The Trumpeter - Journal of Ecosophy (Athabasca University)

Caley, Michael T.

Cover and Contents

Caley, Michael

 
 
 The Trumpeter  
ISSN: 0832-6193 
Volume 25, Number 1 (2009) 
 
 
Editorial 
 
 Ecosophy, the wisdom of the household, it seems to me, must vary 
within the limits of human capabilities, from household to household.  
Thus, while Gaia has overarching wisdom and laws (nomos) that 
pertain throughout the greater household, each division of the greater 
household has subsets of laws and concomitant wisdom.  Each 
ecosystem has its own wisdom contained within the greater wisdom. 
 
Forests, parklands, jungles, deserts (both hot and cold), estuaries, 
littoral areas, etc. all have inherent laws and wisdom.  Traditionally, 
humans living in ecosystems learned, to some extent or other, how to 
accommodate the limits and changes of that place and time. 
 
Others before me have commented that the monotheistic religions seem 
to arise in desert areas.  Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism all emerged 
in the great Gangetic Plain of India (Bharat).  Oddly, China gave 
humans the only godless religion (Chan) which, in Japan, became Zen.  
Traditional societies have variations, ecologically correct for the 
ecosystem that we group as shamanism.  The Mahabharata (Great 
India) is the collected household wisdom (ecosophy) of Bharat. 
 
In this issue and following in Vol. 25(2), we (my co-editor Swarnalatha 
Rangarajan) and I present the best ecosophical work emerging from the 
great traditions of the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, and other 
traditional sources of wisdom. 
 
Swarna and I have been working on these issues for almost a year.  I am 
personally delighted with the diversity and quality of the materials 
submitted.  In reading and editing, I have learned more about this 
continuing tradition than I would have thought possible.  I am also 
delighted to have acquired a new colleague and friend in Swarna.  She 
is a consummate scholar and is much more diplomatic than I in dealing 
with questionable submissions.  She has a keen eye for helping edit 
materials that aren’t quite up to snuff when received. 
 
Volume 25, Number 1 1
I suspect that Arne Naess, who read Sanskrit in the original, would be 
quite pleased with these special issues. 
 
The remainder of this editorial is in Swarna’s words.  Heed them well.  
 
Michael T. Caley, Associate Editor 
TrumpeterAE@shaw.ca 
 
 
  
 
 
"Let noble thoughts come to us from every side"- The Rig Veda 1-89-i 
 
The seer of the Rig Veda, the oldest wisdom text of India, recognized 
the need to invite and integrate the flow of wisdom from all corners of 
the globe. This Trumpeter special issue was likewise willed and 
welcomed into being by my friend and colleague, Michael Caley.  
 
The ancient Indian worldview conceived of all life on earth as 
belonging to one extended family; “Vasudeva Kudumbakam.”  The 
earth was personified and revered in the Vedas as the benevolent 
Mother, Devi Vasundhara, the source of sustenance and the ground of 
all being.   Hymns like the Prithvi Sukta from the Atharva Veda extol 
this sacred and primary bond between the earth and her inhabitants that 
is manifest in the cycles of birth and death. In addition to the religious 
significance, these texts clearly emphasized the interconnectedness of 
all life and the striving towards a greater common good; “sarva bhuta 
hita” (welfare of all beings). The concepts of dharma (which can be 
loosely translated to mean both personal and social responsibility and 
the righteous path which upholds the social and moral fabric) and 
karma (action which unfailingly leaves a consequence in its wake) find 
a place in all major Indian religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, and 
Jainism.  
 
Today, India’s environmental concerns mirror the worldwide crisis ─ 
deforestation, polluted water sources, displacement of tribal peoples by 
dams and mines, climate change, increasing population to name a few. 
Gadgil and Guha comment on the internal fissures in the Indian society 
and assign the entire population to three categories namely omnivores, 
ecosystem people, and ecological refugees.1  Hence an adequate 
The Trumpeter 2
 
 
response on the part of religions, namely the articulation of a clear code 
of environmental ethics, is one of the greatest challenges of the times.  
 
Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim, who coordinated a series of 
conferences and publications exploring the relationship between world 
religions and ecology note, “The world’s religions in all their 
complexity and variety remain one of the principal resources for 
symbolic ideas, spiritual inspiration and ethical principles. Indeed, 
despite their limitations, historically they have provided comprehensive 
cosmologies for interpretive direction, moral foundations for social 
cohesion, spiritual guidance for cultural expression, and ritual 
celebrations for meaningful life.”2  
 
Movements like the Chipko Resistance have successfully affirmed the 
spiritual value of nature and made use of religious songs and epic 
narratives to emphasize the value of the forest. Arne Naess was inspired 
by the ecologically aware life of M.K. Gandhi who showed an untiring 
adherence to satya (truth), ahimsa (non-violence), niyama (rules of 
right conduct) and the spirit of Hinduism’s Sanatana Dharma (The 
Eternal Law). Gandhi’s sensitivity to the environment stemmed from 
his spirituality as this small anecdote illustrates. A close disciple who 
merely needed three to four neem leaves was in the habit of breaking 
off the entire twig. Pained to see this Gandhi remarked: “This is 
violence. We should pluck the required number of leaves after offering 
an apology to the tree for doing so. But you broke off the whole twig, 
which is wasteful and wrong.”3  
 
