Canadian documentary ‘Examined Life’ -which I haven’t seen the full version of- features a nest of contemporary thinkers, including the occasionally controversial Slavoj Zizek. In this short clip, he puts his mind to ecological ideology, to unexpected ends, where he posits that contemporary society must infact sever its connection with Nature, and instead develop its Artificiality instead, an abstract materialism, which he then challenges to arrive at poetry, spiritualism and love, a love for Earth which embraces its flaws, and ours. Worth chatting about…
I’m down with that. Its Urbanism 101 right? Smaller, denser cities (more artificial). It’s Anti-Auckland
Interesting… I have to say it is hard to follow his logic. I like his comparison of our idealisation of nature with being in love with someone – that if you really love someone then you accept them with all their flaws and that we need to love rubbish just as much as the beautiful things in nature. For sure.
He talks about the concept of a balanced ecosystem being our contemporary religion. That we are idealising nature and not realy engaging with it.
That is fair. We should try and accept both the beauty and the challenges that come with living within an ecosystem. That doesn’t seem like a path toward artificiality…