Lawrence needs no excuse to give time to his other interests, but he
said something intriguing. He said he was also withdrawing partly
because he found something disconcerting, but he couldn’t say what.
When I notice that in myself I take it as a real discovery, something
deep speaking up, a beginning of insight that remains poorly formed, a
little loose thread of hidden truth. It could be many things of course,
but two things come to mind. He seems accustomed to very civil
discourse, in a healthy world. We’re looking at the opposite on both
counts. In our discourse there’s a little taste of how what’s
physically happening to the earth is becoming quite ugly.

That does certainly distress me too, but I’ve been watching it intently
for a very long time, with methods designed for the purpose of studying
things that are out of control, and I have my own focus and some other
ways of letting those bitter feelings go. What I do still find
distressing concerns the fact that mankind has clearly failed to build
appropriate knowledge for this situation, our overwhelming the earth,
and we’re in trouble. That our conversation is ‘mixing it up’ and a
little disorderly is fundamentally good as I see it. To paraphrase a
fairly sound evolution theory, if you’re lost and experiment with
breaking the rules you’re following, it’s scary but you’re more likely
to find the real path. So I don’t mind people speaking quite freely.

One rule I keep breaking that’s a problem for some, a rule of polite
conversation, is by trying to speak about new truth. I also mix in
colorful and poetic language, with the purpose of having fun and being
disarming, perhaps adding a little context to fill out slightly
difficult ideas. It doesn’t usually bother me that people don’t do the
obvious thing and ask questions. I keep hoping they’ll mention where it
is they feel they must certainly be misunderstanding it, etc. But
leaving out that skeptical collaborative feedback, leaves out the
process required for people to combine perspectives in making genuinely
new things. Silence, which is what you’ve been giving me, gives me next
to nothing to go on.

When I suggest we reverse principles, and instead of giving things to
poor communities, we buy things from them instead, what do you think I’m
talking about?

Phil Henshaw ¸¸¸¸.·´ ¯ `·.¸¸¸¸
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