“How to Do Nothing” by Jenny Odell comes to mind, as well as her newer book “Saving Time”. She advocates the practice of focusing on a point in space, like a tree branch, and watching it for a long time. Sounds like meditation to me!
Leaves of Grass makes me wonder how American Transcendentalism fits into the geneaology of Scientific Animism texts…is it esctatic poetry?
I think “ecstatic poetry” is exactly what I’ve been striving for, with my poems here. If I were to guess at the Venn Diagram, I’d probably make it similar to the one with Solarpunk, but the big circle would be ecstatic poetry. Seems like there’s lots of ecstatic poetry from all different traditions and perspectives, and there’s also lots of scientific animist work that’s not poetry at all. But most scientific animist poetry is probably also ecstatic poetry.
Oh yeah! I read How To Do Nothing years ago and still think of parts of it often, but hadn’t made the connection between it and Scientific Animism yet. Good call! It took me a long time to get through it, so I was hesitant to jump into Saving Time right away—wanted to stick with fiction this year. I love the Tree Branch Gazing suggestion! Maybe we’ll try that at our next New Moon Meet; I was thinking we might do something along the lines of Befriending Pines, so it would pair nicely.
I confess a gap in my knowledge around the Transcendentalists! You’re right, though, the works I have come across from that era seem very of-a-feather with Scientific Animism. I’ll have to get some poetry books.
I read Leaves of Grass 18 years ago and need to reread it before I can say more, but I remember its essence, and this line about how science and religion must complement each other. Now I’m curious if there are inklings of Animism in, say Walden Pond or Margaret Fuller’s poetry.
I think Transcendentalism has its place in the literary cannon of Scientific Animism, but what I want to know is if the Transcendentalists believed, as Robin Wall Kimmerer wrote, that “the earth loves us back!” We know they loved nature and saw the potential for enlightenment in it, but did they see their love for nature as a mutually-reciprocated relationship? Perhaps!
I read Jessica Hernandez’s book “Fresh Banana Leaves,” which is a good one to add to the list. And Riane Eisler’s “Nurturing Our Humanity,” which might be more adjacent to all of this but I think is really important!
This is just me in my cheerleader alter-ego! 🙃 (I wish it had had a better editor, but what she has to say is so important I don’t care that much. I recommend that book to a lot of people!)
I don't think it totally fits, but Ursula K. Le Guin's "The Left Hand of Darkness" has some fabulous invented religions, which are admittedly close adaptations of Taoism, that overlap with Scientific Animism. Some highly-relevant quotes:
> To oppose something is to maintain it.
> To be an atheist is to maintain God.
> To learn which questions are unanswerable, and not to answer them: this skill is most needful in times of stress and darkness.
And then this show-stopper:
> We creep infinitesimally [onward] through the dirty chaos of a world in the process of making itself.
Something else that seems like essential Scientific Animist listening: Mapping the Doctrine of Discovery, https://pca.st/xqppu0l0. Had just started listening to it when I made this list, meant to add it, but oh well at least I can add it as a comment. Thanks @Antonia Malchick, I think you recommended this? It is bringing into such clear focus the culture I grew up in.
I've updated the linked article & quote in the Green Dreamer section from the version that went out in the original emails. I published early to have the newsletter land in inboxes at the exact minute of the full moon, but listened to a new episode of Green Dreamer on my run this morning and wanted to link to it because: 1. I actually wrote down quotes from this one, instead of using the episode description, 2. it fits other themes in this article better, and 3. it's an episode that encourages people to monetarily support Green Dreamer, and I want to encourage people to do so.
Here's the old text, if you're looking for it:
Maybe start with this episode with Jessica Hernandez about Indigenous science and holistic thinking (https://pca.st/upiqx4xo): "In a way, Western science compartmentalizes a lot of the information through those boxes or as I say, through those puzzle pieces. Indigenous science looks at the entire picture to formulate our information and our questions."
“How to Do Nothing” by Jenny Odell comes to mind, as well as her newer book “Saving Time”. She advocates the practice of focusing on a point in space, like a tree branch, and watching it for a long time. Sounds like meditation to me!
Leaves of Grass makes me wonder how American Transcendentalism fits into the geneaology of Scientific Animism texts…is it esctatic poetry?
