tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4497531321890746707.post6307947626177741951..comments2024-01-31T15:10:55.111+00:00Comments on Transition Quaker: The Agricultural MindCraig Barnetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16201061939693242954noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4497531321890746707.post-22843145691971729642014-09-15T16:03:37.449+01:002014-09-15T16:03:37.449+01:00This cropped up on Facebook today http://www.huffi...This cropped up on Facebook today http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jenna-woginrich/let-your-children-be-farmers_b_5674640.htmlRay Lovegrovehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01741025951408554324noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4497531321890746707.post-11317394520209112192014-06-07T14:01:41.089+01:002014-06-07T14:01:41.089+01:00Thank you for this Gordon, which is so eloquently ...Thank you for this Gordon, which is so eloquently expressed. I would love to see some of the things you have made some time too.<br />In Friendship,<br />CraigCraig Barnetthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16201061939693242954noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4497531321890746707.post-52540853080132759552014-06-07T13:59:22.271+01:002014-06-07T13:59:22.271+01:00Thanks Susie, I am sure you are right. Engineering...Thanks Susie, I am sure you are right. Engineering was once a prestigious occupation, and perhaps it will become so again, if we rediscover the importance of making things that serve real needs.<br />In Friendship,<br />CraigCraig Barnetthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16201061939693242954noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4497531321890746707.post-68261687451552223862014-06-05T13:42:27.167+01:002014-06-05T13:42:27.167+01:00My Dad was a Baker and a Handyman. We had a well-t...My Dad was a Baker and a Handyman. We had a well-tooled shed. I knew the difference between a screwdriver and a bradawl by the age of five. My education was arts, science and a little sport. Only when I became apprenticed to a Blacksmith aged 29 did I gain any craft / practical experience of materials and tools as an adult. Books are great, but the stuff we need isn't in them. Are Quakers in danger of living for the (recorded) minute rather than the moment?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04979252664786286141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4497531321890746707.post-65148228897960385442014-06-04T19:06:36.881+01:002014-06-04T19:06:36.881+01:00I am the son of a journeyman maintenance fitter (a...I am the son of a journeyman maintenance fitter (apprenticeship served in the Glasgow shipyards), and my brother is a journeyman maintenance fitter - who served one of the last 'proper' apprenticeships offered in this country, in the 1970s. I have the same genes. <br />I was the first person in my family to go to university, and everyone thought that an academic education was superior. It is not, as Craig has discovered. But in the Scottish equivalent of the sixth form, our new enlightened headmaster offered those of us who didn't like games the chance to do woodwork and metalwork - our school was a 'country grammar' so all levels of education were offered. Our elderly skilled teacher enjoyed having a small class of motivated pupils. I took to the class like a duck to water. I made a wooden box for the hi-fi amplifier which I made at home from individual components. I still have it. <br />My university degree got me into computer programming, but the content of the degree, even though it was applied mathematics and computer science, being academic, was ignored. Software Engineering is highly practical and I forged a career as essentially a software maintenance engineer, applying exactly the same skills as my father and brother. But it lacks physical engagement, and I always needed to get into the workshop to compensate. <br />It is this down-to-earth practical problem solving mindset that attracted me to Quakers - theological dogma and doctrine in other churches left me cold. Quakers have been said to practice 'practical mysticism', but 'mysticism' is a slippery word, and it seems to me that many Quakers are using the word to refer to some other world, the awareness of which is found in silent contemplation, in the hermit's cave, on the mountain top, but certainly not in the soil and the workshop with their dirt and hard edges.<br />I agree with Evelyn Underhill's definition (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Practical_Mysticism): 'Mysticism is the art of union with Reality' – but there is only one reality, and it is the one we are in, but usually perceive 'through a glass, darkly'. <br />The person with an 'agricultural mind' (or the mind of the craftsperson, for it is found no less in the forge and factory workshop) knows this mysticism instinctively.Gordon Fergusonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06021696929176035226noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4497531321890746707.post-84591534053873921532014-06-04T12:37:10.559+01:002014-06-04T12:37:10.559+01:00Engineers! I think myself fortunate to be the daug...Engineers! I think myself fortunate to be the daughter of an engineer and the wife of one. My father was of very philosophical bent, but strove all his life to blend his understanding of the material world with this. I inherited a great respect for things and the way machines work, and the beauty of physics. Our culure undervalues engineers.Susie Tombshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01824816166048233407noreply@blogger.com