Despite having consumed volumes of literature in all forms, I had never, until this moment, heard the term biophilia. And now it demands further research and study. Because to me, it has always made perfect sense, even if I didn't know it existed.
And as the first example that came to my attention - before I eat a tomato, I remove the seeds, and then plant them. And with repetition, that affords me an endless supply of tomatoes. Same with any seed - I put them back in the ground (it was mandarins earlier today). Likewise, I remove the eye of a potato or the top of an onion. And plant them. Which affords me an endless supply of potatoes and onions. And peelings and scraps are used to make compost, feeding the plants without creating more waste (we humans excel at throwing away 'garbage' that could be recycled, don't we?).
And I drifted over here after reading your article on the Art of Being.
From day one, I will confess to having never understood greed. Or the need or want or desire to own or possess anything more than what's necessary (to survive in a degree of comfort). I observe it, constantly, because it's everywhere, and it's essentially how we define ourselves - our 'success' is measured in materialistic and monetary wealth. But I have 'enough'. And people are curious as to why I don't want more: "Wouldn't you like to be rich?" Well, not really, no. It's rather meaningless.
And I do mean 'From day one', because it's indoctrinated into children at school - "Get a job with better pay and be successful." I didn't buy it then, and I don't buy it now.
I've been broke and homeless and lived on the street. I cleaned up my habits, got a job I enjoyed, and made some money. I had nothing, then I had sufficient. And neither altered my inner state of consciousness - I knew I had to change, but the change was internal, and couldn't be bought. So I got what I needed, and now I have enough. To have possessions I don't use - sitting on shelves or in cupboards, is beyond my comprehension (artworks and literature being notable exceptions - I just glanced at the hundreds of books on my shelves and was pondering my hypocrisy...).
Anyways, thanks again, Sue. I love that you provoke that thing in my head, sending it off on delightful tangents, making it drag me deeper into a broader understanding of my characteristics 😊.
This is quite beautiful, Stark, thank you. I am so pleased to have introduced you to Biophilia. I was the same until I went back to Erich's work and started to dive in - knowing what I know now, as it were, after a few years of re-learning pretty much everything I had been 'taught' about the world. Erich predicted the trajectory to 'having' perfectly, the destruction it has caused but, I believe, it was something we had to see through to the extreme, to know what can go wrong and how NOT to live our lives if we want to be healthy and happy, and realise our unique creative potentiality. I will be writing about Abraham Maslow following this series. He was another man who saw the good in people and humanity and wanted to know why and what we can learn from them. That's you, Stark, you found your own way and it's damn hard in a culture designed to do the opposite to destroy our potentiality. I never understood greed either. I never understood why they skipped through the slavery stories in history like it was okay for anything like that to have happened. I didn't understand how people could be treated in such a way, or animals, or Nature. I went to boarding school when I was 8 years old. An innocent plucked from my fields by the river where I spent all day with my dog building camps and talking the the fairies. Next I'm in an institution on my own with no clue, I can't remember very much about those early years. I was there for 11 altogether and became the rebel, it's a long story like yours. I chose self employment and have lived in flats and bedsits all my life which I have loved, each and every one. Now it's a Grade II listed tiny house with a minute garden for my pots. I love it dearly. It's felt like I had to be stripped of all my possessions to know I don't need them which is so true. I sold my sports car last year, the last of my materialistic 'joys' as it were. She served me so well through the lockdown but now I like being a sovereign traveller, it's fun and you meet lovely people. Having ENOUGH is the best way to be and along with the 'shadow work' that goes on through it all, I finally feel FREE. I grow things from seed too and it's the most wonderful thing to do. Bless you, thank you so much for sharing and I look forward to sharing more revelations with you. It simple becuase it's true, I love it for this reason, we can learn so much. Have a beautiful weekend. Xx
WHAT A SURPRISE, Madame Cartwright! You made me bloody THINK again! 😂
So, I've spent the whole day pondering what made me unsubscribe to societies rules (the terms and conditions that I ignore).
Drug abuse made me an outcast, which is fair enough. I lost respect for Authority as a teenager (the reasons are many), which made anarchy appealing. But I think it was literature and authors - and here I will include songwriters - who told me that a life of subservience within the herd mentality wasn't mandatory. In fact, it was a waste of time.
