Much of my introduction to organic gardening, the only kind of gardening I have ever engaged in, was made possible by a fellow by the name of Gary Kline. From his garden store on the shores of Black Lake I carried with me a heavy weight of knowledge, and a fair wage of experience. It was incredibly good fortune for me to have had those opportunities.
In the years that I worked at Black Lake Organic, I met nearly every organic gardener in this part of Washington. Interestingly, I was the stand up fellow who attempted to answer questions and provide guidance to many who were senior to me in age and experience. I had behind me several shelves of thick and thorough books about gardening and pests and soil science. From them I drew strands of knowledge that provided many of the answers I was sent searching for.
In time, my conversations with our customers began to fill me with answers to questions I would not have posed to me for years to come. When winter came, and there were not funds to pay me with federal reserve notes, I acquired copies of many of those books for my own shelf. I also acquired many of the tools I still wield today. When I teeter at the top of an orchard ladder, steadying myself with a thin branch pressed between my fingers, at the end of my arm, cradled comfortably in my rough hand, are the Felco pruning sheers I was so happy to acquire fifteen or so years ago in exchange for my hours in that shop.
I am leading you to this small cedar building built on a hand poured cement slab at the shores of Blake Lake in Washington State. In the door and around the corner to the shelves that hold the simple organic fertilizers that help form the foundation of organic agriculture. They are naturally separated into three categories; animal, vegetable and mineral. The basic animal meals; bone, blood, feather and fish. The basic plant meals; soybean, alfalfa and kelp. The basic ground minerals; rock phosphate, agricultural limestone and gypsum.
When it comes to fertilizing your garden, it is important to remember that you are undertaking an ancient and sacred activity. The first cultivators of land began to understand the complexities of its management. They might have been striking the first blows from human hands against this glorious planet. If they failed to understand well enough the cost to the land of their agriculture, they might have moved on, or perished. In most cases we do not have the luxuries that they enjoyed. We are often left to garden in marginal land. Too many trees to the south. Big rocks. Heavy clay. Or it just stays wet late into the spring. When gardening in these places, it is that much more important to work hard to understand what we do when we attempt to improve fertility and increase our yields.
An element too of fertilization is its ability to increase the nutritional value of our food. When the first assessments of human health were made on a country wide basis in the US to fulfill the needs of the growing army, it was found that many health problems were locally severe, and elsewhere non existent. There were not super markets at the time to mask the local nutritional deficiencies in the soils and water. What the soil offered to the plants, the plants offered to the people. What the soil did not offer to the plants, the plants could not offer to the people.
Another interesting anecdote concerns the range of the Buffalo. A mammoth beast, that stormed across the range. Only eating grass. What grass must have nourished these beasts? What soil must have fed these grasses? They knew well where to end their graze, if they wished to continue to pound the terrain. The most fertile soils in the world could be found beneath the feet of the Buffalo.
What did those soils have that the marginal soils do not? Maybe most importantly is calcium, at just the right saturation percentages to maximize the production of protein in plants. This perfect ratio was the result of parent rock that had nutrients ready to be dissolved, and weather that would coax it out of the rock in the ideal concentrations. With just enough rain to quench the thirst of the plants, without washing away their valuable nourishment.
If the mineral balance of the soil is in this ideal range, everything else will begin to come easily. Microbes and plants living and dead will release nitrogen, phosphorous and sulfur. These microbes and the earthworm they assist will flourish, processing and refining organic matter into humus. Humus, this final product of aerobic decomposition, not dirt, not compost, humus. It is the nexus of life on this planet.
Curiously, humus and clay have a lot in common. They both hold a positive charge, that attracts cation elements. The total charge in a given soil represents the capacity of a soil to hold these nutrients against leaching. A sandy soil has a very low capacity to hold cation nutrients. A clay soil or a soil high in organic matter has a larger capacity. There is a minimum quantity of these cation nutrients that must be available for a plant to grow. There is also an ideal relative concentration of these nutrients in a given soil based on that soils capacity to hold them.
The three primary cation nutrients are calcium, magnesium and potassium. Calcium should represent 70% of the saturation, magnesium about 10% and potassium around 3%. In different soils you may find advantage in adjusting that magnesium number, but the 70% calcium number is a target in all soils. If cation nutrients occupied 100% of the capacity in a given soil, that soil would be pH neutral. In a properly managed soil for agriculture, the pH should be about 6.7. This allowing some unsatisfied or potential capacity in the soil. It also allows some acids in the soil to continue the decomposition of minerals.
Agricultural limestone is the ideal material for raising the calcium concentration in soil, and thus raising the pH. If the pH is too high already, but a need for calcium exists, then gypsum is an alternative source. It should also be remembered when applying rock phosphate that there is a significant amount of calcium in it as well. As with all organic fertilizer, you are getting a natural material, with a variety of elemental components. Look too see what other nutrients you may be adding along with the one you intend to add.
If the intent of the gardener is to nourish herself, then great attention must be paid to calcium. We are deceived into believing that the way to plant growth is NPK. Though these nutrients are consumed in great quantity by plants, the determiner of their efficiency in doing so and their nutritional value in the end is more accurately found to be calcium.
When studying that soil analysis you have done by the extension office, (after first carefully reading the description of how to collect the soil sample and following all of the directions to the letter), look to the base saturation percentages to determine your need for calcium. If you have the agent recommend fertilizer applications, and they call for dolomite lime instead of agricultural lime, be sure to examine this recommendation carefully. It is almost always in error. Unless there is a distinct need for magnesium, do not use dolomite lime to raise your pH.
If you have been adding phosphorous, whether you knew it or not, you likely do not need any more this year, take a break. If you do need phosphorous, composted chicken manure is a great source, as long as you need the accompanying nitrogen. All around it is a great fertilizer for corn and squash and other high consumption crops. Steer manure is a much lower nitrogen alternative. Be aware that much of the manure today is contaminated with persistent herbicides. Cow manure and horse manure most notably. Persistent meaning they will not biodegrade. Ask your supplier if they have tested or are aware of any concern about the chemical clorpyralid. If they cannot address this concern, move on.
