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Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm: Beyond the Doors of Perception into the Dreaming of Earth
A manual for opening the doors of perception and directly engaging the intelligence of the Natural World
• Provides exercises to directly perceive and interact with the complex, living, self-organizing being that is Gaia
• Reveals that every life form on Earth is highly intelligent and communicative
• Examines the ecological function of invasive plants, bacterial resistance to antibiotics, psychotropic plants and fungi, and the human species
In Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm, Stephen Harrod Buhner reveals that all life forms on Earth possess intelligence, language, a sense of I and not I, and the capacity to dream. He shows that by consciously opening the doors of perception, we can reconnect with the living intelligences in Nature as kindred beings, become again wild scientists, nondomesticated explorers of a Gaian world just as Goethe, Barbara McClintock, James Lovelock, and others have done. For as Einstein commented, “We cannot solve the problems facing us by using the same kind of thinking that created them.”
Buhner explains how to use analogical thinking and imaginal perception to directly experience the inherent meanings that flow through the world, that are expressed from each living form that surrounds us, and to directly initiate communication in return. He delves deeply into the ecological function of invasive plants, bacterial resistance to antibiotics, psychotropic plants and fungi, and, most importantly, the human species itself. He shows that human beings are not a plague on the planet, they have a specific ecological function as important to Gaia as that of plants and bacteria.
Buhner shows that the capacity for depth connection and meaning-filled communication with the living world is inherent in every human being. It is as natural as breathing, as the beating of our own hearts, as our own desire for intimacy and love. We can change how we think and in so doing begin to address the difficulties of our times.
• Provides exercises to directly perceive and interact with the complex, living, self-organizing being that is Gaia
• Reveals that every life form on Earth is highly intelligent and communicative
• Examines the ecological function of invasive plants, bacterial resistance to antibiotics, psychotropic plants and fungi, and the human species
In Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm, Stephen Harrod Buhner reveals that all life forms on Earth possess intelligence, language, a sense of I and not I, and the capacity to dream. He shows that by consciously opening the doors of perception, we can reconnect with the living intelligences in Nature as kindred beings, become again wild scientists, nondomesticated explorers of a Gaian world just as Goethe, Barbara McClintock, James Lovelock, and others have done. For as Einstein commented, “We cannot solve the problems facing us by using the same kind of thinking that created them.”
Buhner explains how to use analogical thinking and imaginal perception to directly experience the inherent meanings that flow through the world, that are expressed from each living form that surrounds us, and to directly initiate communication in return. He delves deeply into the ecological function of invasive plants, bacterial resistance to antibiotics, psychotropic plants and fungi, and, most importantly, the human species itself. He shows that human beings are not a plague on the planet, they have a specific ecological function as important to Gaia as that of plants and bacteria.
Buhner shows that the capacity for depth connection and meaning-filled communication with the living world is inherent in every human being. It is as natural as breathing, as the beating of our own hearts, as our own desire for intimacy and love. We can change how we think and in so doing begin to address the difficulties of our times.
576 pages, Paperback
First published April 15, 2014
277 people are currently reading
2612 people want to read
About the author
Stephen Harrod Buhner
34 books392 followersStephen Harrod Buhner is an Earth poet and the award-winning author of ten books on nature, indigenous cultures, the environment, and herbal medicine. He comes from a long line of healers including Leroy Burney, Surgeon General of the United States under Eisenhower and Kennedy, and Elizabeth Lusterheide, a midwife and herbalist who worked in rural Indiana in the early nineteenth century. The greatest influence on his work, however, has been his great-grandfather C.G. Harrod who primarily used botanical medicines, also in rural Indiana, when he began his work as a physician in 1911.
Stephen's work has appeared or been profiled in publications throughout North America and Europe including Common Boundary, Apotheosis, Shaman's Drum, The New York Times, CNN, and Good Morning America. Stephen lectures yearly throughout the United States on herbal medicine, the sacredness of plants, the intelligence of Nature, and the states of mind necessary for successful habitation of Earth.
Stephen has served as president of the Colorado Association for Healing Practitioners and as a lobbyist on herbal and holistic medicines and education in the Colorado legislature. He lives in New Mexico.
from
http://www.gaianstudies.org/Stephen.html
and
http://www.storey.com/author.php?ID=5...
