I am part of the rainforest recently emerged into thinking

'Thinking like a mountain' was one of the books recommended by Malvika Solanki during an amazing permaculture course I did with her in June, a birthday gift to myself. From philosophy to science to ecology to poetry - increasingly all my reading is resulting in a blurring of the lines, the understanding of how we need to see everything as a whole, whether it be our own bodies, or our existence in the world. The source of much of our conflict is seeing ourselves as separate, not a part of an intricate web. 

"When humans investigate and see  through their layers of anthropocentric self-cherishing, a most profound change in consciousness begins to take place. Alienation subsides. The human is no longer an outsider, apart. Your humanness is then recognized as being merely the most recent stage of your existence, and as you stop identifying exclusively with this chapter, you start to get in touch with yourself as mammal, as vertebrate, as a species only recently emerged from the rainforest. As the fog of amnesia disperses, there is a transformation in your relationship to other species, and in your commitment to them. 

What is described here should not be seen as merely intellectual. The intellect is one entry point to the process outlined, and the easiest one to communicate. For some people however, this change of perspective follows from actions on behalf of Mother Earth. "I am protecting the rainforest" develops to "I am part of the rainforest recently emerged into thinking." What a relief then! The thousands of years of imagined separation are over and we begin to recall our true nature. That is, the change is a spiritual one, thinking like  a mountain, sometimes referred to as "deep ecology". 

Page 35, 36, Beyond Anthropocentrism

From 'Thinking like a Mountain' , by John Seed, Joanna Macy, Pat Fleming, Arne Naess

Photo: Bandipur, Nilgiris range of mountains. Near Malvika Solanki's farm, where I did the permaculture course. Life-changing. This was one of the books recommended by her. 

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The Smell of a Good Stew

I started reading the 'No 1 Ladies Detective Agency' series many years ago, after I read a recommendation - and have been hooked on it since. 😊 Such pleasant delightful light reading! A great introduction to another culture and landscape, though maybe a partial view. Indians can relate to the values of Botswana, as described in here. Alexander McCall Smith is Scottish, by the way. He also has a series called the Isabel Dalhousie Novels - again, fantastic writing. 

"...She leaned forward and sniffed at the stew. Mma Ramotswe believed in using your nose while cooking; too many people, she thought, relied on taste, and were always dipping a spoon into a dish to see how it was faring. In her view, that was unnecessary - and unhygienic. You could find out everything you needed to know through the sense of smell. 

A good stew smelled like a ... well, a good stew; it would remind you of that time when the sun has just sunk over the Kalahari, when the cattle have been brought back into their kraal against a background of gentle lowing, when the moon is floating up in the sky over Botswana and the children are sitting about the fire, waiting for their dinner. It smelled like that. 

It smelled like the world when, early in the morning, you made your way through the bush and the birds were just beginning to greet the world and the delicate leaves of the acacia trees were opening to the warmth of the gold with which the land was painted. It smelled like that, and all you had to do was to train yourself to know when something was just right."

Page 30, 'The House of the Unexpected Sisters'

from the 'No 1 Ladies Detective Agency' series, Alexander McCall Smith

Ethiopian Sacred Forests

 

James Godfrey-Faussett:

"100 years ago Ethiopia was blanketed by 45% forest and now that figure is down to just 5%. Part of the surviving remnants are over 1000 ‘sacred forests’ found protecting Ethiopia’s orthodox churches, that act as living stands of biodiversity amongst the brown overgrazed farmlands.

These small clusters of ancient trees, each about 2km away from the next, ensure that the local people are never far from the forests that are so deeply rooted in their social and spiritual lives.They are used as community centres, meeting places and schools and provide the only shade for miles. 

Each dot of green stands out on the landscape dramatically because they are some of the only trees left in a country that’s experienced widespread deforestation. Some of the sacred forests are more than 1,000 years old and these precious trees have thankfully been spared thanks to conservation as a by-product of religious stewardship. 

The forests are thought of as particularly sacred because each houses a tabot in the centre of the church, which is thought to be a replica of the original Ark of the Covenant. The trees are seen as ‘clothing’ for the church, part of the church itself, which is why just a small ring of trees – those closest to the church – has been protected, creating tiny forests with fields pushing right up to the edges.

Areas like these sacred forests are immensely valuable from an ecological point of view and should continue to be protected at all costs.

They contain precious genetic purity and diversity and should be seen as living nurseries that could hopefully some day be used as a basis to reforest the surrounding lands.."

From here: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/wildurbanspaces_biodiversity-ecosystemrestoration-ecosystems-activity-6948925557568909312-4Iib/