Ideas of nature continued:

i. Glacken III: Bacon and the control of nature

a. Bacon: some ideas from earlier epochs; others such as 18/19^th century ideas

b. Control of nature as a form of respect for creation

c. New Atlantis: utopia of science and respectful management of nature

d. Jaws: domination of nature ‘we need a bigger boat’.

ii. Benjamin: Commoditization of nature

a. The material form of the commodity confounds us. We see our desire in the commodity, we seek fulfillment in the commodity.

b. Trained in the consumption of the commodity. We find a purpose in consumption.

c. Not consuming disrupts our sense of self, our wellbeing.

i. Revealing origins:
where did it come from?

ii. Making nature:
Benjamin: 19^th Century Paris c.

iii. Ideas of nature in non-western societies

a. Introduction

i. Not Cartesian: nature is not an ‘object’ separate from the human subject. Unity of human/nature

ii. Nature has a subjectivity, humans can become objectified by nature: (that is, nature ‘punishes’ people)

iii. Differences across cultures with respect to the degree to which nature exhibits a ‘rational’ or calculative reason

iv. Differences with respect to the constitution or location of nature:

1. Animist: natural spirits embedded in each living thing

2. Animal Goddesses/Gods: The coyote trickster, deification of caprice, of graceful power

3. Goddesses/Gods: human-like deities capable of wielding natural forces

v. Idea of reciprocity in nature: to what degree does nature assist or aid people? What is required to gain the favor of nature? What errors elicit the wrath of nature?

b. Tepetotutla

i. Springs and eggs: human geomancy and belonging:
Virgin of Guadalupe/Juquilita

ii. Relational language and system of place names: system of orders

iii. Nahuales: nature spirits and hybrid human/non-human creatures – natural caprice reflects human caprice and envy

iv. Hot/cold: foods and places, the body and nature not separate

c. Zapotec Science

i. Environmental basis for cultural system of ‘soul of corn (maize)’

ii. Syncretic religion, saints and nature worship

d. Pachamama

i. Offerings and reciprocity between goddess and human enterprise

e. Parkes: E. Asian Views of Nature

f. Feng shui/Daoism

i. Yin/Yang: ideas of harmony and balance through the person: division

1. Qi/Ch’i: the assembly and disassembly of the one energy that runs through the body and world.

2. Acupuncture: Correct management of bodily energy, unblocking flows

3. Western: rigidity / Eastern: flexibility

Genetics versus epigenetics:

ii. Chinese Geomancy: management of the spatiality of things in order to enhance prospects for happiness and prosperity

1. Gardens, rocks and places for balancing body and nature

2. Martial arts

3. Where are we at home?
reading from Parkes

iii. Spatial natures are spiritual natures: correct organization of the life-force