Stephen's work has appeared or been profiled in publications throughout North America and Europe including Common Boundary, Apotheosis, Shaman's Drum, The New York Times, CNN, and Good Morning America. Stephen lectures yearly throughout the United States on herbal medicine, the sacredness of plants, the intelligence of Nature, and the states of mind necessary for successful habitation of Earth.
Stephen has served as president of the Colorado Association for Healing Practitioners and as a lobbyist on herbal and holistic medicines and education in the Colorado legislature. He lives in New Mexico.
from
http://www.gaianstudies.org/Stephen.html
and
http://www.storey.com/author.php?ID=5...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews
January 10, 2015
So brilliantly insightful and mind-changing that despite some problems, I have to give Plant Intelligence the top rating. It's in my short list of books that have jolted my thinking off its comfortable rails into whole new paradigms.
First of all, Plant Intelligence is only sort of about plants. It's also sort of about psychedelic drugs. It's not quite a polemic against human technological progress (though it heads in that direction), and also not quite a theory of living systems. It's poetic, recursive, loosely-structured and passionate, and as a reader I found it challenging and highly rewarding.
Buhner lays out in great and scientific detail some little-known characteristics of plant ecosystems and the microbiome of the earth. This forms the basis for the rest of the book, which is a long reverie on the connectedness of all self-organizing systems, among which humanity is absolutely not "supreme" or even in any way special. Plant systems have "brains," and interact with their changing environment by exactly the same means as "intelligent" animal species; the earth itself is a living being responding intelligently to its environment (Buhner cites James Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis throughout the book); and the hubris that has driven humanity to its destructive practices will be no match for Gaia when Gaia shrugs its shoulders and brushes us off.
Plant Intelligence was a slow read for me, because the scientific language demanded careful attention, and because I had to keep stopping to quote long, mind-blowing sections to friends and family. First there were vivid images of plant root systems all communicating via the same neurotransmitters our brains use. Then came the unsettling concept that humans aren't the free agents we think we are; we're really just working for the planet. (Bees, Buhner says by way of analogy, think they're collecting honey, and have no idea that they're pollinators).
Next came awe as Buhner discussed how human creativity is only a response to the larger system eliciting something it needs from us. While this view says that free will is largely a fantasy, it also says that our creative works--our very lives--do have meaning and power whether or not other humans consciously know it. It abolishes in a single chapter the idea that only fame and fortune can validate our lives.
Finally--and in what I felt was the weakest part of the book--Buhner lets loose his "barbarian" diatribe in favor of hallucinogenic drugs and against civilization. After spending some 400 pages building a beautifully spiraling idea structure, he seemed to lose sight of his own core idea, that humanity is just one (disposable) part of nature like all other parts. Instead, he regresses to the conventional notion that humanity and its technologies (particularly cities) are separate and uniquely bad, and that a libertarian, individualistic, back-to-the-land way of human life is somehow inherently "better" than urban life.
Throughout the book, I was hoping he'd arrive at the logical conclusion, that cities are organic, natural structures arising in response to Gaia's promptings just as beehives and anthills and biofilms arose; and that the shamanic approach that he favors would apply equally to urban and "natural" environments. I had to sleep on his conclusions before realizing that my view (let's call it urban shamanism) is as likely to be valid as his, even though I haven't written a beautiful, challenging, poetic tome on the subject. Yet.
On a final and more mundane note, Buhner's style poses some difficult editorial problems, and it's easy to imagine an editor just leaving most of it alone, but there are dozens of missing words, repeated phrases, and misspellings throughout the (Kindle edition) text that really should have been caught by a competent line-editor. This important book deserves better editing than it got.
First of all, Plant Intelligence is only sort of about plants. It's also sort of about psychedelic drugs. It's not quite a polemic against human technological progress (though it heads in that direction), and also not quite a theory of living systems. It's poetic, recursive, loosely-structured and passionate, and as a reader I found it challenging and highly rewarding.
