THE ILLUSION OF SEPARATION

Gregory Bateson was famous for his remark 'Only Connect', representing his holistic approach to life. He is quoted here as saying that our civilisation has entered an evolutionary cul-de-sac with its emphasis on short-term advantage: like EF Schumacher he takes the view that 'the creature that wins against its environment destroys itself.' The history of 20th century thinking in physics, biology, ecology and consciousness studies has highlighted the reality of interconnectedness, and by implication the illusion or limitation of the idea of atomistic separation and detachment built into the Cartesian worldview. In this wide-ranging book, Giles Hutchins examines the history of this sense of separation and provides constructive means of overcoming what he regards as a systemically anti-life attitude.

The first part explores how the Western mind adopted a predominantly materialistic outlook with a science and technology of control and an economics of manipulation. With his background in business, the author begins with a short history of consumerism in the 20th century with increasing manipulation of opinions and desires underpinned by a competitive individualism appealing to greed. Darwinism has been used to justify a dog-eat-dog world of competition separating humans from nature and the organism from its environment. Along with this goes a mentality of conformity and homogenisation inimical to the natural diversity of life. As already mentioned, Descartes played a key role in the history of our culture at a time when our view of Nature became desacralised with the rise of a soulless mechanistic worldview (here the work of Iain McGilchrist on hemispheric thinking is brought in).

Going further back, the next two chapters examine the formation of Western philosophy in ancient Greek culture with an emphasis on concepts of participation and the immanence of spirit within the world. There was a gradual loss of immanence as God came to be seen as more transcendent and indeed outside the universe. Going still further back, Giles reminds us of the principles of shamanism and the ubiquity of animism before the advent of patriarchy. This philosophy has its correspondence in epistemology always of attending. Here the author draws on the work of Owen Barfield, Iain McGilchrist and Steve Taylor on the evolution of culture away from what Barfield called original participation to the modern alienated outlook where separation is associated with competitiveness and consumerism.

In the second part, Giles reminds us that Nature's own ways of relating are co-creative, fluid and connective, sometimes using nonlocal sensing. Quantum theory also gives us a picture of interconnectedness, and in this connection Giles also refers to the less well-established Variable Speed of Light and Black Hole Principle theories and the importance of spiral patterns. A participatory and panentheistic approach re-emerges beyond dualism in the writings of Bergson and Whitehead, while phenomenology has provided a more intuitive way of perceiving and relating, enabling us to become more fully present. At an individual level, this implies the awakening of the Self as envisaged by mystics like Corbin and psychologists like Jung. The heart understands interconnectedness more deeply and attunes more finely to the rhythms of Nature as in indigenous communities, where the self is embedded within a larger whole and has a strong sense of kinship. Giles joins the call for transformational change in terms of being, doing and becoming and presents a model of co-creative and courage-based leading that he contrasts with fear-based leadership.

In the third part, Giles begins with the harmony of opposites and the essential expansion of our awareness involving the reconciliation of the sacred masculine with the sacred feminine. He suggests that the metamorphosis is not one where the ego dissolves but rather embodies the divine presence of Nature. He then has a chapter about the work of Alan Rayner on natural inclusion, which is an excellent explanation of this approach and its value. It encourages us to restructure our perception away from cutting things up towards an understanding of relationships as interdependent flow forms. We can come to realise that we have imposed conceptual discontinuity on natural continuity and flow. The book makes it very clear how we have to go beyond the logic of control-based thinking and co-innovate our culture on a new basis of love-infused wisdom involving a different kind of attention. The emerging dialogue makes room for diversity of opinion and real exchange. He concludes that Nature's wisdom is a far cry from our current mind-set and that we can correspond closely with this operating system through a participatory approach involving redesign, re-establishing our attunement with Nature and rekindling indigenous wisdom.

Ultimately, this well researched and timely book joins the call for a transformation of Western culture that is gradually gaining ground, as the reference base of this study demonstrates. It is a call for a different way of being, knowing perceiving and relating that corresponds to new scientific and philosophical developments. We ourselves have a role to play in this process by the way we lead our lives and relate to others as an expression and embodiment of Nature - this book provides some sensitive guidance about how best to do this while overcoming our historical conditioning.