India’s sprawling, diverse geography has brought forth vibrant 
ecosophies. A fine example of this is the Bishnoi tribal community of 
the Thar desert of Rajasthan, which aggressively fights for wildlife and 
environment protection. Nearly two centuries ago, a woman from the 
community, Amrita Devi, along with 366 men died while protecting the 
Khejda trees (Prosopis Specigera) which were ordered to be felled by 
the Maharaja of Johdhpur for the construction of his new palace. The 
dharmic codes of this community were laid out by the 15th century 
reformer Guru, Jambeshwar Bhagwan, who was disillusioned by the 
communal riots that erupted between Hindu communities and Muslim 
invaders. The community buries its dead (in sharp contrast to 
mainstream Hindu tradition of cremation in order to prevent 
unnecessary felling of trees to provide wood). The Bishnois regard the 
antelopes and the black bucks that abound in the region as their own 
children and game hunters are severely punished.   In the water-starved 
deserts of Rajasthan they create tanks in their fields during the hot 
summer months to provide water for the deer. The Bishnois are a 
Volume 25, Number 1 3
vibrant example of how man can live in harmonious terms of non-
exploitative existence with the most demanding aspects of nature. 
 
Environmentalists like Anil Agarwal recognize the immense potential 
in religions like Hinduism but at the same time call for a reform within 
mainstream traditions.4  In most Indian religions the duties and 
obligations of the private sphere are very clearly demarked whereas in 
the public domain these lines get blurred and are often chaotic. Hence 
Ganga, the holiest of rivers, also remains the most polluted holy river in 
the country which today carries household and city waste in addition to 
uncremated bodies. Hence an imaginative revisiting of the country’s 
rich cultural resources in the areas of literature, art, medicine, religion, 
philosophy to formulate a holistic Ecodharma is the need of the hour. 
Swami Vivekananda, who brought about a renaissance in Hinduism 
proclaimed, “The gift of India is the gift of religion and philosophy, and 
wisdom and spirituality.” 
  
We invited submissions from a diverse spectrum of writers with the 
hope of capturing the kaleidoscope of India’s cultural traditions and 
philosophies.  
 
The major objective of this special issue of the Trumpeter was to arrive 
at a deep understanding of: 
 
1. Dharmic Ecology: the Indian environmental ethic that emerges 
from the mythological diversity of Indian religious traditions 
and the darsanas (systems/schools of philosophy) of various 
orders which contemplate the relationship of man with his 
universe. 
 
2. The understanding of Prakriti (nature) in the Vedic, Buddhist, 
and Jain traditions and the representations of the five basic 
elements (the Panchamahabhutas) in Indian art and aesthetics.  
 
3. Rituals of embedded ecologies which explore the complex 
relationship between the natural and cultural world. 
 
4. Oral traditions of tribal communities and the ecological 
consciousness embodied in their primary myths and rituals. 
 
5. Gandhian philosophy and the implications it has for an 
ecologically sustainable world. 
 
The Trumpeter 4
 
 
The responses are so encouraging that we are planning to bring out an 
additional special India issue sometime later this year. 
 
The cover page of this issue was painted by artist Jyoti Sahi who 
connects the mystic and esoteric symbols of art drawn from various 
wisdom traditions to the concept of the Thirta Yatra (Holy Pilgrimage).  
Sahi forges a significant link between biodiversity and cultural diversity 
and identifies Marga (the way) as an inner place of meeting where 
traditions flow and fuse into a sacred space where the universe is 
perennially recreated. 
 
The theme of the pilgrimage is continued in Satish Kumar’s Earth 
Pilgrim. This poignant and powerful narrative drawn from the author’s 
personal experience reminds the reader that “every journey is a journey 
to connect with people, to connect with the planet and to connect with 
oneself.” The essay offers a spiritual perspective on sustainability and 
brings home the truth of the Upanishadic maxim, “Isa vasyam Idam 
Sarvam” (Everything is pervaded by the Divine). 
 
Ananda Wood’s essay calls for an investigation of the ancient sciences 
of India like Ayurveda, which conceive of the environment as a living 
energy.  These sciences offer a non-dual perspective in which all 
nature’s energy is seen as expressing consciousness. These old sciences 
question the very notion of individual separate existence and point 
towards a knowing that is free from “the bias and distortion of our 
physical and mental partialities.”  
 
Klaus Klostermaier’s essay also emphasizes the need to formulate a 
new science which does not mechanically apply its laws to a nature that 
is assumed to be inert, but a “... science with a conscience; a science 
that is not the thoughtless and soulless application of mechanical laws 
on a supposedly inert nature, but a science that has become sensitized to 
the reality of a living nature, aware of non-material dimensions of 
reality, and conscious of consciousness.” The essay identifies the 
sources of the new ecological dharma as a continuation of the Indian 
notion of dharma and hails self-finding and self-expansion as the core 
of a sound ecological dharma that can uphold a sound society. 
 
Kerry Little’s essay explores the various dimensions between religion, 
politics, and ecology and the complex arguments about social justice 
and sustainable development in the case of dams being built on sacred 
rivers.  Drawing on religion and mythology of the Lepchas, the 
narrative is a vivid description of how “the intimacy the Lepcha 
activists share with nature forms the context for their protest.” As in the 
Volume 25, Number 1 5
Narmada controversy, the damming of the sacred river Teesta in Sikkim 
involves domination and modification of nature and governmental 
exercise of power on nature and people. The essay offers interesting 
insights into “the sacred as a political narrative.” 
 
According to ancient Sanskrit poetics, for a work of literature to qualify 
as an epic (a Mahakavya), it must describe nature in great detail. Not 
surprising the major Indian epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata 
are closely associated with the forests. Paula Richman in her interview 
talks extensively about the ecological dimensions of the Ramayana, the 
multiple depiction of the forest in these epics and the complex ways in 
which the wilderness trope is presented in the epics.  The interview 
offers perspectives on the ecofeministic retellings of the epic and the 
interpretation of prakriti (nature) in these new stories which affirm the 
woman-nature connection. 
 
