It was then all down to the Old Town hall where 50 to 60 Greens and some others came to hear Aonghus Gordon talk. This inspiring man established the Ruskin Mill Educational Trust with it's three bases - now employing 500 people.Photo: Aonghus (centre) demonstrating use of prism to see how the colour green is centre of the spectrum.
The talk wasn't quite what I expected or quite the usual AGM talk - but it was fascinating, very wide-ranging and challenging and included touching on the role of spirituality in politics - something I personally don't think we talk enough about - but I'll save that for another Blog - the talk also came with some interesting slides. Aonghus despite rumours that he has moved to Sheffield still remains a Stroud Council tax payer - his talk looking at 'what it means to be Green' took in Greek gods, Goethe, Francis Bacon, Ghandi, Ruskin and Rudolf Steiner but one of the most interesting was Hildegard Bingen who affirmed the power of the feminine in the natural world and got herself into a fair bit of touble with the Pope and others. Here is one of her pieces that was read out:
I, the fiery light of divine wisdom,
I ignite the beauty of the plains,
I sparkle the waters.
I burn the sun and the moon and the stars,
With wisdom I order all rightly.
I adorn all the earth.
I am the breeze that nurtures all things green.
I am the rain coming from the dew That causes the grasses to laugh With the joy of life.
I call forth tears, the aroma of good work. I am the yearning for good.
Hildegard of Bingen 1098-1179
While Hildegard got lots of support for her radical stance it was Francis Bacon who got the blame for setting us on the road to GM crops and vivisection. Goethe was another that came in for praise - the German concept anschauung and it's lack of a good english translation was interesting - but hey it's too late now for that...Photo: Goethe - "a genius of embodied perception"
Aonghus also talked about th extraordinary success of Heartmath in treating disturbed children and the Ruskin Mill project he started in Nailsworth and how that was created based on principles from Steiner, Ruskin and Morris - he finished with a call for a Transition Town Stroud project - the very thing we are in the process of setting up - infact next Thursday is our first semi-open meeting at Star Anise.
Aonghus also mentioned that he was among the 1971 campaigners to stop our water being fluoridated in Stroud - yesterday I was at a meeting of the Safe Water Campaign - the group I helped reform a few years ago to tackle the latest threat of fluoridation to our water supplies. Anyhow wine, savories and cakes - all very yummy indeed - were followed by the AGM and election of Officers - I was again elected as Press Officer and Gloucestershire Green party representative.
I'll finish with Goethe's poem which was printed in the first edition of 'Nature' in 1869 - click here. Great stuff!
2 comments:
I discovered HeartMath in 1997. I had been experiencing many life threatening illnesses during the previous several years, including a couple of heart attacks, a burst artery in my heart and a triple bypass. Learning and practicing HeartMath's tools and technologies literally saved my life. Getting the head in sync with the heart first is The Key... If you are interested in learning more about how HeartMath can enable you to prevent, manage and reverse the effects of stress in your life, in-the-moment, to achieve better health, more energy and improved mental and emotional clarity, and learn about their emWave Personal Stress Reducer, please go to www.emotionalmastery.com.
I am slightly skeptical of bits of machinery to help people - especially when they are at a cost which excludes many people - I understand much can be learnt with this technique without the technology - nevertheless sometimes for some people technology is just what is needed. Certainly the results are very impressive from the two people I have spoken to including Aonghus. It should be on the NHS.
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