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DC Reade's avatar

All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace

I like to think (and

the sooner the better!)

of a cybernetic meadow

where mammals and computers

live together in mutually

programming harmony

like pure water

touching clear sky.

I like to think

(right now, please!)

of a cybernetic forest

filled with pines and electronics

where deer stroll peacefully

past computers

as if they were flowers

with spinning blossoms.

I like to think

(it has to be!)

of a cybernetic ecology

where we are free of our labors

and joined back to nature,

returned to our mammal

brothers and sisters,

and all watched over

by machines of loving grace.

by Richard Brautigan, who walked those same Big Sur trails. That original vision, in all of its naive purity. Dancing down the hallways of time, from CE 1967.

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Ray Hecht's avatar

Sadly, that vision didn't really work out very much

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DC Reade's avatar

It isn't over yet. Stop being negative. There's no payoff to it.

There's a crucial difference between "impossible" and "difficult." For that matter, I notice waay too many people confusing "impossible" with "not effortless."

Just in general: beware of premature certainty.

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Chris Mays's avatar

I remember well the pair of condors we saw at Esalen during your dream workshop. Years ago. Their dialog with a redwood not rigid enough to support them was amusing.

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Carlos S's avatar

I am on the Umpqua river this week and tonight, boondocking at high enough elevation that I caught a bar of cellular so could read this! Lambent.

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Irv's avatar

what a delight to experience the creative and sonorous tapestry of your writing. It is a gift for this pagan buddhist, who searches (in Pacific Grove) for words to give you thanx. To discover thru your words, there are those who experience the beingness of plants, their presence, resonance and unspoken vibe… gratitude arises. In the woods, forest and yes, even my backyard garden, the magick of touch, done with childish innocence, opens the heart, dissolves the scar tissue wrought by life’s struggles, renews the spirit and momentarily heals the worry about current conditions. Your writing is the equivalent of plant medicine. May you live long and well.

🙏💕🌎

ib

(see IB Reflections on substack. Forever free)

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