I am cautious about advising people use soybean meal for nitrogen, and I warn people against ever using conventional cotton seed meal. The former does not always show good results, and is almost certainly genetically engineered soybean. The latter is not regulated as a food crop and so is soaked in pesticides and herbicides. Rumor is that the oil extracted from the seed meal for potato chip production carries all of the pesticide residue with it. This keeps me from eating cottonseed oil, but does not encourage me to use the meal as fertilizer.
I like the animal meals, especially since they are not now used for feed. Blood meal is an excellent quick source of nitrogen and iron, even in cold and wet soils. Feather meal is a bit slower, and carries with it compounds that may slow its becoming available for plants. Steamed bone meal is an excellent source of phosphorous and calcium, though it also contains lead. They will all attract animals. I have planted hundreds of bulbs into beds using bone meal only to return the next day to find each one meticulously removed by patient little fingers so that the little beast could devour every precious flake of that steamed bone meal.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Organic Fertilizer and Heavy Metals
Like many stories, this one begins on a lovely spring day. It was just dry enough today in western Washington to mow the lawn for the first time. If I did not get it today, it would have surely meant the Stihl trimmer would have to put the first cut on it after another week of rain. So, avoiding that, I was grateful for the opportunity to get it now with the mower.
One thing led to another, and next thing you know I was hearing from a friend about how the new garden at the White House in the other Washington had the list-serve all a flutter this morning. Turns out there was a fair bit of concern about what sorts of lawn chemicals had likely been used in the recent past on that stretch of grass, and how it must be enough to undermine the claim of organic.
Now, before I continue, I want to share with you some of my background. It was about 1992 when I first stepped foot in the door of Black Lake Organic. This is a small gardening shop on the shores of beautiful Black Lake outside of Olympia, WA. At the time this was quite the rustic operation. The fellow who ran the shop, and owned it, and built it, and would soon employ me for six years and be my friend until this day, is a man by the name of Gary Kline. Now Gary was not much for bureaucracy, or the paper work that went along with it. So, the fertilizer operation at the time resembled something that would have taken place in the last century, meaning the 19th. I was quite impressed though, it was like an apothecary's shop, or the sort of place you find in the opening moments of a spooky movie, where the protagonist buys some exotic powder or the pulp of some very rare plant.
Though it may all seem very exotic, everything there could be divided into one of three classes; animal, vegetable or mineral. In all three of these classes the material was usually ground into a meal, producing for example, blood meal, alfalfa meal, and limestone flour. Well one day a customer, who also happened to work for the state, noticed that we bagged small quantities of any and all of these materials for resale in the store. We would buy in fifty pound sacks, and sell in any bulk quantity the customer wanted. Of course they informed us, we needed a special permit to do this, and part of what that permit requires is a nutrient analysis of the material, printed on a label and applied to each of these bulk packages.
You are probably familiar with NPK. Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium. Three of the major plant nutrients. It was quite an undertaking to get all of the materials we used tested and registered with the state of Washington. But we undertook the task, and Gary still operates the store and sells all of the organic fertilizers there to this day.
It was 1997 that the Seattle Times published an investigative piece on heavy metals in fertilizers. All types of fertilizers were analyzed, organic and synthetic included. Yep, that’s right, there was contamination of the fertilizer with heavy metals, but it may come as a surprise to you where these contaminants turned up. Turns out, Miracle Grow was as clean as a whistle. After all, it is a synthetic creation, so it only had elements that were intended to be there in it. The organic fertilizers on the other hand, were loaded with heavy metals, cadmium and arsenic being the two most abundantly discovered.
The rock phosphate mine in Idaho that was supplying the rock used in the organic fertilizer was loaded with the metals. When the same rock was processed to make the super phosphate used in the miracle grow, the cadmium and arsenic were removed in order to increase the concentration of phosphorous. Of course, somewhere this very concentrated waste lies today. When it came to organic standards, which dictated that the rock could not be modified if the fertilizer was going to be called organic, that cadmium and arsenic was being very modestly and evenly distributed all over the country on peoples organically tended lawns and gardens.
Not long after the article in the Seattle Times, heavy metals in fertilizer fell under state regulation here in Washington. We had to submit all of our fertilizers for laboratory analysis to determine the concentration of metals in them. These totals dictated the application rate of the fertilizer, and the associated numbers were made available to the public on a website. Several products, including that Idaho rock phosphate, were too contaminated to continue to be used. Another mine, in Montana, soon came online and supplied us with a less contaminated rock phosphate.
This brings me back to my conversation this morning. Upon being told about the concern for the lawn at the White House, I informed my counterpart in the conversation that when I discuss with clients their concern for past contamination in their yard, I often reassure them by saying, 'hopefully they were not using organic fertilizer.'
Two other sources of possible contamination with heavy metals are fertilizers derived from sewage sludge, or trace element products that are really just a clever way of disposing of industrial waste while still turning a profit for the manufacturer. In the state of Washington (and possibly Oregon, California and Texas) heavy metals are regulated in fertilizer. You could also track down information on brand names and generic products at the Washington website.
A good rule of thumb that I share with clients of mine (I design and install natural/organic food producing landscapes) is; whatever you have been doing a lot of, should probably stop, and something you have not been doing could take its place. Meaning, spreading wood ash on your garden is good, until you have done it too much, which happens rather fast. If you use rock phosphate every year, stop it, you have enough phosphorous, and it lasts a very long time. If you every year apply chicken manure to your garden, stop it, you have enough nitrogen and probably way too much phosphorous. If you never eat meat, have a hamburger, it is probably just what you need.
One thing led to another, and next thing you know I was hearing from a friend about how the new garden at the White House in the other Washington had the list-serve all a flutter this morning. Turns out there was a fair bit of concern about what sorts of lawn chemicals had likely been used in the recent past on that stretch of grass, and how it must be enough to undermine the claim of organic.
Now, before I continue, I want to share with you some of my background. It was about 1992 when I first stepped foot in the door of Black Lake Organic. This is a small gardening shop on the shores of beautiful Black Lake outside of Olympia, WA. At the time this was quite the rustic operation. The fellow who ran the shop, and owned it, and built it, and would soon employ me for six years and be my friend until this day, is a man by the name of Gary Kline. Now Gary was not much for bureaucracy, or the paper work that went along with it. So, the fertilizer operation at the time resembled something that would have taken place in the last century, meaning the 19th. I was quite impressed though, it was like an apothecary's shop, or the sort of place you find in the opening moments of a spooky movie, where the protagonist buys some exotic powder or the pulp of some very rare plant.
