Cosmos Café [2021-04-01]: The Wholeness of Nature 2

Recording now available. Interesting that the Vimeo automatic image selector ‘chose’ the scene from nature.

A few of the references from today’s session:

Books (each with a unique “easter egg” link for your reading pleasure this holiday weekend)

  • Gathering Moss by Robin Wall Kimmerer (only an indirect reference but a great read that I wish to recommend) + an apt quote from the book:

We poor myopic humans, with neither the raptor’s gift of long-distance acuity, nor the talents of a housefly for panoramic vision. However, with our big brains, we are at least aware of the limits of our vision. With a degree of humility rare in our species, we acknowledge there is much we can’t see, and so contrive remarkable ways to observe the world. Infrared satellite imagery, optical telescopes, and the Hubble space telescope bring vastness within our visual sphere. Electron microscopes let us wander the remote universe of our own cells. But at the middle scale, that of the unaided eye, our senses seem to be strangely dulled. With sophisticated technology, we strive to see what is beyond us, but are often blind to the myriad sparkling facets that lie so close at hand. We think we’re seeing when we’ve only scratched the surface. Our acuity at this middle scale seems diminished, not by any failing of the eyes, but by the willingness of the mind. Has the power of our devices led us to distrust our unaided eyes? Or have we become dismissive of what takes no technology but only time and patience to perceive? Attentiveness alone can rival the most powerful magnifying lens.

From @Lisa:
https://www.anthroposophysantacruz.com/gary-lachman-on-owen-barfield/

Now go out there and climb a tree for science-sake :deciduous_tree:

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