 Swarnalatha Rangarajan’s paper on mandalic consciousness also re-
emphasizes the Indian worldview of the non-divisiveness between the 
perceiver and phenomenal world. Using the Sri Chakra as example, the 
paper discusses the deep experience of relational fields and higher 
gestalt perceptions which open up when the relationship to the centre is 
grasped: “The return to wholeness heals the mind and is mirrored 
macroscopically in healing the planet.” 
 
Srinivas Reddy’s poem uses the metaphors of music and painting to 
invoke the concept of lila (divine play) arising out of bliss. The 
Demiurges in this case are the five elements who work tirelessly to 
fashion the raga of the universe. I quote, “Space is the canvas, / Water, 
Air, Fire and Earth the colors/ for the painting of the world.” Fullness 
and harmony inform the gestalt of web of inter-being. 
 
Michael Caley and I are delighted to present this rich selection of 
environment-centric writings about India. I would like to thank my 
friend Michael for his unflagging encouragement regarding this special 
issue. We enjoyed working on it together and hope that the insights of 
this issue will trigger its own set of positive karmic reactions in the 
oikic self and the larger home of the earth in which we all dwell. 
 
 
Swarnalatha Rangarajan  
Guest Editor 
 
 
 
The Trumpeter 6
 
 
Volume 25, Number 1 7
Notes 
                                                 
1 Madhav Gadgil and Ramachandra Guha. 2007. Ecology and Equity: 
The Use and Abuse of Nature in Contemporary India. London: 
Routledge, 4. 
 
2 Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim. 2000. Series Forward. Hinduism 
and Ecology. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, xviii. 
 
3 Vinay Lal. 2000. “Too Deep for Deep Ecology,” in Hinduism and 
Ecology, ed. Christopher Key Chapple and Mary Evelyn Tucker. 
Cambridge: Harvard University Press,   204. 
 
4 Anil Agarwal. “Can Hindu Beliefs and Values Help India Meet Its 
Ecological Crisis?” in Hinduism and Ecology, ed. Christopher Key 
Chapple and Mary Evelyn Tucker. (Cambridge: Harvard University 
Press, 2000), 165-179. 
 


Editorial

Reddy, Srinivas

 
The Trumpeter  
ISSN: 0832-6193 
Volume 25, Number 1 (2009) 
 
9-7-5 
 
  
Srinivas Reddy 
 
 
 
the Nine Sentiments 
of aesthetic experience 
 
Disgust and Horror 
unaroused by music 
 
leave the Seven Pitches 
of a sonic palette, 
 
Tonic and Dominant 
subsumed in the swarming drone 
 
leaving the Five Elements 
that compose the universe. 
 
Space is the canvas, 
Water, Air, Fire and Earth the colors 
for the painting of the world. 
 
A rainbow ether 
that colors the mind, 
 
the requisite five notes 
to sing the Raga of the Universe. 
  
  
 
The Trumpeter 116


9-7-5

The article analyses the innate linkages between the religious beliefs of the indigenous communities and environment in western Tamilnadu in India. The utilitarian conservation practiced  by these indigenous communities had promoted judicious balance between consumption needs and conservation imperatives. The protection of field and wild biodiversity of the area is secured through the religious institution of totemism. Their folkstories and religious myths portray the organic linkage between religion and environment. Their traditional management of natural resources is environmentally harmonious and sustainable

pitchaivelu, kanagaraj

Religious Beliefs, Indigenous Communities and Environmental Preservation in Western Tamil Nadu, South India.

 
 
Volume 24 Number 3 1  
The Trumpeter  
ISSN: 0832-6193 
Volume 24, Number 3 (2008) 
 
Editorial 
 
Ecosophy: The wisdom of the household  
We ought not to conflate information or intelligence with wisdom.  
Many of the high-school students that I tutor are very intelligent, but 
none of them are wise.  Many of the undergraduates that I taught in my 
previous incarnation were intelligent, but few of them were wise. 
Observing the collapse of the global economy (preceded, of course, by 
the on-going collapse of ecosystems globally), I have come to 
understand that many of our political, economic, and social leaders are 
not wise.  Those who are wise are often ignored, it seems, because 
wisdom may run counter to knowledge. 
Conservatives and fundamentalists have no need for wisdom, since they 
operate from positions of certainty.  Mr. Limbaugh and his colleagues 
know that anything that appears to them as liberal or socialist is by 
definition, wrong.  And to be ecumenical, the members of Hamas and 
Hezbollah, also know what is wrong or evil. 
Of course, such positions do not allow for adaptation to change.  The 
whole world seems bent on restoring the very economic system that 
collapsed.  It seems that there is a concerted effort to make the future 
identical to the past. 
I suspect that this is the result of too much information and not enough 
wisdom.  Information can be complex and convoluted.  Wisdom tends 
to be simple and direct. 
Rabbi Hillel:  “That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow.   
That is the whole of the Torah; the rest is explanation; go and learn.”  
That is wisdom emerging from a lifetime of experience and skill.   
Michael T. Caley, Associate Editor 
TrumpeterAE@shaw.ca 


Oppermann, Serpil

 
 
Volume 24, Number 3 167 
 
The Trumpeter  
ISSN: 0832-6193 
Volume 24, Number 3 (2008) 
 
Book Review 
 
Review of Reinhabiting Reality: Towards a Recovery of Culture by 
Freya Mathews, Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2005, 228 pp., hardcover 
US$86.50; paper US$26.95. 
Review by Serpil Oppermann 
 