Though it may all seem very exotic, everything there could be divided into one of three classes; animal, vegetable or mineral. In all three of these classes the material was usually ground into a meal, producing for example, blood meal, alfalfa meal, and limestone flour. Well one day a customer, who also happened to work for the state, noticed that we bagged small quantities of any and all of these materials for resale in the store. We would buy in fifty pound sacks, and sell in any bulk quantity the customer wanted. Of course they informed us, we needed a special permit to do this, and part of what that permit requires is a nutrient analysis of the material, printed on a label and applied to each of these bulk packages.
You are probably familiar with NPK. Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium. Three of the major plant nutrients. It was quite an undertaking to get all of the materials we used tested and registered with the state of Washington. But we undertook the task, and Gary still operates the store and sells all of the organic fertilizers there to this day.
It was 1997 that the Seattle Times published an investigative piece on heavy metals in fertilizers. All types of fertilizers were analyzed, organic and synthetic included. Yep, that’s right, there was contamination of the fertilizer with heavy metals, but it may come as a surprise to you where these contaminants turned up. Turns out, Miracle Grow was as clean as a whistle. After all, it is a synthetic creation, so it only had elements that were intended to be there in it. The organic fertilizers on the other hand, were loaded with heavy metals, cadmium and arsenic being the two most abundantly discovered.
The rock phosphate mine in Idaho that was supplying the rock used in the organic fertilizer was loaded with the metals. When the same rock was processed to make the super phosphate used in the miracle grow, the cadmium and arsenic were removed in order to increase the concentration of phosphorous. Of course, somewhere this very concentrated waste lies today. When it came to organic standards, which dictated that the rock could not be modified if the fertilizer was going to be called organic, that cadmium and arsenic was being very modestly and evenly distributed all over the country on peoples organically tended lawns and gardens.
Not long after the article in the Seattle Times, heavy metals in fertilizer fell under state regulation here in Washington. We had to submit all of our fertilizers for laboratory analysis to determine the concentration of metals in them. These totals dictated the application rate of the fertilizer, and the associated numbers were made available to the public on a website. Several products, including that Idaho rock phosphate, were too contaminated to continue to be used. Another mine, in Montana, soon came online and supplied us with a less contaminated rock phosphate.
This brings me back to my conversation this morning. Upon being told about the concern for the lawn at the White House, I informed my counterpart in the conversation that when I discuss with clients their concern for past contamination in their yard, I often reassure them by saying, 'hopefully they were not using organic fertilizer.'
Two other sources of possible contamination with heavy metals are fertilizers derived from sewage sludge, or trace element products that are really just a clever way of disposing of industrial waste while still turning a profit for the manufacturer. In the state of Washington (and possibly Oregon, California and Texas) heavy metals are regulated in fertilizer. You could also track down information on brand names and generic products at the Washington website.
A good rule of thumb that I share with clients of mine (I design and install natural/organic food producing landscapes) is; whatever you have been doing a lot of, should probably stop, and something you have not been doing could take its place. Meaning, spreading wood ash on your garden is good, until you have done it too much, which happens rather fast. If you use rock phosphate every year, stop it, you have enough phosphorous, and it lasts a very long time. If you every year apply chicken manure to your garden, stop it, you have enough nitrogen and probably way too much phosphorous. If you never eat meat, have a hamburger, it is probably just what you need.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
The Ethical Republic
Walt Whitman got America right in his essay, "Democratic Vistas." He acknowledged the vulgarity of the American success drive. He toted up its moral failings. But in the end, he accepted his country’s "extreme business energy," its "almost maniacal appetite for wealth." He knew that the country’s dreams were all built upon that energy and drive, and eventually the spirit of commercial optimism would always prevail.
David Brooks - The Commercial Republic
David Brooks in his article titled, The Commercial Republic, sketches out a world that is very much the one I see before me as well. Mr. Brooks and I agree on a bit, for example; extending the rights of marriage to same sex couples. We also share a certain intellectually conservative nature. I too have many conservative leanings. I, however, have a very strong ethical root system that stays me against falling onto my conservative side. This is what I fear often happens to Mr. Brooks. He falls on his conservative ass when it comes to the free market and capitalism.
I am an entrepreneur myself, and I feel the same urges that Mr. Brooks cites in his editorial. I am after adventure, and uncharted territory, and opportunities that would not be provided me by a nine to five career. Of course there is risk associated with this choice as well, and an utter lack of the security once found in regular employment. For these reasons Mr. Brooks’ thoughts appeal to some of my instincts.
Where we differ, is in the object of our endeavor. Plainly, Mr. Brooks proposes that the ingenuity and innovation that drives so many of us in this country has wealth, and financial prosperity as its motivating principal. He speaks of heroic individuals who "strive, risk and make money." This as though the ‘making money’ part is the source of motivation and strength throughout, and the end result intended.
I have in my mind the homesteaders who were ripped off and manipulated by bankers and barons. Women and men who worked as hard as anybody has, without significant regard for the wealth that motivated their predators. Clearly he and I see two very different classes of heroic figure in our nation's history. One motivated by the human instincts of freedom and independence and strength as a consequence of hard work, and the other motivated by their self interest and greed, conniving to mislead and gain power on paper that they could never earn with their hands.
He also speaks of the distinct lack of this gospel’s resonance in the current American milieu:
It has been odd, over the past six months, not to have the gospel of success as part of the normal background music of life. You go about your day, taking in the news and the new movies, books and songs, and only gradually do you become aware that there is an absence.
When I read this line from him, I was immediately taken back to the days after the trade towers collapsed, when the oppressive presence of aircraft did not hum in the skies above. I have written in the past about not missing this opportunity, as we missed the one that followed from those catastrophic events.
