59
DOI: 10.1201/9780429440939-6
5
Humans Are Humus
Using Eco-Psychology to Highlight
the Language of Dualism and
the Promise of the Non-Dual
Travis Cox
Naropa University
In 2010, As a PhD student in Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, USA, I had the
opportunity to take the institution’s first organic agriculture class. During the course of the semester, a soil scientist from the National Soil Tilth Lab gave a guest lecture. In that lecture, she revealed
that she was pioneering some of the first comprehensive research on soil biology, after 30 years of
working at the Lab. Up until that point, the Lab’s research was based on the assumption that soil was
strictly a medium in which to grow plants using chemical amendments.
Fortunately for the biosphere, this assumption is increasingly coming under scrutiny as science is
finding an inconceivable amount of invaluable life present in the soil. Soil scientist Elaine Ingham,
formerly Lead Scientist for the Rodale Institute, uses the term soil food web as a way of expressing
the biotic nature of soil. Even individuals concerned primarily with economics, such as the Slow
Money group from Boulder, Colorado, are becoming aware of the necessities of the living soil. This
is typified by the soil themed issue of their annual journal for Winter 2017/ 2018 ( Tasch, 2018).
Rising to the challenge, the environmental humanities research field has also taken up the gauntlet. Environmental philosophy has been attempting to elevate ‘ dirt’ from its lowly status by making
philosophical arguments for its consideration as soil. However, when these arguments have their
basis in the unquestioned assumptions of modernity, do they go far enough in encouraging the kinds
of relationships with soil that will be necessary for the regeneration thereof, and concomitantly for
the survival of civilisation through the twenty-first century?
It is the premise of this chapter that an eco-psychological look at soil, especially in eco-psychology’s
non-dual form, would benefit individuals who are looking to begin a healthy, holistic relationship
with soil. A simplistic, yet valuable characterisation of this non-dual relationship between humans
and the natural world has its genesis in the origins of the word human, which shares the same root
as humus. Indeed, Adam in Hebrew shares a root with the words for ground, earth and soil.
This chapter will expand on the work of Patzel ( 2009), from an edited volume by Landa and
Feller, Soil and Culture, in which he utilises the application of archetypal images from Jungian
CONTENTS
Eco-Psychology ...............................................................................................................................60
Modern, Western Concerns for Soil: Good Intentions, Problematic Language ...............................60
From ‘ Inner Soil’ to Being Soil ....................................................................................................... 62
Humans as Humus: An Eco-Psychological Look at Human/ Soil Relationships ............................. 63
Other Non-Dual Perspectives: Buddhist, Eco-Feminist and Indigenous .........................................66
Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................... 67
References ........................................................................................................................................ 68
DOI: 10.1201/9780429440939-6
5
Humans Are Humus
Using Eco-Psychology to Highlight
the Language of Dualism and
the Promise of the Non-Dual
Travis Cox
Naropa University
In 2010, As a PhD student in Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, USA, I had the
opportunity to take the institution’s first organic agriculture class. During the course of the semester, a soil scientist from the National Soil Tilth Lab gave a guest lecture. In that lecture, she revealed
that she was pioneering some of the first comprehensive research on soil biology, after 30 years of
working at the Lab. Up until that point, the Lab’s research was based on the assumption that soil was
strictly a medium in which to grow plants using chemical amendments.
Fortunately for the biosphere, this assumption is increasingly coming under scrutiny as science is
finding an inconceivable amount of invaluable life present in the soil. Soil scientist Elaine Ingham,
formerly Lead Scientist for the Rodale Institute, uses the term soil food web as a way of expressing
the biotic nature of soil. Even individuals concerned primarily with economics, such as the Slow
Money group from Boulder, Colorado, are becoming aware of the necessities of the living soil. This
is typified by the soil themed issue of their annual journal for Winter 2017/ 2018 ( Tasch, 2018).
Rising to the challenge, the environmental humanities research field has also taken up the gauntlet. Environmental philosophy has been attempting to elevate ‘ dirt’ from its lowly status by making
philosophical arguments for its consideration as soil. However, when these arguments have their
basis in the unquestioned assumptions of modernity, do they go far enough in encouraging the kinds
of relationships with soil that will be necessary for the regeneration thereof, and concomitantly for
the survival of civilisation through the twenty-first century?
It is the premise of this chapter that an eco-psychological look at soil, especially in eco-psychology’s
non-dual form, would benefit individuals who are looking to begin a healthy, holistic relationship
with soil. A simplistic, yet valuable characterisation of this non-dual relationship between humans
and the natural world has its genesis in the origins of the word human, which shares the same root
as humus. Indeed, Adam in Hebrew shares a root with the words for ground, earth and soil.
This chapter will expand on the work of Patzel ( 2009), from an edited volume by Landa and
Feller, Soil and Culture, in which he utilises the application of archetypal images from Jungian
CONTENTS
Eco-Psychology ...............................................................................................................................60
Modern, Western Concerns for Soil: Good Intentions, Problematic Language ...............................60
From ‘ Inner Soil’ to Being Soil ....................................................................................................... 62
Humans as Humus: An Eco-Psychological Look at Human/ Soil Relationships ............................. 63
Other Non-Dual Perspectives: Buddhist, Eco-Feminist and Indigenous .........................................66
Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................... 67
References ........................................................................................................................................ 68