January 2, 2012

Virtuous Work

"As we might expect, a workable approach to remaking Paradise turns clever certainties about the nature of constructive work upside down. Paradise gardeners are reknown for their "zero-work ethic" - Mollison's "reclining designer." That's because we are elementally about co-creating landscapes that are attuned to Nature's patterns and rhythms: self-sustaining, edible landscapes that require an absolute minimum of intervention on the part of the Gardener. In other words, no toil: "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they toil not, neither do they spin." The yoke is easy.

Of course, taking it easy hardly fits in with conventional notions of virtue, but then again, our civilization's valuation of the nature of virtuous work may well be rotten to its core. As Terence McKenna puts it: "Now you see, the current theory of problem solving is that we must solve all our problems with solutions that make a buck. Well, it just may not be possible to solve the problems of the 20th century and make a buck at the same time. But if you're willing to put aside that notion, then the human future appears endlessly bright." Or, to paraphrase the words of the Christos, Mammon sits fundamentally at odds with the irresistible march of evolution. That, in a nutshell, is the stark truth underpinning a collaborative return to the Garden, perhaps the truest attunement to the Great Work we are capable of. "Work, motion, life," says William Bryant Logan, "All rise from the dirt.""

Nick Routledge

Posted by richard at January 2, 2012 3:03 PM
Comments
Post a comment









Remember personal info?





Type the characters you see in the picture above.