Which brings us to Oscar Wilde. I read about his life, and it affected me profoundly. And one quote in particular has locked in my mind: "Give a man a mask and he'll tell you the truth."
In respect to that maxim, I wrote a poem, which you may have seen (think I posted it on here, but my memory's shot, the joy of a misspent life, I guess 😉).
And to this day, I try to speak the truth without a disguise.
Anyway, here's a non-conformist's poetry, and if you've already seen it, my apologies (I'm rereading Fahrenheit 451 between pondering social abstractions and learning about Biophilia and playing with my dogs, and the last time I heard from my Span of Attention was the note it left on the kitchen table:
Me and your Imagination are going to the horizon. Don't wait up.
Love & Kisses,
What's Left of Your Mind.
Thusly,
I went to school, in every class, I did exactly as they asked
I cut my hair so to conform, all dressed in the same uniform
I make decisions based on fact, my parents said don’t answer back
I eat and sleep and bathe and play, at the same time of every day
I watch TV when I’m inside, stare at my phone to see outside
I wear a seatbelt when we drive, a safety harness to survive
I go off now to work when told, for fifty years until I’m old
I press my suits and shave my face, a member of the master race
I trim the grass, I keep it nice, I know untidy is a vice
I bought a house, I bought a car, the bank foreclosed, not going far
I follow laws, I follow rules, I follow the leaders, the rest are fools
I have a license for my wife, certificate that says for life
I pay my tax like all the rest, the government knows what is best
I sign in here, I sign out there, they track my movements everywhere
I don’t take drugs, I love my booze, let media decide my views
I fought a war, we killed the poor, conscripted to murder as written in law
I get down on my knees and pray, to whom or what I couldn’t say
The clock tells me my daily fate, my time’s my own unless I’m late
It’s all my choice though not like you, I know my right to say what’s true
I’ll do whatever else they ask but you can’t make me wear a mask
I don’t know why you just can’t see that everything’s done just for me.
Thank you, Ayesha, I really appreciate your comment and I am very much enjoying the deep dive into Erich Fromm's seminal work. The Art of Being is next, publishing here on Wednesday.
Despite having consumed volumes of literature in all forms, I had never, until this moment, heard the term biophilia. And now it demands further research and study. Because to me, it has always made perfect sense, even if I didn't know it existed.
And as the first example that came to my attention - before I eat a tomato, I remove the seeds, and then plant them. And with repetition, that affords me an endless supply of tomatoes. Same with any seed - I put them back in the ground (it was mandarins earlier today). Likewise, I remove the eye of a potato or the top of an onion. And plant them. Which affords me an endless supply of potatoes and onions. And peelings and scraps are used to make compost, feeding the plants without creating more waste (we humans excel at throwing away 'garbage' that could be recycled, don't we?).
And I drifted over here after reading your article on the Art of Being.
From day one, I will confess to having never understood greed. Or the need or want or desire to own or possess anything more than what's necessary (to survive in a degree of comfort). I observe it, constantly, because it's everywhere, and it's essentially how we define ourselves - our 'success' is measured in materialistic and monetary wealth. But I have 'enough'. And people are curious as to why I don't want more: "Wouldn't you like to be rich?" Well, not really, no. It's rather meaningless.
And I do mean 'From day one', because it's indoctrinated into children at school - "Get a job with better pay and be successful." I didn't buy it then, and I don't buy it now.
I've been broke and homeless and lived on the street. I cleaned up my habits, got a job I enjoyed, and made some money. I had nothing, then I had sufficient. And neither altered my inner state of consciousness - I knew I had to change, but the change was internal, and couldn't be bought. So I got what I needed, and now I have enough. To have possessions I don't use - sitting on shelves or in cupboards, is beyond my comprehension (artworks and literature being notable exceptions - I just glanced at the hundreds of books on my shelves and was pondering my hypocrisy...).
Anyways, thanks again, Sue. I love that you provoke that thing in my head, sending it off on delightful tangents, making it drag me deeper into a broader understanding of my characteristics 😊.
