Posted by Pinky.

I was hoping Wolfgang/crazy wolf would write back, and he did. It's a good e-mail - very helpful in explaining where he's coming from, and I thought everyone would benefit from reading it and considering its implications (For those of you who missed what this is in regards to, please see the diary entries about ants - April 2 and 6):

dear Pinky
this is a very complex issue
in that our current hypermodern culture is disconnected in varying degrees from 'feeling'
which can be stated as pitiless [read compassionless]
when I use the word ancient peoples
I could use the term 'primitive peoples'
but I avoid that term because of the implied inferiority
ancient peoples understood that they were a part of a cosmos
one spirit among many
the idea was that everything was imbued with spirit
and that to act against anything without pity
was to invite catastrophe
pity compassion reverence are all roots of the same tree
hypermodernism has abandoned these roots
in other words 'the roots of life'
in favor of the 'right' of the freedom of 'aesthetic expression'
this freedom of aesthetic expression dominates both art and science
the ancients understood the importance of limits or taboos
their cosmology/mythology was full of stories about the consequences of transgressing these limits
the guiding principle could be expressed as an 'aesthetics of pity'
our modern and hypermodern culture is clearly one of destruction
even if we were to remove from the critique mans inhumanity to man
consider that without reservation the wholesale destruction of hundreds of millions of living organisms when chemically spraying an acre field during food[?] production
the word production is an indicator of what is really transpiring
one example
there or countless others
so yes
there is another way of being here
a way that has been 'intellectually' neutered by those who inhabit the ivory towers of power
a way that would render this jewel planet a livable paradise for a million years into the future
a way that has been all but erased from our collective hypermodern consciousness
remember the Yoko Ono / John Lenon campaign
'The War Is Over'
(if you want)
still true
some suggested reading
Wisdom Of The Mythtellers - Sean Kane
Spell Of The Sensuous - David Abram
Art and Fear - Paul Virilio
Pinky
consider pity [compassion]
almost everything that you post on your Pinky Show
speaks of the pitiful [full with compassion] or the pitiless [without compassion]
I do not see it as that big of a leap to perceive the entire cosmos from this perspective
including ants
as Thich Nhat Hanh expresses - PEACE IS EVERY STEP
crazy wolf

I need to study this further. I feel like I respect the perspective but I don't want to just acknowledge this with words and then move on with my life unchanged.

~pinky