This post continues the exploration of the qualities of kinship with Country explored in Seeing, feeling, and hearing the world; and of Tyson Yunkaporta’s suggestion in Sand Talk, ‘The assistance people need is not learning about Aboriginal Knowledge but in remembering their own.’
Thank you for this post. Ages ago I read Thomas Merton's "The Wisdom of the Desert: Sayings of the Desert Fathers" which left me as a thirty-something year old somewhat lost. With your article today, I feel encouraged to re-read Merton's book with a deeper insight as to what they were all about.
Yes, and as a lapsed Protestant Christian I became fascinated by the complex theology that lies behind notions of The Word and other themes that in my upbringing we took quite literally. Good luck with Merton!
Thank you. I'm less lapsed and more a survivor of (evangelical) protestant Christianity - and it's taken about three decades to unravel - well, still unravelling. And in the past I then found more a home with either the Mennonites (social action) or Quakers (sitting quietly, pacifism, and a different kind of social action). But with "Nature worship" having been brutally exterminated by the Catholic church in bygone centuries, in the end I could have nothing more to do with Christianity.
Panpsychism (which you have introduced me to) resonates well in my soul because it goes far beyond mere 'respect for Nature' or 'we like Nature because it has utility value', and takes it to deep connection with divine source by communicating with Nature (if I've understood at least one aspect of it). The river is very low at this time of year, the birds are quieter, the slow change to Autumn (still 30degC with high fire risk), the absence of rain for three months, the harvesting of so much fruit (dehydrated as fruit-leather) all speak to me communication by a living essence.
The guidance in your writing is greatly appreciated. Indeed, it is life-changing.
(I have tracked down a copy of Geoffrey Moorhouse's book, Sun Dancing. So I will soon be reading it. And I recommend Robert L Harris's memoir, Returning Light: 30 Years of Life on Skellig Michael.)
This is beautiful and I totally agree about the apparent need for a contemplative practice that mourns the destruction of our world while also cracking open our hearts to love for it — thanks for sharing!
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Thank you for this post. Ages ago I read Thomas Merton's "The Wisdom of the Desert: Sayings of the Desert Fathers" which left me as a thirty-something year old somewhat lost. With your article today, I feel encouraged to re-read Merton's book with a deeper insight as to what they were all about.
Yes, and as a lapsed Protestant Christian I became fascinated by the complex theology that lies behind notions of The Word and other themes that in my upbringing we took quite literally. Good luck with Merton!
Thank you. I'm less lapsed and more a survivor of (evangelical) protestant Christianity - and it's taken about three decades to unravel - well, still unravelling. And in the past I then found more a home with either the Mennonites (social action) or Quakers (sitting quietly, pacifism, and a different kind of social action). But with "Nature worship" having been brutally exterminated by the Catholic church in bygone centuries, in the end I could have nothing more to do with Christianity.
Panpsychism (which you have introduced me to) resonates well in my soul because it goes far beyond mere 'respect for Nature' or 'we like Nature because it has utility value', and takes it to deep connection with divine source by communicating with Nature (if I've understood at least one aspect of it). The river is very low at this time of year, the birds are quieter, the slow change to Autumn (still 30degC with high fire risk), the absence of rain for three months, the harvesting of so much fruit (dehydrated as fruit-leather) all speak to me communication by a living essence.
The guidance in your writing is greatly appreciated. Indeed, it is life-changing.
(I have tracked down a copy of Geoffrey Moorhouse's book, Sun Dancing. So I will soon be reading it. And I recommend Robert L Harris's memoir, Returning Light: 30 Years of Life on Skellig Michael.)
Thank you for your kind comment. I will keep an eye out for the Harris book. Those rocks are amazing!
This is beautiful and I totally agree about the apparent need for a contemplative practice that mourns the destruction of our world while also cracking open our hearts to love for it — thanks for sharing!