In Reinhabiting Reality: Towards a Recovery of Culture Australian 
ecophilosopher Freya Mathews argues that unless we step out of the 
materialist premises of modern western culture, we cannot find a long-
term remedy for the global ecological crisis. She argues that based on 
the dualism between mind and matter, modernity, as the defining 
characteristic of western civilization, has produced an increasingly 
consumerist culture and an environmentally harmful form of liberal 
capitalism which perceives the natural environment only in terms of its 
exploitative resources. As opposed to the values of progress, 
commodification, efficiency, development, profit, and property, which 
are definitive of modernity’s materialist world view, Mathews 
advocates a radical conceptual change in the social and cultural 
foundations of western societies. Mathews supports the view that the 
natural world should be allowed to function without human 
intervention, in which case the biosphere, according to her, will fare 
better and heal itself. This perspective, however, is not without 
problems, because as she herself admits, there will be casualties at the 
level of individuals when things are left to unfold in their own ways. 
Her answer to this human conflict is to “evolve modalities of self-
preservation consistent with a general attitude of letting be.”1
Mathews’ philosophy is undoubtedly inspired by the deep ecology 
movement and builds upon its main contention of the intrinsic value of 
the non-human world. She makes a strong point about conceiving 
nature in terms of processes rather than things with utilitarian values. 
Although Mathews promotes a holistic view, she cannot escape creating 
binary oppositions in her argument when she sets the natural self, for 
example, against the civilized self. This distinction inevitably brings 
  
The Trumpeter 168 
what she calls the controlled rational ego in conflict with instincts, 
intuitions, and senses, which she equates with the natural self. 
Nevertheless, Mathews tries to justify her viewpoint by drawing 
attention to the needs of matter itself beyond the limitations of 
technological conception of progress that western cultures exclusively 
privilege. Although this argument is not new, Mathews’ book offers 
unique perspectives from her personal experiences. The novelty of this 
book lies in the fact that we encounter a philosopher who is able to 
offer an example of how one can walk the talk. The use of her diaries, 
for example, provides a poignant view of how recollection of incidents 
from her early years assisted her in formulating her philosophical 
outlook. In this respect, intricate abstract thought is illustrated by 
intimate life stories and thus becomes more accessible for the general 
reader.  
Reinhabiting Reality fuses poetic style with abstract premises of 
panpsychism that Mathews offers as a legitimate solution to what she 
calls collective human solipsism. Essentially, the main contention is 
based on the idea of replacing the consumerist-materialist attitude of 
western culture to the physical world with a panpsychist one. Mathews 
argues that when the entire system of dualist and materialist culture is 
abandoned, humanity can at large arrive at self-awareness and learn to 
engage with the world, create a much desired fusion of inner and outer 
realities, and integrate mind with matter. Via the personal narratives 
and storytelling in the second and the third sections of the book, 
Mathews encourages us to relate to matter, which, as the artificial, 
inorganic and artifactual component of our reality, must be 
acknowledged along with the natural and the organic. The core of her 
argument, then, lies in an understanding of reality which involves not 
only rocks, forests, animals, plants, water, and soil, but also includes 
apartment blocks, factories, and machines: in short, every conceivable  
industrial product. She suggests that we must stop redesigning our 
environments and let the world recover itself on its own. 
Reinhabiting Reality: Towards a Recovery of Culture is composed of 
three parts with three chapters devoted to each part. Part I is entitled 
“Culture: The love of Ground” where she sets off with the premise of 
the pervasive ecological crisis being a “symptom of a deeper 
metaphysical crisis in human consciousness and an accompanying crisis 
of culture,”2 and then outlines the dualistic basis of materialist western 
civilization. In the first chapter she explains its core ideal as liberal 
capitalism and progress, which, she argues, constitutes the core of 
western culture. She defines modernity as a commitment to progress 
that is sustained by what she calls the emerging power of new ideas, 
insights, new conceptual, or philosophical horizons.3 This desire for 
 
