a moving passage I thought
I don't usually read fiction books, always have had a hard time with it. Even in school I would rarely read the books, just learn the answers I'd have to know, or watch the movie if there was one. But during the Easter break I had the feeling for some reason or another to pick up and read John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. There are some passages in it that really move me, so I thought I'd share one of them. Here it is:
"The houses were left vacant on the land, and the land was vacant because of this. Only the tractor sheds of corrugated iron, silver and gleaming, were alive; and they were alive with metal and gasoline and oil, the disks of the plows shining. The tractors had lights shining, for there is no day and night for a tractor and the disks turn the earth in the darkness and they glitter in the daylight. And when a horse stops work and goes into the barn there is a life and a vitality left, there is a breathing and a warmth, and the feet shift on the straw, and the jaws champ on the hay, and the ears and the eyes are alive. There is a warmth of life in the barn, and the heat and smell of life. But when the motor of a tractor stops, it is as dead as the ore it came from. The heat goes out of it like the living heat that leaves a corpse. Then the corrugated iron doors are closed and the tractor man drives home to town, perhaps twenty miles away, and he need not come back for weeks or months, for the tractor is dead. And this is easy and efficient. So easy that the wonder goes out of work, so efficient that the wonder goes out of land and the working of it, and with the wonder the deep understanding and the relation. And in the tractor man there grows the contempt that comes only to a stranger who has little understanding and no relation. For nitrates are not the land, nor phosphates and the length of fiber in the cotton is not the land. Carbon is not a man, nor salt nor water nor calcium. He is all these, but he is much more, much more; and the land is so much more than its analysis. That man who is more than his chemistry, walking on the earth, turning his plow point for a stone, dropping his handles to slide over an outcropping, kneeling in the earth to eat his lunch; that man who is more than his elements knows the land that is more than its analysis. But the machine man, driving a dead tractor on land he does not know and love, understands only chemistry; and he is contemptuous of the land and of himself. When the corrugated iron doors are shut, he goes home, and his home is not the land."
--John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
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It is an interesting
It is an interesting paradox, development, progress or whatever you choose to call it. It sounds so much more human with the horses and small farms and a peaceful life, but without industrialisation and more effective farming tools, we would not have computers and the ability to discuss this on-line.
I could never read much
I could never read much fiction either, but Steinbeck is one of the few fiction authors I could tolerate. As this passage proves his metaphors are intricate and deep, layered in imagery. I also like his allusion to the element of spirit for all things human and non-human. You'll find this often in Of Mice and Men as well.
Thanks for kick-starting my brain this morning.
Mattias, Yeah I agree it's a
Mattias,
Yeah I agree it's a paradox, and of course any Gnostic to read a passage like this will interpret it with a certain intelligence, not a fanaticism. I think development can be made intelligently with machinery, with tools, computers, etc., without losing a feel for nature, for what it is that we're a part of. I guess as Gnostics this should be a goal, to aspire to this higher intelligence and way of being. There are a couple extremely intelligent guys who are in the field of intelligent design, they call their work "cradle to cradle." They completely redesigned the Ford car plant to recycle all waste, light the factories mostly with natural sunlight, also natural ventilation that reduces the need for air conditioning. Even the roofs of the buildings were made to grow crops and house birds. They wanted the grounds to be a safe place for children, that was part of their intentions. All this work they did for Ford and it was economical for them. The president of the company or whoever hired them said they just never took action before because no one spoke intelligently, obviously for a business it has to be economical, not environmentalist fanatical. So now, Ford saves money because of it, and the employees are happier and much more productive, working in well ventilated areas with natural sunlight.
Here is a video about it if you're interested, and if you don't have time for the whole 20 minutes, from 16 minutes in to the end really sums it all up pretty well:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoRjz8iTVoo&feature=related
Also a short video of the co-founder here:
http://video.yahoo.com/watch/561970
I mention this all because it does show that we can live intelligently in much the same way as we do now.
Best wishes :)
Thanks Jim! I always liked
Thanks Jim!
I always liked to read, and this passage touched something in me...also effort to get consciously into its meaning helped me to "give a kick to my brain" like Red put it.
Very interesting and inspiring to hear about that environmentalist initiative from those "Ford" workers...in my opinion, great example to follow!!!
When I've read this passage, I also had mental association of it with the passage from Master's work.
Here it is, from "Talks in Quebec".
"It always strikes me how people come into the countryside and just talk, or play, just go around chattering. And it's obvious when someone is aware that those people are not in the countryside, really. Physically they are, but psychologically they're elsewhere. The countryside differs from the city in that it's alive; there are lots of different animals, essences, lots of different smells, not just petrol and all that stuff from the city. So the wavelength that many of the creatures are upon and the wavelength that's required to pick up on the elementals is different from the person who's going along to the countryside and just thinking, just carrying on the same old nonsense. You won't perceive anything at all if you do that - it's a complete waste. In fact, to somebody who's aware in the countryside, such people are like abominations, monstrous things, completely out of tune with nature.
