Porcupine
We will come together on Sunday 21st June 2020 from 4 – 5:30pm AEST for our inaugural study group.
In preparation we invite you to read or re-read the first chapter of ‘Sand Talk’ by Tyson Yunkaporta: Porcupine. Click here if you want to read an online copy of the first chapter.
We will use the questions below as a place to start our meandering together:
- What resonates with you in this chapter?
- What makes you feel uncomfortable?
If you have thoughts to share before Sunday we invite you to comment on this post.
If you have any questions about the Study Group along the way please email gassho@zenopencircle.org.au
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Karen & Deborah.
2 replies on “Study Group #1”
Hello all
It was so lovely to be with you all today.
What I heard was that language was something that was discussed across all groups… this has been something on my mind in relation to the glorious and very exciting BLM movement in the US.
In our group someone mentioned the White Fragility book by DiAngelo, which has gained huge momentum in the States recently.
Having thought about her arguments the last few weeks I was inspired to revisit the work of Sara Ahmed, who is a queer feminist of colour in Australia and who has done some very thrilling work on “race performativity” as she refers to it.
I dredged up a particular article from 16 years ago and started to think about it in relation to DiAngelo and the way the problem is being understood (represented?) in the States.
In particular, she is interested in declarations of “whiteness” and what these “do” (even the well meaning and critical ones). This seems relevant to the way we speak of race with one another.
I really enjoyed the “complexity” of Ahmed’s argument though it is fairly academic so you have to be in the mood. I share it in case anyone is interested in thinking about “critical whiteness studies” and the shape of the discourse in the US at present. I can feel the discourse reverberating here in Australia. Here is the article:
http://www.borderlands.net.au/vol3no2_2004/ahmed_declarations.htm
She could have written it yesterday!
If anyone makes it through to the end I would love to know what you think.
Deep bows to all
Nadine
THE PORCUPINE, THE PALEO-MIND AND THE GRAND DESIGN
Quote: The Ancestors , the old people from every People now living on this continent and its islands .
Comment: Including our European ancestors and going all the way back to our African ancestors
Quote: All humans evolved within complex , land – based cultures over deep time to develop a brain with the capacity for over 100 trillion neural connections , of which we now only use a tiny fraction . Most of us have been displaced from those cultures of origin , a global diaspora of refugees severed not only from land , but from the sheer genius that comes from belonging in symbiotic relation to it .
Comment: This is so true and our genetics links us all through to our common ancestors in Africa probably around 100,000 years ago.
Quote: we need to revisit the brilliant thought paths of our Palaeolithic Ancestors and recover enough cognitive function to correct the impossible messes civilisation has created ,
Comment: This is so important for every living human being to understand
Quote: a relatively recent demand that simplicity and order be imposed upon the complexity of creation , a demand sprouting from an ancient seed of narcissism that has flourished due to a new imbalance in human societies .
Comment: *’Simplicity and order’ – a classic example Trump holding up the bible outside the riot-damaged church amongst BLM street chaos *’The complexity of ‘creation’’ – beware of the word ‘creation’ ….it implies a ‘Creator’, one of humanity’s biggest mistakes. The Buddha and complexity, see the small example given to Ananda in the paticca samupada in tracing the origins of suffering. *’Ancient seed of narcissism’ – check Evolutionary Biology and the origins of behaviours *’Imbalance in human societies’ – between individuals, groups, and humans and the rest of the natural world
Quote: The war between good and evil is in reality an imposition of stupidity and simplicity over wisdom and complexity .
Comment: Exactly
Quote: Complicated , not complex . They are two very different things . Viewing the world through a lens of simplicity always seems to make things more complicated , but simultaneously less complex .
Comment: Thinking and writing in words appears to simplify ideas but in fact, because each word/phrase can have multiple meanings/understandings, it makes communication complicated and cannot do justice to the complexity of reality eg. ‘God made the world’ NB: The Buddha didn’t fall for that one!
Quote: it was our ways , not our things , that grounded us and sustained us .
Comment: So basically human and beautiful, and explains both Aboriginal resilience ….and vulnerabilities.
Quote: Our knowledge endures because everybody carries a part of it , no matter how fragmentary . If you want to see the pattern of creation you talk to everybody and listen carefully . Authentic knowledge processes are easy to verify if you are familiar with that pattern — each part reflects the design of the whole system . If the pattern is present , the knowledge is true , whether the speaker is wearing a grass skirt or a business suit or a school uniform .
Comment: Hence the yarning around closed and open hand, and the following symbols
Quote: Yarns are like conversations but take a traditional form we have always used to create and transmit knowledge .
Quote: My method for writing incorporates images and story attached to place and relationships , expressed first through cultural and social activity .
Comment: The thirteen images of the Aboriginal way of thinking on the turtle shell
Quote: called ourselves People in our own languages ,
Comment: As do most (?) indigenous peoples
Quote: ‘ us – two ’ ,
Comment: The dual first person
Quote: Solutions to complex problems take many dissimilar minds and points of view to design , so we have to do that together , linking up with as many other us – twos as we can to form networks of dynamic interaction .
Comment: Exactly ….and thanks to Roshi Susan and organisers Karen and Deborah and others
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Ric