 
Volume 24, Number 3 169 
change, or in her words, “the perpetual quest to improve the world,” 
and to shape it according to the latest designs, produces a condition of 
discontinuity with the past and dissociation from tradition4. Mathews 
claims that the profit-driven economics of materialist modern culture 
creates no objective points of reference for meaning, and therefore leads 
to a “collective human solipsism.”5 What follows is that matter loses its 
importance in the materialistic view and gets “epistemically constructed 
in countless ways.”6 When matter drops out of the picture, she states, 
human discourse fills the stage. In this condition the real gets replaced 
by the discursive. Inevitably, reliance on discursivity entails 
epistemological pluralism. Mathews’ point is that the mind/matter 
dualism has paved the way for this modern episteme and created a split 
between subject and object in which case self-realization became 
almost impossible to achieve in the sense of being part of a greater 
whole. The solution she offers to this dilemma is to integrate mind and 
matter. Mind must be restored to matter, she says, and “matter must be 
accommodated as active presence.”7 This nondualist view is 
“panpsychism.”  
The aim of the book, as she underlines it in this section, is praxis of 
panpsychism. She explains it as treating the world not as mindless 
matter, or as raw resource, but as energy, fluidity, and process She 
likens the modern individuals who treat the world only as a commodity, 
to blocks which are made of solid stuff without inner fluidity or 
feeling.8  Blocks are marked by unresponsive attitudes to the living 
world and are characterized by desensitization towards everything in it. 
This is the condition of modernity, where everything is registered as 
discursive ciphers,9 because moderns, she argues, can only perceive one 
another discursively and cannot register one another’s “embodied 
particularity.”10 Obviously, such an existence is based on rationally 
organized life according to costs and profits and becomes devoid of 
meaning. Such a world empties itself of significance and purpose. The 
grim picture Mathews draws for modernity is devoid of love of the 
world and is conditioned by utilitarian mentality. She offers 
panpsychism as the only alternative to the materialist cultures. The 
fundamental modality of panpsychism is “grace,”11
The second chapter of the first part highlights the premises of 
panpsychism, arguing for the importance of a communicative relation 
with the world. The features of panpsychism include respect and 
 she writes, since 
panpsychist culture cultivates gratitude for existence and appreciation 
for being part of a greater whole. While modern culture is based on 
self- righteousness, panpsychist culture cherishes self-realization. In 
this context, Mathews’ argument runs parallel to the deep ecological 
acknowledgement of a holistic way of living in the world. 
The Trumpeter 170 
acknowledgement of the intrinsic rightness of things as they are. 
Evidently, panpsychism embodies the basic principles of deep ecology 
in its affirmative, relational attitude. Mathews herself underlines this 
affinity between panpsychism and the philosophy of deep ecology. 
Indeed the platform principles of deep ecology and those of 
panpsychism converge in many ways. First of all, both call for respect 
for the non-human world, and both emphasize its intrinsic value. 
Secondly, both radically deconstruct anthropocentric ethics of 
modernity and give importance to the law of the unfolding process in 
nature. Third, they both adopt a cosmological logic toward life as 
opposed to the logo-centric one which relies on dichotomization. 
Finally, perhaps the most obvious similarity they share is their 
metaphysical outlook, in that both draw upon non-western and pagan 
traditions. Therefore, the definition of life from a panpsychist 
perspective echoes the deep ecological one in Mathews’ lucid 
argument. Life, she states, is intrinsic to reality, and according to 
panpsychism 
the universe is a unity imbued with its own conatus, its own will to 
maintain and increase itself. Individual things, whether animate or 
inanimate, are modes of this higher unity, and are consequently enfolded 
in the process of its self-realization. [. . .] Left to themselves then, things 
unfold in ways that by and large assure their own actualization and the 
further unfolding of the greater systems in which they are enmeshed.12  
Generally, Mathews supports the view that the world should be allowed 
to function on its own, which she names as the attitude of “letting be.”13 
In this respect,  
the unfolding of the biosphere—which is to say, the course of life on 
earth—involves a pattern of gradual but continuous change—a pattern of 
aging and decomposition followed by spontaneous reconstitution into new 
forms. This is what happens to things when we let then be.14
She claims that we should let all things return to nature. Then we can 
transform from being nature’s indifferent exploiters to its custodians, 
because when we no longer manipulate things, they take a natural 
course. As she suggests: “Existing ecosystems should, like cities and 
selves, be allowed to unfold in their own way, free from undue human 
disturbance.”
   
15 Such a panpsychist world view, according to her, 
includes human made environments which escaped the attention of 
deep ecologists. It is in this regard that Mathews’ views begin to 
diverge from those of deep ecology, as she claims that 
environmentalism, “even in its deep-ecological forms, is not only 
missing the larger metaphysical picture in its approach to modernity, it 
is also itself deeply entangled or imbued with the modernist ethos in its 
 
