Soap box!

So here I stand, spouting an opinion, and opinion spouted by many others in many different formats with an expectation you will read, listen, absorb.

If you have ever watched the TV program Dr Who you may have picked up on this. For those who have never had the pleasure I would recommend it. I was born the day after the first episode was aired in the UK, so have a certain affinity with the person in question.

Why I hear you ask, well let me tell you!

This is a quote from one of the incarnations to his soon to be 'assistant':

Rose Tyler : Really though, Doctor. Tell me. Who are you?

The Doctor : Do you know like we were saying, about the earth revolving? It's like when you're a kid, the first time they tell you that the world is turning and you just can't quite believe it 'cause everything looks like it's standing still. I can feel it...

[he takes her hand] 

The Doctor : - the turn of the earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour. The entire planet is hurtling around the sun at sixty seven thousand miles an hour. And I can feel it. We're falling through space, you and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world. And, if we let go...

From: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0562992/characters/nm0001172 

There are two points here, the first being, being able to feel the earth spinning, the perception of momentum, gravity and being able to sense the edges of life, and the second, the letting go of the perception of hanging on, of letting yourself release the learning, the indoctrination of modern life. There is a freedom here, an almost anarchic freedom that allows you to experience the expanse of nature, ask questions and expand into a space not defined by the skin of your body.

In his book Silence (in the age of noise) Erling Kagge talks about becoming part of the environment and your body not ending at your fingertips. Here that may be a critical perspective, although he is talking about it in relation to silence and detachment from others, by immersing yourself in nature to the point where the edges are blurred and there is a loss of definition, then a merging or a return to a state of inclusion has to be a destination worth walking towards. To meaningfully merge with and engage with a tree, a toad, a cloud or even gravity could be the coolest thing you have ever done.

Are we any closer? Probably not, but there is an essence here, a thought that you might like to sit and dwell on, immerse yourself in, ponder and pontificate. Find the edges then see what lies beyond.

Eyes shut

 Are we ignorant of the world around us, do we shut it out on purpose or have we been metaphorically blindfolded to stop any reasoned engagement with our environment and nature?

Environment (n)

1. the surroundings or conditions in which a person, animal, or plant lives or operates.

2. the natural world, as a whole or in a particular geographical area, especially as affected by human activity.

There are issues with this definition, which I hope you are now becoming aware of, person, human, animal, plant etc.

As an animist there has to be a level of engagement with the environment, yes we have our own agency, and engagement or being in service to the environment, or the biosphere in which we exist, are clearly different.

An animist does not have to be a climate activist, I think there is a requirement but that is a personal opinion. The knowledge or awareness of the environment be that 1 and/or 2 above is essential, but if it is or contains 2 then the relationship should be obvious; perhaps even self serving!

Being in relationship with sunlight, water and the soil plugs us into our surroundings, we disengage from the growth model that is considered the norm and wires us into the local biosphere, and potentially into the alchemical process of growing food or flowers (which are of course food for other persons) and the generative or regenerative cycle of life.

Again, an animist does not have to be involved in agroecology but engaging in the process and more importantly understanding the process helps with a level of understanding that can only develop engagement with the world that surrounds us.

Environmental collapse or crisis as it is now being called will push all of us into survival mode and that may also be the terrain of the animist, being here and now is inextricably linked to survival and the animist.

To be in service to our environment and not a consumer of the environment, to resuscitate and not walk away muttering the last rights, has to be stock in trade for the barefoot animist. Some will disagree but maintaining your fingers on the pulse of the planet must suggest a requirement to engage in the changes ahead.

Banging the drum

 Maslow’s theory of the hierarchical needs starts with our psychological needs of food, sleep, water, shelter, clothing and breathing.

I think clothing is a matter of conscience and of course environment, but, for me breathing stands alone in this list as being necessary for life and it has an immediacy, with the next requirement being water. I may be way off, from Maslow's perspective, but a level of fitness within the physical body and a functional heart that perpetuates the movement of oxygen around the body has to be fundamental to our ongoing existence.

The next two questions may seem obvious, especially from an animistic perspective but are worth contemplating to ensure we are on the same page:

1. How aware are you of your breathing?
2. How aware are you of your heart beating?

Our autonomic nervous system takes care of these functions but we can consciously take hold of our breathing and manipulate it to suit our needs. I have studied Yoga and utilized the associated breathing techniques that can powerfully change me psychologically and physiologically. An awareness of the breath is critical in recognizing emotional states and an ability to regulate the breath can achieve change.

Through the breath I can regulate the heart, if I breath deeply over a period of time the heart will slow and if I hold my breath the heart beat will speed up and my brain will trigger responses that will tell me, often very loudly, to breath in or out to regulate the carbon dioxide levels in the blood.

Being aware of the breath is simpler and you will hopefully be able to sit and listen to the breath to just bring the body into focus. Being aware of the heart and especially the rhythmic beating can be more of a challenge. I am not suggesting it is critical to animism but it is an important skill to be able to listen to one's own heart and recognize the messages being relayed. 

I enrolled for a ten day silent retreat in a Buddhist monastery some years ago, it was not easy, in fact it was a very difficult experience. I learned many things but one sticks out and as an addition to the breath and the heart I would add another element to our awareness journey; that of feeling.

