The Growth of Ideas

I find it interesting how one idea hatched on a continent far from here, then, not many years after being thoughtfully nurtured by a few people, it flew across many oceans. Its principles are now being considered inside my head, and my fingers are transmitting my interpretation of it.

What am I pondering in this moment? I’m thinking about the growth of ideas. I think it’s inspiring to read books, the flashes of brilliance from another creature’s brain. From what I can interpret, the dynamics between the co-originators of the permaculture concept is complex, and it seems they have both taken their own ideas and developed their own visions of permaculture.

This flexibility within permaculture is one of the reasons I am drawn to it. The principles that are taught can be considered to be universal, yet will change from place to place (or person to person), depending on the needs of the inhabitants, and even the physical limitations or strengths (depending on your perspective.) of the land (Holmgren, p. xxv).

I think one of the reasons Permaculture has been so successful is this flexibility to work within other cultures, and not impose an “Australian” worldview. Since the permaculture principles ideally start from within the person and their household, the embodiment of these principles has to be flexible, since there is no way to ethically control people and their decisions. It seems to me that once an idea finds its way into some other person, there is little we can do to control that idea. It will mix with the subjective inner weavings of the individual. Permaculture is grassroots; that is the way it began and spread, and I imagine it will continue in this way.

Permaculture does start from the bottom, and then works its way up. I like that personal decision to claim responsibility for your household’s actions (Holmgren p. xvi). I like that you can be a family anywhere in the world, and not feel hesitant to practice Permaculture, and that you can effect the larger systems, wherever you might be. There is so much empowerment in this concept.

I found it interesting that Bill Mollison thinks the original teachings are being diluted. I can’t imagine he didn’t perceive this would be impossible to prevent (I’d like to know how he views the word “dilute.”). If these principles were intended to be taken by individuals to be applied in their “place,” then of course new interpretations would evolve. I really appreciated David Holmgren’s response to this concern of dilution. He said, “I have always found the perception of dilution has to be balanced by the value of diversity even when, like weeds, it comes in forms we don’t particularly like” (Holmgren xxi).

At the same time I wonder how I would feel to see people taking the product of my convictions in directions I would have never chosen. I hope I would respond more like Holmgren. I think its neat how other people (even other disciplines) can take permaculture principles and possibly develop a new perspective. I wouldn’t consider these “weeds,” they are one of the principles of Permaculture: the “value of diversity.”