Saturday, April 19, 2008

unexpected wisdom from a book on permaculture

An excerpt from The Secret of the Golden Flower (Jung) excerpted in Forest Gardening (pp. 18-19, by Robert Hart).
I always worked with the temperamental conviction that in the last analysis there are no insoluble problems, and experience has so far justified me in that I have often seen individuals who simply outgrew a problem which had destroyed others. This "outgrowing" revealed itself on further experience to be the raising of the level of consciousness. Some higher or wider interest arose on the person's horizon, and through this widening of his view, the insoluble problem lost its urgency. It was not solved logically on its own terms, but faded out in contrast to a new and stronger life-tendency. It was not repressed and made unconscious, but merely appeared in a different light, and so became different itself. What, on a lower level, had led to the wildest conflicts and to emotions full of panic, viewed from the higher level of the personality, now seemed like a storm in the valley seen from a high mountain top. This does not mean that the thunderstorm is robbed of its reality; it means that, instead of being in it, one is now above it.

4 comments:

Karen said...

The looking down on the storm in the valley also seems to develop with age; perhaps we don't necessarily become 'wiser' as we grow old, but our perspective does change with years. Looking back, looking down, takes on a distance that makes those acceptances possible.

I'm not surprised that books on permaculture hold many good truths!

Beverly said...

Thank you, Karen, for your comment. I'm just developing an interest in permaculture. Knowing me, I'm not sure how long I'll maintain it :), but I love what I am reading, and it makes sense to me. Yes. Thank you, too, for the thought that perspective changes with years/age. I know that to be true so far. Do you have any books/sites on permaculture to recommend to me?

Blog Challenge Award said...

I like the way you write your thoughts. Why won't you try joining the Blog Awards Challenge - a literary competition?

http://www.theblogawardchallenge.com/

See you.

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