[Xmca-l] Re: Life off grid - communitas?

[Huw Lloyd]

Yes, but I disagree with the hook-ups with the capacity for the sublime
wonder or notions of guilt and morality.  These are experienced, for sure,
but I think this is really something extra that is brought to the fray by
those with the freedom and capacity to be sensitive and responsive towards
it in their own idiosyncratic ways.  There seems to a rather large matter
of overlooking that the leviathon of 'humanity' is actually composed of
architectures we have yet to understand.  And, moreover, it is not the
object of wonder that induces wonder, but rather the capacities and
inclinations of the subject.

The brief still point in the article (is it an article?) is the observation
and reminder that a great many people are in thrall of the idea of
unmediated knowledge, which is something to complement the usual anti-ideas
of simplicity and description.

If we live in virtual sanitised worlds in which the small problems of
nature are kept at bay, we lose our sensitivity to anything of any greater
power.  For those people who have never elected to be curious, they really
do not have an option other than to respond to that which is happening to
them here and now.  The underlying theme here seems to be, again, the
disconnect between the (anti) idea of description (and discourse) and the
notion that psychological developments that equate to the the realisation
of powerful ideas such as mediated knowledge are dependent upon concrete
activity, which is about facing reality.

Huw



On 27 October 2015 at 14:55, Larry Purss <lpscholar2@gmail.com> wrote:

> Mike, Huw, Greg,
> I have just read Latour's wonderful and provocative exploration of the
> disconnect between earth and earthlings and his sense that we have lost the
> sense of the *sublime* and must search for an answer in
> rearranging emerging  assemblances imagined AS  nodes, tapestries, and
> weaving strands of being/becoming.
>
> Latour wants to "bridge" the gap [the disconnect] with earthlings on one
> side and Gaia on the other side. Gaia's fundamental feature is that of the
> "trickster".
>
> Greg sent a link to living off the grid and asked if this expressed
> *communitas*? I experienced the examples as very heroic and trusting in
> being rugged individualism.
>
> I hope we can engage with this thread. I will point out that Latour
> emphasized there are no nodes, knots, weaves, and TAPESTRIES without the
> open spaces, and I want to call attention to this fact. My imaginal *spaces
> as places* asks if we must envision SHARED LOCAL PLACES where there exist
> *inter (-) mediate* assembled assemblances  where the STRONG Ich [capital
> I] becomes the WEAK ich [small I] which opens up imaginal *third* spaces
> for *du* [intimate you]. Spaces of shared dialogue where Gaia as
> trickster/Hermes is honoured. A place of hope and dread with always a gap.
> The place of intervals and "ma".
> Latour is engendering grand narratives/myths with *disconnects* [as falling
> away from ...]. A neo-Platonic myth.
> Larry
>
> On Mon, Oct 26, 2015 at 5:09 PM, mike cole <mcole@ucsd.edu> wrote:
>
> > It turns out that Wednesday in LCHC we are discussing Latour's article on
> > waiting for Gaia. I attach it for those interested. It raises Huw's
> > concerns and multiplies them by a few terawatts.
> >
> > Just in time for Halloween!
> >
> > mike
> >
> > On Mon, Oct 26, 2015 at 4:27 PM, Huw Lloyd <huw.softdesigns@gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > That looks like a compelling film, Greg.  Is 'off the grid' used
> > > metaphorically, i.e. is it about living away from societal norms, or is
> > it
> > > principally about generating their own power etc?
> > >
> > > I have always thought it rather telling that the skills that society at
> > > large tends to value the most (finance, entertainment) are invariably
> the
> > > most useless when it comes to living within a small community.  Maybe,
> > > maybe, this is because community is not something easily achieved
> outside
> > > of settings of co-dependence that are not mediated by money,
> > qualifications
> > > etc.
> > >
> > > Then again, one has to ask about the nature of a production
> documenting a
> > > more independent way of living whilst simultaneously reconnecting with
> > > societal values by lugging a wide-lens camera around with homesteaders
> at
> > > one end of the camera and a series of official film selection
> committees
> > at
> > > the other end of apparatus.  Is there some kind of hipster quality to
> > that,
> > > about being radically happy in the city centre or radically happy out
> in
> > > remote places, provided the umbilical chord isn't cut?  Or is it more
> > > simply communities celebrating their existence and survival -- "we're
> > here
> > > and we do things differently".
> > >
> > > Either way, what seems to be interesting for me here is the change in
> > > meaning for basic skills and community values that seem to go hand in
> > hand
> > > with 'disconnecting'.
> > >
> > > Best,
> > > Huw
> > >
> > > On 25 October 2015 at 02:30, Greg Thompson <greg.a.thompson@gmail.com>
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > > > Is this a new form of communitas:
> > > > http://lifeoffgrid.ca/
> > > > (link is to a 3 minute trailer for a movie about folks living life
> off
> > > the
> > > > grid)
> > > > Some of the folks seem to suggest so. Others maybe not so much.
> > > > -greg
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > > Gregory A. Thompson, Ph.D.
> > > > Assistant Professor
> > > > Department of Anthropology
> > > > 880 Spencer W. Kimball Tower
> > > > Brigham Young University
> > > > Provo, UT 84602
> > > > http://byu.academia.edu/GregoryThompson
> > > >
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> >
> > It is the dilemma of psychology to deal as a natural science with an
> > object that creates history. Ernst Boesch
> >
>