Earthbodies

Glen A. Mazis

Description

Earthbodies describes how our bodies are open circuits to a sensual magic and planetary care that when closed off leads to disastrous detours, such as illness, "dis-ease," and toxicity. In doing so, it answers a variety of questions. Can we understand our bodies without understanding how they are part of a rhythmic flow with the rest of the planet? How can we decide how to treat the animals around us when we fail to realize the nature of our kinship with them? Without hearing the voices of the earth, rocks, and ocean waves, how can we dialogue with the planet or understand ourselves? Why are we so fascinated with film versions of nightmarish ghouls and vampires? How can celebrities impact more on our lives than our own families? What kind of human connection can we expect from the Internet? How is it that some of our adolescent boys shoot down their schoolmates? Despite our apparent cynicism, is our culture overly sentimental? What kind of ethics would help us find a moral way to achieve an inclusive global community and cherish the environment?
Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. The Earthly Dance of Interconnection

Moving Earth and Flowing Flesh
Dancing versus Diabolical Logic
Addicted to Self-Laceration
Earthbody Sense
Ceremonial Awareness

2. Earthbody Dimensions

We Are Time
Sensing Enters the Earth
Eroticism Truly

3. Discordant Contemporary Rhythms

Introduction: Detachment as a Curse upon the Land
Ghouls: Our Love of Horror and Compulsion to Consume
Vampires: Hunger for Experience and Fear of Intimacy
Aesthetes: Obsession with Novelty and Control
Who Has the Last Laugh?

4. Cyberspace: Rootedness versus Being in Orbit

Introduction: A Different Kind of Materialism
Cyberspace: A Material and Embodied Place in the World
The Virtual Is the Heart of Reality
Cyborg Life: Protean Selves versus Fragmented Selves
Deep-rooted Emotion versus Cyberspace Sentimentality

5. Planetary Meaningfulness

Introduction: The World Is Our "Out of Body" Body
Animals and Humans as Part of the Same Dream
Animals and Vitality, Morality, Spirituality, and Play
Traditional Western Ethics as a Perverse Reaction to the Planet

6. Rejoining the Planet

An Earthbody Ethics of Achieving Presence and Co-presence
Patterns of Perversity in Flight from Pain
Rhythm's Power, Changing Destructive Patterns, and Finding Place
A Dynamic Sense of the Depth of Surfaces
Responsibility, Reverberating Resonance, and Joy

Afterword: A Poem

Notes

Index

Sujets

• Philosophie
• Philosophie de l'esprit
• Philosophy
• Philosophy of mind

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 février 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780791488386
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 20 Mo

Extrait

ear e th a bo r di t es h

earthbodies

REDISCOVERING OUR PLANETARY SENSES bodies glen a. mazis

Earthbodies

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Earthbodies

Rediscovering Our Planetary Senses

Glen A. Mazis

State University of New York Press

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

© 2002 State University of New York

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photo- copying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, address State University of New York Press, 90 State Street, Suite 700, Albany, NY 12207

Production by Marilyn P. Semerad Marketing by Fran Keneston

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Mazis, Glen A., 1951- Earthbodies : rediscovering our planetary senses / Glen A. Mazis. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7914-5417-7 (alk. paper)—ISBN 0-7914-5418-5 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Body, Human (Philosophy) 2. Ethics. I. Title: Earth bodies. II. Title. BJ1695 .M39 2002 128—dc21 2001049423

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction

Chapter One. The Earthly Dance of Interconnection Moving Earth and Flowing Flesh Dancing versus Diabolical Logic Addicted to Self-Laceration Earthbody Sense Ceremonial Awareness

Chapter Two. Earthbody Dimensions We Are Time Sensing Enters the Earth Eroticism Truly

Chapter Three. Discordant Contemporary Rhythms Introduction: Detachment as a Curse upon the Land Ghouls: Our Love of Horror and Compulsion to Consume Vampires: Hunger for Experience and Fear of Intimacy Aesthetes: Obsession with Novelty and Control Who Has the Last Laugh?

