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The Voice of the Infinite in the Small: Re-Visioning the Insect-Human Connection

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Joanne Lauck's book "The Voice of the Infinite in the Small," starts with the very intriguing premise that we humans tend to demonize the smaller six, eight and multi-legged creatures around us, while these have their place in nature and are often important in our own survival (where would we be without pollination!) As a professional biologist who has specialized in arthropods, I could not agree more on this point. Indeed, Lauck has brought together some most intriguing imagery and fascinating myths and metaphors into a discussion that I think was long overdue. As a professional I constantly hear complaints from people about some harmless or nearly harmless arthropod, such as any spider, certain innocuous true bugs and beetles, or house centipedes that they think should be immediately wiped off the face of the earth.

That said I think Lauck also makes some fairly serious blunders and depends too much on very questionable authority. I find some of her supposedly true stories (such as bees visiting the grave of a dead bee keeper or people making pacts with Japanese beetles) to be pretty difficult to swallow and she is totally wrong on several "facts" about flies and arachnids. One (perhaps minor, but none the less irritating) example is the old legend that male deer bot flies can fly hundreds of miles an hour. This tall tale was based on a totally mistaken calculation made by C. H. Tyler Townsend, a late nineteenth and early twentieth Century entomologist, who guesstimated that to be a blur a male deer bot fly had to be traveling at least 500 mph! In actuality they need only be flying no more than 35 mph! To be traveling at 500 mph, the bot flies would use up a huge amount of energy and the resulting turbulence would tear off their wings! On a more serious note I am quite reluctant to give blood to mosquitoes (although I have given my share involuntarily to be sure!) and am also a bit leery about being too cavalier about mosquito-born diseases. Eventually we may make our peace with a parasite like the malarial plasmodium, but it is only after a period of adjustment during which many of us may suffer as much as the insects. It is easy to contemplate these problems from a distance when one does not have to stand by the bed of a child dying from dengue, yellow fever or malaria! As to friendly scorpions, I would be willing (and in fact have done so) to hold a big black Pandinus (Emperor) scorpion (which are pretty docile and not especially venomous), but definitively not a "death stalker" (Leiurus sp.) or fat-tailed scorpion (Androctonus spp.) Only a fool would handle either of these two directly. Encouraging anyone to hold such dangerous creatures is a very bad idea!

I, indeed, would take the middle way (and I can only speak for myself in this). I believe that one should not go out of ones way to do harm to other creatures and that deliberately killing another organism is excusable for only three reasons (one being very human). The first is need for sustenance (including protecting food crops from pests, although not to the level of broad-spectrum pesticide use we have employed in the past)- I have heard that even the Delhi Lama eats meat every other day because of a metabolic problem. The second is to protect oneself and others from disease or envenomation - at least some, if not most mosquitoes, ticks, lice and fleas, as well as some scorpions and spiders, may fall under this- Bubonic plague or dengue are not fun diseases to get and I am not going to wait around for them to become more benign! The final reason I would grant (being a scientist) is to gain knowledge of the natural world, in part to help protect it in the long term and to maintain a body of knowledge that would help us understand the relationships and dynamics of the biota. I would put some constraints on this activity- as organisms become better known I see them being more valuable alive than in a collection. Thus most mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, amphibians, marine mollusks and a few others, like butterflies, can currently be monitored without usually taking physical samples. The eventual goal would be to eliminate the need for collecting, although this may take more time for some groups like beetles or higher flies.

That said I admire Lauck for bringing the subject up and hope that some of her wonder and respect for the insect world would permeate society more than at present. We need not kill every creature that causes us fear. However, to discriminate properly in an all too imperfect world we need to arm ourselves with some knowledge.

Read this book for some inspiration for ways to get along with the insect world (which as Lauck points out, is also our own), but also with a carefully critical eye.

The Voice of the Infinite in the Small has opened up vast new understandings in my mind and psyche, about the beauty, dignity and yes, the sacred nature of the Insect Kingdom. Joanne Lauck holds a mirror up to the unnatural aversion, the hatred, and the venomous attacks by human culture on that which it cannot manipulate and control. She reveals how afraid we have become of a genuine give and take with our fellow species and with natural systems in general. This is the life threatening Crisis of our time.

Lauck also points out with tremendous richness of reference, from Aboriginal myth to current expressions of the New Sciences, how the insect kingdom can reflect and communicate the Natural Intelligence that pervades all- if encountered with CLEAR, RESPECTFUL INTENT. This book is amazingly detailed and thorough. It is an example of a powerful intellect placed in the service of wholeness and the original, natural self we are longing to recover for our human survival and ultimate success. I could feel the peace surround me and the love rush in when absorbing these ideas. May this book be circulated, appreciated, amplified throughout the world! It is powerful medicine in a dark and dangerous time.

This wonderfully researched book is one of those books that comes along now and then that both can change your view of the world and confirm intuitions that had been buried. Respect and compassion toward all living things is makes the world a better place and us better people. Such compassion thus fulfills two of the major responsibilities of every human being on earth. I love Ms. Lauck for the vision, courage, and compassion which made it possible for her to write this book, which is destined to become a classic. Whether it becomes a best-seller or simply a perennial underground classic (like the One Straw Revolution) I cannot predict. But "The Voice of the Infinite in the Small" is going to be around for many years - until its message becomes apparent to us in the Western world.

