Visions of Nature: Studies on the Theory of Gaia and Culture in Ancient and Modern Times

Visions of Nature: Studies on the Theory of Gaia and Culture in Ancient and Modern TimesFons Elders (ed.)BrusselsVUB Brussels University Press2004ISBN 90 5487 3582254 pp.Review DOI 10.1108/09555340510630635

This book of essays coincides with the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Gaia hypothesis of James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis. The idea of “Gaia”has appealed to the growing ecological consciousness of the past three decades and is widely interpreted, in spiritual terms, as reconnection with the earth and the rhythms of nature. This interpretation is quite understandable, given that Gaia is the earth goddess of European classical antiquity, with approximate counterparts in virtually every human spiritual tradition. The choice of name,Lovelock tells us, he owes to his neighbour William Golding, author of Lord of the Flies and many subsequent novels. Gaia, therefore, is a poetic, some would say archetypal, image used to convey the scientific concept of earthly metabolism, of the planet as an organic, unified whole containing self-correcting mechanisms that can protect it – but not necessarily us– against even the worst human excess. All living systems are interconnected, and so humanity is not separate from, or superior to, the natural world but part of it, dependent on it and potentially expendable.

The Gaia hypothesis is grounded in the enlightenment principle of reasoned observation. It is not in any sense anti-science, indeed it relies on scientific method, and nor does it seek, as some (but not all) ecologists would wish, to reverse the technological revolution. Lovelock has recently been criticised by orthodox “greens” for his advocacy of nuclear power as an alternative to fossil fuels. Less controversially, he believes that technological innovation is one of humanity's gifts, and one of the ways in which humans adapt to ecosystems in a state of flux. Gaia is a rationalist theory, but it challenges the rationalist fundamentalism that, drawing upon earlier religious influences, regards human supremacy as inevitable. It re-embeds human beings in nature, but in so doing it creates a more balanced humanism, which also incorporates the spiritual dimension. By showing the points of intersection between living systems, and their – our – dependence on “a globally self-regulating hydroecological metabolism”, the Gaia hypothesis unites the various strands of human thought: the artistic and creative, the spiritual and visionary and the spirit of scientific inquiry.

Visions of Nature is drawn from scholars and practitioners from a wide range of disciplines and backgrounds. This reflects – to use Shakespeare's phrase – the “infinite variety” of Gaia herself. More importantly, it shows how the new Gaian insights cross academic and cultural frontiers. The theme of the book is the blurring of boundaries, the acknowledgement of complexity, the convergence of science and spirit, east and west, intuition and reason or, if you will, yin and yang. In this lively,readable collection of essays, scientists absorb spiritual insights and spiritual seekers draw upon scientific as much as religious or mystical sources. Physicist F. David Peat, for instance, finds continuities between the holistic thinking of indigenous peoples and the insights of quantum physics and chaos(now known as complexity) theory, a line of insight “from the Blackfoot to David Bohm”. In exploring indigenous philosophy, he does not abandon western scientific reasoning, but on the contrary, his commitment to it is broadened and deepened. “In this sense”, he writes, “the New Physics has much in common with earlier worldviews. It deals in participation,wholeness, process, a unity between matter and mind”.

Writing from a spiritual perspective, Paul de Leeuw explores the Japanese sense of nature. This is reflected especially in the indigenous tradition of Shinto, with its emphasis on ritual purification and the balance between continuity and change:

Paul de Leeuw is a western kannushi, or Shinto Master, who directs the Japanese Dutch Shinzen Foundation in Amsterdam. He has therefore embraced the east, but has not in the process abandoned the west and his essay, fascinating like all in this volume, draws from both hemispheres in his holistic search for rational and spiritual insight. In this way, Paul de Leeuw embodies the spirit of Visions of Nature. The book's lesson is that, as David Rothenberg puts it his excellent Preface, “Gaia in its modern conception is a kind of Zen koan, a puzzle to live through rather than to solve”. This exhilarating book helps to point us away from adversarial politics, dualistic thinking and moral absolutism towards a broader vision of the world that is at once reasoned and enchanted.

VUB University Press: www.vubpress.og

Japanese Dutch Shinzen Foundation: www.shinto.nl

Aidan RankinNew European