DR. HUSTON SMITH

(Photo by Marty Sachs)

Smith Ties Taoism, Ecclogy

by Blll Knecht

The Realm of the Great In-
finite was the subject of this
year‘s Gates Lectures, enr
titled "Tao Now: An Ecologi-
cal Testament," delivered by
Dr. Huston Smith, professor
of philosophy at M.I.T.

Smith used the subject of
ecology as a means of reali-
zing fundamental differences
between Eastern and Western
Attitudes regarding Nature.
Through these attitudinal dif-
ferences, he was able to point
out differences in perception
of Reality and the meaning of
its manifestations. Eypointing
out these perceptual different
ces, he was able to largely
explain the disastrous effects
men have had upon their en-
vironment and to offer some
suggestions for the remaking
of our sttitudes, our pcrceptr
ions and our behaviors.

Smith's firSt lecture was ens
titled ”Technology as World
Stance,” and he undertook to
explain the character of Wes
tern attitudes toward Nature.
Western attitudes, says Smith,
center around the prevalence
of reason and empirical, ob
jective thought. Nature has

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VOL. LXXIX NO. 12

FEBRUARY19, 1971

anal black

GRINNELL, IOWA 50112

Fulk To Give Rosenfield lectures

Richard Falk, professor of
international law at Princeton
University, will deliver the
Rosenfield Lectures Monday
at 8 p.m. and Tuesday at 4
p.m. in Roberts Theater.

Falk has written six books
and edited four more. They
include six on international
law: “Law, War and Morality
in the‘Contemporary World”,
”Security in Disarmament",
“The Strategy of World Or»

‘Cocktnil Party’

"The Cocktail Party,"aplay
by T.S. Eliot, will open Wed-
nesday night at 8p.m. in Arena
Theater. The play, which has
been called a moral comedy,
will be produced in horseshoe-
type arena (3/4 round)andhas
been shortened for the Grinr
nell production.

Ned Donahue, director of the
production, saidthatthemajor
problem of the play is decid-
ing whether it is a comedy or
a morality play. The play will
be produced in two acts witha
coda (following the secondact)
replacing Eliot's third act.
Donahoe says, "This is not
because we think Eloit is a
bad poet, but because he’s a
little wordy at times. The coda
’is essentially a summingup."

The set will have a minimum
of props, Donahoe said, be-
cause "there‘s no use in clut-
tering up the space we have
with a lot of junk.“ The set
uses dividers which add some
color, as do a group of cont
temporary abstracts hanging
of the back wall. Donahoe
hopes the addition of color to
the set willprevent LhCatmDS’
phere from becoming too de-
pressing.

Cast members include Rob
Sackett, Blake Blakesly, Jule

der", "Neutralization and
World Politics” and "The
Vietnam Warand International
Law”.

Falk’s lectures here will
deal with the background and
a proposed resolution of the
Mid-East Crisi He will also
lead a discussion in the South
Lounge at it) a.m. Tuesday on
international controls and the
envtronment. The last sched~
uled event will be an informal

Opens Feb. 24

Kagan, Bob Simmons, Jenny
Gordon, David Gaines, and
Wendy Neustadt.

Performances are at 8 a.m.
February 24, 25, and 26, and
at 2:30 and 8 p.m. Sunday,
February 27; all perform~
ances are in Arena Theater.

leo Kottlte
Here Saturday

This Saturday night, Grinnell
will play host to Leo Kottke,
a folk guitarist from Minnear
polis. Leo, 26 years old,plays
both SlXandEWelVe’Stringgui‘
tar. He has two records out,
the first a vocal album and
the other is all instrumental.
He was not too serious about
the quality of his music on his
first album, mainly because
of his voice. He says hisvoice
sounds like, "Geese farts on
a muggy day!!!” - However,
on his second album, he stuck
to just instrumental, and he
became much more serious
about his music. N01 much
more is known about Leo, so
make sure you are in the South
Lounge Saturday night and
meet the man shrouded in
mystery. Yes folk fans! Leo
Kottke is coming to Grinnelllll

discussion of the two lectures
in South Lounge at 8 pm. Tu-
esdayi

Falk is considered an expert
in the areas of the SoulhAfI‘i’
can and Southeast Asian con-
flicts and in war crimes, and
these areas are also expeCted
to be discussedduringhis stay
here.

