xl
Introduction to the Book
Cajete’s aforementioned description of Native gardening and farming as a ‘practised relationship’
also reflects this dynamic, co-evolving process between human and nature.
Might this increase in conscious awareness, in being more ‘in touch’ with our thoughts, feelings and intuitive processes, as well as being more connected to and experiencing more of nature’s
sentience, fundamentally transform us at the systemic level of our inner selves and thus our own
worldviews, which in turn would reflect in transformed beliefs and behaviours around nature, food
and farming? One scholar who has spent her life exploring such virtuous cycles, through developing frameworks for personal and social change, is ecological systems theorist Joanna Macy. In her
essay The Greening of the Self (2009), Macy explores the profound shift in identification that takes
place when we extend our limited sense of self to encompass the things and beings of the natural
world we depend on. Macy contends that, through inner work that faces head on the reality of the
destruction of our biosphere and that explores more of the experiential, phenomenal world, we are
moved beyond the separate ego and are lifted onto another systemic level that recognises the interconnectedness of all things. Then, she suggests, it becomes in our natural self-interest to interact in
harmony with nature, rather than for moralistic, altruistic or regulatory reasons. Is this the promise
that Subtle Agroecologies might hold?
IN CONCLUSION: RESEARCH TO RECLAIM THE INVISIBLE
This book lays a foundation stone for the discipline of Subtle Agroecologies, a nexus of indigenous
epistemologies, multidisciplinary advances in wave-based and ethereal studies, and the science and
practice of sustainable agriculture. As discussed in Chapter 1, Subtle Agroecologies is not then a farming system in itself, but superimposes a non-material dimension upon existing, materially based agroecological farming systems. Research into Subtle Agroecologies may be described as the systematic
study of the nature of the invisible world as it relates to the practice of agriculture, through adapting
and innovating with research methods and in particular with those of a more embodied nature. Such
research may take a reductionist, single-gaze focus on, for example, increasing crop and livestock
yields or reducing the incidence of pests and diseases, or a wide-angled vision of simultaneous, multiple factors and concerns, all based on an ethics of care and with the overall purpose of bringing and
maintaining balance and harmony. Such research is an open-minded inquiry, its grounding being the
lived experiences of humans working on, and with, the land over several thousand years to the present.
By reclaiming and reinterpreting the perennial relationship between humans and nature, the
implications, if followed through, are paradigm shifting and would, it is suggested, enable a coevolution of the farm with the farmer. They would not only herald a new wave of more sustainable
farming techniques based on, for example, electromagnetic and sound wave technologies, but could
also change our whole relationship with nature to one of real collaboration rather than control.
By working with subtle, vibrational fields, becoming more adept at embodied methods of research
and practice, and communicating with nature, we may move towards the healing of ourselves as
well as of the planet.
REFERENCES
Apud, I. (2017) Science, spirituality and ayahuasca: The problem of consciousness and spiritual ontologies in
the academy. Zygon, 52(1): 100–123.
Arlow, R. and Adam, W. (2011) The druid network. Ecclesiastical Law Journal, 13(1): 127–128.
Armijos, C., Cota, I. and González, S. (2014). Traditional medicine applied by the Saraguro yachakkuna:
A preliminary approach to the use of sacred and psychoactive plant species in the southern region of
Ecuador. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, 10(1): 26.
Bateson, G. (1987) Angels Fear: An Investigation into the Nature and Meaning of the Sacred. London: Rider.
Berkes, F. (1999) Sacred Ecology. Abingdon: Taylor & Francis.
Brooke, J.H. (1991) Science and Religion, Some Historical Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Introduction to the Book
Cajete’s aforementioned description of Native gardening and farming as a ‘practised relationship’
also reflects this dynamic, co-evolving process between human and nature.
Might this increase in conscious awareness, in being more ‘in touch’ with our thoughts, feelings and intuitive processes, as well as being more connected to and experiencing more of nature’s
sentience, fundamentally transform us at the systemic level of our inner selves and thus our own
worldviews, which in turn would reflect in transformed beliefs and behaviours around nature, food
and farming? One scholar who has spent her life exploring such virtuous cycles, through developing frameworks for personal and social change, is ecological systems theorist Joanna Macy. In her
essay The Greening of the Self (2009), Macy explores the profound shift in identification that takes
place when we extend our limited sense of self to encompass the things and beings of the natural
world we depend on. Macy contends that, through inner work that faces head on the reality of the
destruction of our biosphere and that explores more of the experiential, phenomenal world, we are
moved beyond the separate ego and are lifted onto another systemic level that recognises the interconnectedness of all things. Then, she suggests, it becomes in our natural self-interest to interact in
harmony with nature, rather than for moralistic, altruistic or regulatory reasons. Is this the promise
that Subtle Agroecologies might hold?
IN CONCLUSION: RESEARCH TO RECLAIM THE INVISIBLE
This book lays a foundation stone for the discipline of Subtle Agroecologies, a nexus of indigenous
epistemologies, multidisciplinary advances in wave-based and ethereal studies, and the science and
practice of sustainable agriculture. As discussed in Chapter 1, Subtle Agroecologies is not then a farming system in itself, but superimposes a non-material dimension upon existing, materially based agroecological farming systems. Research into Subtle Agroecologies may be described as the systematic
study of the nature of the invisible world as it relates to the practice of agriculture, through adapting
and innovating with research methods and in particular with those of a more embodied nature. Such
research may take a reductionist, single-gaze focus on, for example, increasing crop and livestock
yields or reducing the incidence of pests and diseases, or a wide-angled vision of simultaneous, multiple factors and concerns, all based on an ethics of care and with the overall purpose of bringing and
maintaining balance and harmony. Such research is an open-minded inquiry, its grounding being the
lived experiences of humans working on, and with, the land over several thousand years to the present.
By reclaiming and reinterpreting the perennial relationship between humans and nature, the
implications, if followed through, are paradigm shifting and would, it is suggested, enable a coevolution of the farm with the farmer. They would not only herald a new wave of more sustainable
farming techniques based on, for example, electromagnetic and sound wave technologies, but could
also change our whole relationship with nature to one of real collaboration rather than control.
By working with subtle, vibrational fields, becoming more adept at embodied methods of research
and practice, and communicating with nature, we may move towards the healing of ourselves as
well as of the planet.
REFERENCES
Apud, I. (2017) Science, spirituality and ayahuasca: The problem of consciousness and spiritual ontologies in
the academy. Zygon, 52(1): 100–123.
Arlow, R. and Adam, W. (2011) The druid network. Ecclesiastical Law Journal, 13(1): 127–128.
Armijos, C., Cota, I. and González, S. (2014). Traditional medicine applied by the Saraguro yachakkuna:
A preliminary approach to the use of sacred and psychoactive plant species in the southern region of
Ecuador. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, 10(1): 26.
Bateson, G. (1987) Angels Fear: An Investigation into the Nature and Meaning of the Sacred. London: Rider.
Berkes, F. (1999) Sacred Ecology. Abingdon: Taylor & Francis.
Brooke, J.H. (1991) Science and Religion, Some Historical Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.