In this unscripted, barefoot generation of thought through Mother Country, Patrick returns to the Pandora myth, which is necessarily entangled with the twinning myth of Prometheus and Epimetheus, and he connects these major western origin stories to the present culturing, making and remaking possibilities of Mother Country.
Patrick offers an embodiment experiment into what he's calling the reclamation movement, or the returning movement. This spirit of consciousness willing to draw on origins and ancestors is in direct contrast to the groundless, innovation-anxious, becoming-thrust of hypertechnocivility, which Jonathan Pageau, John Vervaeke, and Paul Kingsnorth are all critically and eloquently examining right now, among others such as Artist as Family.
Krishnamurti speaks to the "utterly religious" experience being characterised by a lack of fear in his 1972 work,
The Impossible Question. This wisdom is unspoken in this reperforming of the feminine sacred by Patrick, but it underpins this experiment.
We hope you enjoy,
Arriving at the Church of Mother Country.
Here is the audio-only version:
[audio mp3="https://artistasfamily.is/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Audio-only.mp3"][/audio]
And here it is with vision (and cameos by Patch, Poppy, Drizzle and Eric – our goodly sheep):
Relevant references to this piece include:
As always your commentary is most welcome.
In this unscripted, barefoot generation of thought through Mother Country, Patrick returns to the Pandora myth, which is necessarily entangled with the twinning myth of Prometheus and Epimetheus, and he connects these major western origin stories to the present culturing, making and remaking possibilities of Mother Country.
In the book by Norman Doige, “The brain that changes itself”, it was described that as people age, and their feet are increasingly enclosed in shoes that become more and more “protective”, and then add a walking stick into the mix, the area of the brain that connects to the many many nerve ending in the base of our feet that receive less and less stimulation likewise atrophies and shrinks. So our safety and comfort reduces our brain’s activity
That makes a lot of sense, Kate. Thanks for sharing this here. A lifetime of shoe wearing also reduces balance in older folk, guess that is related to reduced stimulation too, and brain activity and connectivity.
Good story emerging Patrick. I feel the gut Pandora story is right, a opening insight, thank you.
The journey seems increasingly ascetic, is it abundant? Is there a place for humour, gossip and party on this path?
Increasingly the (spiritual/moral) narrative is fraught with a hysterical fragility about the ‘hyper techno civility’. That feels like a reflection; surely mother country is more robust and the HTC is just a phantom?
Mother country has got good jokes, and when it comes to whether to laugh or cry in the face of our grief I feel there is an abundance of robust laughter to be had.
Perhaps this fits into the forgetting, and certainly the wine, to save us from investing in the illusion.
Your summer body colliding with my winter one, Joel. Here’s some of my winter reading:
J Krishnamurti, 1970
Thanks, Patrick. I feel the undeniable truth of your deeply felt & sensed words even as I listen w/ two pairs of socks on. Many around me consider me wild, weird or feral because I don’t heat my home in winter, don’t use shampoo, antibiotics, painkillers, pesticides etc. But your vulnerability to the land reminds me just how tame I am. To be vulnerable is so often construed as negative in our culture, which loves to talk about ‘resilience’. But obsessive striving for safety only puts people in greater danger. What you say here seems wholly coherent to me. And finding the words on the way vs. a premeditated presentation is another way to be vulnerable, to offer immediacy despite the media used to convey your words. Charles Eisenstein has a similar capacity.
Thanks so much for your solidarity and warm words, Shane. We’re thinking it would be generative and timely to have you on our podcast. Would you be into that? We feel there might be much to spring from.
As a fan of your yarns w/ assorted fascinating folk, I find that a humbling proposal! One advantage of writing & image-making, my native modes, is the option to revise and edit, or scrap what’s emerged & start again. And yet I’m always open to an honest & interesting conversation.