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Science, Soul, and the Spirit of Nature: Leading Thinkers on the Restoration of Man and Creation

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Everything from Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth to the Religious Right's conviction that we live in the End Times is pointing to the fact that we live at a time when the very nature of being human is changing. Irene van Lippe-Biesterfeld has collected a number of cutting edge thinkers into a conversation about our relationship with nature and our attitudes toward love. It's a tad elitest for my taste -- after all, it was written by a princess, and it might have included more religious voices since some very interesting work is being done by Christian eco-theologians and Buddhist monks, but these are small things in view of its overwhelming honesty. Savor this on your summer vacation.

This book is a collection of interviews by Princess Irene van Lippe-Biesterfeld of the Netherlands. She is quite well known in Europe and Africa as a social reformer. She is also an honorary member of the international think-tank The Club of Budapest, and she manages a nature reserve in South Africa.

The twelve interviews are with some distinguished individuals, each of whom is inspired by a deep love and respect for the natural world. They include Masaru Emoto who has become well known for his highly controversial research into the effects of thoughts and feelings on the structure of water, Jane Goodall, Rupert Sheldrake and James Wolfensohn, a former president of the World Bank.

What emerges is a common theme: that the quality of our personal lives is inseparable from that of all life on the planet.

As van Lippe-Biesterfeld writes in the forward, "This gives each of us a unique and personal responsibility. The knowledge that we are co-creators of our life on Earth, that our ideas and actions have consequences well beyond their scope, could serve to scare us and make us withdraw; but might also enhance our awareness and add meaning to our life. The knowledge that we are creating our own reality makes life a wonderful learning process, in spite of and with all its difficulties. This in turn may give rise to new priorities with respect to society as a whole."

If you have an interest in the Web of Life this book makes for extremely interesting reading.

I have also learned that all the proceeds from the sale of the book will be donated to the Lippe-Biesterfeld Nature College Foundation, whose mission is to encourage humanity's role as conservator of the natural world through an understanding of the essential spirituality of Nature itself.

Highly recommended.

I first bought this book when it came out in 2005. I loved it then and I love it now. I lent to my friends and inevitably, someone didn't return it -- I have no idea who -- so I ordered another copy.

I co-lead discussion groups for a liberal arts Institute for adult learning in Montreal and I have used particularly Patricia Mische's chapter and Gareth Patterson's among several of the other selections as wonderful material to explore in terms of our human relationship with the whole Earth Household, in Gary Snyder's felicitous phrase. The chapters are wonderfully varied and colourful, both in the style and the personality of the author as well as in the material they write or talk about. A wonderful book for this moment in our planetary history. I recommend it highly.

This book is an important contribution to appreciating the oneness of all beings and all consciousness. Irene van Lippe-Biesterfeld, princess of the Netherlands, is a strong advocate for reconnecting with nature and manages a nature reserve in South Africa.

...increasing numbers of people do feel they are a part of nature - and surprisingly, many of them have experienced what I call a 'magic moment:' a moment of unity with all life. I have had such an amazing experience myself, and it changed my attitude toward the Earth. I felt the sense of being one with all life around me - the separation vanished. Perched high up on a Swiss mountain, I saw through everything and felt and heard through it all as well. I was part of the waving blades of grass, the colorful flowers, the trees, the rocks, and the mountains. I was aware of having converged with everything alive and of being united with nature's exuberant, joyful celebration, its powerful yearning toward life.

Since then, my love for the Earth has led me to become a student of life. (p. 4)

The author brings us in this volume a series of twelve interviews with people around the world who have been prominent in exploring and working on ways to help us sense our inter-relationships with the entire world around us.

All those I spoke with emphasized that neglect of our surroundings will lead to neglect of ourselves, and that our acts of destroying will cause our self-destruction. It is a matter of choice. We can choose our actions and our course. Choices become easier once we understand our positions in the web of life. A new mind-set is ascending. (p. 5)

A few of the many inspiring observations shared in response to questions such as, "What is Nature?" "What is healing?" and "What is Love?" provide a taste of the richness of this book.

Sometimes I think that separation is the sin of all sins, from which all suffering originates. (p. 29)

- Matthijs G. C. Schouten, associate professor of restoration ecology at the University of Wageningen, the Netherlands, and associate professor of nature and landscape conservation at the Universities of Cork and Galway, Ireland

Hans Andeweg teaches eco-psychology in the Netherlands. He has developed 'resonance therapy,' a form of radionics - which is distant healing assisted by various healing devices. Using resonance therapy he has been able to promote restoration in whole forests. He says,

"I believe that as humans, we have received enormous opportunities to heal the Earth. We now know how to destroy our planet, but we can also learn to nurse her back to health." (p.127)

I feel the connection between heaven and Earth everywhere. To me, helaing means bringing heaven and Earth back together. This wholeness gives rise to a center field. In people, this field is our heart, the middle area: head in the sky, our feet on the ground, and living from the center with our heart and soul. It is our way to restore heaven on Earth. (p. 136-137)

Masaru Emoto developed a method of crystallizing water that demonstrates how consciousness interacts with the water. He observes,

"...nature in this universe consists of the concepts of love and gratitude. I think love is an active energy while gratitude is a passive energy." (p. 153)

Jane Goodall is famous for studying the behaviors of chimpanzees. She also developed a worldwide organization called Roots & Shoots to inspire young people to implement local projects that promote care for animals, the environment, and the human community. She shares:

There isn't a sharp division between humans and animals. I never saw it, but, of course, Western science has traditionally perceived this huge gap - as has Western religion. This misunderstanding is missing from Buddhism, Hinduism, and the Native Americans. It is particularly Western. I think the chimps, more than anything, have forced many scientists to reevaluate their belief systems. And then, once you have a new respect for the chimps, you realize: Well, differences between them and us are not differences of kind, but of degree. And once that line becomes blurred and there isn't an impossibly unbridgeable gap, that leads you to a new respect for all the other animals. (p. 187)

Patricia Mische is cofounder of Global Education Associates, and Lloyd Professor of Peace Studies and world law at Antioch College. In her view:

Peace on Earth cannot be realized without peace with Earth.

We have become so alienated from the larger life community that we forget our integral relationship to other beings in this community. We are alienated from our own true self. We don't know why we are unhappy.

We are not at peace with ourselves because we are not at peace with the larger life community. We don't belong anymore; we don't have a sense of place. We are moving in an alienating and alienated state within the community but not even recognizing the community's existence. (p. 266)

This book is highly recommended to anyone interested in understanding our connections with all of nature.

Science, Soul, and the Spirit of Nature: Leading Thinkers on the Restoration of Man and Creation

(ISBN 1-59143-055-0) Bear and Company--Inner Traditions

By Irene van Lippe-Biesterfeld and Jessica van Tijn

Twelve visionaries from a wide variety of disciplines offer 12 different visions of the relationship between humankind and nature. Never have we needed a new worldview more than now, what with our collapsing environment and global unrest. Each contributor adds insights into the urgent change in consciousness that we need to heal and restore our holistic relationship with the earth.

Rahasya Poe, Lotus Guide

To Believe Or Not To Believe: The Social and Neurological Consequences of Belief Systems