Direct perception of nature: a book review

 

My perceptions of the natural world and the power of non-verbal communication between its elements (from rock to plant to animal) have been stimulated by living in the diverse bioregion of the Missouri Ozarks and working with water as a therapeutic medium.

Several books by Stephen Harrod Buhner have shown me what is possible, in terms of understanding life and one's place in it, if you are willing to step out of the everyday linear paradigm and into the all-pervading non-linear (oscillating) vibration that is life.

This month, in a workshop on developing intuitive skills for aquatic physical therapists, I'll be sharing his approach to direct perception in an adapted exercise from Ch. 12 'Depth Diagnosis and the Healing of Human Disease' of the book I have reviewed below.

Direct perception is a way of truly knowing, not thinking, what is going on inside a person that some people call intuition. The intention is to know the person's problem, and what it needs, by perceiving them directly, without any judgment.

How often does any of us do that?

The Secret Teachings of Plants: The Intelligence of the Heart in the Direct Perception of Nature, by Stephen Harrod Buhner, reviewed by Sara Firman
 
Discovering this book represented an exciting synchronicity for me. However, I can understand that some of those drawn by the title would find it challenging to digest, and others might balk at the paradigm shift it requires of anyone who dares to pursue its suggestions. The author would not be surprised since he knows that he is treading tricky ground in reviewing the suppressed significance of bioelectromagnetism and claiming that the extensive knowledge of ancient indigenous cultures was gained not by trial and error but by far more subtle and sophisticated means. Yet Buhner is tracking the footsteps of some very admirable, independent thinkers and he quotes them at length.
 
These people have sometimes been called 'mystic scientists', and all of them were true naturalists since their insights came directly from their own experience of immersion in the natural world. At the end of the book, Buhner provides short and inspiring biographies as well as topic summaries and good further reading lists. I have degrees in botany/genetics and plant-breeding, so I was shocked for example to realize that my studies did not include Luther Burbank who last century created by non-scientific selection food plants we now take for granted, or Masanobu Fukuoka who has grown rice crops that yield consistently more than any produced by scientific method.

And I certainly did not learn that Barbara McClintock, who won the Nobel prize for her work with transposons and corn genetics used, like Einstein and many genius 'scientists', unconventional methods to make her most important discoveries. Many 'scientific breakthroughs' have in fact been made by people who schooled themselves; devoted students of nature, their methods were far from sloppy. With current concerns about genetic engineering of crop plants and the diminishing diversity of potential medicinal plant species on the planet, the nature-based approach Buhner describes reminds us that there may be an alternative to the harmful effects of so-called human advancement.

Buhner's purpose is to show why the verbal/intellectual/analytic methods of gaining knowledge and understanding that prevail in our culture are limited, and limiting, without the holistic/intuitive/depth mode of cognition in which our ancestors and indigenous peoples were well versed. Also called direct perception or biognosis (knowledge from life), this method of gaining accurate and sustainable information about the world is, he says, more than anything a way of being and our birthright. Unfortunately, it is a way of being that is hard to sustain in an world where human's seek dominion over, and separation from, the natural order of life.

Almost half the book is devoted to the topic of 'heart intelligence' with which I am familiar through its relevance and application in my practice of aquatic bodywork. Recent research indicates that the heart is an organ of perception that is superior to the brain in terms of the speed, accuracy, and effectiveness of its responsiveness to the environment. Buhner's account of this work is very good, if lengthy, and what I appreciate is that he emphasizes the importance of these findings for our ability to interconnect with the natural world, and specifically plant medicines.

'The narrowing of the understanding of electromagnetic fields' he writes, 'is a prime example of our application of a hierarchy of values that places human beings at the top and our belief that the rest of the world is filled with things put here for our use.' This anthropocentric viewpoint is prevalent both in the science laboratories that are increasingly linked to corporate concerns, and in religious philosophies that interpret their scriptures as showing man's superiority over animals or plants and find reasons to deny even our need to sustain the planet we live on.

Living as I do in the diverse bioregion of the Ozarks (US) and working with water as a therapeutic medium, my own perceptions of the natural world and the power of non-verbal communication between its elements (from rock to plant to animal) have been stimulated. This book hints at what is possible, in terms of understanding life and one's place in it, if you are willing to step out of the everyday linear paradigm and into the all-pervading non-linear (oscillating) vibration that is life. As Buhner's accounts of, and quotes from, people such as Goethe, Thoreau, and Buckminster Fuller show, this endeavor demands a deep level of commitment to engaging with life beyond human concerns.

What Buhner and the others before him write about cannot actually be learned from books. It is absolutely experiential and requires us to trust in an innate ability that many of us have long-since denied. You have to be alone with yourself and nature for long periods. There are some interesting exercises in the book that Buhner says he used for himself and later with students, but I think the key is to commit to living wild as much as possible. As a novice, I found his accounts of a walk in the woods to talk with a skunk cabbage, and of an herbal consultation with a woman whom he later treated with its root extract, both inspiring and valuable.

If you want to grow crops, use herbal medicines, safeguard the environment, and maybe be in healing service, without harming the natural world, this book gives alternative insight into how to begin. Whether you've been educated in scientific method or any method, you have to be willing to put aside your learning and get utterly curious about everything you see around you. Again, Buhner devotes pages to trying to convey how to do this, how to take a child's eye view; to gain your knowledge first through heart intuition (direct perception) and only much later if at all through the brain's interpretative cognition.

Beyond whatever purpose (eating or healing) one might have, there is the sheer spiritual delight of merging with one's source. The poems of Kabir, Whitman and Buhner's own that are scattered through this book remind us that the best way to know 'God' is to study his works. As a student of water, I especially loved this poem by Kabir:

I have been thinking of the difference between water
and the waves on it. Rising
water's still water, falling back,
it is water, will you give me a hint
how to tell them apart?
Because someone has made up the word "wave"
do I have to distinguish it from water?

- KABIR

Other posts mentioning Buhner:

Prairie dogs cry for rain

Being a bridge: Nan DeGrove