I cannot speak for other entrepreneurs, but I would like to make clear to anyone who will listen that I am not the least bit motivated by wealth or by financial success. What motivates me is the deep desire to leave this world better than I found it, to understand the meaning of my existence as thoroughly and fearlessly as I am able, and to be as kind and compassionate to my fellow inhabitants of this earth as I possibly can.
Beyond my own personal rejection of the gospel of wealth that is revered by Mr. Brooks, abstractly I must contend it on ethical grounds. What is not acknowledged by the advocates of a return to free market capitalism and the rampant consumption associated with it, is that the reality on this planet will not allow it to continue. If as individuals and a nation and a planet we continue to place ourselves ahead of all of us, consuming beyond what the planet is able to offer us for sustenance, then a terrible future awaits.
It is, I am certain, within our reach to realize a world that is as peaceful and verdant as our most fertile imaginations will allow, but we must have the courage to seize opportunities that offer voluntary change to us, and the world. Progress not based on the necessity of catastrophe, but on the deep desire to make things better for us all.
This is a new age. It is the age of the internet, and the age of the stem cell, and the age of great promise. It is also the age of water shortages, and the age of wild fires and the rising tide of consequences. With this new age we require a new ethic, or more accurately, an ethic renewed. It is a conception of the world at once ancient and modern. It is the ethic that set us apart from the beasts who bestowed our origin upon us. It lingers in us even at our lowest moments. It is the ethic that commands us to have concern for others. It is the ethic of compassion. It is the belief that beyond what we can gain for ourselves, what we can insure for others is a good in excess of that.
When we see a child suffering, should it matter whether we know how near she comes to us genealogically? How then do we require for ourselves a lifestyle that necessarily diminishes the quality of life for another? This is the nature of capitalism, it offers opportunities to those well positioned by birth, and rewards avarice above all other human qualities. It exploits those who are least well positioned, and pays a silencing bribe to those who see this suffering and know better, but have not the courage to act against it.
No longer can we afford to let our desire for more than what we need be our guiding principle. No longer can we participate in a system that exploits and misleads the ill equipped, in the name of enriching the well positioned few. It is time for us to apply the ethical mandates of a world of diminishing resources to our economic system. It is time for us to cast off the yolk set upon our backs. It is the burden of a dead and decaying ethics, it is the corpse of capitalism.
David Brooks - The Commercial Republic
David Brooks in his article titled, The Commercial Republic, sketches out a world that is very much the one I see before me as well. Mr. Brooks and I agree on a bit, for example; extending the rights of marriage to same sex couples. We also share a certain intellectually conservative nature. I too have many conservative leanings. I, however, have a very strong ethical root system that stays me against falling onto my conservative side. This is what I fear often happens to Mr. Brooks. He falls on his conservative ass when it comes to the free market and capitalism.
I am an entrepreneur myself, and I feel the same urges that Mr. Brooks cites in his editorial. I am after adventure, and uncharted territory, and opportunities that would not be provided me by a nine to five career. Of course there is risk associated with this choice as well, and an utter lack of the security once found in regular employment. For these reasons Mr. Brooks’ thoughts appeal to some of my instincts.
Where we differ, is in the object of our endeavor. Plainly, Mr. Brooks proposes that the ingenuity and innovation that drives so many of us in this country has wealth, and financial prosperity as its motivating principal. He speaks of heroic individuals who "strive, risk and make money." This as though the ‘making money’ part is the source of motivation and strength throughout, and the end result intended.
I have in my mind the homesteaders who were ripped off and manipulated by bankers and barons. Women and men who worked as hard as anybody has, without significant regard for the wealth that motivated their predators. Clearly he and I see two very different classes of heroic figure in our nation's history. One motivated by the human instincts of freedom and independence and strength as a consequence of hard work, and the other motivated by their self interest and greed, conniving to mislead and gain power on paper that they could never earn with their hands.
He also speaks of the distinct lack of this gospel’s resonance in the current American milieu:
It has been odd, over the past six months, not to have the gospel of success as part of the normal background music of life. You go about your day, taking in the news and the new movies, books and songs, and only gradually do you become aware that there is an absence.
When I read this line from him, I was immediately taken back to the days after the trade towers collapsed, when the oppressive presence of aircraft did not hum in the skies above. I have written in the past about not missing this opportunity, as we missed the one that followed from those catastrophic events.
I cannot speak for other entrepreneurs, but I would like to make clear to anyone who will listen that I am not the least bit motivated by wealth or by financial success. What motivates me is the deep desire to leave this world better than I found it, to understand the meaning of my existence as thoroughly and fearlessly as I am able, and to be as kind and compassionate to my fellow inhabitants of this earth as I possibly can.
Beyond my own personal rejection of the gospel of wealth that is revered by Mr. Brooks, abstractly I must contend it on ethical grounds. What is not acknowledged by the advocates of a return to free market capitalism and the rampant consumption associated with it, is that the reality on this planet will not allow it to continue. If as individuals and a nation and a planet we continue to place ourselves ahead of all of us, consuming beyond what the planet is able to offer us for sustenance, then a terrible future awaits.
It is, I am certain, within our reach to realize a world that is as peaceful and verdant as our most fertile imaginations will allow, but we must have the courage to seize opportunities that offer voluntary change to us, and the world. Progress not based on the necessity of catastrophe, but on the deep desire to make things better for us all.
This is a new age. It is the age of the internet, and the age of the stem cell, and the age of great promise. It is also the age of water shortages, and the age of wild fires and the rising tide of consequences. With this new age we require a new ethic, or more accurately, an ethic renewed. It is a conception of the world at once ancient and modern. It is the ethic that set us apart from the beasts who bestowed our origin upon us. It lingers in us even at our lowest moments. It is the ethic that commands us to have concern for others. It is the ethic of compassion. It is the belief that beyond what we can gain for ourselves, what we can insure for others is a good in excess of that.
When we see a child suffering, should it matter whether we know how near she comes to us genealogically? How then do we require for ourselves a lifestyle that necessarily diminishes the quality of life for another? This is the nature of capitalism, it offers opportunities to those well positioned by birth, and rewards avarice above all other human qualities. It exploits those who are least well positioned, and pays a silencing bribe to those who see this suffering and know better, but have not the courage to act against it.