Ok and I just read someone’s blog post about ecstatic poetry, http://www.brandonthompsonauthor.com/what-is-ecstatic-poetry, and thanks again for educating me 😅
I think “ecstatic poetry” is exactly what I’ve been striving for, with my poems here. If I were to guess at the Venn Diagram, I’d probably make it similar to the one with Solarpunk, but the big circle would be ecstatic poetry. Seems like there’s lots of ecstatic poetry from all different traditions and perspectives, and there’s also lots of scientific animist work that’s not poetry at all. But most scientific animist poetry is probably also ecstatic poetry.
Oh yeah! I read How To Do Nothing years ago and still think of parts of it often, but hadn’t made the connection between it and Scientific Animism yet. Good call! It took me a long time to get through it, so I was hesitant to jump into Saving Time right away—wanted to stick with fiction this year. I love the Tree Branch Gazing suggestion! Maybe we’ll try that at our next New Moon Meet; I was thinking we might do something along the lines of Befriending Pines, so it would pair nicely.
I confess a gap in my knowledge around the Transcendentalists! You’re right, though, the works I have come across from that era seem very of-a-feather with Scientific Animism. I’ll have to get some poetry books.
I guess Leaves Of Grass is a good place to start?
To answer your question, I think so!! 😆
I read Leaves of Grass 18 years ago and need to reread it before I can say more, but I remember its essence, and this line about how science and religion must complement each other. Now I’m curious if there are inklings of Animism in, say Walden Pond or Margaret Fuller’s poetry.
I think Transcendentalism has its place in the literary cannon of Scientific Animism, but what I want to know is if the Transcendentalists believed, as Robin Wall Kimmerer wrote, that “the earth loves us back!” We know they loved nature and saw the potential for enlightenment in it, but did they see their love for nature as a mutually-reciprocated relationship? Perhaps!
I read Jessica Hernandez’s book “Fresh Banana Leaves,” which is a good one to add to the list. And Riane Eisler’s “Nurturing Our Humanity,” which might be more adjacent to all of this but I think is really important!
Jessica’s interview on Green Dreamer is the original one I linked in this article! (See my comment.) I’ll check these out. Thanks!
Oh, gotcha! Crossed my wires ;)
Oh, I didn't understand that your original comment was responding to that; I thought you were mentioning it just because it's awesome 🙃
This is just me in my cheerleader alter-ego! 🙃 (I wish it had had a better editor, but what she has to say is so important I don’t care that much. I recommend that book to a lot of people!)
I don't think it totally fits, but Ursula K. Le Guin's "The Left Hand of Darkness" has some fabulous invented religions, which are admittedly close adaptations of Taoism, that overlap with Scientific Animism. Some highly-relevant quotes:
> To oppose something is to maintain it.
> To be an atheist is to maintain God.
> To learn which questions are unanswerable, and not to answer them: this skill is most needful in times of stress and darkness.
And then this show-stopper:
> We creep infinitesimally [onward] through the dirty chaos of a world in the process of making itself.
> Praise then darkness, and Creation unfinished!
Something else that seems like essential Scientific Animist listening: Mapping the Doctrine of Discovery, https://pca.st/xqppu0l0. Had just started listening to it when I made this list, meant to add it, but oh well at least I can add it as a comment. Thanks @Antonia Malchick, I think you recommended this? It is bringing into such clear focus the culture I grew up in.
I've updated the linked article & quote in the Green Dreamer section from the version that went out in the original emails. I published early to have the newsletter land in inboxes at the exact minute of the full moon, but listened to a new episode of Green Dreamer on my run this morning and wanted to link to it because: 1. I actually wrote down quotes from this one, instead of using the episode description, 2. it fits other themes in this article better, and 3. it's an episode that encourages people to monetarily support Green Dreamer, and I want to encourage people to do so.
Here's the old text, if you're looking for it:
Maybe start with this episode with Jessica Hernandez about Indigenous science and holistic thinking (https://pca.st/upiqx4xo): "In a way, Western science compartmentalizes a lot of the information through those boxes or as I say, through those puzzle pieces. Indigenous science looks at the entire picture to formulate our information and our questions."