…danger and unpredictability [are not]
in themselves evil.
Human cultures that demonize
death or pain or sickness are thus
less able to deal with the bitter side of nature,
with intoxications;
and they make themselves doubly sick.

The Buddha taught that all life is suffering.
We might also say that life,
both attractive and constantly dangerous,
is intoxicating
and ultimate toxic…

All organic life is struck by arrows
of real and psychic poisons.

Gary Snyder’s forward to Pharmako/Poeia by Dale Pendell

I purchased two copies of the same book this morning. The book by Dale Pendell is about plants and everything else. The “everything else” is another metaphor for philosophy. Pendell compiles traditional and folk knowledge of plants as a lens for understanding the metaphysical, epistemic, and moral dimensions of the life that we have.

I purchased one copy of Pendell’s book for myself, the other is for a good friend, a retired pharmacist.

I was reminded as I read the forward authored by Gary Snyder that the Christian tradition resists the notion that life as life, is comprised of a toxic dimension. To say it differently, according to a certain interpretation of the Genesis myth, life as life, is mortally flawed, damaged by an act of disobedience. The 21st century American way of life is haunted, self-deluded, fleeing from awareness – we drown ourselves in consumption, in spectacle, in demonizing someone else for our unhappiness.

There’s nothing, nothing at all wrong with this life. Life as life is hazardous, rich with risk, and that, that is nothing evil.

Snyder also writes:

Cupid shoots an arrow that strikes and changes you forever; love is toxic. “Toxic” comes from toxicon, the root meaning of a poisoned arrow.

Are you thinking of a song? There’s a reason for so many love songs. Here’s one by Nazareth that I really like: Love Hurts. The video is stunning!