No longer can we afford to let our desire for more than what we need be our guiding principle. No longer can we participate in a system that exploits and misleads the ill equipped, in the name of enriching the well positioned few. It is time for us to apply the ethical mandates of a world of diminishing resources to our economic system. It is time for us to cast off the yolk set upon our backs. It is the burden of a dead and decaying ethics, it is the corpse of capitalism.
Ressentiment and Redemption
In an attempt to understand better my rejection of nihilism, I have investigated often the idea of hope as its antidote. In an effort to more thoroughly understand hope, I have turned to investigate faith. Further considering the concept of Eudaimonia as an alternative to cataclysm. All of this again, as a movement to overcome nihilism.
The nihilism of which I speak is not only to be found on the right, where it has been most observed of late, but it is clearly present in the left as well. It in fact often accompanies many of my fellow street demonstrators when we gather for what I hope to be a jubilant celebration of our hard won right to assemble. I have long been a participant in and an advocate of street protests. I think by there very nature they demonstrate hope, and a kind of investment and care and concern for the world that is in itself an act overcoming nihilism. But I see often in the actions of those around me at these events, and in the meetings that sometimes precede them, a very dark mood indeed. One of the favored slogans of this crowd is ‘tear it down’ which I hear as a hallmark and troubling indication of nihilism on the left.
I do not wish to be misinterpreted on this count. I am an absolute advocate of and participant in the dismantling of the criminal artifice of our age. It seems to me though enough to tear back the veil that conceals the lies and obfuscations that found such institutions, and let them collapse of their own weight. This I suppose is one of the first examples of the faith that I have in the world. That if the truth be told, the natural laws will do the work of tearing down. Maybe I am naive in this belief, or maybe current events are evidence of this persistence of gravity.
What has become clear to me over the years, is that the root of much political and social and therefore public nihilism, is a private wound, often suffered in childhood or some other naive and vulnerable moment. Ressentiment is born of private suffering but grows into a force with public and political consequences. For this reason I am very sympathetic to the sufferer, in spite of the devastating impacts their actions have in the world.
I have several times referenced Hereclites, and his often quoted phrase concerning the river and its ever changing and subjective nature. This is also the nature of the individual, and though we may wish to name and objectify our opponents, so as to more easily pummel or dismiss them, it is the far greater task to recognize them as the ever changing subjectivity that is in fact their nature. To see an individual as limitless potential as opposed to hardened object is yet another iteration of my faith, and also the first hint of the infinite power of redemption.
Having been raised Irish Catholic, the imagery and mythology of the church is deeply interwoven with my philosophical investigation. At a very young age I concluded that the real meaning of the Crucifixion went far beyond the stories in the Gospels. I imagine the early martyrs to the christian faith who would not utter even the most modest disavowal as an alternative to violent death. It seems to me there must certainly be some very deep human connection with these ideas, a connection that extends far beyond the literal mythology.
What magic is it then that lies hidden behind these stories we tell to our children? How is it that in spite of the mortal threat against us we persevere and remain steadfast in our integrity? What is the key to our redemption? A redemption that is not won in victory, but in defeat. I say simply it is hope. A hope that is the source of great character and great institutions built on great character. A hope that redeems an individual and a people, a hope that sanctifies humanity.
The nihilism of which I speak is not only to be found on the right, where it has been most observed of late, but it is clearly present in the left as well. It in fact often accompanies many of my fellow street demonstrators when we gather for what I hope to be a jubilant celebration of our hard won right to assemble. I have long been a participant in and an advocate of street protests. I think by there very nature they demonstrate hope, and a kind of investment and care and concern for the world that is in itself an act overcoming nihilism. But I see often in the actions of those around me at these events, and in the meetings that sometimes precede them, a very dark mood indeed. One of the favored slogans of this crowd is ‘tear it down’ which I hear as a hallmark and troubling indication of nihilism on the left.
I do not wish to be misinterpreted on this count. I am an absolute advocate of and participant in the dismantling of the criminal artifice of our age. It seems to me though enough to tear back the veil that conceals the lies and obfuscations that found such institutions, and let them collapse of their own weight. This I suppose is one of the first examples of the faith that I have in the world. That if the truth be told, the natural laws will do the work of tearing down. Maybe I am naive in this belief, or maybe current events are evidence of this persistence of gravity.
What has become clear to me over the years, is that the root of much political and social and therefore public nihilism, is a private wound, often suffered in childhood or some other naive and vulnerable moment. Ressentiment is born of private suffering but grows into a force with public and political consequences. For this reason I am very sympathetic to the sufferer, in spite of the devastating impacts their actions have in the world.
I have several times referenced Hereclites, and his often quoted phrase concerning the river and its ever changing and subjective nature. This is also the nature of the individual, and though we may wish to name and objectify our opponents, so as to more easily pummel or dismiss them, it is the far greater task to recognize them as the ever changing subjectivity that is in fact their nature. To see an individual as limitless potential as opposed to hardened object is yet another iteration of my faith, and also the first hint of the infinite power of redemption.
Having been raised Irish Catholic, the imagery and mythology of the church is deeply interwoven with my philosophical investigation. At a very young age I concluded that the real meaning of the Crucifixion went far beyond the stories in the Gospels. I imagine the early martyrs to the christian faith who would not utter even the most modest disavowal as an alternative to violent death. It seems to me there must certainly be some very deep human connection with these ideas, a connection that extends far beyond the literal mythology.
What magic is it then that lies hidden behind these stories we tell to our children? How is it that in spite of the mortal threat against us we persevere and remain steadfast in our integrity? What is the key to our redemption? A redemption that is not won in victory, but in defeat. I say simply it is hope. A hope that is the source of great character and great institutions built on great character. A hope that redeems an individual and a people, a hope that sanctifies humanity.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Death and Living Well
"For let me tell you gentleman,that to be afraid of death is only another example of thinking one is wise when one is not."
Spoken by Socrates in Plato’s Apology
Sometimes the best thing that can be said of someone is that they shall soon be dead. Usually, though, it is just a nice additional thought to have about them. Yes, for some there is not much hope of redemption except in death, and yet they struggle against it all the more mightily, and spit and rail at its approach. We have for this long lived in fear of death. It is after all, a final end to the affair we carry on with ourselves, with the identities we develop over a lifetime of performances. Will there come a time when we will see the necessity of, even the wisdom in, our own timely demise?