Buhner lays out in great and scientific detail some little-known characteristics of plant ecosystems and the microbiome of the earth. This forms the basis for the rest of the book, which is a long reverie on the connectedness of all self-organizing systems, among which humanity is absolutely not "supreme" or even in any way special. Plant systems have "brains," and interact with their changing environment by exactly the same means as "intelligent" animal species; the earth itself is a living being responding intelligently to its environment (Buhner cites James Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis throughout the book); and the hubris that has driven humanity to its destructive practices will be no match for Gaia when Gaia shrugs its shoulders and brushes us off.
Plant Intelligence was a slow read for me, because the scientific language demanded careful attention, and because I had to keep stopping to quote long, mind-blowing sections to friends and family. First there were vivid images of plant root systems all communicating via the same neurotransmitters our brains use. Then came the unsettling concept that humans aren't the free agents we think we are; we're really just working for the planet. (Bees, Buhner says by way of analogy, think they're collecting honey, and have no idea that they're pollinators).
Next came awe as Buhner discussed how human creativity is only a response to the larger system eliciting something it needs from us. While this view says that free will is largely a fantasy, it also says that our creative works--our very lives--do have meaning and power whether or not other humans consciously know it. It abolishes in a single chapter the idea that only fame and fortune can validate our lives.
Finally--and in what I felt was the weakest part of the book--Buhner lets loose his "barbarian" diatribe in favor of hallucinogenic drugs and against civilization. After spending some 400 pages building a beautifully spiraling idea structure, he seemed to lose sight of his own core idea, that humanity is just one (disposable) part of nature like all other parts. Instead, he regresses to the conventional notion that humanity and its technologies (particularly cities) are separate and uniquely bad, and that a libertarian, individualistic, back-to-the-land way of human life is somehow inherently "better" than urban life.
Throughout the book, I was hoping he'd arrive at the logical conclusion, that cities are organic, natural structures arising in response to Gaia's promptings just as beehives and anthills and biofilms arose; and that the shamanic approach that he favors would apply equally to urban and "natural" environments. I had to sleep on his conclusions before realizing that my view (let's call it urban shamanism) is as likely to be valid as his, even though I haven't written a beautiful, challenging, poetic tome on the subject. Yet.
On a final and more mundane note, Buhner's style poses some difficult editorial problems, and it's easy to imagine an editor just leaving most of it alone, but there are dozens of missing words, repeated phrases, and misspellings throughout the (Kindle edition) text that really should have been caught by a competent line-editor. This important book deserves better editing than it got.
December 27, 2014
every couple of pages I found myself gripping the book and bringing it closer to my eyes, pupils dilating and mind exploding. Read this book, you will never look at nature walk the same way again.
On another note way before I read this book, once while on psychedelic mushrooms I kept bringing up the idea to a friend that these chemicals are 'of the plants' and that they are trying to show us how we are suppose to live, how they live. I remember telling a friend that its like the movie 'the happening' when the plants develop and release a chemical to make humans kill themselves, but with psilocybin being more beneficial to humans than what the movie had conjured. to see this carefully articulated in this book gives way to the spark that glues your eyes to the pages and lets you go 50 to 60 pages in without putting it down. its one of those moments where your eyes are wide open and you are silently mouthing the words 'what the fuck'.
On another note way before I read this book, once while on psychedelic mushrooms I kept bringing up the idea to a friend that these chemicals are 'of the plants' and that they are trying to show us how we are suppose to live, how they live. I remember telling a friend that its like the movie 'the happening' when the plants develop and release a chemical to make humans kill themselves, but with psilocybin being more beneficial to humans than what the movie had conjured. to see this carefully articulated in this book gives way to the spark that glues your eyes to the pages and lets you go 50 to 60 pages in without putting it down. its one of those moments where your eyes are wide open and you are silently mouthing the words 'what the fuck'.