 
Volume 24, Number 3 171 
understanding of its own mission.”16 Such an accusation against deep 
ecology, however, in my opinion, is not properly justified. How does 
deep ecology, one might ask, get enmeshed in modernist ethos when its 
main argument lies entirely on opposition to modernity’s essentialist, 
dualist conceptual tradition? Mathews’ answer, which she provides in 
the last chapter of the first part of the book, that radical ecophilosophies 
(such as deep ecology and bioregionalism) “offered us a posture of 
opposition to the contemporary world, but no true praxis for it, no way 
of living harmoniously in it,”17 does not really pay enough homage to 
deep ecology’s concern for living in a non-detrimental way. Therefore, 
her argument that ecophilosophy is incomplete18 is weak.  
When she concedes the importance of “emplaced self,”19 in the third 
chapter, and offers a practical model of living in terms of not replacing 
our things with the new ones, and populating our houses with 
“contented companion animals,”20
Part II is entitled “Ground Studies” and the three chapters as the case 
studies of panpsychism are written in order to provide the real life 
experiences of the author in support of her panpsychist world view. It is 
in these chapters that Mathews’ writing adopts a more poetic and 
personal style, and she explains how her own identity is shaped by the 
specificity of place. These chapters, but more particularly the chapters 
that make up Part III of the book, entitled “Views from the Ground,” 
are actually fine examples of creative nature writing which fuse literary 
and non-fictional prose. Grounded in nature, the personal narratives are 
intended as the praxis of panpsychism. Here Mathews ventures beyond 
the abstractions of the theory of panpsychism and bridges the gap 
 her contention begins to slide into a 
kind of idealism that sounds more utopic than practical as she wishes to 
provide as exemplary holistic life. Commitment to particular place, to 
the things that surround us, as she continues to give as an exemplary 
practical solution, stands out as an alternative solution to consumerism 
and production, but this may not really produce the desired end-results. 
The question is, would becoming native to particular places in 
Mathews’ terms really produce a sense of belonging with the world in 
the bioregionalist sense? Or, would what Mathews suggests make the 
homeplace a clustered junk yard? It is important to note that although 
Mathews intends to create respect for place by allowing other entities to 
share our dwellings, and by asking us to keep all our things and allow 
them to disintegrate naturally, from a practical standpoint her project 
does involve risks. Therefore, while panpsychism is philosophically 
defensible, it can in praxis become equally problematic. Yet this 
question never comes to the foreground in the following sections of the 
book. Instead Mathews tries to demonstrate her metaphysical views via 
the storytelling process.  
The Trumpeter 172 
between philosophical arguments and personal experiences. Indeed her 
writing becomes evocative, and in many parts quite lyrical concerning 
the embodied self, place, and life itself. In her account of living in the 
world, Mathews erases the line between the natural and the human 
made environments. In the first chapter of Part II, “Julia’s Farm: 
Fertility,” Mathews narrates her journey to her friend’s farm in Western 
Australia. Julia’s creation of a farm “built from the discarded, the 
despised, the rejected,”21 is narrated to exemplify the praxis of 
panpsychism. On this farm everything, “animate and inanimate alike, 
are set on course again, given a new lease of life and a part to play in 
creating a uniquely sanctuarial domain, a domain of forgiveness, of 
cherishing all matter.”22 Her point is to show that once we displace the 
divide between the natural and the artificial we can better re-align with 
the world. But primarily, Mathews focuses on the philosophical 
implications of fertility and forgiveness in this chapter with references 
to different cultures’ myths of sacrifice and rebirth; she states that 
fertility is the “principle that expresses the poetic integrity of existence 
and hence the psychic dimension of reality.”23 The next chapter, 
“Hamilton Downs: Philosophy in the Field . . . of Being,” is an account 
of her journey to Hamilton Downs in Central Australia to attend an 
interdisciplinary conference on “sense of place.” The participants were 
asked to develop “stories of place woven out of their own personal 
stories and dreams and perceptions of the place in which we found 
ourselves.”24 This experience is narrated as a demonstration of a 
dialogical engagement with the world. The last chapter, “The White 
Heron: Grace and the Native Self,” is a panpsychist eco-analysis of 
Sarah Orne Jewer’s famous story, “The White Heron.” Mathews posits 
that this story “offers a key to a deeper psychology of inhabitation.”25 
Using psychoanalytical theories of identity formation, erotic relations, 
and child psychology, Mathews discusses native selfhood from the 
perspective of “synergistic relations of intersubjectivity.”26
Mathews’ ground stories continue in Part III entitled “Views from the 
Ground.” The first chapter, “The Merri Creek: To the Source of the 
Given,” relates her pilgrimage to Merri Creek, and her recollection of 
her childhood experiences of the region before industrial development 
took over. She sees her pilgrimage to the source of Merri Creek as “an 
exercise in the politics of repossession and reinhabitation” (136). Then 
she relates her walk to indigenous peoples’ journeys that establish a 
bond with the land. The next chapter, “Barramunga: Return to the 
Doorsteps of Night,” consists of her diaries that detail visits to a rustic 
retreat in the Otway Ranges. Mathews here provides excellent stories of 
the rhythms of rural life quite in keeping with the form of nature writing 
that moves from sentimentalism to philosophical reflection. This 
 
 
 
Volume 24, Number 3 173 
chapter is a prime example of what Holmes Rolston III calls “storied 
residence” and Mathews refers to it as “living in the richly storied 
landscape.”27 As another environmental thinker, Jim Cheney, reminds 
us, narrative grounded in geography is the key to reconnect the human 
self to the land, and this is precisely what Mathews does in her 
narratives of reinhabiting reality.  
Reinhabiting Reality: Towards a Recovery of Culture concludes with an 
Afterword, “Singing the Ground,” which brings her celebration of “the 
ground beneath our feet”28 to an excellent finale, “affirming the world 
as it is given to us . . . its self-presence and a certain integrity of its 
own.”29 She gives Melbourne’s Center for Education and Research in 
Environmental Studies (CERES) as an example of “integrated praxis-
and-poetics of reinhabitation in an urban context”30 that the entire book 
advocates as the panpsyschist form of engaging with and respect for the 
land. In such centres she writes, people come together “to experiment 
collectively, both practically and poetically, with new, locally specific 
ways of being at-home in the world.”31
Notes 
 
 It must be stated that Reinhabiting Reality: Towards a Recovery of 
Culture is both an poetically inspiring and philosophically intriguing 
reading experience. Through her storied landscapes we feel the 
meaning of reconnecting with the ground beneath our feet and re-think 
our basic attitude to reality. Even though her philosophical inquiry 
carries notes of utopic idealism, she does make us aware of the 
importance of emplaced self within a local ground. Therefore, her 
message deserves to be heard and acknowledged in deep ecology 
circles. 
 
      Prof. Dr. Serpil Oppermann 
 
Department of English 
Language and Literature, 
Faculty of Letters,  
Hacettepe University, 
Ankara-Turkey 
                                                 
1  Freya Mathews, Reinhabiting Reality: Towards a Recovery of Culture (Albany 
SUNY Press, 2005) p. 30. 
2  Ibid., p. 8. 
3  Ibid.,  p. 11. 
4  Ibid. 
The Trumpeter 174 
                                                                                                                     
5  Ibid.,  p. 12. 
6  Ibid. 
7  Ibid.,  p. 14. 
8  Ibid.,  p. 15. 
9  Ibid.,  p. 17. 
10  Ibid.,  p. 16. 
11  Ibid.,  p. 21. 
12  Ibid.,  p. 28. 
13  Ibid.,  p. 30. 
14  Ibid.,  p. 32. 
15  Ibid. 
16  Ibid.,  p. 37. 
17  Ibid.,  p. 73. 
18  Ibid. 
19  Ibid.,  p. 53. 
20  Ibid.,  p. 51. 
21  Ibid.,  p. 89. 
22  Ibid. 
23  Ibid.,  p. 95. 
24  Ibid.,  pp. 109–110. 
25  Ibid.,  p. 117. 
26  Ibid.,  p. 120. 
27  Ibid.,  p. 178. 
28  Ibid.,  p. 199. 
29  Ibid.,  p. 200. 
30  Ibid.. 
31  Ibid.,  p. 203. 
 
