Louise Macdonald / Logic versus Emotion
Suffering from a real sense of frustration as I write this, which I’m not sure is the best state of mind to be writing a blog, but anyway…
I think I’m picking this up elsewhere in other people’s blogs, and maybe this is all “part of the process”, but the frustrations are multi-layered for me at the moment. A list might be in order, as cogent sentences are tricky right now:
1. It this all just a bunch of middle-class, indulgent nonsense? It’s definitely felt like that sometimes - particularly the look on some people’s faces when you try to explain. I’ve certainly failed in trying to explain it to my hairdresser… a story for another blog…
2. How do you move this beyond a small group of individuals who have had incredibly transformative experiences through their personal encounters with nature, to something which makes mass impact? That really was on my mind as I raced along the street in the pouring rain the other day, caught short in my reveries of the rain on the solo day in beautiful Knoydart by the sight of a homeless man, sat outside a shop, resigned as the downpour fell on him. I bet it’s unlikely he finds beauty anywhere, and that makes my heart hurt.
3. Language, language, language - the communications bit is driving me crazy (which I suppose you’d expect from an ex-tabloid hack). Thinking that if I’m going to take my responsibilities to this project seriously, I need to get more informed, I went to an event on climate change. It was completely and absolutely impenetrable. No wonder people retreat to recycled bags and energy-saving lightbulbs, it’s a darn sight easier. I was left feeling stupid (and I’m not, I’m a smart person - not academic - but smart) - by all the language and theories. But when I spoke to someone after it, they were dismissive, vehemently saying that the ubiquitous “Top 10″ recycling tips just aren’t enough to save us. Which left me thinking: “Well, if they aren’t, someone’s going to have to find a new way of making this accessible” - and, as Dave’s recent post http://www.naturalchange.org.uk/dave-key/dont-despair/ points out, making people feel like the end of the world is nigh ‘aint gonna cut it.
4. Lastly to the title of this post - logic versus emotion. This is how it feels - the logical arguements overwhelming the emotion. I still feel the experience of that first weekend so strongly -I’ve not lost it, despite the “blankets” of daily life - but it does feel, if not diminished, then not powerful enough, on it’s own, to change things. And yet…what the people who have responded to these blogs have shown, it is the emotional side of things which touches them, which moves them: comments on personal testimony, on pictures, on poetry, are clear enough signs of that. Is that the path to natural change? But how does that sit with the arguements over scale of response?
I’m drifting into territory I don’t yet know how to express. There is no neat conclusion to this blog for me - just a jumble of questions - but maybe you have some thoughts you want to share?
There are 5 comments on Logic versus Emotion:
Incredible - not just me then - amazing how this is all coming through in our blogs.
November 1st, 2008 at 3:15 pmThank you for letting me know I am not alone!
Louise: I found your blog incredibly stimulating and very salient to the current impasse in working out ‘what next’ for changing people’s behaviour towards their environment.
I think it is indeed all about emotions. About creating a new language and a new culture where emotions are given equal weight to logic. Emotion is, after all, the larger part of human experience and the thing that effects our behaviour most profoundly.
The other issue was social justice. Is ‘wilderness work’ just a middle-class privileged. Well yes, I think it could be. The point is that Natural Change is about catalysing leadership for change, and most people in positions of power are, in fact, middle-class and privileged.
Wilderness work is also a tragic commons - if everyone in Scotland decided to do a Natural Change programme, their would be nothing wild out there left! Again, the point is about ‘using’ (yuk) wild places carefully and strategically to influence those who themselves have influence. This is how John Muir started the global National Park movement - he took Roosevelt camping!
So maybe it’s logic AND emotion? Maybe it’s about balance.
November 1st, 2008 at 4:31 pmI think it often feels, and is easy to wrap yourself up in, a ‘middle class’ comfort blanket of feeling WE are doing our bit, and WE can’t understand why the rest of the world doesn’t get it to the same level of understanding and commitment as US. I think Dave is right. It is about leadership, but while i agree that power often is sited in those of middle class and above, everyone we meet has some part to play and i defy anyone not to be moved by the beauty of nature when it presents itself whenever that right moment is. The man in the rain and perhaps your hairdresser weren’t in the right moment, but those who can lead, show, share, celebrate what is good, powerful, beautiful in our world to everyone, then perhaps those moments will become more frequent, and the need for us all to do our bit to protect them become stronger.
November 4th, 2008 at 2:03 pmIt doesn’t have to be middle class and it depends on your definition of wilderness. A sense of place can be found in the most unexpected of environments. A friend was telling me about a friend who (from what I could gather) does eco-therapy/solo work with kids in the Bronx. My friend has forwarded the naturalchange details to this woman so I really hope she visits the site and lets us know what she’s been doing and what she feels about the middle class aspect of it all
November 5th, 2008 at 5:41 pmits weird isn’t it - you’re right emily, at the end of the day its nothing to do with ‘class’ its about your response to wilderness, where you find that sense of place and how you respond to and express your thoughts about it. Maybe we just explain our response to wilderness in different ways - as many different ways to the number of people there are. Another version is buttoned up Scots who don’t always explore or share what they think, unlike liberated Californians (to use a cliche) who express it all! And before you all shout at me - yes i know there are lots of Scots who can express what they feel about wilderness/beauty etc…. it’s just a passing thought, a reflection, and a note to self not to take myself so seriously!
November 5th, 2008 at 10:58 pmComment on this post...