This is quite beautiful, Stark, thank you. I am so pleased to have introduced you to Biophilia. I was the same until I went back to Erich's work and started to dive in - knowing what I know now, as it were, after a few years of re-learning pretty much everything I had been 'taught' about the world. Erich predicted the trajectory to 'having' perfectly, the destruction it has caused but, I believe, it was something we had to see through to the extreme, to know what can go wrong and how NOT to live our lives if we want to be healthy and happy, and realise our unique creative potentiality. I will be writing about Abraham Maslow following this series. He was another man who saw the good in people and humanity and wanted to know why and what we can learn from them. That's you, Stark, you found your own way and it's damn hard in a culture designed to do the opposite to destroy our potentiality. I never understood greed either. I never understood why they skipped through the slavery stories in history like it was okay for anything like that to have happened. I didn't understand how people could be treated in such a way, or animals, or Nature. I went to boarding school when I was 8 years old. An innocent plucked from my fields by the river where I spent all day with my dog building camps and talking the the fairies. Next I'm in an institution on my own with no clue, I can't remember very much about those early years. I was there for 11 altogether and became the rebel, it's a long story like yours. I chose self employment and have lived in flats and bedsits all my life which I have loved, each and every one. Now it's a Grade II listed tiny house with a minute garden for my pots. I love it dearly. It's felt like I had to be stripped of all my possessions to know I don't need them which is so true. I sold my sports car last year, the last of my materialistic 'joys' as it were. She served me so well through the lockdown but now I like being a sovereign traveller, it's fun and you meet lovely people. Having ENOUGH is the best way to be and along with the 'shadow work' that goes on through it all, I finally feel FREE. I grow things from seed too and it's the most wonderful thing to do. Bless you, thank you so much for sharing and I look forward to sharing more revelations with you. It simple becuase it's true, I love it for this reason, we can learn so much. Have a beautiful weekend. Xx
WHAT A SURPRISE, Madame Cartwright! You made me bloody THINK again! 😂
So, I've spent the whole day pondering what made me unsubscribe to societies rules (the terms and conditions that I ignore).
Drug abuse made me an outcast, which is fair enough. I lost respect for Authority as a teenager (the reasons are many), which made anarchy appealing. But I think it was literature and authors - and here I will include songwriters - who told me that a life of subservience within the herd mentality wasn't mandatory. In fact, it was a waste of time.
Which brings us to Oscar Wilde. I read about his life, and it affected me profoundly. And one quote in particular has locked in my mind: "Give a man a mask and he'll tell you the truth."
In respect to that maxim, I wrote a poem, which you may have seen (think I posted it on here, but my memory's shot, the joy of a misspent life, I guess 😉).
And to this day, I try to speak the truth without a disguise.
Anyway, here's a non-conformist's poetry, and if you've already seen it, my apologies (I'm rereading Fahrenheit 451 between pondering social abstractions and learning about Biophilia and playing with my dogs, and the last time I heard from my Span of Attention was the note it left on the kitchen table:
Me and your Imagination are going to the horizon. Don't wait up.
Love & Kisses,
What's Left of Your Mind.
Thusly,
I went to school, in every class, I did exactly as they asked
I cut my hair so to conform, all dressed in the same uniform
I make decisions based on fact, my parents said don’t answer back
I eat and sleep and bathe and play, at the same time of every day
I watch TV when I’m inside, stare at my phone to see outside
I wear a seatbelt when we drive, a safety harness to survive
I go off now to work when told, for fifty years until I’m old
I press my suits and shave my face, a member of the master race
I trim the grass, I keep it nice, I know untidy is a vice
I bought a house, I bought a car, the bank foreclosed, not going far
I follow laws, I follow rules, I follow the leaders, the rest are fools
I have a license for my wife, certificate that says for life
I pay my tax like all the rest, the government knows what is best
I sign in here, I sign out there, they track my movements everywhere
I don’t take drugs, I love my booze, let media decide my views
I fought a war, we killed the poor, conscripted to murder as written in law
I get down on my knees and pray, to whom or what I couldn’t say
The clock tells me my daily fate, my time’s my own unless I’m late
It’s all my choice though not like you, I know my right to say what’s true
I’ll do whatever else they ask but you can’t make me wear a mask
I don’t know why you just can’t see that everything’s done just for me.
Fascinating post Sue! Love the connection between Erich Fromm's work and biophilia. Looking forward to your book reviews!
Thank you, Ayesha, I really appreciate your comment and I am very much enjoying the deep dive into Erich Fromm's seminal work. The Art of Being is next, publishing here on Wednesday.
I agree; when we are living an autonomous life communing with the natural world, the greater is our sense of happiness and our sense of well-being.
Thank you, Perry. Absolutely, it's good to know it is backed by real science too.