What is it truly that we so dread? Is it the unproven worth of our timid souls? The unwitnessed glory of our defining moments? If only someone had been there to see our greatness, maybe our end would be welcomed more graciously then. I fear that those fears are reserved for far too few. Is it the abyss? The stinging loneliness of the yawning chasm. Nothingness? Have we not earned something more comforting than nothingness? Maybe it is our assumption that we deserve something better in the end than death. A thousand minds have taught us suspect theories that warm our hearts and defend us from the bitter cold clutches of nothingness.
In the modern era, we learned that most, though surely not all, of the possible causes for our premature decline can be nearly eliminated with healthy living. Yes, imagine this, healthy living postpones the onset of premature death. I will not conceal my complete lack of amazement at this incredible twenty first century discovery. Eating the food we have evolved to eat, in reasonable quantities, when accompanied by the vigorous exercise most often associated with an enthusiasm for living, will ensure in large part that you do not succumb too young to forgo the award of a full life.
Of course, tragedy is a very real, painful, and unavoidable fact of human life. Certainly the tragic end can not be avoided with diet and exercise. But then again, the quality of the life led up till then must be some compensation for the untimely demise that punctuated that life. At least I will have to end that particular inquiry there for now.
When I hear talk of health reform I must admit I cringe. I think the most important part of any health reform must be that we grow accustomed to the the thought of dying, of ceasing to exist, of embracing nothingness like the dear friend it has been to us all along. Think of the benefits, if instead of clutching at the tattered remains of our brief existence, we wrapped our withering arms around the abyss and exited with a noble gleam in our eye. It is possible. It seems to me that many times the heroic effort to prolong life only serves to fill the pockets of the providers, and reduce the quality of life for the dying.
Health care is really about inspiring people to live vigorously, and about an agriculture policy that enables farmers to provide a wide variety of nutritious whole food to as many people as possible reliably and sustainably. Health care is not about miraculous advances in chemical medicine disproportionately made available to the rich and fortunately born. Every dollar spent to save one wealthy and poorly maintained individual could save thousands if committed instead to the education and proper feeding of the many. This may not be a welcome statement, but I believe it is incontrovertibly true.
When healthcare became an industry, it ceased to be concerned with the well being of humans, and became instead a means to enrich very few at the expense of human health. When I think of the oft touted Bush AIDS initiative in Africa I almost weep. The population of a continent become the captive clientele of the drug companies. Well enough to return to normal life, and maybe continue to expand the client base of the drug companies, but never well enough again to declare their independence from the companies that hold the patents on their future. This is the greatest humanitarian contribution of G.W.B.
So then, I suggest that if we want to save the world, and make the future a better place not only for our own grandchildren, but for the grandchildren of people in forgotten lands abroad, then I suggest we take better care of ourselves on a daily basis, and not seek extraordinary care when the time comes for us to end our love affair with ourselves. This is of course an unsettling and difficult maxim to accept. What though would we think of Socrates had he pleaded for his life? One might even observe that it would have taken so little from him to achieve his reprieve. He had instead completed the sculpture that was his existence, he had lived well, and it was the right time to die.
Spoken by Socrates in Plato’s Apology
Sometimes the best thing that can be said of someone is that they shall soon be dead. Usually, though, it is just a nice additional thought to have about them. Yes, for some there is not much hope of redemption except in death, and yet they struggle against it all the more mightily, and spit and rail at its approach. We have for this long lived in fear of death. It is after all, a final end to the affair we carry on with ourselves, with the identities we develop over a lifetime of performances. Will there come a time when we will see the necessity of, even the wisdom in, our own timely demise?
What is it truly that we so dread? Is it the unproven worth of our timid souls? The unwitnessed glory of our defining moments? If only someone had been there to see our greatness, maybe our end would be welcomed more graciously then. I fear that those fears are reserved for far too few. Is it the abyss? The stinging loneliness of the yawning chasm. Nothingness? Have we not earned something more comforting than nothingness? Maybe it is our assumption that we deserve something better in the end than death. A thousand minds have taught us suspect theories that warm our hearts and defend us from the bitter cold clutches of nothingness.
In the modern era, we learned that most, though surely not all, of the possible causes for our premature decline can be nearly eliminated with healthy living. Yes, imagine this, healthy living postpones the onset of premature death. I will not conceal my complete lack of amazement at this incredible twenty first century discovery. Eating the food we have evolved to eat, in reasonable quantities, when accompanied by the vigorous exercise most often associated with an enthusiasm for living, will ensure in large part that you do not succumb too young to forgo the award of a full life.
Of course, tragedy is a very real, painful, and unavoidable fact of human life. Certainly the tragic end can not be avoided with diet and exercise. But then again, the quality of the life led up till then must be some compensation for the untimely demise that punctuated that life. At least I will have to end that particular inquiry there for now.
When I hear talk of health reform I must admit I cringe. I think the most important part of any health reform must be that we grow accustomed to the the thought of dying, of ceasing to exist, of embracing nothingness like the dear friend it has been to us all along. Think of the benefits, if instead of clutching at the tattered remains of our brief existence, we wrapped our withering arms around the abyss and exited with a noble gleam in our eye. It is possible. It seems to me that many times the heroic effort to prolong life only serves to fill the pockets of the providers, and reduce the quality of life for the dying.
Health care is really about inspiring people to live vigorously, and about an agriculture policy that enables farmers to provide a wide variety of nutritious whole food to as many people as possible reliably and sustainably. Health care is not about miraculous advances in chemical medicine disproportionately made available to the rich and fortunately born. Every dollar spent to save one wealthy and poorly maintained individual could save thousands if committed instead to the education and proper feeding of the many. This may not be a welcome statement, but I believe it is incontrovertibly true.
When healthcare became an industry, it ceased to be concerned with the well being of humans, and became instead a means to enrich very few at the expense of human health. When I think of the oft touted Bush AIDS initiative in Africa I almost weep. The population of a continent become the captive clientele of the drug companies. Well enough to return to normal life, and maybe continue to expand the client base of the drug companies, but never well enough again to declare their independence from the companies that hold the patents on their future. This is the greatest humanitarian contribution of G.W.B.