 


Review of Reinhabiting Reality:  Towards a Recovery of Culture by Freya Mathews

Rangarajan, Swarnalatha

Ecological Dimensions of the Ramayana:  A Conversation with Paula Richman

Wood, Ananda

Environment and the Old Sciences

 
The Trumpeter  
ISSN: 0832-6193 
Volume 25, Number 1 (2009) 
 
Glossary 
  
Provided by Swarnalatha Rangarajan 
 
Acharya:  Preceptor. 
Adivasi:  Original dweller, indigenous people of India. 
Agni:  An important Vedic god who has three forms: fire, lightning, and 
sun.  
Ahimsa: Non-violence.  
Akasha:  Sky. 
Al-Khidr:  The “Green Man”; Prophet  of Islamic and Pre-Islamic lore.  
Andhaka:  A demon in Hindu mythology who is slain by Siva, a blind 
person. 
Antardasara: Inner figure of ten angles. 
Annamaya kosha: The physical body, material aspect of creation. It is 
the first sheath of the five sheaths according to the Vedanta philosophy. 
Apah:  Water. 
Apsara:  Celestial nymph. 
Aranya:  Living or growing in the forest, wild. 
Asteya:  Non-stealing. 
Ashta dala padma:  Eight-petalled lotus structure. 
Ashta-kona: Figure of eight corners. 
Asura:  Demon. 
 
The Trumpeter 150
 
 
Atman: Term used within Hinduism and Vedanta that  refers to the 
individual soul. 
Ayurveda:  The Science of Medicine. 
Bahirdasara: Outer figure of ten angles. 
Bala:  Young.  Aspect of the Mother Goddess in Hinduism worshipped 
as a young girl.  
Bhagamalini: Manifestation of the Mother Goddess; associated with 
prosperity and fertility. 
Bhupura: A square field representing the exterior of the yantra, usually 
associated with the earth element. 
Bhuta: An element, the number “Five”, the past, a living creature, a 
ghost. 
Bindu:  Point, dot, seed, source, drop. 
Brahman:  A concept of Hinduism. The word is derived from the 
Sanskrit verb (brh= to grow) which signifies greatness. Brahman is the 
supreme spirit, unchanging, absolute, immanent principle which is the 
ground of all being.    
Brahmaviharas: The four Brahmaviharas are a series of virtues and 
Buddhist meditation practices designed to cultivate those virtues. 
Buddha: Gotama, also known as Shakyamuni, was a spiritual teacher 
from India and the founder of Buddhism. 
Chakra: Wheel. 
Chaturdasara:  A figure of fourteen angles. 
Chittakasha:  Mental Space. 
Darvaza:  Door. 
Deva:  Deity, a celestial being. 
Dharma:  Established order, custom, and justice, virtue, moral merit. 
Dosha: Faults, defects. 
Dvara:  Portal or gateway. 
Volume 25, Number 1 151
Dvesha: Strong aversion to someone or something. 
Dvipa: Island. 
Guna:  Tendency.  Three in number, according to Hindu philosophy. 
Jagrat: Waking state of consciousness. 
Jiva:  The principle of life, personal soul. 
Kabir: Mystic and poet of 15th century India revered by Hindus 
Muslims and Sikhs alike. 
Kama-kala: Primary central triangle of the Sri Chakra, the seat of the 
Mother Goddess. 
Kali Yuga: Age of vice, is one of the four stages of   development that 
the world goes through as part of the cycle of Yugas as described in 
Indian scriptures. 
Kamala: Lotus, also another name of Goddess. 
Lakshmi:  Goddess of Wealth. 
Kameshwari: Aspect of the Mother Goddess associated with the moon 
and creation. 
Kanchana:  Gold, wealth. 
Karuna:  Compassion. 
Kimnara:  In Buddhist mythology a Kimnara is a celestial musician, 
half-human and half-bird. 
Kona: Corner. 
Kosha. A Sheath. Vedanta philosophy conceives the self as being 
covered in five sheaths. Also wealth, womb, globe. 
Krishna:  Hindu deity. Avatar of Vishnu, usually depicted as a young 
cowherd boy playing the flute, Krishna legends are extensively 
discussed in texts like the  Mahabharata, Vishnu Purana, Bhagavata 
Purana and Harivamsa. 
Krodha:  Anger. 
Kshatriya: Warrior. One of the four social orders in Hinduism. 
The Trumpeter 152
 