I am going to buy this book for every animal lover on my Christmas list! It changes your mind and heart about insects and spiders without preaching or giving you a bunch of boring scientific facts. It could have been called "Insect Angels" like the Animal Animals book since its major theme of insects as messengers weaves through all the chapters. My favorite chapter was on insects in dreams because the author explains how even frightening dreams can have a positive message that can help you. I'll never look at an insect in the same way after reading this book.

The prevailing attitudes towards insects are mostly antagonistic or ambivalent, and certainly, uninformed. In the concrete covered human world that has distanced itself from Nature and realitiy, we are daily subjected to the perverse messages delivered through commercials by profit greedy pesticide companies about the nasty, stinging, dirty, disease carryings bugs. By now, though, we should all be able to see through that snake-oil facade, but how about the "bad bug" disinformation passed along by good intentioned, but uninformed teachers, parents, et al?

Lauck's "Voice of the Infinite" covers all the bases of the intentional to the inadvertant adverse propaganda campaigns against insects and goes much further by introducing us to their beautiful world- bug by bug. Reading this book will let you "walk" with bugs and hear their song. Unless one's heart is stone cold, one will come to know exactly what empathy and admiration for insects is all about.

What is the purpose of a bug as annoying as a flee or mosquito? Read this book! You still might not want to hang out with them, but you will most likely see them in a different and less antagonistic light. Those who have embraced the wisdom and insight of Rachel Carson's book, "Silent Spring", will certainly enjoy Joanne Elizabeth Lauck's book.

And another beautiful tale of finding admiration and empathy for critters is mentioned in Lauck's book and that is: J. Allen Boone's "Kinship With All Life", the true story about "Freddie" the fly. This book is the story of Boone finding mental connections to Freddie and all other animals. Thanks to Ms Lauck for referencing that book!

Thomas Berry, the famed theologian and cultural historian who wrote the introduction to this book, makes a perfect statement: "The time has come for humans and insects to turn toward each other. Such is our way to wisdom, the source of our healing, our guidance into the twenty-first century." Joanne Lauck has made a wonderful contribution to those of us seeking to transform ourselves as we travel our spiritual pathways. This book (herein referred to as The Voice) is not a study of insects, it's not a scientific book and it doesn't pretend to be. It's more than that. The Voice offers a new perspective to life, to all that is beautiful and wonderful on this planet; it opens the doorway for us to consider insects in all their splendor and beauty and as necessary beings for the balance of all life. The many stories and myths, woven into facts about insects, make for fascinating reading. For me, reading The Voice brought to my attention the dusty corners of my mind, those places that held prejudices I didn't even know existed. Not just against certain insects--I was forced to look beyond them. Reading The Voice proved to be exciting, educational, rewarding, eye-opening and, finally, a critical step on my spiritual journey. Since then, I've gifted others with the book. An acquaintance named Robert, who reads The Voice while sitting with the insects, tells me time and time again that he looks at the world differently now; his vision is much larger than it was before he began establishing a relationship with insects. The insects welcome him. The bees especially have been offering their friendship--they walk back and forth along the top of his glasses in greeting, then explore the gentleness of Robert's hands. Robert is in the healing profession, and he admits that as he is changing, so also is his work changing. Such is the impact of Ms. Lauck's book. I highly recommend it!

The Voice of the Infinite in the Small is a psychological and spiritual look at one of the most broken relationships we have with nature, namely our relationship to insects and related creatures. Turning the spotlight on people, instead of on the insects, Lauck reveals a blind spot in the culture, our fear-based hatred of what is different and our cherished and unexamined perceptions which in essence deny the creature. Lauck is a layperson and a storyteller-not a scientist or entomologist-and is clear about her motives for writing this unusual book-to raise awareness about our projections that have made these creatures our enemies and to return them to the role of messenger, both in the environment and in the human psyche. The connections she makes to the spiritual traditions are wise and illuminating and the writing eloquent. The cover is a bit misleading as it looks like a traditional resource book on insects. In fact it looks like a book by an entomologist and that is unfortunate. Those drawn to looking at insects as specimens and who believe entomologists are the only ones who should write about these kinds of creatures are not going to like her approach at all. I loved it though and so will anyone who accepts that life is not random but is driven by an unseen world and spiritual forces that are ultimately benevolent. I would highly recommend this book. It is truly one of a kind.

The Voice Of The Infinite In The Small: Re-Visioning The Insect-Human Connection by writer and environmental educator Joanne Elizabeth Lauck is an inspirational collection of thoughts about what people can learn from observing some of the smallest of Earth's creatures -- the insects. Personal anecdotes, little snippets of wisdom, and insightful metaphors for fate of humankind abound throughout the pages of this meaningful and very highly recommended philosophical examination of nature and the natural environment.

I have just read "The Voice of the Infinite in the Small" by Joanne Lauck. This book on insects is spellbinding. How can a book on insects be spellbinding? Insects... boring, right? Wrong! Not only does Joanne write eloquently she offers surprises on every page. New ways to look at the world of insects, not from the prelearned ways of our youth. She does not bore us with scientific jargon that only an enthomoligist would love. She offers the reader with a new look at how insects live in harmony with the earth and how we interact with them. There are those of us that produce such wonderful work. Joanne has done just that here. "The Voice of the Infinite and the Small" should be required reading for every school teacher/educator in Canada and the USA.

Lily-Dawn

This is one of the best books I've read in a long time--and as a professional book editor, I read a lot of books. It is enlightening, entertaining, and very progressive.