Things to read

[Windsmith]

I just found this short essay by Chet Raymo on the Science & Spirit website, and I adore it. What does anybody know about this magazine?

What else have people read that they feel reflects the way they feel about pantheism and/or the Universe? Anything really great that they'd love everyone to read? Articles, books, magazines, backs of cereal boxes? What?

[Windsmith]

Tough crowd, eh? OK, how about this article about opponents of wind power. As a wind power student, I think about things like this a lot. Obviously, wind alone can't solve our energy woes, but the climate's tanking fast and the oil's disappearing faster. I see the point of those who argue that we need to keep beautiful vistas beautiful, and that turbines can mar the landscape. But this is such an imporant source of energy, and I think a turbine - heck, even 30 turbines - creates far less of an eyesore than a new coal or nuclear plant on the same land (though maybe I'm biased, as I think the turbines are gorgeous). Plus, if we don't clean up our energy act fast, there'll be no more beautiful views at all, unbroken or otherwise.

What do you guys think?

[EJ1096]

Tough crowd, eh? OK, how about this article about opponents of wind power. As a wind power student, I think about things like this a lot. Obviously, wind alone can't solve our energy woes, but the climate's tanking fast and the oil's disappearing faster. I see the point of those who argue that we need to keep beautiful vistas beautiful, and that turbines can mar the landscape. But this is such an imporant source of energy, and I think a turbine - heck, even 30 turbines - creates far less of an eyesore than a new coal or nuclear plant on the same land (though maybe I'm biased, as I think the turbines are gorgeous). Plus, if we don't clean up our energy act fast, there'll be no more beautiful views at all, unbroken or otherwise.

What do you guys think?

I didnt read the artice But All I could think of when I read that people where opposed to them due to the "eye soar" factor was they would not cut down forests to put these things up. because there would not be enough wind that blow around forests. They are building them on open plains and farmers are selling aprts of ther land to have these put up.
besides I too think they look cool

[Windsmith]

I didnt read the artice But All I could think of when I read that people where opposed to them due to the "eye soar" factor was they would not cut down forests to put these things up. because there would not be enough wind that blow around forests. They are building them on open plains and farmers are selling aprts of ther land to have these put up.
besides I too think they look cool

That's a good point about the forests. But a lot of turbines do also go up on hilltops and mountaintops, which I think is where some of the objections come from.

A lot of it has to do with money, too. There are hundreds of wind farms around the country that are as big as or bigger than the proposed Cape Cod project, in areas that have views that are just as stunning. The Cape Cop project protesters get a lot more press because they're super-rich and have convinced Ted Kennedy to shill for them.

Or maybe I'm just cynical.

[Birdy]

Spinoza, definitely. He is the pantheist philosopher.

"The Sacred Depths of Nature" by Ursula Goodenough
A reverent description of evolution and how it can inspire religion... and stuff, I can't remember, I haven't read most of these books YET, they're just on my must read list.

"A Religion of Nature" by Donald A. Crosby
Not for the general MW crowd. He tells his life story of moving through the various conceptions of (mono, panen and then pan)theism into atheism and then back into pantheism and puts forward the idea of a religion of nature.

The poetry of Mary Oliver. She herself is not a pantheist but her poems (and non-poetry related essays) are nature reverent in a way that connects wilderness with humanity. I like "American Primitive" and... I forgot the name of the other one..

If you really want to go into the classics there is Marcus Aurelius's (am I spelling that right?) "The Meditations"

and then there is

"Celestially Auspicious Occasions: Seasons, Cycles, & Celebrations" (author forgotten) - It looks at ways that different peoples, all the way back into neolithic times, celebrated the solstices and equinoxes etc.. and it's credible (ei. no revisionist utopian matriarchy nonsense)

I am currently looking into finding some works of Brian Swimme...

that's all for now.

Oh and Windsmith, your not cynical, just smart.

[Windsmith]

Thank you so much, Birdy, for all of these excellent suggestions. I'm putting them all on my to-read list!

Oh and Windsmith, your not cynical, just smart.

Aw, shucks. Thanks! Part of me wants the Cape Cod gang to have deep moral objections to the project, be they historical, aesthetic, ornithological - whatever. I would still disagree, but at least I'd know they have convictions. But the more I read about them, the more I think they've just been struck with a bad case of the NIMBYs, and I want to shout, "Hey! Kennedy! Siddown and shuddup!"

Maybe they'd like a nice wave energy system instead? Those things are cool.

[RainInanna]

What do you think of David Suzuki's writings such as The Sacred Balance, and others he has written on environmentalism? I borrowed that particular one from the library some time ago but didn't get a chance to read it. Or Starhawk's Earth Path?

[Birdy]

What do you think of David Suzuki's writings such as The Sacred Balance, and others he has written on environmentalism? I borrowed that particular one from the library some time ago but didn't get a chance to read it. Or Starhawk's Earth Path?

Thanks for reminding me of that book! I wanted to read it so much when it came out but then somehow forgot about it. It will go back on my "to read" list now.

I haven't read any Starhawk... (where the hell have I been, I know)

[RainInanna]

No problem, maybe it'll remind me to read it as well (sheesh, too many books, not enough time). I wonder if Starhawk's writings are too supernatural for the average pantheist?

[Birdy]

Oh, probably, but I don't think that would stop many. Those kind of books are a good source of inspiration for creating one's own material. I think the basic spirit of earth centered paths is the same.

[Philosophia]

Is Ralph Waldo Emerson or Henry David Thoreau good sources?

[Eleisawolf]

Actually, I love both of them. They helped me to understand my feeling of connectedness. Reading their words helped me recognize what I was seeing in the world and why I wanted to be in love with it.

Then I went to Walden Pond and I understood even more.

Peace

[Windsmith]

I just finished Alison Hawthorne Deming's Writing the Sacred into the Real. It might be difficult to find outside of Minnesota, since it's published by a small, non-profit press based in Minneapolis, but if you can get a hold of a copy, it's a fantastic short read. She doesn't call herself a pantheist, but her description of her spirituality reads very similarly to what a lot of us talk about here.

The book is comprised of 4 essays about 4 places that have meant a lot to Deming and helped form her views of the world. It's amazingly minutely detailed and very "meta" - she writes a lot about the process of writing. Especially good, then, for those of us who find our homes in art as well as pantheism.

[ravenscape]

It would be interesting and fun if we could choose a book to read together, and maybe post our thoughts each time we finish a couple of chapters. Would anyone else be interested? And does anyone have suggestions of books to read?

[Eleisawolf]

Ravenscape, I think that would be a fabulous idea!! It would help me feel more connected by doing something grounding... everything I'm involved with lately seems to be pulling me out all over the place (which is good for me, right now--I was so internal all autumn/winter) and having a center would be wonderful!

I might have some book ideas--let me look around at some of the things I've been hoping to read.

I think it would be okay if we read some books together that some people have already read...

Any suggestions? I would love this...

Peace