Page 66 - ECOlogic Book

In his book, Care of the Soul, Thomas Moore suggests that “A revival of the
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doctrine of anima mundi would give soul back to the world of nature and
artifact.”81 He points out that at different times in history we have “denied
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soul to classes of beings we have wanted to control” (e.g., slaves, women,
animals). “If we knew in our hearts that things have soul,” he says, “we
would have a mutual relationship of affection, respect, and care. We would
be less lonely in a world that is alive with its own kind of soul . . .”
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And so, with Moore’s words fresh in my heart, I attempt to learn the many
languages of an ensouled world. Instead of spraying the multifloras with
defoliant, I contemplate their wish not to be trampled, expressed in thorns.
I learn to respect them. They will thank me with the abundant spring and
summer blossoms that will adorn every bank and hillside here.

Not so clear with the deer tick. Intellectually, I understand that all life-forms
are essentially parasitic, requiring the sacrifice of other life-forms for their
own life. Ticks do and we do. To do so is characteristically Gaian. Still,
unwilling to be the deer tick’s sacrificial meal, I deny it to him by
precautions. A slow learner, not yet ready to grant soul to so threatening an
entity, I count my restraint from chemical solutions to the tick problem as a
step in the right direction. Farther than that, I’m unable to go. However
hard I listen to what the tick may be telling me, I cannot hear. So I turn my
listening to other nuances here.

This listening, this slow learning to other languages, when I can do it,
attunes me to new rhythms and new joys. Moore says that this is artful
living, and that living artfully might require something as simple as pausing,
adding that “. . . the vessel in which soul-making takes place is an inner
container scooped out by reflection and wonder.” Taking time, slowing
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down, simple mindfulness and imaginative practices, are the Tao of anima
mundi.

And this is the deeper lesson of the mulftiflora. The only way you can deal
with multiflora is slowly and respectfully. So the multiflora is teaching me
not only that it doesn’t want to be trampled, but its deeper lesson is one of

81 Moore, Thomas, Care of the Soul: A Guide for Cultivating Depth an Awareness in Everyday Life,
(HarperCollins, New York,NY, 1992)

82 IBID.

83 IBID, P. 281.

84 IBID., P. 286.

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