B ardistry
C reativity
E rosophy
Understanding the way …
Inventing the path …
Finding the wisdom …
Telling the story …
P hilosophy – n. the study of the nature of existence, knowledge, thought, and ethics
E cosophy – n. wisdom-spirituality of the earth
“The duty of the individual is to accept no rule, to be the initiator of his own acts, to be responsible. Only if he does so will the society live, and change, and adapt, and survive.”
Ursula K. Le Guin from The Dispossessed
“As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness.”
Henry David Thoreau
“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Lucy Parsons from Freedom, Equality & Solidarity – Writings & Speeches, 1878-1937
“I think hard times are coming, when we will be wanting the voices of writers who can see alternatives to how we live now, and can see through our fear-stricken society and its obsessive technologies, to other ways of being. And even imagine some real grounds for hope. We will need writers who can remember freedom: poets, visionaries—the realists of a larger reality.”
Ursula K. Le Guin
Seeking simplicity …
Homesteading
in Port Neville
Living sustainably in harmony with nature and our world views through self-sufficiency, responsibility, intentionality, and mindfulness.
Check it outLiving sustainably …
Permaculture
Transitioning away from a dependency on non-renewable energy sources and environmentally destructive resource extraction towards a more self-sufficient, sustainable existence living in harmony with our environment.
Check it outS tory – n. a narrative, true or fictitious, prose or verse, designed to interest, amuse, or instruct the audience
M ythography – n. the creation or collection of myths in artistic form
F antasy – n. imagination unrestricted by reality
“A story rises from the springs of creation, from the pure will to be; it tells itself; it takes its own course, finds its own way, its own words; and the writer’s job is to be its medium.”
Ursula K. Le Guin
“Fantasy is probably the oldest literary device for talking about reality.”
Ursula K. Le Guin
Feel me in the power of the seas.
Hear me in the laughter of the stream,
Power of nature, power of the trees.
Hear me in the howling of the wolf,
My voice is the song of the Bards,
I am the power that helps the salmon leap,
I am the very first breath of a child.
I am the wild, and I am the tame,
I am the calm and I am the storm.
I am the sound of your beating heart,
I am your blood and I am your bone.”
Damh the Bard from The Song of Awen
Creating an alternative reality …
Science
Fiction
Philosophizing about ways to change the universe while visualizing imaginative locales and creating exciting adventures.
Check it outTelling the story of our lives, our work …
Nonfiction
Objective scientific reporting, advocacy, commentary, and autobiographical reflections … each reveals a window into the soul of the author.
Check it outE piphany – n. a sudden and profound understanding or inspiration; Awen
I magery – n. the ability to form mental images of things or events
A rtistry – n. creative skill, ability, or imagination
“I went out to the hazel wood,
Because a fire was in my head,
And cut and peeled a hazel wand,
And hooked a berry to a thread;
And when white moths were on the wing,
And moth-like stars were flickering out,
I dropped the berry in a stream
And caught a little silver trout.”
William Butler Yeats from The Song of Wandering Aengus
From Cormac’s adventure in the Land of Promise as described by Alferian Gwydion MacLir
Feeling the Awen …
Artwork
Responding to the fire in our heads, bringing our imagination to life.
Check it outE cology – n. the study of the relations between living organisms and their environment
I ngenuity – n. the power of creative imagination
S agacity – n. the quality of being wise or having good judgment
“There are good things to see in tidepools and there are exciting and interesting thoughts to be generated from the seeing. Every new eye applied to the peep hole which looks out at the world may fish in some new beauty and some new pattern, and the world of the human mind must be enriched by such fishing.”
John Steinbeck, in the forward from Between Pacific Tides
Observing our environment …
Oceanographic
Research
Community-based independent scientific research in biology, chemistry, and oceanography using low-cost, appropriate technology to gather detailed information about the marine environment.
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