"We all know and, even if we are not personally concerned with the metaphysical, spiritual, and cosmological roots of the environmental crisis, we are nonetheless aware of the fact, that outwardly (I do not say inwardly) this crisis is driven by the modern economic system appealing to human passions, especially the passion of greed intensified by the creation of false needs, which are not really needs but wants. This is in opposition to the view which religions have espoused over the millenia, that is, the practice of the virtue of contentment, of being content with what one has. The modern outlook is based on fanning the fire of greed and covetousness, on trying to do everything possible to attach the soul more and more to the world and on making a vice out of what for religion has always been a virtue, that is, to keep a certain distance and detachment from the world; in other words, a certain amount of ascetism. There is a famous German proverb, 'There is no culture without asceticism': and this is true of every civilization.
"We are living in the first period of human history in the West in which, except for a few small islands here and there of Orthodox or Catholic or Anglican monasticism and a few people who try to practice austerity, asceticism is considered to be a vice, not a virtue."
- Seyyed Hossein Nasr (Reference Document)
Perhaps the older, slower, more substantial spirit of place to which you are accustomed and for which you apparently feel a natural desire, is simply evolving into something not to your personal liking.
Im sure the consciousness of rocks and trees see the human world as a dizzying blur, while they wonder why we won't just sit in one place for 500 or 5,000 years like they do.
The hummingbird going about his morning business, probably looks upon us conversely as sluggish behemoths.
Mighty as they were, even dinosaurs died when they could not keep up. I do not think that the evolution of the spirit of place is constrained to any one rate of change. Higher energies will naturally vibrate with less substance and inertia.
To a sylph, the world of gnomes would seem tediously slow and inflexible.
To a gnome, the world of sylphs must appear empty, insubstantial, and fleeting.
Neither is right, because both are only describing their negative experience as a projection upon objective reality.
Deny it all you like, but the very word "gentrification" is a projection of one's new found incompatibility with certain changes in one's surroundings.
I live near Silicon Valley. 50 years ago, that place was all citrus orchards. You can still find isolated remnants of that. It evolved, with a newer, different, and radically faster-paced spirit of place at a much higher vibration, giving rise to the Information Age, and allowing us to converse now in the this place and this manner.
Im sure the citrus farmers are saddened by that "gentrification", but dinosaurs need to die.
Nemesis Fixx:
+Van D. maybe I interpret you wrongly or not, but there's something I should ponder some more when I contrast your two statements:
"dinosaurs need to die"
and
"the consciousness of rocks and trees see the human world as a dizzying blur, while they wonder why we won't just sit in one place for 500 or 5,000 years like they do."
On the one side, a rock seated in one place for a 5 millennia exhibits slowness, no evolution but immortality. One the other hand, the fleeting hummingbird has a much shorter lifespan but "seems" to exhibit "super" and "attractive" abilities.
The Traditional Gnostic instruction means to deify man in a manner analogous to that of the rock, while our modern consumerist and technological instruction promises immortality as we adopt and adapt to life close to the speed of light..
There's something to admire in both. But which I'd chose over the other, am now to sure.
Thanks for the discussion though.
