That was a great interview, full of wisdom, determination and love. I've been following Max for a while on Substack but having missed your first interview with him this was my first opportunity to get to see the person in the round.
I had a visceral response to the discussion around dominance and extraction and the word 'restraint' kept echoing round my head. It feels like the world is in crisis because we have not been able to practice restraint. The cult of competition has come to dominate the world and the mantra of 'what ever it takes' has become a virtue in the effort to be the first. The concept of being the best has been bastardised to mean the most profitable and the industrial rape of the planet and people the price those in power have been most willing to pay.
The question of violence has long been a no-go zone for me. I have been ever-willing to negate myself to avoid conflict and felt that I could never inflict violence on anyone else. There are, of course, good reasons why I adopted that strategy but the cracks have been appearing in recent years. Max's story of the mountain communities in Pakistan and their need to defend and enforce boundaries began to make sense to me and the clincher was that line about knowing when to put the weapons down. Restraint. To understand when to move forward and when to hold back.
Coupled with living with imperfection I reckon we could go a long way with those ideas.
Thanks, Leaf. I confess to feeling really frustrated that much of the community around us do not seem to see the need to prepare for the slide into gradual collapse which to me seems so inevitable. I am struggling to keep a not-for-profit in business that works in the community both to support people in growing more (or at all) and using this as a therapeutic medium for those who suffer from anxiety, depression and loneliness. I'm not a born leader but I find myself in that position without much support and constantly questioning whether this is what I should be doing. The urge to throw in the towel is so strong sometimes but connecting usually pulls me back.
Another deeply nourishing, necessarily provocative conversation. I listened in the middle of the night and it is not a metaphor that the first light of the day emerges as I type this comment. The conversation in its delicious meandering illuminates so much. Rachel, your work that platforms the work of so many people I might otherwise miss, enlarges and inspires possibilities that ignite imagination.
I feel Rilke’s line from The Book of Hours, voicing God: “Go to the limits of your longing. Embody me. Flare up like a flame and make big shadows I can move in.”
That was a great interview, full of wisdom, determination and love. I've been following Max for a while on Substack but having missed your first interview with him this was my first opportunity to get to see the person in the round.
I had a visceral response to the discussion around dominance and extraction and the word 'restraint' kept echoing round my head. It feels like the world is in crisis because we have not been able to practice restraint. The cult of competition has come to dominate the world and the mantra of 'what ever it takes' has become a virtue in the effort to be the first. The concept of being the best has been bastardised to mean the most profitable and the industrial rape of the planet and people the price those in power have been most willing to pay.
The question of violence has long been a no-go zone for me. I have been ever-willing to negate myself to avoid conflict and felt that I could never inflict violence on anyone else. There are, of course, good reasons why I adopted that strategy but the cracks have been appearing in recent years. Max's story of the mountain communities in Pakistan and their need to defend and enforce boundaries began to make sense to me and the clincher was that line about knowing when to put the weapons down. Restraint. To understand when to move forward and when to hold back.
Coupled with living with imperfection I reckon we could go a long way with those ideas.
I resonate with your comments, Richard. Especially about violence and Max’s story.
Thanks, Leaf. I confess to feeling really frustrated that much of the community around us do not seem to see the need to prepare for the slide into gradual collapse which to me seems so inevitable. I am struggling to keep a not-for-profit in business that works in the community both to support people in growing more (or at all) and using this as a therapeutic medium for those who suffer from anxiety, depression and loneliness. I'm not a born leader but I find myself in that position without much support and constantly questioning whether this is what I should be doing. The urge to throw in the towel is so strong sometimes but connecting usually pulls me back.
Another deeply nourishing, necessarily provocative conversation. I listened in the middle of the night and it is not a metaphor that the first light of the day emerges as I type this comment. The conversation in its delicious meandering illuminates so much. Rachel, your work that platforms the work of so many people I might otherwise miss, enlarges and inspires possibilities that ignite imagination.
I feel Rilke’s line from The Book of Hours, voicing God: “Go to the limits of your longing. Embody me. Flare up like a flame and make big shadows I can move in.”
We are called to do nothing less.