Edward Abbey

Bachman's Ivory

Bachman's Ivory

Explorer
Oct 27, 2009
278
29
39
Hazlet, Monmouth County, NJ
Anyone else in here fans of Edward Abbeys writing? He was an American author noted for his advocacy of environmental issues and criticism of public land policies. I adore his words. If you want to learn more about him here are some links.
http://www.abbeyweb.net/
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edward_Abbey

A few selections...

"Imagine the rare, almost-forgotten pleasure of dipping a cup into a river- not a stream but a river- and drinking the water at once, without hesitation, without fear."

"I am not alone after all. Three ravens are wheeling near the balanced rock, squawking at each other and at the dawn. I'm sure they're as delighted by the return of the sun as I am and I wish I knew the language. I'd sooner exchange ideas with the birds on earth than learn to carry on intergalactic communications with some obscure race of humanoids on a satellite planet from the world of Betelgeuse."

"Belief? What do I believe in? I believe in sun. In rock. In the dogma of the sun and the doctrine of the rock. I believe in blood, fire, woman, rivers, eagles, storm, drums, flutes, banjos and broom-tailed horses..."

"One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am — a reluctant enthusiast... a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards."

"According to the current doctrines of mysticoscientism, we human animals are really and actually nothing but 'organic patterns of nodular energy composed of collocations of infinitesimal points oscillating on the multi-dimensional coordinates of the space-time continuum'. I'll have to think about that. Sometime. Meantime, I'm going to gnaw on this sparerib, drink my Blatz beer, and contemplate the a posteriori coordinates of that young blonde over yonder, the one in the tennis skirt, tying her shoelaces."

Ah yes.
 
Piney Boy

Piney Boy

Explorer
Sep 19, 2005
365
1
Williamstown, NJ
Huge Abbey fan here. From Desert Solitaire to the Monkey Wrench Gang. Over the years I've touched on most all of his works and never leave a page unturned. His work always helps evoke my deepest feelings on human nature and wildness.


"May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.” Abbey at his best
 
Piney Boy

Piney Boy

Explorer
Sep 19, 2005
365
1
Williamstown, NJ
Bachman's Ivory said:
Amen Piney Boy. I've only read Desert Solitaire so far. I plan to change that shortly.
Click to expand...


How exciting, nothing like finding an author who reaches you, happy reading!

At the top of my Abbey list I'd put;

Desert Solitaire
Appalachian Wilderness
The Monkey Wrench Gang
Hay Duke Lives
The Fools Progress
Confessions of a barbarian
& his poetry, came seem to recall the name.......perhaps Earth apples...maybe.
 
Piney Boy

Piney Boy

Explorer
Sep 19, 2005
365
1
Williamstown, NJ
For all of you dirt Pagans out there :rolleyes:
Manifesto:
The Mad Farmer Liberation Front

by Wendell Berry

Love the quick profit, the annual raise,
vacation with pay. Want more
of everything ready-made. Be afraid
to know your neighbors and to die.
And you will have a window in your head.
Not even your future will be a mystery
any more. Your mind will be punched in a card
and shut away in a little drawer.
When they want you to buy something
they will call you. When they want you
to die for profit they will let you know.

So, friends, every day do something
that won't compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.
Denounce the government and embrace
the flag. Hope to live in that free
republic for which it stands.
Give your approval to all you cannot
understand. Praise ignorance, for what man
has not encountered he has not destroyed.

Ask the questions that have no answers.
Invest in the millenium. Plant sequoias.
Say that your main crop is the forest
that you did not plant,
that you will not live to harvest.
Say that the leaves are harvested
when they have rotted into the mold.
Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.

Put your faith in the two inches of humus
that will build under the trees
every thousand years.
Listen to carrion - put your ear
close, and hear the faint chattering
of the songs that are to come.
Expect the end of the world. Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.
So long as women do not go cheap
for power, please women more than men.
Ask yourself: Will this satisfy
a woman satisfied to bear a child?
Will this disturb the sleep
of a woman near to giving birth?

Go with your love to the fields.
Lie down in the shade. Rest your head
in her lap. Swear allegiance
to what is nighest your thoughts.
As soon as the generals and the politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it. Leave it as a sign
to mark the false trail, the way
you didn't go. Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection.
 
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