Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge?

The trash is collected and waiting to get picked up tomorrow. Regenerated whole wheat sourdough flour is rising to get baked tomorrow. Earlier today I tumbled onto a couple of books that may be worth reading: The Sum of Us, by Heather McGhee, and The Persuaders by Anand Giridharadas. Each offers a different perspective on why and how to reduce the destructive divisions that are hindering US. I’m increasingly concerned that our fixation on perpetual growth at all costs may cost US the life support systems on which we depend.

One of the basic issues is whether the world is configured on a zero sum premise, which is inconsistent with my understanding of the world as a complex, adaptive, synergistic system in which the whole is more than the sum of its parts. But then I also remain puzzled by why there aren’t more learning organizations in the world, including our own “education system.”

one left or only one produced?

Photo by J. Harrington

On a brighter note, it is encouraging to keep discovering there are many smart people working on how to solve the world’s problems.. Many of them are involved in and/or engaged with various complex, adaptive systems and learning organizations. Some, like the author of The Persuaders, are even trying to teach us how to most effectively communicate with those who don’t see things our way. I suspect we’re far enough away from a monocultural society or world that we won’t have to be concerned about lack of diversity unless we’re talking about biodiversity.

I hope this has provided food for thought and soul without triggering migraines.

Gather

Rose McLarney

Some springs, apples bloom too soon.
The trees have grown here for a hundred years, and are still quick
to trust that the frost has finished. Some springs,
pink petals turn black. Those summers, the orchards are empty
and quiet. No reason for the bees to come. 

Other summers, red apples beat hearty in the trees, golden apples
glow in sheer skin. Their weight breaks branches,
the ground rolls with apples, and you fall in fruit. 

You could say, I have been foolish. You could say, I have been fooled.
You could say, Some years, there are apples. 

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