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Tag Archives: attitudes toward nature
Being known by a birch tree
I grew up in a small white house at the very edge of a tiny town in northwest Ohio. Beside the house my parents had planted just a few years before my birth a cut-leaf weeping birch tree, Betula pendula … Continue reading
A spirituality of THIS world
This week’s posts have been about astrophysics–what scientists are finding out about cosmology and how the universe is put together. You may wonder: What is physics doing in a nature and spirituality blog? My answer: Focusing on THIS world–or this … Continue reading
Posted in nature, spirituality
Tagged attitudes toward nature, Descartes, dualism, mind-body dualism, Plato, science and religion
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Paradigms, idols, and the mind in matter
Following Karen Armstrong’s remarks on idols, I’ve been thinking about idolatry in relation to our view of nature. We are wedded to the view that nature lacks mind–to the extent that alternatives to this view, from pantheism to animism, are … Continue reading
Posted in nature, spirituality
Tagged animism, attitudes toward nature, Descartes, Karen Armstrong, panpsychism, pantheism, philosophy of mind
Comments Off on Paradigms, idols, and the mind in matter
Insulated from nature
Why is it that the more formal the meeting, the more insulated it is from nature? Think about a courtroom, which typically has no outside windows whatsoever. Or the chambers of Congress or the meeting rooms in hotels–no windows, at … Continue reading
Posted in nature, politics, spirituality
Tagged attitudes toward nature, community, Malidoma Somé
5 Comments