December 12, 2017
Oh dear God, Buhner loves to hear himself talk, and quotes endlessly, ad nauseam, and as he quotes Thoreau, “A man has not seen a thing if he has not felt it,” with the crux of the book being "How does it feel." To me........Insipid, affirming, tedious, tranquil. I agree with what he is saying, and therefore don't need 576 pages to realize if something feels right follow it. And quotes!!! although wonderful and relevant........he could cut the book down by a third by reducing quotes and comparisons. I really have mixed feelings about PI. It can be eye opening, and his statement that he got rid of many belongings by thinking this way (Marie Kondo would love him), and I do feel that plants and things do talk to us, I just think he could have used an editor to help him with his self indulgence, at which point I would have given him a 5 for content.
April 2, 2016
This book appeared in my life in a beautiful, magical way that insisted I begin reading now, don't do anything else, just read this book. I took it slow,as it's dense with one mind blowing gem of wisdom after another. This book is a life-changer. It will shift your perception and encourage you to witness the deeply meaningful fabric of life around you.
August 16, 2016
There is Hitler inside each of us and if we do not heal the Hitler inside of ourselves, then the violence, it will never stop
July 17, 2018
I stumbled into this book online when i was researching on the purpose of psychedelics in nature. This book gave me very interesting perspective in that aspect. The author's main emphasis is on the underlying complex intelligence in nature, which we can only feel it experientially and not understand it through reductionist thinking. The chapters on the common neural pathways in all living organisms and how we are interconnected is quite insightful .
The length of the book could be shorter with lesser quotes, although quotes were very relevant and interesting. Definitely recommend the book who would like to get a deeper perception on the nature's workings. Also this book is relevant for people working on climate change.
The length of the book could be shorter with lesser quotes, although quotes were very relevant and interesting. Definitely recommend the book who would like to get a deeper perception on the nature's workings. Also this book is relevant for people working on climate change.
June 2, 2019
Author likes to make things up without providing reasoning or references and, when he does use references, it's using Jurassic Park quotes as an accurate assessment of Western science or cherry picking scientists that agree with him.
The book was best when discussing the inner realm of humans: sensory gating and using the feeling sense.
Anything related to science, plants, or biology was cringe inducing. Which is a shame because I actually agree with the underlying idea of plant intelligence, and was hoping for less hand waving and more examples with accompanying references.
The book was best when discussing the inner realm of humans: sensory gating and using the feeling sense.
Anything related to science, plants, or biology was cringe inducing. Which is a shame because I actually agree with the underlying idea of plant intelligence, and was hoping for less hand waving and more examples with accompanying references.
June 16, 2019
Are you ready to be drawn into the metaphysical background of the world? I was, and this book made me a believer, but of ideas I was already somehow aware of. This book is beautiful and strange and thoughtful. It covers self-organized systems, namely Gaia and the biosphere, plants, bacteria, hallucinogens and even the ecological purpose of humanity and so much more. Take some time with this book and Gaia will unfold before you, with a bit of imagination.
May 3, 2015
I must not have read the end notes closely enough because this book went in a direction that I did not anticipate. Although I have severe reservations of anyone/any book that makes claims regarding curing schizophrenia or viewing it in a positive light, I still managed to enjoy the book because it was so far out (no pun intended) of the traditional box. And although I am unlikely to start tripping on acid anytime soon, I still am left with plenty to think about. Even if only 25% of his science is in the ballpark of accuracy, it does feed a rich conversation as to how we define life and our role in it, the wonder of bacteria, the long-term success of any conservation efforts, and many other topics worthy of debate. Reading this was quite trippy indeed.
June 5, 2021
I love plants, am a gardener and an herbalist and I also am into discovering the spiritual side of all things. This book brings those things together beautifully. It gets very intense at times and the author has many personal experiences to share as well as his insight on plant and human behavior. There are many exercises given to help deepen our relationships with earth and its plant people. In the end you will realize that plants and the whole of the Earth itself is alive and dwells in both the physical and spiritual realms as we do.
January 26, 2020
This book was about more than plant intelligence; it was about the intelligence of all living things, all the way from the smallest microbe to the Earth, the Solar System, and the Universe. We are one living creature living with others within a larger organism. We have the ability to communicate with other living being through our heart, interpreted by our feelings, dreams, and other sensations. The book reminds us that to live in our heart is to be fully alive, and to be a functioning part of the whole.
