tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5811749743523633503.post1711225926487213353..comments2024-03-20T11:36:53.907+00:00Comments on Restoring Mayberry: The inner landscapeBrian Kallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11082602126850605083noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5811749743523633503.post-34928638724538780022016-09-03T01:47:14.569+01:002016-09-03T01:47:14.569+01:00Brian, I was going to recommend Crawford's lat...Brian, I was going to recommend Crawford's latest book, but Mary beat me to it! This is an absolutely essential read, IMO - one of those books that alters the structure of your perceived reality in a significant way. He takes up your point about the intrusiveness of the modern world, TVs everywhere, music/muzak, etc and uses it to build an astonishingly compelling argument for rethinking our attachment to some of the Enlightenment ideals that have led to unexpected places. Having read your blog for some time, I think you will find this book a true gift, and inspiration. If you put a donation button on your blog I'd happily plump down enough to cover a copy!<br /><br />(I admit that I really want to see more of the bloggers I follow read this book so that we can talk about it in the comments! :)<br /><br />Meanwhile, I found this post to be one of your most moving, which is saying something. I'm one of those who read always, comment rarely. :)<br /><br />The good news is, of course, all of these 'scourges of modernity' are as self-limiting as modernity itself, and I suspect the damage done will be mitigated, or even reversed within a few brief generations. We may not be around to see it, but the 'folk' movements, storytelling movements, and the like, which I do think are becoming pretty well established now and promise to become moreso, set the stage nicely. Besides, who knows what stories those folk will need? The way of the human is trial and error, centuries or millennia pass as we build our stories and cultures, not knowing which will prove adaptive, which will not. The dark age that JMG talks about is, IMO, inevitable, but so, I think, are the ecotechnic cultures that will emerge many centuries in the future. Plenty of time for stories...<br /><br />Thanks so much for writing this thoughtful and insightful blog - I enjoy it on so many levels!<br /><br />- Ozgwizard43https://www.blogger.com/profile/07593620523101022936noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5811749743523633503.post-61296146038700449262016-08-27T22:04:46.164+01:002016-08-27T22:04:46.164+01:00Brian & Co
I have come over from ADR and am gl...Brian & Co<br />I have come over from ADR and am glad to have found the blog. I am of your persuasion.<br /><br />The last years have gone very swiftly and I find I'm in the old generation, which can feel very peculiar. Half smile.<br /><br />But like Toomas I might be able to sound more positive. Our youngest daughter is just turned 28 and writes stories for children and young adults. She tells us that there are many terrific stories out there and quotes David Almond, a well known British author of stories for children. He is also Professor of Creative writing under whom she studied a couple of years ago. David says he is much encouraged by the well-spring of creativity among young people. She is also a defender of internet connectivity, not least because her writing friends keep up their regular international workshops using skype. <br /><br />Something which is really a follow on from the previous blog about tools - have you folks seen this young fellow and his hobby? It is not so much what he produces as the boot-strap 'one skill leads to another' approach that breaks through our invisible walls of helplessness. I know a few youngsters, even when they have started families who in different ways might match him, but his achievement is mighty impressive. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P73REgj-3UE <br /><br />best<br />Philphilsharrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16992266289232459952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5811749743523633503.post-21173619046348962362016-08-26T17:10:41.961+01:002016-08-26T17:10:41.961+01:00Steve,
Perhaps the virtual world is so much tidi...Steve, <br /><br />Perhaps the virtual world is so much tidier and more exciting, and demands nothing of us. Perhaps it's that many of us grew up with televisions, and were used to living inside a screen. Or that all our peers are doing these things. Or that we are subject to a flood of media, everywhere we go, urging us to consume more of the media. <br /><br />Mary, that's fascinating -- thank you. I'll have to look up that pub next time I'm in Donegal. <br /><br />Toomas, thank you! I completely agree. Brian Kallerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11082602126850605083noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5811749743523633503.post-85544918553940588202016-08-26T15:53:42.909+01:002016-08-26T15:53:42.909+01:00Coordinated Universal Time (= UTC = EST+5 = EDT+4)...Coordinated Universal Time (= UTC = EST+5 = EDT+4): 20160826T144929Z<br /><br />This is so good - including even that wonderful concluding photo, on the metaphysically pertinent theme of islands. <br /><br />I was struck by the phrasing <i>We must listen to news announcements that try to convince us to fear, despise or admire people we will never meet /.../ </i> Exactly. The media keep trying