself (after an interval of twenty five years). Ideas undergo transformation over time. The social struggle for truth is an incessant creative force.” He was accused of being inconsistent and of putting forth “half-baked” ideas. It was said there were many contradictions in his writings. But he knew that ideas didn’t come fully and magnificently hatched. To him, ideas and policies and political movements are shaped in human, all too human, and imperfect ways. For him, the wisest policy is to shepherd the perpetual evolution of humanity in back and forth steps, silently and imperceptibly, instead of by mighty, overt strides. He believed that ultimately truth cannot be deceived, cannot be perverted, and will not be conquered. Throughout his life he maintained the belief that Truth flows unimpeded from nature.

#evolution #transformation #collectivity #truth #inheritance

"Curiosity is insubordination in its purest form."

Nabokov

Mutuality present in nature

Justice

Peter Kropotkin a Russian aristocrat who grew to have a great empathy for peasants and the poor, and Pierre-Joseph Proudhon a poor French peasant, son of a cooper who became a writer, politician, and an elected member of the French National Assembly, had at least two things in common: they were both admitted anarchists, and they both served time in prison. Each came to have influence in the world beyond the bounds of their own country. Most people in North America are unaware of Proudhon, but he did have an influence here. Charles Dana and Horace Greely, editors, influenced Benjamin Tucker who translated and published some of Proudhon’s ideas. Proudhon’s criticism of the monetary system and his concept of mutual associations and the People’s Bank foreshadowed credit unions and the cooperative movement. Kropotkin encouraged cooperative ventures in England, Holland, Denmark and Germany and witnessed the effectiveness of cooperation in the artels of Russia. He persuaded people that co-operation leads mankind to a higher harmonic stage of economical relations. Alienation and exploitation of workers in society had to be overcome through worker’s co-operative associations, Proudhon believed. These associations had to be democratic in the sense that there was an emphasis on equality and mutuality and respect for each other. It was out of these ideas that Proudhon’s ideas about justice grew. Justice to Proudhon became a quality of individual and social conscience. He saw justice as a subordination of personal egoism to the collective interest of the community, a justice which cuts across related issues of social organization, economic equality (reciprocity of services), individual and social dignity. These ideals would be achieved through a conscious organization of a society designed to ensure equitable distribution of wealth and resources, grounded in the real and immediate needs of the region, and committed to a strategy of community wide cooperation. Both Proudhon and Kropotkin would have agreed that “the idea of justice, in as much as it is a subordination of egoism to the collective interest, is not at all as some have pretended a prejudice of education, a fiction of authority. It is inherent in the social condition and results from the very nature of things.” Proudhon saw justice as an act of conscience, essentially voluntary. In this sense justice is in us as love is in us. According to Proudhon true justice is immanent; it is innate in the human consciousness. ‘An integral part of a collective existence, man feels his dignity at the same time in himself and in others, and thus carries in his heart a principle of a morality superior to himself. This principle does not come to him from outside; it is secreted within him. It constitutes his essence, the essence of society itself. It is the true form of the human spirit, a form which takes shape and grows toward perfection only by the relationship that everyday gives birth to social life. Justice, in other words, exists in us like love, like notions of beauty, of utility, of truth, like all our powers and faculties ... Justice is human, completely human, nothing but human.’ (Woodcock) Kropotkin believed that life in societies would be utterly impossible without a corresponding development of social feelings, and especially of a collective sense of justice growing to become a habit. If every individual were constantly abusing his or her personal advantage without the others interfering in favour of the wronged, no society life would be possible. (Mutual Aid) The essential doctrine of Prudhoun is the identification of justice with equality, and the equitable distribution of wealth and resources, the coercion of economic life into accord with justice. Although he feuded with the Christians of his time he borrowed from themes which Jesus based teachings on: The theme of forgiveness - Jesus for the thieves as he was being crucified for sedition. Also the great Easter themes of redemption - the act of reclaiming, reclamation. The theme of reconciliation - the act of reestablishing harmony and accord. And of course the theme of resurrection - the theme of revival, restoration and re-birth. All of these themes are themes of renewal emphasizing the core of Jesus' message: justice. Particularly justice for the poor and the sick and the suffering. He certainly delivered a strong message about justice - not charity for the poor - but justice for the poor.

#immanent #equitable distribution #social conscience #reciprocity #mutuality

"The moral arc of the universe is long, but in the end it bends toward justice."

Martin Luther King

Misfits

The Alder

Against the rough bark of the alder on the bank of the creek at the edge of the forest. Hand leaning on trunk, the scarred trunk where someone has carved the words “misfits 1993”. Face turned to the sun, feeling the cool air rising from the creek bed. There’s sun on my cheek. Sensing. Aware of sounds: birds, the various voices of the creek as it descends over pebbles, over mud and willow roots, around a big rock, eddying into a vortex, becoming a vortex and then, with an audible gurgle, returning to the flow. Aware of the discomfort in my hip, the warmth of the sun on cold, dry lips. Aware of the water on my lips and of the water evaporating leaving my lips dry. Aware of the miracle of water’s plenitude in everything surrounding me; tying the forest together. The gathering, interdependent plenitude of water, matter, substance, atoms and molecules, cells, organisms, organs, all making up the fabric of the forest. Aware of the density of the forest around me, the weight of it, the thickness of it, the thickness of the trunk of the alder, the thickness and density of the soil underfoot, aware of the thickness of the creek bank, the fragility of the creek bank, the density of the web of the creek bank, the substantive web of the creek bank. Aware of the forest as more than an image, a tableau, “scenery”. Aware of myself as more than an image, more than a manufactured identity. Aware of being conscious. Of my own consciousness. Aware of the interdependencies surrounding me, the significances in the surroundings, in each element in what surrounds. Aware of each shape as distinct and distinctive, yet part of a gestalt. Aware of the alder as a portrait. Each element in it, like each element in a Rembrandt self portrait, honestly asserting its own truth. A face with wrinkles, lines, rough patches, sags, cracks and breaks. A bleakness about it. A brilliance about it. Through the eyes, through the knots on the surface of the alder - its eyes - a light emanating from within it. Light emanating from the starstuff at the core of it. The alder has no heart, no pump to clear away a major blockage. Water wicks its way upward, rising in defiance of gravity, not even requiring living cells to do so; rising because of the pull of evaporation and the adhesive attraction of water for itself. Imagine yourself struggling to carry a 19 litre container of water weighing 19 kilograms (42 pounds) up several flights of stairs. Imagine doing this forty times a day. Then imagine that the average sized tree (about the size of our alder beside Bowker Creek) having neither heart nor muscles, transporting a similar volume effortlessly on a daily basis. The xylem sap, water and dissolved minerals, gets transported long distances by bulk flow through the veins. Transpiration, literally “breath carried across”, reaches the rest of the forest. Oxygen carried across to the surrounding environment. In the interdependent forest along the banks of Bowker Creek the alder is one element in the drama of Life’s longing for itself being played out in front of us. Are we, each of us, part of the forest, part of the creek, part of the interdependency? Or are we alien? Do we sense being a part of the forest? Are we aware of it? Or do we merely pass through it like a ghost passing through a graveyard? Do we feel a connection or do we feel like misfits?

#interdependence #conscious #consciousness #misfits

"You need chaos in your soul to give birth to a dancing star."

Nietzsche

Network of mutuality

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