You think that these old tribes are in harmony with nature, but it's not true. The ancient civilizations that we find living in nature up to the recent times have not developed their consciousness; they therefore live in a very animalistic way. That's the case in spite of many people thinking that they have this harmony with nature, people say, 'it's OK, they're not destroying it in the way that modern civilization does'. But it doesn't mean that they have a harmony within nature. That harmony within nature is a function of consciousness, of a developed consciousness; it doesn't come just by being brought up in nature. Being brought up in nature without a developed consciousness, a person is animalistic, just as they are in a city or a town. It's just a different set of circumstances. To really be within nature, you've got to be aware and at peace. Then you can perceive the animals, the birds, and the different ways that the time of the day brings its own sense and aromas and energies and life.
But all of this is lost when people don't try to be aware in nature. If you try to be aware, you will begin to perceive the life that is all around. Living in a city, we lose that connection, because we're surrounded by concrete and noise and cars and fumes and all the rest of it. Out here, we can tune in to nature, but only if we make the effort to tune ourselves into it. If you carry on just like you've been doing in your daily life, you won't tune in, you'll just carry on thinking when you try to be aware. So try to break that chain of thoughts in the mind, try to come out of it.
Society, with it's modern, mechanical means of living, with its cars, fumes, etc. makes us very much out of tune with the natural world. It's so easy just to think, carry on thinking, reacting, and so on. Nobody notices, you don't look out of place; you just look the same as all the other millions in the same city. Just bring someone like that out here – then they're out of place.
And in fact, if you are aware, if you do manage to be quite aware while you're here, and then you go back into the city, you'll notice it's a bit jarring, a bit uncomfortable. That's because it's full of people reacting away, negative, pursuing pleasure, going through pain - that's how life goes.
So while you're here now, try to break this chain of thoughts, break out of these egos, these patterns. Do you know how to do that? "
Best wishes!
Thanks a lot Vadim :) I too
Thanks a lot Vadim :) I too love that part from his talks, so down to earth -- literally!
To clarify, it wasn't Ford employees who did that work, Ford paid them (the founders of "Cradle to Cradle") to design it because they proved it would be economical and cleaner. Right now they're working with the Chinese government who hired them to design 12 cities. I see how what I said wasn't clear. Hope this clarifies, either way the videos should clarify.
Best wishes to you too,
Few days back I read about a
Few days back I read about a new type of stress seen in people now - something called nomobophobia perhaps, where tensions like charge or credit running low, or loosing mobiles, being out of mobile covering range etc keeps people stressed. And recently I also read about brain tumours related to extended mobile use. Technology in aid of man looses its real benefit for we humans can't use anything constructively and this holds true for everything.
This author has said that the machine man, driving a dead tractor on land does not know and love; there are worst scenario than that in some parts of India, people engage underfed animals to plough the land, water is scarce and people live very basic life, still they do not know and love.
The priorities are wrong somewhere, instead of development of human being spiritually, the focus is on cashing on whatever one can, without thinking a bit about how it harms the living planet and the living humanity.
Actually there is hope on
Actually there is hope on the horizon for some of us, through the efforts of individuals who make extraordinary efforts and from what I observe is they stick to the one thing. Recently in remote area Papua portable saw mills have been introduced, developed by a australian tafe teacher and environmentalist, that has given tribal people control of their environment and their lives , they maintain the profits for their own use and the forrest isnt being harmed. Years ago in Japan Masanobu Fukuoka understood that we cannot isolate one aspect of life from another , he led a small revolution to bring back small farms which were being phased out in favour of large commercial ventures, his book One Straw Revolution, has inspired me for over 20 years. Japan has thriving family style farming practices that ensure traditional products are still available . In europe the Slow Food movement has saved varieties of fruits and veg and allowed family owned business to continue also keeping diverisity from being irreversibly damaged, also giving McDonalds a scolding in a few towns by keeping them out and keeping traditional trattoria style alive. Being in gnosis has shifted my priority, from worrying about everything under the sun, but I still feel it is a duty to live in a way ; that does no more harm to ourselves and nature. We can do even the smallest things like recycle as much as we can, or buy only fresh unpackaged foods when we can. Even if all you can afford is organic rice that would be important as pesticide does get into small things quite easily, it is being unhurried about things that can give our lives a flavour of appreciation that we are making efforts in all aspects of well being. all the strength , regards Cheryl...