Chapter Four. Cyberspace: Rootedness versus Being in Orbit Introduction: A Different Kind of Materialism Cyberspace: A Material and Embodied Place in the World The Virtual Is the Heart of Reality Cyborg Life: Protean Selves versus Fragmented Selves Deep-rooted Emotion versus Cyberspace Sentimentality

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ix

1 1 7 12 17 23

33 33 44 57

77 77 79 87 96 111

119 119 121 131 139 156

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Earthbodies

Chapter Five. Planetary Meaningfulness Introduction: The World Is Our “Out of Body” Body Animals and Humans as Part of the Same Dream Animals and Vitality, Morality, Spirituality, and Play Traditional Western Ethics as a Perverse Reaction to the Planet

Chapter Six. Rejoining the Planet An Earthbody Ethics of Achieving Presence and Co-presence Patterns of Perversity in Flight from Pain Rhythm’s Power, Changing Destructive Patterns, and Finding Place A Dynamic Sense of the Depth of Surfaces Responsibility, Reverberating Resonance, and Joy

Afterword: A Poem

Notes

Index

179 179 181 190 199

211 211 221

227 235 241

251

255

263

Acknowledgments

Deborah Tangen has been an inspiration and a helper. My mother, Charlotte Mazis, taught me the love of language and has always believed in me. Judith Johnson encouraged me to undertake this project. Catherine Keller, as always, has provided so many stimulating dialogues about topics essential to this book. Jason Starr, Marion Winnick, and Crispin Sartwell have made wonderful critics and supporters. Bruce Wilshire has added many insights about our shared loves and philosophical concerns. Bill and Connie Mahar, Donna Wilshire, Ed Casey, Pat Johnson, John Neill, Joan Kuenz, and so many of my students have given me so much support and love. As befitting the spirit of the human animal dialogue of this book, Bhakti, the “Zen Chihuahua,” is due innumerable thanks for her calm, buoyant support through- out the writing process. Penn State Harrisburg was kind enough to grant me a year’s sabbatical to work on the manuscript. My new colleagues at Soka University have helped me in the homestretch especially David and Stella Chappell, Peter Sanchez, and Kathleen Adams. Without Dr. Michael Choti, Dr. Daniel Drachman, and the good folks at Johns Hopkins, this earthbody wouldn’t be around to finish this book: thanks! Finally, I must thank Jane Bunker: she is the kind of enthusiastic, supportive editor that every author hopes to find. Use of the reproduction of Henri Mattise, “The Dance II,” on the cover is with permission of ©2001 Succession H. Matisse, Paris/Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York/and Bridgeman Art Library International, New York.

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Introduction

This book is written from a concern for the planet. It is written for all the sensitive living beings and quieter non-living beings who are this planet’s flesh. It is written in the faith that philosophy doesn’t have to be an arcane endeavor, abstracted from the world and dealing with scholastic problems only scholars would care about. Philosophy should be written in a way that all citizens can encounter as a wake-up call. Philosophy should be the kind of thing that allows people to change their lives. We should not be self-defeatingly driven to professionals and experts to deal with problems we try to manage that are the result of misunder- standing what human beings are and misperceiving our relationship with the nat- ural and social world. This happens because these core questions are never really examined, since philosophy has not made itself available to our neighbors. Philos- ophy can and should speak in understandable, even if unusual, ways. Philosophy should speak to the heart and not just to abstract intellects. Philosophy should be a work of imagination, fun, and excitement, dreaming new possible worlds by trans- forming the one we have always loved. There is a lot wrong with our planet that does require the help of experts among others, from the ecological crisis to people slaughtering each other in wars of hate to the breakdown of the community fabric, etc., but I am concerned with a philo- sophical disability that is widespread. If we look at ourselves, others, and the natural world in a way that denies ourselves the abilities we have as embodied beings and distorts the nature of reality, then any solutions we devise to help us personally or collectively are doomed to failure or at least to short-lived makeshift success. I believe that there has been a fundamental misunderstanding of what our bodies are in rela- tion to the rest of the planet in the dominant Western culture for the last two and half millennia. If we were to understand who we are as embodied beings, I believe the ecological crisis would appear in a new light and the animosities among peoples who are different might become welcomed instead of feared. The experts deal with symptoms and these symptoms must be addressed, but we also need to get at the root of our disconnection from the planet.

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