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pnicholl@essex.ac.uk wrote:
> Re: sfp-146: Don't fool with Mother Nature, warns HRH Prince of Wales.
> Eric writes:
> >A measure of the ascendancy of the economic-technological imperative is
> >the almost unanimous condemnation of Prince Charles in the British media
> >for introducing the term "sacred" and concepts of deep ecology into a
> >debate dominated by the academic-corporate elite. I don't recall seeing
> >any response at all in the G&M.
The irony of looking for a response in the Slope & Pale is that its editorial
board has been both anti-monarchical and anti-ecological. Now they can cite
each anti in support of the other. The National Post, on the other hand, gives
quite a lot of coverage to royal matters while being even more committed to the
Genetic Industrial Complex. One can only wonder how Lord Almost and his
minions will reconcile this apparent contrdiction.
> As so often happens biblical
> quotations are torn from context to support an argument almost exactly
> opposite to the one notionally being expressed - in this case by Christ in
> the Sermon on the Mount. What does Jesus' sermon (at least according to
> King James' assembled divines) say?
But doncha know that it is a postmodern religious obligation to ignore the
text. Or, to put it only a little more charitably, in the words of Umberto
Ecco, "there is text and there is pretex." Pretext is, Ecco says, what happens
when the first few words (or the first bars of a piece of music) send our minds
spinning off into their own space where a good time is had by all but no one
looks at the text (or listens to the music).
> It does not call upon us to regard nature as sacred. It emphasizes the
> transience of the natural world. The grass is cast into the oven. It says
> there are things worth worrying about and things we should not worry about
> at all because "God" will take care of them. The latter include our
> immediate daily needs such as food and clothing. If there are any followers
> of this philosophy in the UK they are to be found among various protestors,
> against road building projects and nuclear weapons, and in camps like the
> one at Faslane.
Perhaps the ability of the established churches to completely invert the
message of their Founder's text put them in the position of prefiguring the
postmodern illusion that there is no reality from which to dissociate.
It is a pleasure to be reminded of the original text.
> This kind of enabling fear can translate
> into a disabling fear of science itself. Christ - as portrayed - and others
> of a similar philosophical bent, such as Ivan Illich, do not make the
> latter mistake. Illich, when asked why he did not join the young people
> protesting about the environment and possible harm to the future, said that
> they should not worry - there is no future....
>
If there were no concern with maintaining and enhancing life how would one
sustain the arguments for social responsibility? I understand the teaching
about not being concerned with self-aggrandizement, e.g., fine raiment or where
our next meal might come from, but does that not need to be put into a larger
context in which the same Teacher places a very high value on life and concurs
with the injunction in Moses Last Discourse, "Therefore choose life?"
Michael Posluns.
> I wait for Charles to go to Faslane to discuss the 'sacred' and its
> relation to nuclear weaponry over the camp fire - and to follow the sermon,
> by abandoning his concerns for food and clothing, to say nothing about his
> palaces and the royal future. It's actually a quite contemptible moral
> stance to quote the bible in this way unless the moral precepts are acted
> upon.
>
> Peter Nicholls, Department of Biological Sciences,
> Central Campus, University of Essex,
> Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, CO4 3SQ, England.
>
> Tel.: +44-1206-873776 (office) +44-1206-873333 (ex. 3015) (Lab)
> Fax : +44-1206-872592
> e-mail : pnicholl@essex.ac.uk
> http://www.essex.ac.uk/bcs/staff/nicholls/
--
Michael W. Posluns,
The Still Waters Group,
First Nations Relations & Public Policy
Please feel free to ask us about our Topical Hansard files,
Canadian parliamentary debates compiled by topics and bills.
Please note new address: mposluns@accglobal.net
Phone: 416 656-8613
Fax: 416 656-2715
36 Lauder Avenue,
Toronto, Ontario,
M6H 3E3
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