"If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe." -Carl Sagan
Far Apart Yet Aware
First, imagine we are two dear friends in a warm kitchen on a chilly winter day and baking pie together. That feels like a profound statement that may seem the opposite of Sagan, as we know we now have endless universes and even definitions of the word universe. I feel we co-create universes in every engagement and enlarge our universe in our meetings. You may want to think a little quantum here, a field I adore when used as a group metaphor. So as we are baking, we begin sharing memories. Here are some of mine to begin. I get a lot of inspiration from friends.
Note I will update as Nora responds. Nora Bateson, a daughter of Gregory Bateson, grew up in Big Sur. I lived just north in Monterey, and from the age of fifteen, I became aware, maybe on a secret trip to Tassajara, a Zen center to sneak into the baths as the monks slept, that Gregory Bateson lived at Esalen in Big Sur, and he practiced Zen. I would later spend about thirty years in all three schools of Zen and even considered becoming a nun. I have little interest now.
For me, this reflection has a lot of history, and to make it sweeter, Nora is now an online friend and often posts thought-provoking ideas and art; today about the fragmentation many may be experiencing. I add assumed illnesses. Another way we learn and reflect, and grow our universe. I feel Nora and I share a lot of philosophy of life and living. She has what I will call a motto: My life & work is about increasing perception of the interrelationality that creates life. I, Nancy, almost went to a college in the Southwest that specialized in perception exclusively. I am glad I returned to the San Francisco to attend school in a much broader program. I am still enchanted with imagination and ways of perceiving.
As I hope you understand, Reflexivity is an academic word meaning to be aware of self and others in respectful engagement. Here I use Reflexivity to reflect and engage, hopefully with heart and decency. I believe we co-create reality and choose the quality of our community.
More History
I was blessed sometime in grad school to study what was then a hot topic, systems theory starting with the seminal work of Ludwig von Bertalanffy. There are others. And I was also blessed to be called on my own to read Gregory Bateson’s book, a treasure of my life, though I have lost my precious copy in moving. I knew it as Angels Fear: Towards An Epistemology Of The Sacred (Advances in Systems Theory, Complexity, and the Human Science)
I was enchanted that Angels Fear said it all to me: that when we pick things apart, reify, and objectify, we, as Nora wrote today, fragment life, literally and indeed, this is what science and excess do. In my last newsletter, Service Rather than Incessant Production: How the Feminine May Save the Planet, I wrote a lot about this phenomenon.
I felt Gregory was suggesting we might be risking our divine nature if we look too deeply, as men now have to the point of planetary destruction. I am betting Nora will agree.
Baking Together
Remember, it’s a chilly day, and we are in a warm kitchen as our co-created pie bakes. It may be time to make coffee for our coffee klatch, beautifully fitting as Nora now lives in Sweden. I learned from Juanita Brown of World Cafe, an excellent group process, that coffee klatch was traditionally where Swedes met to discuss anything, including politics. All connect in mutually connected across a tabletop. These folks were creating, if not a universe, a community of shared values and civility, empathy, and caring. Most in the U.S. who are pro-democracy try to practice these skills, and many would like to bring others to the table.
This is some of what Nora’s post brought up for me today, and as I hope most know, I believe everything is connected. And I love synchronicity, like finding Nora’s words early today.
Can you smell the pie? Are you here with us as we dialogue and chat about fixing a world that has been dramatically broken?
We live in a world of chaos. There is a great deal to do, especially in the name of love and mutual concern rather than hate.
Many are suffering, especially women, children, and People of Color. I believe the real plagues of the day are misogyny and patriarchy. I will also add rising fascism which embraces both misogyny and patriarchy. Below is a favorite song on Baking Pies about a woman who, to survive, bakes pies for others to take away. I usually in these posts mention economist Hazel Henderson’s upside-down cake representing how the few get to the top, and the rest are stuck at the bottom. You can find it in Google Images. Here’s a favorite song on baking pies for others. I try not to cry. The lyrics can be found here.
It’s past time to change our world together in a pro-democracy culture of civility, dignity, and respect. Even as this war wife bakes, she notices the birds in the sky.
After coffee, let’s go for a walk. End hate now. May all thrive and learn to cooperate for the greater good.
Contact: Nancy Peden, D.D. I also offer counseling sessions and am very good with depression and PTSD, and dream manifestation. Text 831-233-2185, and please tell me your interests and the best time to call. I am on US Mountain Time.