Week Five Discussion

1. Can diversification save species?
2. Do you vote for the chicken or the egg?
3. "I always eat my broccoli."

1. Of course diversification is a more sustainable and extinction-preventative way of being than singular and unilaterally focussed strategies like mono-cropping. I don't know what else to say really. Just look at fungi - while this isn't a directly correlating example, it illustrates an multidimensional approach that protects against failure. Fungi spread themselves throughout the ecosystems, hybridizing and joining forces with other organisms; if a section of their mycelial matrix is attacked, they have a billion super-fine cells all interlaced over massive areas to prevent total and complete vulnerability by putting all their eggs in one basket. Diversification in ANY context seems like a way to expand outward and create a multi-armed prevention of any possibility of situations that arise to contend with the normalcy and coherency of the 'thing being protected or maintained'. If we were to diversify our diets, diversify our crops and diversify our stocks, we would find ourselves less concerned about the coming and going of one of our many 'eggs' in our lovely baskets. Maybe we could then focus our creative energies towards productive and generative activities like developing new strains and species through breeding rather than investing so much energy in freaking out about losing the one and only kind of egg we have.

2. Maybe the problem with the chicken or the egg question lies in the question???
Has anyone considered asking what this question really aims to answer? Brian seemed to bring this up in class and I would like to explore it further -

What came first? The fully formed chicken or the seed of this form, the egg?
Spoken in a different way: What came first? the idea or the dream of the idea?

Which came first? Yin or Yang?
Which came first? Emptiness or Infinite Form?

The answer is found only in a enormous laugh!

3. As for eating greens, especially broccoli, I find this article and the discussion it prompts to be yet another laughable distraction from common-sense - ie. why do we need to dissect the broccoli to discover that it can prevent illness? We know it is healthy for us? Why do we need reasons further than the simple deliciousness, beautiful emerald flowerettes, and unending flavor possibilities of this and any other foods?

This study reminds me of science projects in which the student goes about testing something they already know the answer to - like, "Does the Sun rise every day?" and undoubtedly, they discover that it does... only to realize (or not) that they wasted their time NOT investigating deep and meaningful questions about reality and instead chose to be safe and answer a question they already knew they could prove.

4. Fritjof Capra - Is this guy on it or what?

Our new understandings of the fundamental unity of Nature and the new paradigm of consciousness as the basis for matter and all reality is changing "the way we relate to each other and to our living natural environment, the way we deal with our health, the way we perceive our business organizations, our educational systems, and many other social and political institutions. In particular, the new vision of life will help us build and nurture sustainable communities - the great challenge of our time - because it will help us understand how nature's communities of plants, animals, and microorganisms - the ecosystems - have organized themselves so as so maximize their ecological sustainability. We have much to learn from this wisdom of nature, and to do so we need to become ecologically literate."

"...the network is a pattern that is common to all life." - Reality is a infinitely potentiated space of multi-dimensional networks that interrelate and interreflect one another. Everything is connected to everything else. As my Aunt likes to say, "It's all connected." Well, it literally is yet simply knowing this as a concept is much different than actually living in a way and being in a way that reflects this understanding. It is going to take some time before we see this way of thinking grossly manifest in the ways of being throughout our conventional and shared reality. That is why patience is such a valuable way of being - it allows a human consciousness to remain still and unified without becoming disturbed by the apparent process of unfolding of each idea and each reality. Flowers take time to become flowers from a seed - this is a mysterious thing - SPACE-TIME-MIND

"In this new view, cognition involves the entire process of life - including perception, emotion, and behavior - and does not necessarily require a brain and a nervous system."

5. Moose World - I love how wonderfully inspired people can be by anything. what is there to learn about moose that can enrich my daily experience of life and its beauty? Well after looking at some photographs I can honestly express my deep respect and honor felt for the moose and their power and amazing presence. Even from photographs I get a sense of their amazing spirit! Wow.