Hi Ray:
>Ray here:
>I assume that you meant in your last sentence that: "Lots of persons live
>like hermits and do *not* commit crimes like his."  I am sensitive here
>because, in my old age, I have found that the reclusive lifestyle is for me
>most conducive to an attempt to reach the "good life".

Yes of course Ray. I made a typo, that  *not* was supposed to be there. Of
course. I live a reclusive life as well. Hardly get out any more. Like it
too much at home. I can spend five days at a time in the woods and not see a
person and be perfectly content. 

One of the hazards of having a PhD is that - in the opinion of my friend who
has a PhD in Malacology (study of sea shells or something) is risk of
narrowness in expertise. Some people with PhDs may only really know  the
tomato plant, a PHd specializing in 'pomology' and never learn much else.
This is acutely a problem with persons who get training in an applied
science, migrate to a job, do only one thing, and thus as Jung says reach
middle aged and develop into the persona of the job description. That is to
say, the whole 'weltanschaung' of the person is founded on the applied
science. For instance some foresters see 'old growth' as decaying, oxygen
consuming wood going to waste. But this is false. This is a pure value
statement from a biological perspective because the Old Growth forest has
vastly more species and biomass of those species on average than a managed
young forest. The forester sometimes can also never come to experience the
'values' that the conservationist understands, will relegate those values to
a status of a 'constraint' against his or her values. 

I was once in the forest with a group and we were touring to see some
recreational lakes and how they were being managed. I was standing there
listening and one person said: "I would like to shoot that osprey flying"
overhead. I was shocked. It was a forester. I asked him why? He said that
well it was going to eat his fish and his childrens. I told him that that
osprey eats fish granted, but that osprey is here because of men. These
lakes were stocked by men about 50 years ago with trout. And therefore if
you are really concerned about the fish being taken by the osprey, then you
should stop stocking the lakes. 

Well his mouth just about dropped to the ground. He thought that the fish
were always there. There is a big waterfall there preventing the fish from
swimming into the lakes. So I explained to all that the lakes here, some 100
lakes all had been stocked by man. Therefore all the loons here, all the
mergansers, etc, all the fish eating birds here that overwinter in Mexico,
and Central America have a place to go and breed. People also hunt the
mergansers for food, and so on. 

To stop the birds from eating fish would be an impossible task. And what
good would it do to enjoy the fishing afterward. 

To me that statement was sacrireligious. I lost my respect for the guy. The
osprey is so wonderful. 




>Seems to me that that principal still has much power of explanation.
>
>Ray
>-----
>
>
>



%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%