tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post1240099694090825083..comments2024-02-11T19:28:27.997+11:00Comments on Personal Reflections: The emotional power of the Aboriginal connectionJim Belshawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post-89173131496499849832008-02-16T10:48:00.000+11:002008-02-16T10:48:00.000+11:00Anon, I think that you have an important point her...Anon, I think that you have an important point here, although there are elements that I am not sure about and I think that you also mix things a bit together. Maybe I will in this reply as well!<BR/><BR/>I agree with your point about our tendency to compartmentalise instead of seeing things, as the traditional Aborigines did, more as a seamless whole. <BR/><BR/>I also think that you have made an interesting point, one that I had not thought about before, re the division in European thought. <BR/><BR/>Now, and this is addressed to Neil as well as Anon,at a personal level I have a very strong - some might say - obsessive sense of country. It colours my writing and most things I do.<BR/><BR/>The reason why I have written so much about the Aborigines is that I see linkages between the two concepts of country. This is the real emotional power. I want to see an integration of the two.<BR/><BR/>I see problems in this. If, Neil, you look at our respective writings, you will see that our sense of country differs.You have commented on our different worlds, and this is true.<BR/><BR/>How to merge all this is a problem. But I think, however unclearly, that the emotional feel is important.Jim Belshawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post-38704449289963638062008-02-15T04:58:00.000+11:002008-02-15T04:58:00.000+11:00Neil, I think that you misread me, so I have added...Neil, I think that you misread me, so I have added the following clarification:<BR/><BR/>"I need to clarify this point because Neil in a comment (see below) misread me. I am not suggesting that the Aborigines do not understand their own connection with country. My point is that that they do, and that connection can have very strong resonance among those in the non-Aboriginal commmunity who also have a connection to country.<BR/><BR/>I am using the word country here in two different senses; one in the sense of the continent and nation, the second in the context of specific locations and areas."<BR/><BR/>Both, I will respond tonight. I am running another workshop today and have to complete the workbook.<BR/><BR/>I think that a key point is that I am trying to tease out something a little new in this post,so will use my response to try to clarify and extend.Jim Belshawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post-41070616863437930532008-02-15T00:02:00.000+11:002008-02-15T00:02:00.000+11:00No, the real problem is we dont see the landscape ...No, the real problem is we dont see the landscape through aboriginal eyes simply because we compartmentalise and categorize everything we see. The emotion is in the landscape; sacred sites, tribal burial geounds, battle grounds, areas set aside for women's business, men's business, sorry business etc. In medieval times, we had this ability to 'see' but the age of 'I think, therefore I am,the invisible hand, and the origin of the species kicked in. Thus, in a subtle way, we became programmed to believe that we were superior. Why then that we in our white 'superior' western skins and with all the 'superior' knowledge and technology we have today, is there a rush to lower greehouse gas emissions,save fauna and wild life, accumulate wealth wihin our very limited life span of 70-80 years. Shouldnt we be doing something more constructive like learning to 'see' through Aboriginal eyes. maybe then, we will learn what true emotion is.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post-17790844350726074312008-02-14T22:26:00.000+11:002008-02-14T22:26:00.000+11:00I think that very few Aborigines actually understa...<I>I think that very few Aborigines actually understand the emotional power of their history and connection to the landscape.</I> That's interesting, Jim; I must have been lucky in the Aboriginal people I have met or heard, because just about every idea I have on that score has come from conversations with Aboriginal people, or through listening in larger groups! From Burnum Burnum (who my nephew knew personally), through Kristina and the people I met through her, through Boori Pryor, through that young man I mentioned a while back with whom I had that amazing conversation in Redfern... Indirectly too through Malcolm. And so on. Perhaps we don't listen?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com