My friend who could introduce you to Rudolf Steiner, Owen Barfield and George Adams better than I could, after reading my post, shared this funny little imagined conversation between God and St Francis about the Suburbanite lawn. Enjoy! https://richsoil.com/lawn/god.jsp
Your description of raking the lawn really made me think about how so much of that kind of labor in and around the home has been made out to be a burden, menial, beneath us, not worth our time or it is assumed that our time would be better spent working, relaxing or being with other people. And while work and relaxation and being with other people are worthy pursuits, these jobs, this work, has so much to teach us. It is work that one can feel good in accomplishing. It can help us appreciate our home and surroundings more deeply. There has been a real movement to outsource so many of these tasks and to "hack" our lives to greatest efficiency but what do we lose in the process?
This bias against manual labor (Perhaps we could call it a Jetsons-fetish) is something Wendell Berry has written about a bunch. He has tied this bias to a "Prejudice Against Country People," which he's written about even more! Here is one of those essays. https://www.iatp.org/news/the-prejudice-against-country-people
Thank you kindly for this thoughtful piece. There is certainly a lot to digest and I look forward to revisiting these ideas. I appreciate your discussion of materialism, the four bodies that compose the human as posed by Rudolf Steiner, etheric technology, and much more. Your thoughts on the rake verses the leaf blower wonderfully exemplify the distinction between etheric and mainstream modern technology. I would be interested in hearing more about elements of etheric technology (permaculture, scything, and composting) if you feel inclined to write more about this.
Me too! I would like a much deeper dive into the fourfold human. What is scything? I’d like to know more about the health/medical side of this as well.
As for my own blower/rake thoughts: I have never owned a leaf blower. I don’t think I’ve ever even used one. I enjoy raking and shoveling, the methodical nature of it, the quiet time to myself the chore imposes, feeling useful. We do own a snowblower and for the large snowstorms it is mostly what we use for ease and speed but it is good that it is over fast because the push and pull and struggle with the machine is absolutely and completely unenjoyable. Shoveling on the other hand, especially at night with a fluffy snow, is quiet, serene even. The cold air on your face contrast with the warmth of your body as you work … my neighbor and I last winter were both sans husbands due to work trips. Most of the snowfalls were light, we would shovel together in the evenings in the relative quiet, sometimes with a nod and a wave, sometimes teaming up to do each of our driveways together while we chatted, always standing together afterward to take in the cold night air. There is none of this with the deafening roar of the snowblowers.
My one area of resistance in your article is with space exploration. I don’t know that private enterprises like SpaceX etc. are useful or desirable in any way whatsoever. However, an institution such as NASA and space exploration such as the Mars rovers still feels relevant to me. Not to learn how to escape this world and and colonize other planets or to mine them for resources or something like that but to better understand how small and special this particular place we inhabit is. Is it actually necessary … no? But humans do seem to have a specific drive to search out the new and unknown. I’m not sure we could stop ourselves. Maybe that isn’t a good reason to do something … I look forward to more about this topic!
It definitely wasn't my intention to diss pure scientific research, or even space exploration per se. There is actually so little of that (pure research) these days, but what there is continues to be a boon to all of us. I wrote in another post about trying to transcend materialism in science, to save science itself, and concluded with some thoughts about the search for extraterrestrial life, which still excites me! https://open.substack.com/pub/briang/p/science-washed-clean-of-materialism?r=kpu97&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
I'll try to write some more about Steiner's fourfold human being.
It's deep! He also lectured about a ninefold approach to understanding the human being.
My friend who could introduce you to Rudolf Steiner, Owen Barfield and George Adams better than I could, after reading my post, shared this funny little imagined conversation between God and St Francis about the Suburbanite lawn. Enjoy! https://richsoil.com/lawn/god.jsp
Your description of raking the lawn really made me think about how so much of that kind of labor in and around the home has been made out to be a burden, menial, beneath us, not worth our time or it is assumed that our time would be better spent working, relaxing or being with other people. And while work and relaxation and being with other people are worthy pursuits, these jobs, this work, has so much to teach us. It is work that one can feel good in accomplishing. It can help us appreciate our home and surroundings more deeply. There has been a real movement to outsource so many of these tasks and to "hack" our lives to greatest efficiency but what do we lose in the process?
This bias against manual labor (Perhaps we could call it a Jetsons-fetish) is something Wendell Berry has written about a bunch. He has tied this bias to a "Prejudice Against Country People," which he's written about even more! Here is one of those essays. https://www.iatp.org/news/the-prejudice-against-country-people
Thank you kindly for this thoughtful piece. There is certainly a lot to digest and I look forward to revisiting these ideas. I appreciate your discussion of materialism, the four bodies that compose the human as posed by Rudolf Steiner, etheric technology, and much more. Your thoughts on the rake verses the leaf blower wonderfully exemplify the distinction between etheric and mainstream modern technology. I would be interested in hearing more about elements of etheric technology (permaculture, scything, and composting) if you feel inclined to write more about this.
Me too! I would like a much deeper dive into the fourfold human. What is scything? I’d like to know more about the health/medical side of this as well.
As for my own blower/rake thoughts: I have never owned a leaf blower. I don’t think I’ve ever even used one. I enjoy raking and shoveling, the methodical nature of it, the quiet time to myself the chore imposes, feeling useful. We do own a snowblower and for the large snowstorms it is mostly what we use for ease and speed but it is good that it is over fast because the push and pull and struggle with the machine is absolutely and completely unenjoyable. Shoveling on the other hand, especially at night with a fluffy snow, is quiet, serene even. The cold air on your face contrast with the warmth of your body as you work … my neighbor and I last winter were both sans husbands due to work trips. Most of the snowfalls were light, we would shovel together in the evenings in the relative quiet, sometimes with a nod and a wave, sometimes teaming up to do each of our driveways together while we chatted, always standing together afterward to take in the cold night air. There is none of this with the deafening roar of the snowblowers.
My one area of resistance in your article is with space exploration. I don’t know that private enterprises like SpaceX etc. are useful or desirable in any way whatsoever. However, an institution such as NASA and space exploration such as the Mars rovers still feels relevant to me. Not to learn how to escape this world and and colonize other planets or to mine them for resources or something like that but to better understand how small and special this particular place we inhabit is. Is it actually necessary … no? But humans do seem to have a specific drive to search out the new and unknown. I’m not sure we could stop ourselves. Maybe that isn’t a good reason to do something … I look forward to more about this topic!
It definitely wasn't my intention to diss pure scientific research, or even space exploration per se. There is actually so little of that (pure research) these days, but what there is continues to be a boon to all of us. I wrote in another post about trying to transcend materialism in science, to save science itself, and concluded with some thoughts about the search for extraterrestrial life, which still excites me! https://open.substack.com/pub/briang/p/science-washed-clean-of-materialism?r=kpu97&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
I'll try to write some more about Steiner's fourfold human being.
It's deep! He also lectured about a ninefold approach to understanding the human being.
Even deeper!
Thanks for this feedback. I will prioritize writing something about those things. They rank among my favorite things so it will be easy!