[Johnny Brown]

PS, thanks for a chance to finally explain why I don't climb indoors, "How come I never see you down the wall?" "Errr..."

[Fiend]

There's some really nice slopey volume problems down the Macc wall. Slabs and all.

[northern yob]

Bruce Parry's latest film Tawai is worth a look too, in which how tries to look a bit deeper at some of the tribes he's visited and what we might learn from them. The most instructive bit for me was where he goes out hunting with some guys in the amazon and discovers he simply hasn't developed the mental tools to be anything but a hindrance. That level of concentration would have been our daily experience and key to our survival, providing both the connection we're talking about and also the meditation/ mindfulness most of us find is lacking in modern life.


This was absolutely my experience, the locals we were with, were absolutely at one with the jungle, in a way that was hard to comprehend, although I think the shoe would have been on the other foot, if I was showing them around Manchester....

I think it’s just that our reality’s and environments are so different it’s impossible to be truly at home in both.

[northern yob]

Sorry I’ve not got the hang of this forum shit!

This was absolutely my experience, the locals we were with, were absolutely at one with the jungle, in a way that was hard to comprehend, although I think the shoe would have been on the other foot, if I was showing them around Manchester....

I think it’s just that our reality’s and environments are so different it’s impossible to be truly at home in both.

[user deactivated]

Last Christmas I entered a transcendent state which I can only imagine was comparable to a dmt trance. I had consumed a large Christmas dinner followed by moderate amounts of wine and beer, but the real catalyst was a focussed effort to score over 500 on Silly Sausage. Shaolin monks and Shamans have literally been driven insane scoring between 50 and 100. A score of over 700 is the equivalent of a full frontal lobotomy

[teestub]

The most instructive bit for me was where he goes out hunting with some guys in the amazon and discovers he simply hasn't developed the mental tools to be anything but a hindrance. That level of concentration would have been our daily experience and key to our survival, providing both the connection we're talking about and also the meditation/ mindfulness most of us find is lacking in modern life.

This is hardly surprising though is it, and falls somewhat short of any shamanic woo woo, for all of his time tripping balls with tribes, I still reckon Bruce is short of his 10,000 hours of practice of hunting in the jungle!

[northern yob]

Last Christmas I entered a transcendent state which I can only imagine was comparable to a dmt trance. I had consumed a large Christmas dinner followed by moderate amounts of wine and beer, but the real catalyst was a focussed effort to score over 500 on Silly Sausage. Shaolin monks and Shamans have literally been driven insane scoring between 50 and 100. A score of over 700 is the equivalent of a full frontal lobotomy

I’d say your constantly in some sort of “state” given the waffle your prone to posting....

[Johnny Brown]

The most instructive bit for me was where he goes out hunting with some guys in the amazon and discovers he simply hasn't developed the mental tools to be anything but a hindrance. That level of concentration would have been our daily experience and key to our survival, providing both the connection we're talking about and also the meditation/ mindfulness most of us find is lacking in modern life.

This is hardly surprising though is it, and falls somewhat short of any shamanic woo woo, for all of his time tripping balls with tribes, I still reckon Bruce is short of his 10,000 hours of practice of hunting in the jungle!

Well yeah the lack of any woo was partly why I mentioned it. And I suspect the 10,000 hours thing is at best a gross over-simplification, particularly in this case, but yeah no reason why application might not begin to close the gap.

[user deactivated]

Last Christmas I entered a transcendent state which I can only imagine was comparable to a dmt trance. I had consumed a large Christmas dinner followed by moderate amounts of wine and beer, but the real catalyst was a focussed effort to score over 500 on Silly Sausage. Shaolin monks and Shamans have literally been driven insane scoring between 50 and 100. A score of over 700 is the equivalent of a full frontal lobotomy

I’d say your constantly in some sort of “state” given the waffle your prone to posting....

I’m confused with this place, keep posting shit, stop posting shit, keep posting shit, stop posting shit, keep posting ad infenitum

[northern yob]

Last Christmas I entered a transcendent state which I can only imagine was comparable to a dmt trance. I had consumed a large Christmas dinner followed by moderate amounts of wine and beer, but the real catalyst was a focussed effort to score over 500 on Silly Sausage. Shaolin monks and Shamans have literally been driven insane scoring between 50 and 100. A score of over 700 is the equivalent of a full frontal lobotomy

I’d say your constantly in some sort of “state” given the waffle your prone to posting....

