The Food That Is Alone Mine, #2
Books, publications, and the parlor.
Denuding the Illusion, is written and directed by rewilding pioneer and award-winning author of four books, Daniel Firth Griffith. Here, we produce a reader-supported publication with corresponding podcast, weekly nature-based and cultural articles and essays, and more.
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“When evening has come, I return to my house and go into my study. At the door I take off my clothes of the day, covered with mud and mire, and I put on my regal and courtly garments; and decently reclothed, I enter the ancient courts of ancient man, where, received by them lovingly, I feed on the food that alone is mine and that I was born for. There I am not ashamed to speak with them and to ask them the reason for their actions; and they in their humanity reply to me. And for the space of four hours I feel no boredom, I forget every pain, I do not fear poverty, death does not frighten me. I deliver myself entirely to them.”
- Niccolò Machiavelli
Hello readers! It is time for another week of the parlor, where we can discuss the books and other Substacks we are reading.
I’ll start. Here are a few things I have been reading this week.
NON-FICTION: What does Shakespeare have to say about land stewardship? What does his Sonnets have to do with agriculture?
My last book, Dark Cloud Country, came out in early 2023. It won two National INDIE awards in both Nature and Environment categories and James Canton, the author of The Oak Papers and Grounded called it “an impassioned celebration of life in all its complex wonderment” and Andreas Webber, the author of The Biology of Wonder and Of Matter and Desire called it “prose that equals the wild itself.” But that is not the point, at least my point here.1 Dark Cloud Country is constructed from lyrical prose (rich essays that rhyme and such) and prose that really just want to be poetry. It is an overall interesting read, I am told.2
This week, I adapted one of the “lyrical prose” sections for online publication. I think it offers a fresh and interesting take on the modern, ecological/rural problem, what some call “climate change”—poetry and the role of earth stewardship from the lens of an artist, a dramatist, Shakespeare. I hope you enjoy.
NON-FICTION: This is a heavy, thick book but worth it, in my view. I have, recently, become fascinated, nearly overwhelmed by consumption, with origins: stories, mythologies, even the science of genetics. But there is something unsettling in it all. While (good) science imbues our particular and intimate mythos with universal understanding—for instance: waves, the root tonn, are an important symbol and living force in my (and my family’s) creation mythology, waves are also tidal and have an important, universal relationship with the living force of Earth’s moon—science has the propensity to eclipse deeper meaning and overstep its natural, healthy bounds. This is what, I guess, can be called, “bad science.”
Evolution and Neo-Darwinism is a fine case in point. In Darwin’s Doubt, Stephen Meyers ushers the reader through the complex and conjoined narrative of evolution and creationism—what he terms “intelligent design.” While evolution, Meyers proposes, makes perfect sense from a local adaption and phenotypic plasticity perspective—allowing all of life, through decided, purposeful, and intentioned epigenetic emergence, to better live and to better meet the needs of the life around it—both Darwinism and Neo-Darwinism extend their dirty fingers far beyond that. They assert that all that is, is on accident, for all that is, is because of random genetic mutations that survive, as Darwin famously wrote, because they are the fittest.
Meyers simplifies this statement, asking: are we really interested in a world where survival is dependent on random genetic mutations, accidents? Are we really interested in a world where life is a product of genetic flukes? Mutation are, do not get this wrong, accidents and flukes. And over 85% of all genetic mutations, it seems, are lethal, meaning deadly. It is no wonder that, under this scientific eclipse, we modern humans, lulled to sleep by evolutionary epics, live sad lives and die lonely deaths. Our survival, our very existence, is dependent on genetic mutations that exist in some celestial arena where we, genetic gladiators, fight and the gods, who cannot really be there, laugh and eat and watch us stain their cosmos, which cannot really be theirs, with blood and tears, especially tears.
As Meyers puts it: “Natural Selection (Darwin) explains only the survival of the fittest, not the arrival of the fittest.”
SUBSTACK: As we discussed last week, I have really enjoyed
’s . Wonderful nature writing with purpose and place.
I am uneasy when I read cultural critiques from critics who live well within the modern culture.
“Stand up against the machine,” some write as they live and enjoy luxuries in the largest cities the mechanized west has to offer; “Resist the industrial machine,” they write as they color the finer particulars in their lives with its black oils; “we need to dive deeper into community to solve climate change,” others write as their family’s kitchen dutifully support the commoditization and industrialization of life—that is, the eradication of once-local food and skilled artisans. We all have our own journey to un-machine-ize our lives, myself included. But yoga teachers need to be flexible…
This week, I want to highlight another publication but from a different genre: ’s . In transparency, I initially gravitated to John’s work because it is exceptionally written and deeply researched—he is a wonderful writer. As his publication’s name well demonstrates, he handles great topics with care and, at times, with some good, lighthearted common sense. While being an author is great and needed, I have a particular interest in people who write and act; who live a life of “thought and action,” to borrow from Churchill. You can learn more about his First Thing’s Foundation.
His latest piece, What is Capitalism, is a wonderful exploration. “The New World, our world, is founded upon the notion that human happiness proceeds from the right to make money as an autonomous individual. That notion is religious in nature, it is a binding idea, a “lig.” And this religious idea is built on a Light Person principle called individualism.” John writes. It is well worth your read!
Thank you for reading this week’s parlor! If you have any thoughts, comments or really anything to say at all, drop them in the comments! I am eager to chat with you all.
Thank you for dealing with the self-marketing. In the modern world where big business commandeered publishing, it seems that being your own marketer is one of the only or key ways that small thoughts with big ideas will get out.