March 16, 2015
Eye opening look at what it means to be "intelligent." Buhner argues with passion that intelligence is a feature of all life on the planet, not just human life. The book is filled with fascinating examples of the brilliance of other life forms.
March 20, 2016
This book is a must read. You don't have to agree with anything in the book, but it will still be an unforgettable experience. It is a beautiful tribute to life.
February 20, 2016
One of the best books I have ever read -- important for any discussion of science and spirituality. It continues the dialogue between the contrasting perceptions of the mechanistic/reductionist world view vs the romantic/imaginal/soulful world view. It encourages the reader to listen to one's heart, and to ask the question "How does this feel", as opposed to merely thinking about things in one's head. It encourages a deeper, soulful feeling of the world of nature around you, to allow your heart's intuition and feeling to come forth. It encourages you to follow the "golden threads" that lead to a deeper and fuller sense of being, a sense of being led into one's true self, one's true calling and passion.
March 28, 2016
I will never look at Nature (Gaia) the same again...not any aspect of it from bacteria to the most complex animal, including humans. At times it was difficult to read because of all the new information coming in and I had to put it down for a bit while I digested what I'd read. The concepts he discusses are not new and he's not the only one currently writing about them, but he puts ideas across in such a way that they are easily understood. My only criticism of the book would be the author's extensive use of quoting others. I found it a bit irritating but understand he was garnering "evidence" for the points he was making. I will definitely be reading this book again in the future.
August 25, 2016
Some amazing, paradigm changing sections, some tedious gobbledygook. Is it a worthwhile read? - most definitely! Emphasis on paradigm changing. Absolutely magical at times. It's a book I'll return to.
January 18, 2023
Amazing author and book - in a series dealing with consciousness, plant intelligence, our relationship to plants and the non-humanly constructed world. So GOOD!
September 9, 2020
Ibid, ibid, ibid. The author attempted to cram too much content, attempted to cover to many subjects, within this one publication, while mining other publications for supporting materials.
One thing I noticed that was aggravating was that the index was not complete... I'd look for a reference to a person's name and it wasn't in the index... not in the bibliography either.
As a biological treatise to support the idea that plants do communication with each other by sundry means, it failed.
As an apology for the use and consumption of psychedelic compounds, it fails.
As a primer for psychological and sociological counseling and 'treatment' of a range of personality symptoms, I cannot offer my opinion.
I spent too much time, over too long of a period of time, completing the read of this.
One thing I noticed that was aggravating was that the index was not complete... I'd look for a reference to a person's name and it wasn't in the index... not in the bibliography either.
As a biological treatise to support the idea that plants do communication with each other by sundry means, it failed.
As an apology for the use and consumption of psychedelic compounds, it fails.
As a primer for psychological and sociological counseling and 'treatment' of a range of personality symptoms, I cannot offer my opinion.
I spent too much time, over too long of a period of time, completing the read of this.
May 4, 2019
It took me almost a year to read this because it kept sending me off on tangents. I took some psychology courses, read up on American Indian traditions and Irish mythology, got back into playing music, and applied to a graduate program in biology in part because of this book. Do not feel like you have to agree with everything Buhner states, though; I certainly do not. I did really appreciate his writing style, his ability to step outside the main narrative and add commentary, and his synthesis of several seemingly unrelated fields. I don't know whether I recommend this book, though. I really enjoyed it, but I cannot think of anyone else I know who definitely would. It's a different kind of thing than I even expected when I picked it up.
February 13, 2018
This book blew. my. mind. I'm not sure I can summarize or review it fairly without sounding insane, but Buhner makes a compelling argument for the interconnectedness and pervasive sentience of all living things, including whole ecosystems and the world itself -- and he's got some concrete suggestions for how to tap into that and communicate with the living world around you. Not for everyone. But life changing, if you're into it.
Read
January 25, 2021I no longer rate books with stars. Before The Overstory, there was Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm, a non-fiction account of the plant world and its magical properties, as well as a spiritual self-help book, as well as a writer's journal containing random literary, poetical, and musical quotations. This is a contemplative book which can and should be read in snippets and as food for meditative thought.
