The Spell of the Sensuous
During the course of a week, I typically read one book, many articles, and listen to one or two podcasts. I am actually trying to cut back…
During the course of a week, I typically read one book, many articles, and listen to one or two podcasts. I am actually trying to cut back, but it is hard this time of year. I worry that I am consuming too much information, but I figure this is a good problem to have. I thought I would occasionally share some thoughts about books and podcasts in the hope that others may benefit. I am deep into self-improvement right now and who could not benefit from a little improvement?
I listened to an interview with David Abram on the Emergence website where he described his life as an itinerant magician living with shamans in Indonesia. That prompted me to read reviews of his book Spell of the Sensuous. Most book reviews seem hyperbolic to me, but the tone and content of these reviews were different and it was clear that this was a unique book.
I am about 50 pages into this book and I can now sketch out the main thesis and confirm that it is indeed novel and thought-provoking. To begin with, he uses the phrase the more-than-human-world (MTHW)to describe nature. He describes his time living with shamans and how he learned that they derive their insights and power from this MTHW. Our perception of shamans is largely shaped by early missionaries who brought their own starkly different mechanistic worldview with them that limited their ability to perceive what the shamans were actually doing. They tended to dismiss the shaman’s rituals, prayers, and healing as being driven by a belief in supernatural forces. This is due, in part, to western culture limiting our ability to see the natural world and to appreciate the lives of animals. They also missed the fact that we are fully human when we embrace our relationship with the forces that shaped us.
David describes many intense and beautiful encounters with the MTHW and how his senses and perception opened up to deeply experience them. He describes his return to the US and how his immersion in our culture dulled his senses and greatly limited his ability to see and feel. He described the drone of machines as drowning out the animals and the sounds of nature. This really resonated with me. I have tinnitus now due to being exposed to too many loud noises during my life. I think about noise every day and I search out quiet spaces. There are no quiet spaces left, just spaces with less noise. This impacts people and animals in many ways. If you would like to experience a dramatic example of this in our area just go birding at Maxwell Park. The noise of the interstate so dominates the space that is hard to hear anything else.
I dream about creating a quiet space in town where the intrusion of internal combustion is limited. I think it would be a healing space.
Gosh, thank you for reminding me of a gem of a now-dusty book on my own shelves (Spell of Sensuous). As I pull it down, I note the pages are much too crisp, suggesting I have yet to glean its valuable insights. I've dusted it off & am eager to begin again...