Last summer, when we (the AEOE folks) were throwing out ideas for keynote speakers at this spring's conference, I reflected back to who had inspired me to go along the path of environmental education. Indeed, who had lead me to my own "ah ha" experiences? Although there were many people that helped along the way, the name David Abram kept popping back into my head, even though it had been over a decade since I'd seen him.
I had met David in the summer of 1993 at a Deep Ecology summer program. He was fresh out of graduate school and excited by the ecological ideas he was sharing with the students. I had just dropped out of an engineering degree at Humboldt State. I was feeling stale from a brain busy cramming numbers for three years, yet, at the same time, free from the shackles of school. I was both in that wonderful space where new ideas can enter and in disarray from the uncertainty surrounding my path. Luckily, from the Tides Foundation, I was given a partial scholarship to attend. I had no expectations. Although there were many dynamic speakers, including Joanna Macy and Randy Hayes, David Abram's presentation, however, forever changed the way I interacted with the natural world, including altering my orientation to make my life's work the study of ecology.
His presentation began with the question of why are we in ecological crisis. He claimed that, in part, it was connected to a "crisis in perception." He compared the idea of modern science - where we are simply "passive receptors" of stimuli coming from nature, with that of the New Age Movement, where "the world was created by one's own intentions and wishes." In both cases, these lacked an engagement of the senses. They were, in a way, "non sense." They seemed, he said, "two sides of the same counterfeit coin." In these ways of perceiving our world, we risked becoming "blind to other living things, deaf to their voices," he warned.
He suggested that there was another, more primordial, way of encountering our world - a more participatory style of awareness wherein every entity - every crow or spider, every oak tree or granite boulder, every river or building or gust of wind - was experienced as utterly alive. In fact, this was a very ancient idea found in indigenous cultures worldwide.
Abram suggested that by acknowledging all things as alive (and even, in some mysterious sense, aware) we can begin to feel, in a powerful way, a new reciprocity between ourselves and the other beings that surround us. Indeed, we can begin to sense the deep interaction and exchange that is, in truth, already going on between our own animal bodies and the animate earth. And so we begin to participate much more richly with the land around us, as the living land itself begins to influence our thoughts and our actions. By acknowledging the vitality and life that is inherent in all things, we wake up to our immersion in a world of wonders - in a magical cosmos.
Trapped in a language that constricts our sensitivity to this effervescent world, we are kept at a distance. He directed a simple, yet extremely powerful exercise, to help us try on this new way of experiencing the natural world. Indeed I found myself entering into this "new" world, where I felt at home in my own body as well as the larger body of the Earth.
I left the Deep Ecology program truly inspired. I began a peregrination through various areas of ecology - bachelor's in biology then stream ecologist, field botanist, nature writing, lichenologist, and finally, environmental educator, which I have been for the past five years. But in each phase, I kept that idea of an animated world with me. Last fall, my mentor, Jay Bishop, dropped by Rancho Alegre for a visit. I invited him to come along on my Night Hike so he could see how I had become a "seasoned" naturalist, adept at inspiring sixth graders to tune in to nature. After the hike, he told me that, while I did a good job of challenging students to face their fears and covering all the required curriculum facts, something was missing. For a moment he was silent and then he queried, "Where was the Magic? Our planet is alive, mysterious, and a place of unlimited wonder. I didn't get a sense of that on the hike. I challenge you to make the students go in that direction." I guess once a mentor, always a mentor! I knew my own direction was to turn back to the ideas of David Abram. So it is not only with great pleasure that I look forward to Abram's presentation at this year's conference, but also with anticipation of learning new techniques to help open up others to our "sensuous" planet.