February 19, 2019
Some of it is too science heavy (you could always skip around), but it is filled with real gems and insights about plant intelligence, bacteria intelligence, evolution, schizophrenia, Gaia as its own conscious being, etc. Very very interesting
November 30, 2015
One of my all time favorites!
October 20, 2016
Fantastic
August 8, 2017
Reading it a second time. Love this book and so well written too.
August 14, 2017
Life-changing.
December 25, 2025
I've been looking for this book all my life. High praise for the author for accumulating this knowledge and sharing it with the people.
October 7, 2018
Some gems in here but it's all such a seemingly random, meandering flood of quotes and musings... too random for me. I think he needed a strong editor!
August 4, 2023
An ode to the book that gave what I had always been longing for
When I was volunteering for a Swiss family in France in May, the host recommended me this book to read. I had just finished Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer and was starting to see the trees, flowers and birds around me with a little bit more wonder and respect. But nothing could’ve prepared me for this book and its beauty, humour and humility… Now, I think four months later, I think about things I never thought I would. Most importantly, I wonder questions that I never thought I would. I hope to gain more and more courage to actually ask these questions that are floating around in my mind and to spark up conversations so that we could wonder and ponder it all together. Just ask. Trust our own feelings. And oh! FEEL our feelings.
I think one of the most important ways we are different from the rest of the Earth is our capability to feel soooo deeply. And what lengths we go to try to escape, suppress and get rid of all those feelings. But it’s understandable. The Western education doesn’t teach us to listen to our feelings or prepare us for how strong feelings sometimes can become. What I learnt in school was pretty much the opposite: I felt too sensitive, like I had to mask who I am and what I felt, on a daily basis. After graduating high school something deep in my heart was calling me to travel and experience and different kind of life, and what I experienced was something so magical and miraculous and unimaginable! Now, back in Finland, I am faced with a crossroads. Not necessarily with only two options, maybe countless. But still, I have to make decisions and never before in my life have I felt so lost, but open to everything and anything.
I have always been a dreamer, a big thinker and a lover of simple beauty and old forests. An artist, a poet, a musician, a philosopher. Interested. In everything. This book felt like a warm hug from an ancestor who I thought I didn’t know, but when I saw her, of course I knew her. It felt like a “yes” when everything else around me felt like a “no”. It felt like a little push, a reassurance, that I’m exactly where I need to be and that I haven’t gone crazy. I read words and sentences I thought only I have thought in my own mind. I was introduced concepts I had never heard of before, but immediately I felt that they were true.
The book started with an introduction to the wonderful, complicated, magical world of animals and plants and their intelligence, which I thought the book was mainly about, so I was absolutely content reading about Clark’s Nutcracker (a bird with incredible memory) or how trees communicate with Mycelium fungi that which connects individual plants together to transfer water, nitrogen, carbon and other minerals or that weather, yes weather, is also… intelligent. But also, I learnt about psychedelics, the imaginal realm and dreaming, the process of creating art, like music or writing… I also learnt more about depression and schizophrenia, the education system and scientific research in the West. This book had it all… and more. There was a lot that I didn’t fully understand and I’m sure I will notice and learn something new, one day that I visit it again. I don’t think it’s the one and only truth either even though it felt true to me. As I previously said, the most important thing is to keep wondering and asking questions. This book gave me more confidence to challenge the paradigms of today and think for myself. Trust my own heart and the sixth sense, the sense of feeling.
I am thankful to Oliver for introducing me to this book and its author, Stephen Harrod Buhner, who I discovered had passed away last December.
I am incredibly thankful for the gift of books and being able to read, and to understand English to the extent that I was able to read this beautiful, and funny, book about the Earth, Universe and myself.
When I was volunteering for a Swiss family in France in May, the host recommended me this book to read. I had just finished Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer and was starting to see the trees, flowers and birds around me with a little bit more wonder and respect. But nothing could’ve prepared me for this book and its beauty, humour and humility… Now, I think four months later, I think about things I never thought I would. Most importantly, I wonder questions that I never thought I would. I hope to gain more and more courage to actually ask these questions that are floating around in my mind and to spark up conversations so that we could wonder and ponder it all together. Just ask. Trust our own feelings. And oh! FEEL our feelings.