So then, I suggest that if we want to save the world, and make the future a better place not only for our own grandchildren, but for the grandchildren of people in forgotten lands abroad, then I suggest we take better care of ourselves on a daily basis, and not seek extraordinary care when the time comes for us to end our love affair with ourselves. This is of course an unsettling and difficult maxim to accept. What though would we think of Socrates had he pleaded for his life? One might even observe that it would have taken so little from him to achieve his reprieve. He had instead completed the sculpture that was his existence, he had lived well, and it was the right time to die.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
What Will It Take?
On the verge of so much, will we cower and shrink? Will we fail to seize this opportunity to descend from our heights on our own terms? Many have for some time seen the inevitable decline of the capitalist tradition. Beyond its deep roots in the most despicable human instincts of avarice and self interest, what appears to me as its fatal flaw is distinct from this poisonous origin. The great capitalist institutions like dinosaurs towered above us. For so long it appeared we mammals hardly stood a chance. In this age it seems that scurrying from beneath them will be our first steps to surviving their demise. Who would have predicted that the inheritors of so much could arise from those so meek?
The flaw to which I referred above has accompanied capitalism since it seized the baton from the feudal lords and land owners. When manipulation replaced brute force as the means by which those who were born into a world that they perceived themselves to be the masters of, exerted control over those who were born into the same world perceiving themselves as slaves, capitalism was born. When this means of control proved much more effective at projecting the will of the master into the population at large, a new character appeared on the scene. The master had morphed, from a brutally regimented and tactically guided killer, into an impeccably clean cut intellectual and statistician who managed those beneath him not with blows, but with bits of bread and the promise of a bright future among the ranks of the elite.
How then did this new class of master subdue and subjugate the old? Was there not a struggle? The age in which we have lived is the age of this struggle. An epic clash, punctuated with nuclear blasts that halted the march of armies, and revealed the terminal weakness, in the end, of brute force. Who might have imagined before then that a weapon of such destructive power, the final development of military innovation, once held by two great powers, would reduce warfare to a second class means of domination. Undoubtedly, it is still the choice of imbeciles, motivated by their reflexive fears and visceral responses to personal insult, or their juvenile impatience.
The possible redemption of this violent catastrophe of human endeavor that we call the twentieth century, is the emergence in this next century of an age so great that all that has been lost in reaching it can be counted as well spent. Have we not always justified suffering and sacrifice in this way? Whether on the plains or in the trenches, the greater good, and the promised future always lifted the spirits of those so engaged. Let us make and keep this promise to ourselves. That we will aspire to redeem this century past, by assigning our efforts to the realization of a century that does not attempt to fix the flaws of the past, but instead seeks to overcome them.
What then is the greater flaw in capitalism than avarice? The great flaw of capitalism is that it seeks to deceive. What can never be told the customer, else they would surely cease to exist as one. This is the secret that must be revealed about capitalism; that it lies. It lies actively and proudly and with a smirk on its face. It asks those aware of its deceptions to join in the knowing smiles, and it prays mercilessly upon those who are not so well equipped. In this, I believe, is the first clue to how we might proceed to overcome capitalism. The antonym of capitalism is altruism. Where one seeks to exploit, the other seeks to comfort. Where one seeks to persuade, the other seeks to understand. Where one seeks to profit, the other seeks to empower. Let the mammals rise in the world, and let the dinosaurs collapse under their own weight.
The end of the twentieth century brought us the dot com decade, and the perfection of commerce. As with every creature that inhabits this world, its perfection precedes it decline and demise. If we are to survive to witness coming ages, then we must engage in a decade or more of dot org. Altruism must replace capitalism as our guiding principal. No longer can we seek to exploit resources and people, no longer can we maintain order by promising the oppressed that someday they too may rise to the high position of oppressor. To the contrary, a new age of care and concern for our planet and its inhabitants must replace entirely the model we now know.
The flaw to which I referred above has accompanied capitalism since it seized the baton from the feudal lords and land owners. When manipulation replaced brute force as the means by which those who were born into a world that they perceived themselves to be the masters of, exerted control over those who were born into the same world perceiving themselves as slaves, capitalism was born. When this means of control proved much more effective at projecting the will of the master into the population at large, a new character appeared on the scene. The master had morphed, from a brutally regimented and tactically guided killer, into an impeccably clean cut intellectual and statistician who managed those beneath him not with blows, but with bits of bread and the promise of a bright future among the ranks of the elite.
How then did this new class of master subdue and subjugate the old? Was there not a struggle? The age in which we have lived is the age of this struggle. An epic clash, punctuated with nuclear blasts that halted the march of armies, and revealed the terminal weakness, in the end, of brute force. Who might have imagined before then that a weapon of such destructive power, the final development of military innovation, once held by two great powers, would reduce warfare to a second class means of domination. Undoubtedly, it is still the choice of imbeciles, motivated by their reflexive fears and visceral responses to personal insult, or their juvenile impatience.
The possible redemption of this violent catastrophe of human endeavor that we call the twentieth century, is the emergence in this next century of an age so great that all that has been lost in reaching it can be counted as well spent. Have we not always justified suffering and sacrifice in this way? Whether on the plains or in the trenches, the greater good, and the promised future always lifted the spirits of those so engaged. Let us make and keep this promise to ourselves. That we will aspire to redeem this century past, by assigning our efforts to the realization of a century that does not attempt to fix the flaws of the past, but instead seeks to overcome them.
What then is the greater flaw in capitalism than avarice? The great flaw of capitalism is that it seeks to deceive. What can never be told the customer, else they would surely cease to exist as one. This is the secret that must be revealed about capitalism; that it lies. It lies actively and proudly and with a smirk on its face. It asks those aware of its deceptions to join in the knowing smiles, and it prays mercilessly upon those who are not so well equipped. In this, I believe, is the first clue to how we might proceed to overcome capitalism. The antonym of capitalism is altruism. Where one seeks to exploit, the other seeks to comfort. Where one seeks to persuade, the other seeks to understand. Where one seeks to profit, the other seeks to empower. Let the mammals rise in the world, and let the dinosaurs collapse under their own weight.
The end of the twentieth century brought us the dot com decade, and the perfection of commerce. As with every creature that inhabits this world, its perfection precedes it decline and demise. If we are to survive to witness coming ages, then we must engage in a decade or more of dot org. Altruism must replace capitalism as our guiding principal. No longer can we seek to exploit resources and people, no longer can we maintain order by promising the oppressed that someday they too may rise to the high position of oppressor. To the contrary, a new age of care and concern for our planet and its inhabitants must replace entirely the model we now know.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Eudaimonia
"Man is a rope, tied between beast and overman - a rope over an abyss. A dangerous across, a dangerous on-the-way, a dangerous looking-back, a dangerous shuddering and stopping"
Friedrich Nietzsche - Thus Spoke Zarathustra
In this aphorism, we are the tightrope walker. In the darkness behind us a beast. In our fearful imaginations we are pursued by it. In fact it has been dead for ages, and it is only a ghost that haunts us. Our historical memory, a human conscience.
Moment by moment we balance impossibly upon the world of objects. It is taut beneath our clinging feet. Along the way is uncertainty, and death. There is not an end to this rope as far as we can see. Before us, the blinding light of possibility. Its form for us to imagine. An apocalypse lurks behind some future moment, or something of such exceptional quality that our minds are not capable of its comprehension. This future is for us to decide.
The overman that is referred to in the quotation is not easily conceived. It would not be a culmination of human efforts, as it would not be terminal. Neither would it be some perfection of our species, biologically or intellectually or spiritually, as then that too would have to be overcome. The essence of this being exceeds our capacity to comprehend. It must be left as an uncertain and always distant beacon. How then would one chart a course to such an uncertainty? What Nietzsche suggested is that we have direct access to our nature, and to the nature of the world. This world must be our guide, and he pleaded with his readers to look no further for the clues to divining the way forward.
The critical concept is that what we know today as human civilization, is a way station along the path between our ancestral origins as a subconscious beast, to a high being beyond our current capacity to understand. It is this concept that replaces God in Nietzsche’s philosophy.
The concept of Eudaimonia, developed by the ancient Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle, is a very similar idea. It literally means ‘benevolent spirit’. Aristotle defined it as ‘Living and doing well.’ Humble as it may seem, it is the greatest of all ideals. The final outcome of Virtue.
The Good (God) is the thing that we arrange our metaphysical furniture around. Good, like the fire at the center of our camp, or the television in the living room. Virtue is the gaze that we fix on this fire. According to the Greek philosophers mentioned above, we have a compass that reliably directs its needle to the good, and so inversely indicates its opposite. To them, this compass is a core element of our human nature. In this way the late nineteenth century German agrees with his progenitors the ancient Greeks.
In this age it seems critical that we envision ourselves on the way to somewhere. Our greatest danger; the stagnation of grim satisfaction. Our future is threatened by the profound nihilism of our era, that rejects progress in the name of ideological certainty, and dismisses hope as false.
It is not enough for us to resist the desire to annihilate, or defend ourselves from it when it threatens. We must offer a concept of greater power, that is not a reaction but a ‘first movement, a self propelled wheel’.
As we divest ourselves from particular outcomes, and empower ourselves by rejecting the notion of ideological certainty, we still must retain a vision for our future. A vision that allows us to exceed our expectations, and expresses our great potential. A vision that does not reflect the ancient fears and uncertainties that haunt our human conscience.
Friedrich Nietzsche - Thus Spoke Zarathustra
In this aphorism, we are the tightrope walker. In the darkness behind us a beast. In our fearful imaginations we are pursued by it. In fact it has been dead for ages, and it is only a ghost that haunts us. Our historical memory, a human conscience.
Moment by moment we balance impossibly upon the world of objects. It is taut beneath our clinging feet. Along the way is uncertainty, and death. There is not an end to this rope as far as we can see. Before us, the blinding light of possibility. Its form for us to imagine. An apocalypse lurks behind some future moment, or something of such exceptional quality that our minds are not capable of its comprehension. This future is for us to decide.
The overman that is referred to in the quotation is not easily conceived. It would not be a culmination of human efforts, as it would not be terminal. Neither would it be some perfection of our species, biologically or intellectually or spiritually, as then that too would have to be overcome. The essence of this being exceeds our capacity to comprehend. It must be left as an uncertain and always distant beacon. How then would one chart a course to such an uncertainty? What Nietzsche suggested is that we have direct access to our nature, and to the nature of the world. This world must be our guide, and he pleaded with his readers to look no further for the clues to divining the way forward.
The critical concept is that what we know today as human civilization, is a way station along the path between our ancestral origins as a subconscious beast, to a high being beyond our current capacity to understand. It is this concept that replaces God in Nietzsche’s philosophy.
The concept of Eudaimonia, developed by the ancient Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle, is a very similar idea. It literally means ‘benevolent spirit’. Aristotle defined it as ‘Living and doing well.’ Humble as it may seem, it is the greatest of all ideals. The final outcome of Virtue.
The Good (God) is the thing that we arrange our metaphysical furniture around. Good, like the fire at the center of our camp, or the television in the living room. Virtue is the gaze that we fix on this fire. According to the Greek philosophers mentioned above, we have a compass that reliably directs its needle to the good, and so inversely indicates its opposite. To them, this compass is a core element of our human nature. In this way the late nineteenth century German agrees with his progenitors the ancient Greeks.
In this age it seems critical that we envision ourselves on the way to somewhere. Our greatest danger; the stagnation of grim satisfaction. Our future is threatened by the profound nihilism of our era, that rejects progress in the name of ideological certainty, and dismisses hope as false.
It is not enough for us to resist the desire to annihilate, or defend ourselves from it when it threatens. We must offer a concept of greater power, that is not a reaction but a ‘first movement, a self propelled wheel’.
As we divest ourselves from particular outcomes, and empower ourselves by rejecting the notion of ideological certainty, we still must retain a vision for our future. A vision that allows us to exceed our expectations, and expresses our great potential. A vision that does not reflect the ancient fears and uncertainties that haunt our human conscience.
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