to get us worked up over things of slight consequence, so that we can keep viewing their adverts. <br /><br />I would like to remark, trying to offer some consolation, on a positive thing here in southern Ontario. Our regional rail system, the "GO Train", reaches out from Toronto over a radius of 50 km or so. The carriages on much or all of the system are double-deckers. We have a rule that the upper deck during the morning and evening rush hours becomes a "Quiet Zone". Riders seem to respect the rule. One can sit in the reasonable assurance that there really will be silence, as in a strictly run library. The silence is specially valuable on my own line, linking Richmond Hill with Union Station: we roll through the Don Valley, with some fine natural scenery that in its own day inspired the nature writer Ernest Thompson Seton and the conservationist Charles Sauriol. <br /><br /><br />Tom <br /><br /><a href="http://toomaskarmo.blogspot.com" rel="nofollow">http://toomaskarmo.blogspot.com</a> Toomas (Tom) Karmohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17890931543874235369noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5811749743523633503.post-65131541677232616262016-08-25T21:29:22.613+01:002016-08-25T21:29:22.613+01:00This is such a wonderful post. Matthew Crawford di...This is such a wonderful post. Matthew Crawford discusses similar ideas in his book, The World Beyond Your Head. Im hopeful that there's a movement of people who are getting sick of all the noise and distractions.<br /><br /> I work in an intensive care nursery and am fascinated by the behavior of those visiting the babies. People rarely just sit. Family members and friends eventually pull out their phones to start texting or playing games, even when holding the babies. We have books on the unit and encourage reading to the babies, but most people don't ever pick those books up. I've been a nurse for over 20 years so I remember when visitors would sit at a patient's beside while patients slept or rested, maybe reading or knitting or praying. When the patient was ready for a chat, those visitors were less distracted than the ones I see now. They were present in a way that people rarely are now. <br /><br />There's a bar in Donegal, in Carrigart, called Logue's. Every Monday night they have a session called Raised on Songs and Stories. My cousins and I went on my recent visit and it was lovely. There are invited guests, musicians, singers, storytellers, poets. The audience is also invited to join in. I think the session works so well because it combines music with the storytelling. There's something in us that longs for stories...even in this age of distraction.<br /><br />Steve, I think noise/distraction are like a drug to the brain...I think the craving comes after the exposure. It's up to us to fight it, but you have to make a conscious effort and I think a lot of people have forgotten there are other options besides being lulled by the "ephemeral and shallow media." Also, all the mindless stimulation we are exposed to in the modern world is exhausting. I think a lot of people are simply tired and lack the energy to seek out the real. Maryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00777095585343224955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5811749743523633503.post-66690327473828523682016-08-25T14:38:10.801+01:002016-08-25T14:38:10.801+01:00I see this trend or transition as well, but I also...I see this trend or transition as well, but I also wonder what in humans desires the pseudo reality. It is not happening just because of profit driven corporations and smart advertising technicians. Us "consumers" have some neurological or psychological craving for these ephemeral and shallow media, or they would not be so captivating and successful. It is a puzzle.Steve Carrowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11706114439618856525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5811749743523633503.post-80774622553579315982016-08-25T08:00:39.982+01:002016-08-25T08:00:39.982+01:00Food, I know a lot of people on my bus who don'...Food, I know a lot of people on my bus who don't like it, but who don't complain -- Irish tend to put up with things, to a fault. I, on the other hand, speak to the driver, and most are conciliatory. <br /><br />I'm interested in what happens when those people who've grown up with constant stimulation have to go without it. Brian Kallerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11082602126850605083noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5811749743523633503.post-28215309472192192362016-08-25T04:09:46.735+01:002016-08-25T04:09:46.735+01:00Yes, it is sad to see the world changing in this w...Yes, it is sad to see the world changing in this way. I don't travel on public transport any more, but I'm told that most people are talking loudly on their phones, have music playing or are playing games now. I don't think I could tolerate it for long.<br /><br />When I go into a shop where loud music is playing, I usually walk right out again, but if there's time for a salesperson to ask me if I need help, I usually reply that I'd like to browse, but just can't stand the loud music! Not sure if the message gets through.<br /><br />It just occurred to me that my specialist doesn't have a TV in his waiting room (although my GP does). I must remember to congratulate him on that, next visit.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com