 
Kshetra:  Field.  A place of pilgrimage; a place of origin, the Body. 
Kshetra svarupa: Nature of the field. 
 Kshetrajna: Knower of the field, the soul. 
Kshetresi: Mistress of the Field, the presiding deity.  
Lalita:  Beautiful one who plays. 
Lobha: Greed. 
Mahabhuta Mandala:  The iconic representation of the five elemental 
forces. 
Mahakasa: Boundless space or womb of all being. 
Maheswara:  The great God. One of the names of Lord Siva. 
Mandala:  Circle, a disc, a group, a district. 
Mandala Vasini:  Goddess who lives in the centre of the bindu. 
Mangalam: Auspicious. 
Manusmriti: The most important and earliest metrical work of the 
Dharmashastra textual tradition of Hinduism. 
Marga:  Path, road, right way. 
Maya: Illusion. 
Meru: Sacred mountain in Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain cosmology 
considered to be the centre of the universe. 
Metta:  Buddhist term meaning loving kindness. 
Moha: Delusion. 
Mohini: Deluder. 
Moksha: Release, liberation, final emancipation. 
Muditha: Joy. 
Naiyayikas: Systematic exponents of Hindu orthodoxy. 
Niyama: Codified set of behaviours in numerous Hindu scriptures like 
the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. 
Nyayasutras: The Nyaya Sutras are an ancient Indian text of philosophy 
composed by Gautama. 
Volume 25, Number 1 153
Pancha indriyas:  The five sense organs. 
Panchamahabhutas: The five primary/sacred elements of earth, water, 
fire, space and air. 
Papatama: A sinful soul. 
Paramasya nabhih: The navel of the Divine. 
Pradhana:  That which is first placed or in the primal position.   
Prakriti:  Primary matter, nature, the ultimate female principle.  
Prana: Energy. 
Pranayama: Yogic science of respiration. 
Prithvi: The Hindu Earth and Mother Goddess who symbolizes the 
earth Element. 
Pura: City 
Purna: Complete, full. 
Purusha: The ultimate male principle. 
Raja: King. 
Rajas: The force that upholds aspects of Nature like action, passion, 
excitement, and generation. 
Rajya: Kingdom sovereignty. 
Rakshasa: Demon. 
Raga: Passionate attachment to sense of gratification. 
Sadachara:  Good conduct or behaviour of good people. 
Sadharana-dharma: Duties applicable to all according to Manu Smrithi.                       
Sadasiva: A form of Siva which denotes the power of revealing grace. 
Sadhu: Saint. 
Sahasranama: A litany of thousand names. 
Sama: Calmness, equanimity. 
Samasthi: Wholeness. 
Samhara: Destruction.  
Samhriti: Withdrawal 
The Trumpeter 154
 
 
Samkhya philosophy: One of the six orthodox systems of Indian 
philosophy; a dualistic, rational, and logical school of thought. 
 Sampradayas: Tradition, transmission, a philosophical or religious 
doctrine or lineage. 
 Samsara: The process of worldly life through successive births and 
deaths in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and other related religions 
Samskara: Sacraments, sacrifices, and rituals that serve as rites of 
passage. 
Sangha: Meeting, company. 
Sanjivin: Immortal. 
 Sarvanandamaya: That which is full of bliss. 
 Sarva: All, whole. 
 Satsang: The company of the highest truth or the company of a guru. 
Sattva: Pure; the most rarefied of the three gunas. 
Satya: Truth. 
Satyagraha: Philosophy and practice of non-violent resistance 
conceived by M.K. Gandhi. 
Sakti: Mother Goddess in the Hindu tradition. The universal principle 
of creative energy. 
Siva:  One of the three primary aspects of the divine in Hinduism, the 
supreme male principle associated with destruction and transformation.  
Shanti: Peace. 
Shodasa patraka:  Sixteen-petalled lotus structure. 
Siddhi: Spiritual power, psychic ability.  
Sifr:  Nought, zero. 
 Smriti: Means “that which is remembered.” Refers to a specific body 
of Hindu religious scripture that was composed after the Vedas. 
Sri:  The sacred sound of cosmic auspiciousness and abundance (and 
affluence)  in Hindu religion.   
Volume 25, Number 1 155
Srishti: Creation. 
Sthithi:  Preservation.  
Suddha Vidya:  The principle of wisdom from which the activities of 
creation and preservation emerge. 
Susupti:  Sleep state of consciousness.  
Svapna: Dream state of consciousness. 
Svasti: Contentment, ease, health. 
Tamas: Force that promotes darkness, death, inertia, destruction, 
ignorance. The lowest of the three gunas. 
Tanmatras:  The five subtle energies of sound, touch, form, smell, and 
taste. 
Tantra: Thread, loom, esoteric doctrine of knowledge belonging to the 
Agama school of scripture. 
Tapasvini: A female ascetic. 
Tattva:  True state, truth, essential nature, an element. 
Thirtha: Source, spring, holy place. 
Thirthankara: A Jain saint 
Tripura: Three impregnable cities of iron, silver, and gold in Indian 
mythology. 
Tripurabhairavi: Terrifying aspect of the Mother Goddess who destroys 
evil and impurity. 
Tripurasundari: The beautiful one. One of the ten goddesses in the 
Hindu pantheon referred to as the Dasamahvidyas. 
Upekha/Upeksha: Equanimity. 
Tushti: Satisfaction, pleasure. 
Vajreshwari:  Ferocious warrior goddess associated with thunder. 
Vana: Sacred forest. 
Vayu: Air. 
Yagna: Ritual, sacrifice, offering, oblation. Practice of the Vedic times. 
The Trumpeter 156
 
 
Volume 25, Number 1 157
Yama: Self- restraint, code of conduct prescribed by Pantajali. Also the 
God of Death and Justice in Hindu mythology.  
Yoga:  To control, yoke, unite. Refers to traditional physical and mental 
disciplines originating from India. 
Yogasutras: The greatest classical text from the yoga school of Indian 
philosophy is the Yoga Sutras by Patanjali, written in the second 
century BCE. 
 
 


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Cover and Contents

Editorial

9-7-5

Religious Beliefs, Indigenous Communities and Environmental Preservation in Western Tamil Nadu, South India.

Editorial

Review of Reinhabiting Reality: Towards a Recovery of Culture by Freya Mathews

Ecological Dimensions of the Ramayana: A Conversation with Paula Richman

Environment and the Old Sciences

Cover and Contents

Glossary

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