Page 107 - ECOlogic Book

a wisdom older than my thinking mind, as though
it was held and moved by a logos, deeper than
words, spoken by the Other’s body, the trees,
the air, and the stony ground on which we stood. 125

Discussing the powers of the shaman, Abram says, “It is not by sending his
awareness out beyond the natural world that the shaman makes contact
with the purveyors of life and health, not by journeying into his personal
psyche; rather it is by propelling his awareness laterally, outward into the
depths of a landscape at once sensual and psychological, this living dream
that we share with the soaring hawk, the spider, and the stone silently
sprouting lichens on its coarse surface.” 126

Animals in the wild, and our companion animals as well, remind us that our
hard-won perspective is only one among any. With the massive species
extinction we are causing, we realize that we are losing these Other
perspectives. (Biologist E.O. Wilson estimates that the next fifty years could
witness the disappearance of 100,000 species in North American alone.)

Allen Bloom sadly notes that, “Men and women everywhere are being made
acutely aware of the fact that something essential to life and well-being is
flickering very low in the human species and threatening to go out entirely.
This “something” has to do with such values as love, unselfishness, integrity,
sincerity, loyalty to one’s best, honesty, enthusiasm, humility, goodness,
happiness and fun. Practically every animal still has these assets in
abundance and is eager to share them, given the opportunity.” 127

We acknowledge with gratitude, as Stephen Kellert does, that “Living
diversity remains an essential element of human language, myth, and story,
a vital source of our notions of beauty and understanding. The many
creatures of the world inspire and instruct. They nurture us intellectually
and enrich us emotionally. They provide us with a profound otherness for
developing our knowledge of humanity, self, and society.” 128

125 Op. Cit., Abrams, P. 313.

126 Op. Cit. Abrams, P. 306.

127 Bone, J. Allen, Kinship With All Life, (Harper San Francisto, CA 1954).

128 Killer, Stephen r., “the Value of Life, Biological Diversity and Human Society, “ Seeds of Change, Winter,
1996.

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