The Rosenfield Lectureswe-
re established in 1934 by a
gift of the late Mrs. Meyer
Roscnfield of Des Moines for
the purpose of bringing to
campus outstanding spokes-
men for various aspects ofthe
international scene. Previous
lecturers have included Ralph
Bunche, Pierre Mendes -
France, and William 0. Doug
las.

become the standard of Real*
ity, from which all absolutes
come and toward which all
research is directed. WeStern
Man’s ultimate goal has be-
come control of Nature,whlch
is being somehow equatedwith
control over the Absolute. Olr
problems with pollution and
destruction ofthe environment
are a natural byproduct ofour
desire to control Nature. In
attempting to control it so
completely, we are destroying
it in the process. lna sense,
our actions are indicators of
the way in which we perceive
the universe.

The second lecture" ”Tech-
nogony: The Roots of’ our
Crisis”--compared and con-
trasted Western and Eastern
ideas of Nature and Self, in-
troducing Buddhist and Taoist
themes of the unity of all
things. Eastern philosophers
tell us that allnatural objects,
including ourselves, belong to
a single entity--the GreatSelf
"and are physicalmanifesta—
tions of it. Along with these
physical manifestations exist

spiritual manifesmtions, wh»
ich can be perceived to some
extent through thearts ofmed-
itation and ego~transcend~
ence.

The realization of the single-
ness of the Physical and the
Spiritual is the key to the
Taoist interpretation of the
meaning of Nature. Nature re-
presents the set of physical
manifestations of the Great
Self. As such, ithas greatsigr
nificance to our lives. To
abuse Nature is to abuse a
part of the Great Self and to
stray from enlightenment and
egOrloss. Enlightened ones
could not abuse Nature, for
they would realize that, all
things being one, they were
only abusing themselves in
the end. Thus, the way of the
Tao could do no other than
promote the general welfare
of Nature.

Such was the noxe ofthe third
lecture, "The DivineMilieu.”
Smith concluded that Western
approaches to the meaning of

(continued to page 2)

leggett To Open Debate
On Reorganization Scheme

The opening of discussion on

President Glenn Leggett‘s
reorganization plan will higlie
light Monday's faculty meet
ing in ARH Auditorium at
4:15.

President Leggett will pre-
side over the meeting, intro'
duce his plan along with a few
preparatory remarks, and
open the floor to discussion.

James Magee,associate pror
fessor of political science,
then hopes to embark upon a
major effort to raise the level
of debate to general substanr
tive issues.

"The faculty cannot afford
anather debate like the ones
on the Haveman Report, the
Betts Report and the require-
ments issue,” Magee said. He
is hopeful that a large number
of concerned studentsand fac-
ulty will turn out and that he
can be successful in urging
people away from the petty
procedural leval of debate.

Magee believes that the un-
derlying problem with deci-
sion-making at the college is
attitudinal, not structural. He
plans to analyze the sociology
of the college community to
bring out the underlyingsourr
ces of the malaise that per-
vades the campus - including
the pessimism the faculty
feels about being involved in
the decisionr making process.
He hopes to show why decis-

ions are made the way they
are and “the likely disastrous
consequences" of continuing
in this manner.

Magee plans to propose a
structural design to helpalle-
viate the attitudinal problem.
He hopes the faculty canagree
that the problem is one of
attitude and not of structure.
The new ”models" he will
propose have a new attitude
implicit in them, he feels.
His design won’t be complete
since he feels that details at
this point would be "inapprtr
priate and counterproduc-
tive". Components may be
added after the models are
agreed upon.

Student Elections

Elections for SGA, AWS and
CofHP presidents will be
March 1 for SGA president
and March 9 for the others,
the Student Coordinator‘s of-
fice has announced. A student
who is at least a second sem-
ester freshman and is not on
academic probation may run
for any of the three positions.

Ditto masters are available
in the coordinator's office
for the declarations of candi-
dacy which are due February
23 and March 4, respectively.

Candidates are advised that
salary determinations have
not been made as yet.

' - 1
DEPARTMENT AND DIVISIONAL CHAIRMEN gathered at a special meeting Monday to
hear Dean Joseph F. Wall discuss the finances of the college, our curriculum and staffing
situation, and a recent study of college applicants and enrollments. The study made
prOjections of future enrollments up to 1987i Prognosis: It will be more difficult in the
coming years to fill small private schools with qualified students, as a higher percentage
of future students will be going to public institutions than private ones.

(Photo by Barry Zigas)

 

