Maps

On this path to find the reasonable, the more balanced and sensible way in my life, I have been helped, maybe even guided along by the lessons of so many others, who I believe, were on the same journey.  I have a son.  He is a young man now 20 years old.  I was able to teach him little as he grew from a child because I did not raise him.  I would like to start what I believe will be a re-occuring entry that lists the sources I have read and watched that I believe to be very important and inspirational, and educational, and even enjoyable.
     I will start with this entry and with what I am now reading, but I will make entries in the future that will actually be about thoughts I have encountered in the past, before I got the idea to list them here.  I list them here so that my son, as well as anyone else, can find these thoughts and ideas and inspirations too.  Enjoy, learn, contemplate.  We all need guides and so many minds better than mine with wills stronger than mine have asked, researched, mused and put down articulately so much.

Right now I am reading:

The Practice of the Wild, by Gary Snyder
     originally published by North Point Press, 1990
     I have just finished reading Good, Wild, Sacred, page 84 and think this is very worth reading.  Gary Snyder is someone who is better just to read than to try and have explained.  Important, brave, human and compassionate work.

One of the best things I read a few years ago was:

The Art of the Common Place, The Agrarian Essays of  Wendell Berry
     Counter Point Press, 2002
     Wendell Berry is a wonderfully talented writer, both in fiction and non fiction essay.  I have read most of his books and will return to them often.

A few weeks ago I read two books from one author, back to back.

Ishmael, Daniel Quinn

The Story of B, Daniel Quinn
     Bantam Books, 1996
These two books are related, maybe best called part of a series.  They have had a very strong affect on my perspective of the religion, the living community, our culture and the future of our species, all species.  In many ways the ideas put forth in these books has put agriculture up as an ill, or a vice of man, which is so contrary to how reading Wendell Berry makes me feel about it.  I believe the key is that there are vastly different types of agriculture, despite the conventional view.  I have finished reading these books and found myself in a very different relationship with the rest of our culture and society.  Not for the weak of heart or mind, it will challenge you.

I just watched these DVD's:

Being in the World, a film by Tao Ruspoli
     Alive Mind media, 2011
     Being in The World movie trailer - YouTube
Heidegger's philosophy in our lives as artists, & as humans.

Surviving Progress, a film by Mathieu Roy & Harold Crooks
     Cinemaginaire, 2011
Surviving Progress - Official® Trailer [HD] - YouTube
What is progress, what is truly beneficial to us verses what we believe these things to be and how we act.

   So, for my son and for all others who dare to step off the tarmac of the interstates and onto and into the trails that wander thru the woods, fields, deserts, and mountains, twisting around rocks streams and trees, rather than blasting thru or paving over them, here are some maps to help you find your way, to help you understand what and where you are, to give you insight as to where it is you might want to be headed and where it is you may actually be able to go.  Happy reading, happy travels.