Permaculture Magazine Replies October 31, 2007
Posted by Graham in : Permaculture, Science and Rationaltiy , trackbackDear Graham
I sympathise with your reservation about geomancy. Did you know, however, that all the major oil and water companies employ dowsers? It is far cheaper than using geophysical equipment and they find it effective.
Lastly, the study of energy in the landscape is being experimented with by the Austrian Traffic authorities. Let me give you some details:
In Austria, the highways authority has started using stone monoliths to prevent accidents at black spots. They are said to restore the natural flow of energy and reduce drivers¹ tiredness. On the A9 Pyhrn motorway in Styria the authorities erected two massive white quartz megaliths with the help a geomancer, Gerald Knobloch. They were located away from the road and the project was kept secret. Previous attempts at warning signs had failed to eradicate the problem. Over a two year period the accident rate fell from six fatalities per year to none. The 100% success rate cannot be disputed and the Austrians intend to use this technology in blackspots elsewhere. Knobloch explains that rerouted water flows, bridges and construction projects disrupt natural energy flows which affect drivers and create Œsleep zones¹.1
1 The Sunday Times, June 1 2003.
I do not think that this is a question of religion or faith, it is rather akin to our understanding of quantum physics and the consequent effects of energy in an interconnected field. It may be controversial but it cannot be ignored. Permaculture is an inclusive and broad movement and as an editor I give virtually no space at all for these type of views. I steer an uneasy path between the demands of all my readers but I am also sensitive to your views and the need to persuade the mainstream of the validity of permaculture. I will again review my editorial policy.
Yours,
Maddy
Comments»
I received a very similar reply. The use of the magic word to scare off skeptics really bothers me. It’s something that folk like Deepak Chopra are rather fond of. I’m considering whether it’s worth the response or maybe I’ll just let my subscription lapse.
Hmmm the magic word missing from the above comment is quantum physics.
Many thanks for your response, Maddy
You make some interesting points, but the specific objections I had to the article associating Geomancy with permaculture I dont think you have adressed, specifically:
-talking to trees before you cut them;
-geomancy being the “ideal partner for permaculture design”;
The examples you give are unconvincing- I am well aware of the use of diviners in oil exploration; the reasons for this are more to do with the desperation of the oil industry in its dying days and the strange mindset of the CEOs and gives divining absolutely zero credibility; Uri Geller, the well-known conjurer has been employed for a long time by several of the big oil companies to dowse for oil, which just shows that Big Business is also susceptible to believing what it wants to.
The example of standing stones reducing road deaths lacks a control (there could have been many other reasons why road deaths declined on that particular road) and are really nothing more than anecdotes, distractions from the real cause of road deaths which is obviously far too many cars built to drive at far to high speeds, with a background culture that glorifies speed and power.
I think also that the connection between dowsing etc and quantum physics is spurious; its an appealing idea to dowsers but not to quantum physicists!
We should be extremely cautious about any such claims, because the scientific community does NOT give credence to dowsing -whatever about the interest in the subject from local governments in Austria or the Oil Industry.
High-level, international professional scam organizations definitely do exist and have very high success rates at duping people- i have had first-hand experience of this myself (see future post on zone5 re The Great Magic Water Conference).
These people know full well that sectors of the environmental movement are PRIME TARGETS for their deceptions.
Another recent example is The Secret- best selling book and movie which is a professional scam. How many people do you know in the movement who have been impressed by it?
We should be all the more wary when we consider that many of the arguments repeatedly used in the defense of these phenomena - eg. “science is often wrong; scientists have different opinions; dowsing (or whatever) hasnt been DIS-proved” which is EXACTLY the way the climate-change denial industry has been so successful at holding the planet to ransom.
I also take issue with your justification that
“Permaculture is an inclusive and broad movement”
-inclusive of what? Where is the discernment? Where do you draw the line? Again, the idea that all points of view should be represented is exactly how the climate change deniers have got away with pedaling their nonsense for so long.
The boundaries of what PC is is surely well defined in Holmgren’s book; to deviate far from that will render it meaningless and ineffective.
The problem here is really a question of discernment- there is a huge section of the environmental movement which seems to lack any ability to think critically. Anything “non-rational” is accepted unquestioningly, and I think this is a far bigger and more immediate danger than the possibility that we will miss some exciting new discovery that will suddenly turn every conventional understanding of how the world works on its head.
Another great danger in this way of thinking is that subtly, beneath its nature-mysticism there is the hidden belief that underpins religion- that there is “some other” world out there, a spare one somewhere else that is somehow even more amazing than this one, and this paradoxically leads us to believe that we dont need to protect this one really after all.
Best wishes
Graham