Feelings are often overlooked and in hindsight we regularly experience thoughts akin to 'I knew that was going to happen'. The nun taking the retreat identified a seed, a seed where feelings grow from and if they can be identified early enough manipulated to mitigate the extremes of those feelings. If I am becoming angry I can feel the beginnings of the emotion in the pit of my stomach, if I am becoming sad I can feel the beginnings of the emotion in my forehead and as such if I can identify the beginnings of an emotion arising. I, in theory, can watch that seed and through techniques like breathing mindfully stop or at least dampen the effects. 

Emotions are controlled by the levels of different chemicals in the brain and to be able to see an emotion rising and reigning it back through conscious efforts can be very powerful.

The breath, the heart beat and watching our arising emotions bring a sense of internal awareness and in the world of animism there has to be a degree of control before the eyes become more open to the world around us. This will help as part of a coping mechanism when we open our mind to nature and the environment, so we do not become overwhelmed by the expanse or volume of information it holds.

Here we go...

 I have so much in my head to write about but to do so will cause confusion, mainly for me, so I need to be measured and write about elements to start with that I can cement in my own, and hopefully your, understanding,

To be an animist, I think, is beyond reasonable grasp because we do not live in a world where we need to be switched 'on' 24/7. To be animistic, or to introduce aspects of animism into our lives is much more realistic and can be achieved in a mindset where we need quick wins to maintain attentiveness.

The above photo is of a cute young North Atlantic Grey Seal, the picture was taken by a friend, but I was swimming next to her when she took it. Swimming in the sea has always been a passion but I am new to the Cornwall coastline and even newer to having my toes tapped by a curious seal when swimming. This seal was 40 to 50 kg but its less curious elders are 100 kg plus; with some far exceeding that. I weigh around 80 kg and to have a similar size mammal, swimming in their own medium and infinitely better swimmers than me can be quite daunting. I am no longer the top predator and am second best, or worse, in this briny world.

Apart from showing you a cute seal picture, the point here is that being second to another mammal in an environment that is not where I am at my most functional starts processes in my brain that can only be described as survival orientated. I become less rational but far more focused in relation to my immediate surroundings and predicament.

So when I said switched 'on' above, I can now clarify that by saying my engagement with my surroundings changed from one of passive involvement to one where it was the only conscious and likely unconscious focus. The mindfulness movement often talk about being in the now, in fact Eckhart Tolle bangs on about it ad nauseam. I have never been more in the now than when there is a lump of a seal swimming alongside me making me look like a complete amateur swimmer; which I clearly am by comparison.

This attentiveness is something we lack in day to day life, perhaps something we lost when our species started to become house dwelling farmers. Security has made us mentally soft as we have detached from nature and the attentiveness required for survival. However, survival is not the essence of animism, it is a measure of our attunement or engagement with the world around us. Animism is more and that is where we move to next.

The Bad Beginning!

I started this blog back in the pandemic of 2020 and, like most people, have been through a lot since then. On revisiting it I decided to delete the meanderings and start again. For one reason it was not cohesive enough for my needs and the second it combined a number of additional elements I now find unnecessary.

So, as they say 'take two'.

The hosts of the podcast Everyday Animism introduced me to the concept of 'Agency'.

Basic Knowledge 101 describes agency as: In sociology and philosophy, agency is the capacity of an entity (a person or other entity, human or any living being in general, or soul-consciousness in religion) to act in any given environment.

So we can start here with the word 'entity', or a thing with distinct and independent existence (being), and I want to confess to hanging my hat on this word. This is because, for me, it encapsulates a something, but my something goes farther than a 'human or any living being in general, or soul-consciousness'. My something includes elements, rocks, plants, animals and entities from within our entire planetary sphere, all the way to the point where we think space begins* and beyond.

*Outer space does not begin at a definite altitude above the surface but the Kármán line, is conventionally used at an altitude of 100 km (62 mi) above sea level.

Paraphrasing Damon Smith at the  Woven Energy podcast episode 11:

Animism is absolutely not a belief system, it is only a belief system to those people who believe belief systems are important...it is not a bunch of primitive people sat around believing things... ...you need your animism, your amazing link into the natural world to keep you alive on that hunting activity... ...it is a reverence for nature and before it is a reverence for nature it is an adaptive hook into the environment, that is absolutely essential to survival...

So if animism is not a belief system, then where are we and how do we, if there is actually a need, categorize animism in the current world?

I have thought long and hard and it has caused much consternation. Maybe there is no need to categorize the concept of animism, perhaps it just is! The recurring thought is that it is the substrate from where belief systems emerged, the foundation or more importantly the soil from which belief systems grew. An instinct inherent in entities that helps them survive within their environment, as the kestrel hovering above the motorway is aware of predators, prey, the weather, vehicles and everything that will affect it in the moment, it is both attentive and attuned to that which is immediate.

So to survive we need to be animistic, but how in a world where we are wrapped in cotton wool, devoid of regular connection to nature, do we expose ourselves to feeling the need to survive?

I cannot turn on the radio or television, open social media or a newspaper or even enter into a conversation with others without feeling the need for a survival mechanism. The environment, politics, the emergence of populism, polarization and post truth all bring on the anxious state of doom and gloom. So to me we are, perhaps ignorantly, in desperate need of either a new paradigm or to return to this state of survival. Not from the tooth and claw our ancestors feared but from this pressurized canister we call life today.

It is also worthy of note to repeat the word 'nature' here as it is not only intrinsic to this conversation, it is also part of the answer we seek to 21st Century life problems.

So that is the revised first page and as Lemony Snicket wrote, the bad beginning!