Quinn Quote Saturday and Some Reflection

"Everyone in your culture knows this. Man was born to turn the world into a paradise, but tragically he was born flawed. And so his paradise has always been spoiled by stupidity, greed, destructiveness, and shortsightedness."--Quote from Ishmael, by Daniel Quinn

A brief reflection on this quote out of Ishmael. One of the effects that the book had on me was that afterwards it felt alright to be human again. Yes, there was all of the ridiculous stuff I'd done to myself and other people throughout my life up to that point, but for some odd reason Ishmael helped me get above (Or maybe put aside for a moment is a better way to say it) those acts, and take a look at the bigger picture. And surprisingly enough, the personal baggage lost some of its power. It never goes away, but it puts things into perspective. Perhaps, my psyche, or soul, moved out into the world soul. In other words, I started paying attention to it.

To be clear I'm not advocating Ishmael as a self help book. I'm trying to express the effect it had on me. I've often contemplated renaming this blog: Life After Ishmael. It seems like since ever since I've read the book I'm periodically reflecting on it.

The Coyote Tree

I've been thinking about the coyote tree that Derrick Jensen talks about in A Language Older Than Words. Anyone that has read it knows the story. Derrick takes off his clothes a couple of times and lays underneath it so the tree can talk to him. To me, it's a profound and subversive act given the way we've been conditioned in this culture. Trees aren't suppose to be able to communicate with us.

This morning I ran across a quote in James Hillman's The Thought of The Heart and The Soul of the World that, I think, explains how this happens.

"Third, 'taking in' means interiorizing the object into itself, into its image so that its imagination is activated (rather than ours), so that it shows its heart and reveals its soul, becoming personified and thereby lovable--lovable not only to us and because of us, but because its loveliness increases as its sense and its imagination unfold. Here begins phenomenology: in a world of ensouled phenomena. Phenomena need not be saved by grace or faith or all-embracing theory, or by scientific objectiveness or transcendental subjectivety. They are saved by the anima mundi, by their own souls and our simple gasping at this imaginal loveliness."

Perhaps what happened is that Derrick opened his heart to the tree and in return the tree opened it's heart to Derrick and communication was possible.