tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329706.post8417475289882618572..comments2024-03-21T12:51:21.667-04:00Comments on Whisky Prajer: Whither Life? Ivan Illich & Mark Edmundson Report From The Trenchesdpreimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09905531259256800022noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329706.post-69672678318760243912011-08-05T16:45:36.397-04:002011-08-05T16:45:36.397-04:00Winslow - thank you so much for commenting. I will...<b>Winslow</b> - thank you so much for commenting. I will definitely look into the resources you mention.Whisky Prajerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14076228013022881173noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329706.post-77190569069398861672011-08-04T20:17:42.668-04:002011-08-04T20:17:42.668-04:00Illich's concern is that the shift to thinking...Illich's concern is that the shift to thinking of earth as a giant "system," aka Gaia, and of ourselves as merely immune systems fighting for survival is a move that radically disembodies us, that disconnects us from the flesh and blood that we once experienced and suffered and lived in. As the medical system encourages us to perceive ourselves through its arcane scientific jargon and via mysterious images (CAT, MRI, sonogram, etc.) that only experts can interpret and give meaning to, we are remade into cyborgs. We become less human. <br /> For Illich, the fullest encounters between people are experience in their gut. He has a quite interesting and radical reading of the story of the Good Samaritan that helps him to explain this. You can find him speaking about this and its implications at some length - 5 hours, in fact - on another CBC radio program called The Corruption of Christianity. Don;t tell anyone I told you, but you can find MP3 copies of this program at www.altruists.org. It is well worth listening to. In brief, Illich argues that the West, this society in which we live now and which faces self-destruction, is best understood as a cracked, perverse, corrupted version of the New Testament. He argues this not from simply interpreting the Bible, for instance, but from rigorously collected and interpreted historical evidence. It's a remarkable piece of work, this, and sheds light on everything he wrote previously. There's a book, too: The Rivers North of the Future, by David Cayley, the CBC man responsible for the programs.Winslowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08473539826131992415noreply@blogger.com