Green Hermeneutics: a cool prayer

Why farmpunk?

A farmpunk could be described as a neo-agrarian who approaches [agri]culture, community development and/or design with an anarchistic hacker ethos. "Cyber-agrarian" could supplant neo-agrarian, indicating a back-to-the-land perspective that stands apart from past movements because it is heavily informed by conceptual integration in a post-industrial information society (thus "forward to the land" perhaps?) The art and science of modern ecological design—and ultimately, adapting to post-collapse contexts—will be best achieved through the combined arts of cybermancy and geomancy. In other words: the old ways of bushcraft and woodlore can be combined with modern technoscience (merely another form of lore) in open and decentralized ways that go beyond pure anarcho-primitivism. This blog is an example of just that. Throughout, natural ecologies must be seen as the original cybernetic systems.

**What we call for at the farmpunk headquarters**

° Mythic Remediation/Reinvention of the Sacred
°Social Ecology rather than "Deep Ecology"

°Freedom of information

°Redefinition of wealth

°Post-normal science

°Ground-up action + top-down perspectives

°Local agricultural systems (adhering to permaculture/biodynamic principles) as the nuclei of economies

°Bioregional autonomy
°Computers are optional but can be used for good—see peer to peer tech, social media for direct popular management of natural or political disasters (e.g. Arab Spring), or the mission of the hacker collective Anonymous

°You

"Municipal liberty is the first and most important [principle] of democratic institutions, since nothing is more natural or worthy of respect then the right which citizens of any settlement have of arranging themselves the affairs of their common life and of resolving as best suits them in the interests and the needs of the locality." - Emilio Zapata

Friday, May 14, 2010

a cool prayer

Religious poetry/psalms/prayers are one of my favorite types of writing. At the center of so much mystical poetry is reverence for nature - often "god" and "nature" are functionally and effectively the same. This cry to God - or Nature - put into words is, in a nutshell, what spurred my interest in human religion. And in it stewardship of nature, religion, and the potential of spoken and written language are all stunningly realized.

Here is a "Christianized" rendition of a traditional Native American prayer.

O Great Spirit,
whose breath gives life to the world,
and whose voice is heard in the soft breeze:
We need your strength and wisdom.
Cause us to walk in beauty. Give us eyes
ever to behold the red and purple sunset.
Make us wise so that we may understand
what you have taught us.
Help us learn the lessons you have hidden
in every leaf and rock.
Make us always ready to come to you
with clean hands and steady eyes,
so when life fades, like the fading sunset,
our spirits may come to you without shame. Amen.