I’m confused with this place, keep posting shit, stop posting shit, keep posting shit, stop posting shit, keep posting ad infenitum

Me too! Too much inner woo!

[teestub]

Well yeah the lack of any woo was partly why I mentioned it. And I suspect the 10,000 hours thing is at best a gross over-simplification, particularly in this case, but yeah no reason why application might not begin to close the gap.

Indeed, I meant this as a shorthand for the immersion in a pursuit be that working on a stanage showpony circuit or stalking in a stealthily fashion through the jungle. I believe in Outliers it’s  ‘appropriate focused’ practice for 10k hours or something, so these provisos perhaps bring it even closer to what is required.

[DAVETHOMAS90]

From above:

".. the source of stress lies in the relation between the human community and the natural landscape".

And it's that very relation I've tried to point to.

It's a relation that we decide we can set for ourselves, on our terms, and all too often pretend that we don't.

To enter into that relation on the terms of the natural landscape is when we lose our selves. We become it.

I wrote a poem many years ago, and if it's OK, some of the stuff here reminds me of my own words back then.

"The Terra-cotta stains my flesh,
An acrid balm of baked earth
Becomes my ritual device.
I craze at the rhythm of this ancient stone;
Intoxicated."

Our self becomes a burden we want to "loose" ourselves from.

I spoke with a friend about the applause a concert pianist might receive - Simon Young, a very accomplished pianist himself. Simon's view was that the applause was very much for the act of the musician "sacrificing" his/herself to the performance.

[Falling Down]

That’s a great post further up JB.  All that really resonated with me.  I was talking about it recently with a fellow student who was asking me whether I miss it (peak moorland climbing, running and walking and also surfing, especially at Ceriad ) and yes, of course I do, but it’s also been internalised in some way so that it’s with me all the time.  Not just as memories but a felt-sense of being grounded and earthed.

As for Jung. Yes, lots. I use creative imagination, alchemy and archetype work in my practice and training.  In fact I’m on my way now to a skills weekend on dreamwork and visualisation.

That’s a lovely poem Dave.

[user deactivated]

Yes the poem is fantastic!

Pace yourself FD, remember Gnostic learning..... 😉

[andy popp]

I might as well go the whole hog and suggest Heidegger's essay "Building, Dwelling, Thinking" (pdfs available online).

Has anyone (JB?) read any Wendell Berry? I have a book of his essays ("The World-Ending Fire") but haven't started it yet. I think he would be pertinent though.

[Johnny Brown]

I've had an Orion subscription for a couple of years (recommended) so I've read a fair bit in there, but no books yet. There was a lovely interview with him on R4 a year or two back, very slow with his seat creaking and farm sounds creeping in. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08njtjg
Of some relevance is that thinking of it just triggered a memory of where I was at the time.

Will check out the Heidegger essay, thanks.

Any Jung in particular Ben? There's the Drummond/KLF connection too so I've been meaning to check some out.

Interesting you can handle London life without feeling too disconnected. I couldn't, its bad enough just working full time.

[Falling Down]

I'm enjoying living here most of the time.  It used to feel busy and stressful when I came down for work and was travelling but now I'm living here it's quite different. 

Jung? I'd say that 'Modern Man in Search of a Soul' is probably a good way in or 'Memories, Dreams and Reflections' which is his autobiography.  I also think you'd like 'The Earth Has a Soul: C.G.Jung's Writings on Nature, Technology and Modern Life' which is a collection of snippets on nature from his collected works, essays, lectures and interviews.  I found one second hand at Caffi Caban in 'beris.  If you want to get really stuck in then 'Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious'; 'Alchemy' then 'Aion' in that order. 

Apropos of this thread, I stumbled across this online magasine this week https://emergencemagazine.org/about/ it's really good.

[andy popp]

Has anyone (JB?) read any Wendell Berry? I have a book of his essays ("The World-Ending Fire") but haven't started it yet. I think he would be pertinent though.

I've read a number of essays from this collection over the last few days and he is certainly relevant to the elements of this thread that touch on the nature and importance of place; particular recommendations would be "A Native Hill" and "The Making of a Marginal Farm."

[seankenny]

I enjoyed "On Jung" by Anthony Stevens. It's a biography of Jung and an outline of his ideas rolled into one and shows how the life informed the work, including his relationship with Freud, his marriage, his affairs and his breakdown. Puts it all in perspective very well.