OMG! I loved The Overstory and similarly found it love changing in that I look at a trees completely differently, as wise old friends. I notice them and care for them and grieve for each one lost in our neighbourhood whether due to development or erosion or climate change such as this summer’s drought and intense heat. I have also read many of the same books and many about the magical mycelium that also lies magically beneath us.
I often wondered if the Overstory was the inspiration for the Understory. I am thankful for both.
Every time I read your parting comment “go forth and make a difference this week” I am in awe of how much you make a difference through education and reach and the complex discussion. Maybe that is a good place for all of us to start. And maybe this book is just one of the many catalysts to the movement. The more people we can convert, the closer we will get to action.
Yes to this: "what is most needed in our current moment is a bridge across cultural divides whose span takes us from the shores of unfettered capitalism, imperialism, and growth to the far shore of atonement, interconnectedness, and sufficiency. " Thank you as always for such eloquent and evocative writing, and for the clarion call for each of us to engage as deeply as we may be capable in these questions and this conscious evolutionary journey.
My current read is Glenn Edney's The Ocean Is Alive. Having listened to his interview on Manda Scott's excellent Accidental Gods podcast ( https://accidentalgods.life/the-ocean-is-alive/ ), I hunted up the book and have spent two weekends absorbing his extraordinary weaving of the breath and circulation of our very planet herself. Another exemplary human in the circle of Schumacher College, he works from the Gaia hypothesis and all that it implies, while also assembling and contributing rich additional data to continue support for that hypothesis - through both detailed scientific observation and through direct experience of that observer.
What he told me yesterday in our conversation left me considering each of our roles. He had been speaking with Master Herbalist Stephen Harold Buhner about the strains of trying to bridge the gap between his experience and vision of Gaia, and those who have yet to grasp that reality. Buhner said, simply: "You can choose to be a bridge if you want. But the problem with being a bridge is that you are there in the middle, carrying a burden, and that burden can get heavier and heavier until you collapse. But you have already heard the gorgeous choir singing on the other shore. Why not join that choir, add your voice to that choir. In that case, your only job is to insure that your voice raises the beauty and volume of the call. Those who are open to that call will find their way to the other shore."
Here's to those, like you Adam, who act in some ways in both capacities. We dash back and forth, singing mightily on the other shore at times, while also coming back and guiding the way with torches in the darkness.
OMG! I loved The Overstory and similarly found it love changing in that I look at a trees completely differently, as wise old friends. I notice them and care for them and grieve for each one lost in our neighbourhood whether due to development or erosion or climate change such as this summer’s drought and intense heat. I have also read many of the same books and many about the magical mycelium that also lies magically beneath us.
I often wondered if the Overstory was the inspiration for the Understory. I am thankful for both.
Every time I read your parting comment “go forth and make a difference this week” I am in awe of how much you make a difference through education and reach and the complex discussion. Maybe that is a good place for all of us to start. And maybe this book is just one of the many catalysts to the movement. The more people we can convert, the closer we will get to action.
Yes to this: "what is most needed in our current moment is a bridge across cultural divides whose span takes us from the shores of unfettered capitalism, imperialism, and growth to the far shore of atonement, interconnectedness, and sufficiency. " Thank you as always for such eloquent and evocative writing, and for the clarion call for each of us to engage as deeply as we may be capable in these questions and this conscious evolutionary journey.
My current read is Glenn Edney's The Ocean Is Alive. Having listened to his interview on Manda Scott's excellent Accidental Gods podcast ( https://accidentalgods.life/the-ocean-is-alive/ ), I hunted up the book and have spent two weekends absorbing his extraordinary weaving of the breath and circulation of our very planet herself. Another exemplary human in the circle of Schumacher College, he works from the Gaia hypothesis and all that it implies, while also assembling and contributing rich additional data to continue support for that hypothesis - through both detailed scientific observation and through direct experience of that observer.
What he told me yesterday in our conversation left me considering each of our roles. He had been speaking with Master Herbalist Stephen Harold Buhner about the strains of trying to bridge the gap between his experience and vision of Gaia, and those who have yet to grasp that reality. Buhner said, simply: "You can choose to be a bridge if you want. But the problem with being a bridge is that you are there in the middle, carrying a burden, and that burden can get heavier and heavier until you collapse. But you have already heard the gorgeous choir singing on the other shore. Why not join that choir, add your voice to that choir. In that case, your only job is to insure that your voice raises the beauty and volume of the call. Those who are open to that call will find their way to the other shore."
Here's to those, like you Adam, who act in some ways in both capacities. We dash back and forth, singing mightily on the other shore at times, while also coming back and guiding the way with torches in the darkness.