I think one of the most important ways we are different from the rest of the Earth is our capability to feel soooo deeply. And what lengths we go to try to escape, suppress and get rid of all those feelings. But it’s understandable. The Western education doesn’t teach us to listen to our feelings or prepare us for how strong feelings sometimes can become. What I learnt in school was pretty much the opposite: I felt too sensitive, like I had to mask who I am and what I felt, on a daily basis. After graduating high school something deep in my heart was calling me to travel and experience and different kind of life, and what I experienced was something so magical and miraculous and unimaginable! Now, back in Finland, I am faced with a crossroads. Not necessarily with only two options, maybe countless. But still, I have to make decisions and never before in my life have I felt so lost, but open to everything and anything.
I have always been a dreamer, a big thinker and a lover of simple beauty and old forests. An artist, a poet, a musician, a philosopher. Interested. In everything. This book felt like a warm hug from an ancestor who I thought I didn’t know, but when I saw her, of course I knew her. It felt like a “yes” when everything else around me felt like a “no”. It felt like a little push, a reassurance, that I’m exactly where I need to be and that I haven’t gone crazy. I read words and sentences I thought only I have thought in my own mind. I was introduced concepts I had never heard of before, but immediately I felt that they were true.
The book started with an introduction to the wonderful, complicated, magical world of animals and plants and their intelligence, which I thought the book was mainly about, so I was absolutely content reading about Clark’s Nutcracker (a bird with incredible memory) or how trees communicate with Mycelium fungi that which connects individual plants together to transfer water, nitrogen, carbon and other minerals or that weather, yes weather, is also… intelligent. But also, I learnt about psychedelics, the imaginal realm and dreaming, the process of creating art, like music or writing… I also learnt more about depression and schizophrenia, the education system and scientific research in the West. This book had it all… and more. There was a lot that I didn’t fully understand and I’m sure I will notice and learn something new, one day that I visit it again. I don’t think it’s the one and only truth either even though it felt true to me. As I previously said, the most important thing is to keep wondering and asking questions. This book gave me more confidence to challenge the paradigms of today and think for myself. Trust my own heart and the sixth sense, the sense of feeling.
I am thankful to Oliver for introducing me to this book and its author, Stephen Harrod Buhner, who I discovered had passed away last December.
I am incredibly thankful for the gift of books and being able to read, and to understand English to the extent that I was able to read this beautiful, and funny, book about the Earth, Universe and myself.
January 12, 2020
Buhner brings forth some incredibly interesting knowledge behind the science of the ecosystem to the average reader. I've certainly come away from this book looking at major systems (scientific, ecological, political) of our world differently.
He makes a compelling case explaining why individuals in industrialized Western societies are deeply deprived of a true understanding and "feeling sense" of the world, and how that can lead to reduction in overall life satisfaction and engagement.
I was personally touched by the chapter discussing innovation, education, and individuals who are outsiders to the dominant system. I have often identified with these ideas and reading that chapter was reassuring in that I am struggling in this system not because there is something wrong with me, but because the dominant system doesn't necessarily serve to nurture the gifts of individuals.
Buhner is one of those people that makes you feel a little less crazy for believing in something bigger than a life of 9-5 and retirement.
The only thing I found exhausting in reading this book is his repetition of the same quote four to five times throughout the book. Seems to be a quirk with his writing, but its worth it to read the whole book through and not get hung up on it.
He makes a compelling case explaining why individuals in industrialized Western societies are deeply deprived of a true understanding and "feeling sense" of the world, and how that can lead to reduction in overall life satisfaction and engagement.
I was personally touched by the chapter discussing innovation, education, and individuals who are outsiders to the dominant system. I have often identified with these ideas and reading that chapter was reassuring in that I am struggling in this system not because there is something wrong with me, but because the dominant system doesn't necessarily serve to nurture the gifts of individuals.
Buhner is one of those people that makes you feel a little less crazy for believing in something bigger than a life of 9-5 and retirement.
The only thing I found exhausting in reading this book is his repetition of the same quote four to five times throughout the book. Seems to be a quirk with his writing, but its worth it to read the whole book through and not get hung up on it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews