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Tag Archives: animism
Do animals tell stories?
Other animals, that is. Of course we humans are compulsive storytellers. We tell stories to entertain ourselves, to explain the world, to heal each other. Sometimes we call the storytelling ritual “therapy.” But because storytelling requires language, and because until … Continue reading
Posted in nature, spirituality
Tagged animal communication, animals, animism, attitudes toward animals
6 Comments
On the blue—and green—religion of Avatar
Let’s get the negatives out of the way first. The movie pits good against evil in a tired old storyline that has less subtlety than a spaghetti western. The postcolonial spin on the tale is that here the indigenous people … Continue reading
Posted in nature, spirituality
Tagged animism, dark green religion, nature religion, pantheism
3 Comments
Trusting the senses
I haven’t been able to forget a comment David Abram made during his keynote at a conference I attended in the spring. He said even science, devoted as it is to studying the material world, in practice acts as if … Continue reading
Posted in nature, spirituality
Tagged animism, attitudes toward nature, Brian Greene, David Abram, Descartes, Plato, science, science and religion
10 Comments
Connecting with a cottonwood
It’s a treat to return in August to Prescott, Arizona, with its annual din of cicadas. Today, as I approach the corridor of trees lining summer-dry Granite Creek, the chorus of insects in the treetops is boisterous. Eagerly I slip … Continue reading
Posted in nature, spirituality
Tagged animism, meditation, trees
Comments Off on Connecting with a cottonwood
Animism in the academy
The conference ended a couple of days ago, and I’m off in a few minutes to catch a train for a day trip to an open-air museum in another part of Holland, but I want to catch up the conference … Continue reading
Tomorrow I head to Amsterdam
I did something yesterday I’ve never done before: cut pages out of a book. No, this wasn’t censorship; this was rendering Rick Steves’s guide to Amsterdam more portable. I couldn’t believe my visceral reaction against taking a knife to a … Continue reading
Gearing up for Amsterdam
Am I really going? I still can hardly believe it. Exactly a year ago a friend from Saskatchewan and I started tossing out ideas for a panel for the next conference of the International Society for the Study of Religion, … Continue reading